The Massachusetts formal legislative session ended July 31, 2026 without a floor vote on either packaging EPR bill. S.571 and its House counterpart H.926 both remained in their respective Ways and Means committees and never advanced. Both bills remain pending in their Ways and Means committees, and under Joint Rule 12A no formal business may be taken up after July 31 except in the limited cases the rule lists. (Corrected October 12, 2026.) Informal sessions continue after July 31 but rarely move contested legislation. The separate Mass Ready Act environmental bond bill, which passed the Senate in April and the House in June, carries a paint EPR framework rather than packaging EPR; a Senate amendment that would have funded a $1.2 million packaging EPR needs assessment was rejected. The 2026 Massachusetts EPR Commission had recommended a needs assessment before any program, which is the proximate reason neither bill moved. Source:
Sustainable Packaging Coalition, Packaging Policy Roundup (July 29, 2026).
Update, September 24, 2026: S.571 and H.926 did not die on July 31, 2026. Joint Rule 12A provides that “all formal business of the second annual session shall be concluded not later than the last day of July”; a bill can still advance in an informal session before the 2025-2026 session ends. S.571 has had no action since its September 18, 2025 referral to Senate Ways and Means, so it is stalled, not dead (malegislature.gov, Joint Rules, and S.571 history, accessed September 24, 2026).