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H2185 • 2025

An Act to provide fair wages to employees of public institutions of higher education

An Act to provide fair wages to employees of public institutions of higher education

Education Labor
Active

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

Sponsor
Andres X. Vargas
Last action
2026-05-07
Official status
Accompanied a study order, see H5370 (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 provide fair wages to employees of public institutions of higher education

An Act to provide fair wages to employees of public institutions of higher education By Representative Vargas of Haverhill, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.

What This Bill Does

  • An Act to provide fair wages to employees of public institutions of higher education By Representative Vargas of Haverhill, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.
  • 2185) of Andres X.
  • Vargas and others relative to wages and benefits for employees of public institutions of higher education.
  • Labor and Workforce Development.

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. 2026-05-07 House

    Accompanied a study order, see H5370 (under House Rule 27)

  2. 2025-04-10 Joint

    Hearing scheduled for 04/16/2025 from 11:00 AM-01:00 PM in A-2

  3. 2025-02-27 House

    Referred to the committee on Labor and Workforce Development

  4. 2025-02-27 Senate

    Senate concurred

  5. House

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

Official Summary Text

An Act to provide fair wages to employees of public institutions of higher education
By Representative Vargas of Haverhill, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2185) of Andres X. Vargas and others relative to wages and benefits for employees of public institutions of higher education. Labor and Workforce Development.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
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Bill H.2185

SECTION 1. Section 6 of said chapter 29 is hereby amended by adding the following paragraph:-

The operating budget in the current and ensuing fiscal years shall include the appropriation necessary to fund all incremental cost items for all years covered by any collective bargaining agreement to which either the board of trustees of the university of Massachusetts or the board of higher education is a party, separate and apart from any appropriation for the general maintenance of the university or public institutions of higher education where the board of higher education is the employer for purposes of collective bargaining under chapter 150E, excluding grant funded and auxiliary enterprises accounts funded positions.

SECTION 2. Notwithstanding section 8 of chapter 32A of the General Laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, the cost of fringe benefits, including, but not limited to, the cost of pensions and health insurance, associated with employees of a public institution of higher education as defined in section 5 of chapter 15A, shall be the obligation of the commonwealth, excluding grant funded and auxiliary enterprises accounts funded positions.

SECTION 3. Subsection (c) of section 7 of Chapter 150E, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition, is amended in the second paragraph by striking the third sentence and inserting the following the following sentence: -

The board of higher education and the board of trustees of the University of Massachusetts shall include in any such submission a certification that the incremental cost items in such collective bargaining agreement are adequate to ensure that average salaries for faculty and staff in Massachusetts will, by the end of the contract terms, for each broad job category, be at least at the national average, adjusted for cost of living.

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