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Massachusetts currently holds “closed” primaries so Democrats and Republicans can choose their own nominees. Unenrolled voters must choose which party primary to participate in. The winner of each party primary advances to the general election. Q3 would replace that system with a single, "open" primary in which every voter chooses among all candidates; the top two advance to November, even if they belong to the same party. If approved, the change would take effect in 2028.

Beginning in 2027, the new federal Education Freedom Tax Credit will allow taxpayers to receive a federal income-tax credit for contributions to Scholarship Granting Organizations, or SGOs. Those organizations will use the contributions to provide scholarships for eligible K–12 students. The program...

We compiled the latest Zillow data to understand which parts of the state have the least expensive “starter homes,” and which areas are most expensive.

To understand the housing concerns facing Floridians, Pioneer Institute polled Florida residents on housing issues and challenges facing homeowners and prospective homebuyers across the state.

The federal 340B program gives some hospitals discounts on medicines so they can do more for patients who can't afford care. A new study from Pioneer Institute and CancerCare finds that hospitals in the program spend a smaller share of their budgets on charity care than hospitals that do not participate.

When Boston commercial property owners exercised their right to appeal their assessments, many saw those assessments increase. Pioneer Institute is asking the Legislature and the Healey administration to find out why the state's tax authority won't investigate.

This edition of The House Call compares Massachusetts home construction data to the state's 10-year housing production goal and the construction pace in other states. It also tracks the accelerating pace of accessory dwelling unit permitting in Massachusetts since the beginning of 2025.

Despite recent statewide reform efforts, residential permitting in Massachusetts remains slow and unpredictable. As housing costs push families and employers toward lower-cost states like New Hampshire and Rhode Island, cities and towns don't have to wait for Beacon Hill to act. Much of the delay and added cost happens out of public view, in the back-office interactions between applicants, staff, and volunteer board members that occur long before any public hearing.

The MassBio Industry Snapshot records something Massachusetts has never seen before: the first contraction of our life sciences workforce since the Life Sciences Initiative passed in 2008—roughly 3,600 jobs lost, and the losses concentrated in research and development, the intellectual core of the industry.

Massachusetts has one of the most restrictive ballot initiative systems in the country. So why are lawmakers considering new barriers instead of fixing what's broken?