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H1678 • 2025

An Act to ensure all Massachusetts litigants due process of law

An Act to ensure all Massachusetts litigants due process of law

Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor
Michelle M. DuBois
Last action
2026-03-26
Official status
Accompanied a study order, see H5281 (under House Rule 27)
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

An Act to ensure all Massachusetts litigants due process of law

An Act to ensure all Massachusetts litigants due process of law By Representative DuBois of Brockton, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.

What This Bill Does

  • An Act to ensure all Massachusetts litigants due process of law By Representative DuBois of Brockton, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.
  • 1678) of Michelle M.
  • DuBois relative to due process.
  • The Judiciary.

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

  1. 2026-03-26 House

    Accompanied a study order, see H5281 (under House Rule 27)

  2. 2025-10-20 Joint

    Hearing scheduled for 07/15/2025 from 01:00 PM-08:00 PM in A-2

  3. 2025-07-15 Joint

    Hearing rescheduled to 07/15/2025 from 01:00 PM-06:00 PM in A-2 and Virtual Hearing updated to New End Time

  4. 2025-07-15 Joint

    Hearing rescheduled to 07/15/2025 from 01:00 PM-08:00 PM in A-2 and Virtual Hearing updated to New End Time

  5. 2025-07-07 Joint

    Hearing scheduled for 07/15/2025 from 01:00 PM-05:00 PM in A-2

  6. 2025-02-27 House

    Referred to the committee on The Judiciary

  7. 2025-02-27 Senate

    Senate concurred

  8. House

    Reported by committee to Clerk’s Office for processing, will accompany a study order

Official Summary Text

An Act to ensure all Massachusetts litigants due process of law
By Representative DuBois of Brockton, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 1678) of Michelle M. DuBois relative to due process. The Judiciary.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
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Bill H.1678

No entity shall sit as a court of the Judicial Branch of the Commonwealth without due process of law in effect, in accordance with the Articles of the Commonwealth’s Constitution, including Articles X-XV, XXIX & XXX and the Fifth and Fourteenth Due Process Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

Due process shall include any statutorily mandated procedure or established adjudicatory procedure. Every adjudication is to be resolved by full, fair adjudication of the rights and defenses of the parties alike through the full panoply of constitutional, substantive and procedural rights, including: Notice; Answer; Jury Trial; Discovery; Counterclaim; Pretrial and Other Motions; Equitable Relief; Relief from Judgment; Appeal. A proceeding will be except from a procedural right to the extent that the legislated subject matter does not provide for Jury Trial, for instance.

The specific requirements of any proceeding will comply with relevant statutory law, promulgated due process rules and any regulations relevant to the subject matter before the court. Every court shall abide by the applicable statutorily provided subject matter and limitations. Courts will recognize and enforce any constitutional due process right, whether an established procedure exists yet or not. No court will enter an order against a person (natural or legally established entity), unless the court has jurisdiction over them established in accordance with the requirements for jurisdiction over their persons.

Any attempt to sit as a court or engage in a judicial proceeding failing the above will lack jurisdiction. Any attempt to proceed in contradiction to constitutional due process guarantees will be void.

To fulfill its obligation to due process and, thereby, sit as a court, the proceeding must provide equal justice, neither be “denied nor abridged on the basis of sex, race, color, creed or national origin” nor on the basis of age or disability, where a reasonable accommodation liberally interpreted will provide for equal participation, nor on the basis of indigency or the election to self-represent. All persons shall be provided equal justice as to applicable stare decisis.

Nor shall any person within the jurisdiction of the court be denied a public hearing, accessible to the media, nor access to public record documentation unless statutorily, regulatorily, or jurisprudentially limited specific to the subject matter of the case or a particular procedure but at all times will have equal access as to other parties.

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