By Brooke Thomson
President & CEO

The intersection of business and government in Massachusetts is shaping up to be a busy place for 2026.

Start with the fact that it’s an election year and the November election ballot may include an unprecedented 11 referendum questions on everything from income-tax reductions to rent control.

Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Legislature enters the final leg of a two-year session that has been marked by a constantly shifting relationship with the federal government, which has depleted some $3.7 billion from the state budget and threatened some of the commonwealth’s most important industries. Beacon Hill’s 2026 “to do” list includes debates on issues ranging from educational standards to research funding to data privacy.

All this means that employers will need to keep both hands on the wheel for the next 12 months.

The intermingling of state and federal policy has created a split-screen economy. On one hand, Massachusetts remains the envy of the other 49 states and a global center of business and commerce. We maintain world-class strengths in education, health care, innovation, advanced manufacturing, defense technology and financial markets.

On the other hand, Massachusetts faces a unique set of challenges. The high cost of living and doing business continues to drive companies and working-age employees to lower-cost states. The prohibitive price of housing, energy, health care, transportation and business regulation threatens to drain the lifeblood of talent that makes Massachusetts the most productive state in the nation.

There is a lot at stake for our members in 2026. Here are six issue areas on which AIM is taking the lead in 2026:”

• State financing and related federal implications – AIM supports policies that make Massachusetts competitive by exercising fiscal prudence, eliminating outliers in the tax code and promoting policies that incentivize growth and investment. For example, AIM has led opposition to a massive, unprecedented and misguided proposal to change the state tax treatment of Global Intangible Limited Tax Income (GILTI).
• Energy affordability – AIM supports an “all-of-the-above” approach to energy, which includes a new measure introduced by State Rep. Mark Cusack that will make energy more affordable while acknowledging that federal actions will delay the state’s ambitious greenhouse-gas emissions goals.
• Education, including graduation competency determination, early literacy, and higher education – AIM supports much of the initial recommendations in the Interim Report of the Statewide Graduation Council. Building on that, AIM urges the Commonwealth to make passing end-of-course assessments a graduation requirement for Massachusetts students.
• Health care costs and access, including primary care – AIM supports common-sense oversight measures to ensure the health-care sector remains supported while reducing overall health-care costs for smaller businesses and ensuring access to services in every region of Massachusetts.
• Housing production – AIM continues to support policies that will stimulate construction of the estimated 220,000 new housing units the state needs to stabilize the housing market for our employees.
• Data privacy – AIM acknowledges the need for a state regulatory framework but does not support proposals that cause confusion and create onerous and expensive new burdens on small businesses that do not protect consumers.