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H3122 • 2025

An Act to support educational opportunity for all

An Act to support educational opportunity for all

Taxes
Active

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

Sponsor
Higgins, Natalie M.
Last action
2026-04-02
Official status
Accompanied a study order, see H5318
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 support educational opportunity for all

An Act to support educational opportunity for all By Representatives Higgins of Leominster and Barber of Somerville, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.

What This Bill Does

  • An Act to support educational opportunity for all By Representatives Higgins of Leominster and Barber of Somerville, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.
  • 3122) of Natalie M.
  • Higgins, Christine P.
  • Barber and others relative to the imposition of an annual excise tax upon certain private institutions of higher learning.

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. 2026-04-02 House

    Accompanied a study order, see H5318

  2. 2026-02-25 House

    Reporting date extended to Wednesday, March 18, 2026

  3. 2025-12-18 House

    Reporting date extended to Friday, February 20, 2026

  4. 2025-10-07 Joint

    Hearing rescheduled to 10/07/2025 from 01:00 PM-02:00 PM in A-2 and Virtual Hearing updated to New End Time

  5. 2025-09-26 Joint

    Hearing scheduled for 10/07/2025 from 01:00 PM-05:00 PM in A-2

  6. 2025-02-27 House

    Referred to the committee on Revenue

  7. 2025-02-27 Senate

    Senate concurred

Official Summary Text

An Act to support educational opportunity for all
By Representatives Higgins of Leominster and Barber of Somerville, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 3122) of Natalie M. Higgins, Christine P. Barber and others relative to the imposition of an annual excise tax upon certain private institutions of higher learning. Revenue.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
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Bill H.3122

SECTION 1.Chapter 63 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2012 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after section 38FF the following section:

SECTION 38GG. (a) Any private institution of higher learning that has an endowment fund with aggregate funds in excess of $1,000,000,000 shall be subject to an annual excise of 2.5 per cent of all monies in aggregate in said endowment fund. For the purposes of this section an endowment fund shall be an institutional fund, which may consist of multiple funds, of a private institution of higher learning not wholly expendable by the institution on a current basis under the terms of the applicable gift instrument. All monies collected from this annual excise shall be deposited in the Educational Opportunity for All Trust Fund established by subsection (b) of this section.

(b) There is hereby established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a separate fund to be known as the Educational Opportunity for All Trust Fund, hereinafter called the fund. The fund shall be administered by the executive office of education, as directed by the Educational Opportunity for All Trust Fund Board of Trustees established in subsection (c), and in consultation with the department of higher education and the department of early education and care. The fund shall be used exclusively for the purposes of subsidizing the cost of higher education, early education and child care for lower-income and middle-class residents of the commonwealth. No expenditure from the fund shall cause the fund to be in deficiency at the close of a fiscal year.

(c) The Educational Opportunity Trust Fund shall be managed by a board to be known as the Educational Opportunity for All Trust Fund Board of Trustees, hereby established, which shall have general supervision of the trust and shall direct all expenditures from the fund. The full duties and obligations of the board shall be set forth in a declaration of trust to be adopted by the board. The board of trustees shall consist of 7 trustees, including the commissioner of the department of higher education or a designee, the commissioner of the department of early education & care or a designee, and 5 additional trustees, 1 of whom shall have demonstrated expertise in higher education appointed by the President of the Senate, 1 of whom shall have demonstrated expertise in early education and child care appointed by the Speaker of the House, 1 of whom shall have demonstrated expertise in representing the child care workforce as a leader in a labor organization appointed by the President of the Senate, 1 of whom shall be an employee of a Massachusetts community college as defined in section 10 of Chapter 15A appointed by the Speaker of the House, and 1 of whom shall be an employee of a private institution of higher learning subject to

the annual excise tax established in subsection (a) of this section appointed by the secretary of education. The appointed trustees shall serve for terms of two years. Trustees shall be eligible for reappointment. The members of the board shall elect 1 of the trustees to serve as the chair.

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