Our 2025-2026 State Legislative Agenda to Fight Hunger in Massachusetts

Over the last few months, we combed through every. single. bill filed in Massachusetts for the new 2025-2026 legislative session- totaling more than 7,000 bills! Our mission: identify which bills represent the biggest opportunity to reduce poverty and food insecurity, while building racial & economic equity, and securing a better quality of life for families in Massachusetts.  

8 bills stood out, and these will make up Project Bread’s state legislative priorities for the next two years. 

Food insecurity remains high as our society and economy continue to recover from the pandemic and while food prices continue to climb.  

With an unfavorable federal policy landscape, it is more important than ever for us to hold the line and make progress on the state level.  

Over the next two years, your advocacy to support this agenda will be critical to our success! Our legislators will need to hear that you care deeply that everyone in our Commonwealth has enough to eat.  

Sign up to join Project Bread’s Action Team for policy updates and calls for you to take action on issues when it matters most.

Before sharing details on these policies, we’d like to pull back the curtain and give you a peek into our process.  

This year, we had a more diverse group of voices determining these priorities than ever before:  

• 13 Project Bread staff from across the organization helped us review these priorities based on how they impact our core work 

• 5 Council of Experts alumni with expertise and lived experience with food insecurity reviewed to ensure this legislation centered the needs of those most impacted by these bills  

• And 213 of YOU, in our first-ever policy priorities survey, voted on the things that matter most to you 

Choosing priorities among the thousands of possible options is not an easy task. Paula Tobon, a Council of Experts alumni, shared how navigating technical terms, balancing diverse interests, and ensuring the voices of affected communities are heard requires patience and determination. In the end though, “Feeling valued, accepted, and included will always be something I’ll be grateful for from Project Bread.” 

Step 1: Initial Review  

Our initial screen looked at keywords and a quick reading of each bill to ensure it was relevant to our work. From here, we moved bills forward for a closer review.  

Steps 2 and 3: Policy Review  

Our Legislative Agenda Task Force evaluated each of these bills with an eye toward its overall impact and mission fit. They used a rubric to assess whether each bill:  

• Aligned with Project Bread’s mission to address food insecurity for families with children in the Commonwealth.  

• Fit the programmatic expertise of Project Bread’s work and team.  

• Impacted equity, utilizing this racial equity scorecard created by Bread for the World. 

• Addressed the root causes of hunger by increasing purchasing power, providing monetary assistance, or providing direct services or goods.  

Step 4: Community Support  

To help us narrow down our agenda further, we asked Project Bread supporters to rank bills by what they care about most. 213 people responded to this survey – thank you! Your input was critical to finalizing our policy agenda.  

Step 5: Politics Review  

Finally, our Policy team assessed these bills based on how likely they were to move forward this session. We looked at how much support and momentum were behind them. While all the bills we identified are based on good policy, further narrowing our priorities based on momentum allows us to ensure our time spent advocating can result in actionable change.  

Step 6: Final Review  

We are excited about the 8 bills that make up our 2025-2026 legislative priorities. Together, these bills could directly impact food insecurity in Massachusetts by: 

• Strengthening existing anti-hunger programs like SNAP and school meals 

• Increasing local food access within these programs 

• Providing increased resources for families, college students, and immigrants facing food insecurity 

These four bills scored highly throughout our process and are a strong fit with our mission. They will be Project Bread’s focus during this session.  

1. An Act to replace stolen benefits (H254/S147). Since June 2022, organized criminal rings and other thieves have stolen approximately $15 million in benefits from 30,000 Massachusetts SNAP households. For over two years the federal government stepped up and replaced most of these stolen SNAP benefits. Unfortunately, replacement benefits were not extended by Congress and are no longer available. Massachusetts can and should lead by continuing to support families if and when the federal government fails to do so.  Learn More
2. An Act maximizing participation in federal nutrition programs and improving customer service (H196/S167). Our state’s SNAP agency, the Department of Transitional Assistance continues to be a leading example of being proactive and client- centered. Unfortunately, over the last year a high workload has led to longer wait times and disconnected calls for individuals seeking assistance. This bill would seek to highlight the challenges faced by the department and the resources needed to overcome those challenges.  Learn More
3. An Act relative to an agricultural healthy incentives program (H222/S104).  Launched in 2017, the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) allows SNAP recipients to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables directly from farmers. While the program has been a tremendous success, to date it has only been authorized through the state budget, which requires passage every year. An Act Relative to an Agricultural Healthy Incentives Program would create a permanent program to ensure the program’s long-term sustainability. Project Bread has joined the Campaign for HIP Funding Coalition to advocate for this essential program’s permanency.  Learn More
4. An Act establishing the Massachusetts Hunger-Free Campus Initiative (H1466/S939). According to the most recent data, 37% of public university students in Massachusetts experience food insecurity with only 20% of food insecure students utilizing SNAP. Project Bread has joined the Hunger-Free College Campus Coalition to support An Act Establishing the Massachusetts Hunger-Free Campus Initiative which would provide capacity, guidance, and funding to public colleges and not-for-profit institutions of higher education take steps to alleviate food insecurity on campus.  Learn More

These additional four bills will also receive Project Bread’s strong support during this legislative session.  

1. An Act establishing the Massachusetts farm to school program (H565/S311) would provide funding to public schools and childcare programs to purchase Massachusetts ingredients, prepare scratch-cooked meals and educate students about the food system. 
2. An Act to lift kids out of deep poverty (H214/S118) would increase the amount of cash assistance grants to families with children living in deep poverty.  
3. An Act supporting families through enhanced tax credits (H3073/S1957) would strengthen the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child and Family Tax Credit. The bill would also expand eligibility to include immigrant and mixed status families, families with more than 3 children, and workers without dependents.
4. An Act establishing basic needs assistance for Massachusetts immigrant residents (H207/S117) would establish a state funded SNAP and cash assistance benefits for immigrants lawfully residing in Massachusetts and otherwise income eligible.  

This legislative agenda is as much yours as it is ours. Together we will advocate for these policies and move closer to solving hunger in Massachusetts! We are excited to work with advocates like you to make real progress in Massachusetts over the next two years.