About MASSPIRG
MASSPIRG FIGHTS FOR THE PUBLIC—MASSPIRG Executive Director Janet Domenitz testifying before the legislative committee considering the Updated Bottle Bill, urging lawmakers to stand with the public instead of siding with the beverage and bottling industries, and to vote to update the commonwealth's most sucessful recycling program.
An Independent Voice For Consumers
MASSPIRG is a consumer group that stands up to powerful interests whenever they threaten our health and safety, our financial security or our right to fully participate in our democratic society.
Since 1972, we’ve stood up for consumers, countering the influence of big banks, insurers, chemical manufacturers and other powerful special interests.
OUR TOP PRIORITIES
Using the time-tested tools of investigative research, media exposés, grassroots organizing, advocacy and litigation, MASSPIRG stands up to powerful interests and delivers concrete results.
UPDATE THE BOTTLE BILL
For more than 30 years, Executive Director Janet Domenitz has fought to make Massachusetts healthier and more sustainable. By updating the Bottle Bill, we can keep an extra billion bottles from being buried and burned every year. >LEARN MORE
KEEP MASS ON TRACK
We won more federal money for high-speed rail in New England, and we organized the public to convince the legislature to limit fare hikes and service cuts on the T. >LEARN MORE
REINING IN WALL STREET
After the financial crisis, we spearheaded the fight to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which recently forced Capital One to pay back $140 million in unfair credit card fees to consumers. >LEARN MORE
PROTECTING CONSUMERS
Our toy safety reports and lab research have led to recalls of more than 150 toxic or dangerous toys, and our advocates have pushed to keep toxic chemicals out of all consumer products.>LEARN MORE
What's New
BOSTON – The Massachusetts state legislature has approved the 2019 Supplemental Budget, and for the first time, it provides money for schools to tackle the growing problem of lead in school drinking water. The budget is now on Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk.
Boston -- Massachusetts received a “C” for making critical information about how governments are subsidizing business projects with taxpayer dollars readily available to the public online, according to a new report from MASSPIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group. Following the Money 2019, the organization’s tenth evaluation of online government spending transparency, gives 17 states a failing grade, while only four states received a grade of “B” or higher.
Boston -- Massachusetts received a “C” for making critical information about how governments are subsidizing business projects with taxpayer dollars readily available to the public online, according to a new report from MASSPIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group. Following the Money 2019, the organization’s tenth evaluation of online government spending transparency, gives 17 states a failing grade, while only four states received a grade of “B” or higher.
Along with the Zero Emission Bus Coalition -- a collective of environmental, transit, labor, community, and public health organizations dedicated to accelerating the electrification of public transit - we delivered this letter to Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack and the Chairman of the MBTA’s Fiscal Management and Control Board, Joseph Aiello calling for a clear commitment to transition the MBTA to all-electric buses.
BOSTON -- Governor Baker signed a critical bill today aimed at stemming the youth vaping epidemic. “An Act to Modernize Tobacco Control” is the first state law that prohibits the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, menthol cigarettes and chewing tobacco. It’s a major step to protect youth because four out of five kids who have used tobacco started with a flavored product. The bill passed both houses of the legislature by an overwhelming majority.
Budget
Following the Money 2019
Our 10th report on government spending transparency rates all 50 states on the degree to which they make information about corporate tax breaks and other subsidies available online.
Solid Waste
Bill to reduce plastic bag waste passes Mass. Senate
Massachusetts lawmakers are making strides toward confronting our state's plastic problem. In a late-night session on Nov. 21, the Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of a bill to ban plastic grocery and retail bags — pervasive single-use waste items — across the commonwealth.
Consumer Protection
Watch out for unsafe toys this holiday season
Our annual “Trouble in Toyland” report found toys with choking hazards, recalled toys still for sale, toxics in slime and more.
Massachusetts takes another step closer to protecting pollinators
Massachusetts is now closer to confronting the alarming decline in the population of bees and other vital pollinators. Beekeepers in the commonwealth reported a startling 64.9 percent annual loss in colony numbers in 2017.
Support Us
Your donation supports MASSPIRG's work to stand up for consumers on the issues that matter, especially when powerful interests are blocking progress.