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HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3058 FILED ON: 1/16/2025
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2154
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_________________
PRESENTED BY:
Steven Owens
_________________
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
An Act establishing parking cash-out.
_______________
PETITION OF:
NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Steven Owens29th Middlesex1/16/2025James K. Hawkins2nd Bristol2/11/2025 1 of 6
HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3058 FILED ON: 1/16/2025
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2154
By Representative Owens of Watertown, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2154) of
Steven Owens and James K. Hawkins relative to parking benefits. Labor and Workforce
Development.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_______________
In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
(2025-2026)
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An Act establishing parking cash-out.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows:
1 SECTION 1. Chapter 90 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition,
2is hereby amended by inserting after chapter 90J the following chapter:-
3 CHAPTER 90K
4 Parking Cash-Out
5 Section 1. (a) As used in this section, the following words, unless the context clearly
6requires otherwise, shall have the following meanings:-
7 “Daily parking cash-out” shall mean employees elect to opt in or out of parking on a
8daily basis and receive the daily market rate cost of parking amount of benefit for each day that
9the employee chooses to forego driving alone to work; provided, if an employer offers a parking
10benefit exclusively for the days an employee is physically present at work, and the parking is not 2 of 6
11reserved for or available to the employee on other days, daily parking cash-out shall mean
12offering a cash-out option only for those days the employee is physically at work.
13 “Employee” shall have the same meaning as provided in subsection (h) of section 1 of
14chapter 151A.
15 “Employer” shall have the same meaning as provided in subsection (i) of said section 1
16of said chapter 151A; provided, however, that the United States government shall not be
17considered an employer; provided further, however, that an individual employer shall be
18determined by the Federal Employer Identification Number.
19 “Market rate cost of parking” shall mean an amount no less than the cost of parking if the
20parking were obtained by an individual unaffiliated with the property on which parking is
21provided or by the employer through a transaction with no special rate due to a property lease.
22 “Monthly parking cash-out” shall mean employees elect to opt in or out of parking on a
23monthly basis and receive the monthly market-rate cost of parking amount of benefit for each
24month that the employees choose to forego driving alone to work; provided, however, that
25employees may still pay market rate for their own parking on certain days.
26 "Parking subsidy" shall mean the difference between the market rate cost of parking
27owned, leased or otherwise subsidized or paid for by the employer and the cost paid by an
28employee for the parking space.
29 “Parking cash-out” shall mean an employer-funded program under which an employer
30offers to provide a benefit of equivalent financial value to the parking subsidy, which shall
31include offering employees a choice of tax-exempt employer-paid transit or vanpool subsidies, 3 of 6
32taxable cash or a combination of the two, such that the value of the total benefit received is equal
33to or greater than the market value of the parking space.
34 (b) The employer shall maintain appropriate evidence of its effort to establish the
35monthly or daily market rate cost of parking for at least 4 years. If the amount cannot be
36established because the parking is unavailable to the public, then an amount that is the monthly
37or daily price for use of a similar parking space within one-quarter mile of the place of
38employment shall be used; provided, however, that documentation supporting the
39appropriateness of the price shall be maintained by the employer, which could include evidence
40of a public offer, such as through a printed or otherwise publicly displayed advertisement, or a
41listing including price, such as on a publicly accessible parking smartphone application, from
42within the previous 6 months, available for acceptance by a member of the public for use of that
43parking space. If the employer uses a listing as the basis for determining the market rate cost of
44parking, then the employer shall maintain appropriate evidence of the offer it relied upon, such
45as a physical copy or photograph of an advertisement or a screenshot showing availability and
46price within a parking smartphone application, for at least 4 years from the time of any financial
47allowance offer or payment is made. The market rate cost of parking shall be adjusted
48periodically in accordance with subsection (g), unless it is reassessed per the methods provided
49in this subsection, which employers shall do at least every 4 years. If the parking used by the
50employee is not commercially available to the public and there is no commercially available
51parking with one quarter-mile of the place of employment, then the employer shall document and
52retain records related to the failed effort to find commercially available parking; provided, that
53the monthly market rate cost of parking shall mean the higher of the monthly price of the lowest
54priced transit serving within one-quarter mile of the site or 60 dollars per month, and the daily 4 of 6
55market rate cost of parking shall mean the higher of the daily price of the lowest price transit
56service within one-quarter mile of the site or 3 dollars per day, adjusted based on subsection (g).
57 (c) The requirements of this section shall apply to every employer that offers a parking
58benefit and that has at least 10 employees, but will not apply to employers that choose to
59discontinue offering a parking benefit; provided, however, that said employers shall continue to
60comply with report filing and record retention requirements related to the prior offering of
61parking benefits; provided further, however, that this subsection shall not apply to employers
62with employees who are (i) covered by a collective bargaining agreement that requires the
63employer to provide the employee subsidized parking, except if the agreement has expired or is
64extended after the date of enactment of this law, or (ii) are required to operate their own vehicle
65for employment purposes and who are reimbursed by their employers in accordance with
66Internal Revenue Service regulations for said use; provided further, this subsection shall not
67apply to employers that have, prior to enactment, leased employee parking that prohibits
68subletting of parking and penalizes the reduction of the number of parking spaces subject to the
69lease, until the expiration of that lease excluding lease extensions, or January 1, 2027, whichever
70is sooner.
71 (d) Said employers that have between 10 and 99 employees shall comply with this
72requirement by implementing (i) a daily parking cash-out program or (ii) a monthly parking
73cash-out program. Employers that have 100 or more employees must implement a daily cash-out
74program; provided, however, that the employers may implement a monthly parking cash-out
75program only in the first year when required to implement a parking cash-out program. 5 of 6
76 (e) An employee shall only be entitled to parking cash-out after declining the parking
77benefit offered by the employer.
78 (f) Employers shall clearly inform each employee in writing of their right to receive
79parking cash-out, if applicable, and shall maintain records of related communications with
80employees.
81 (g) Beginning 1 year after enactment, the commissioner of the department of revenue
82shall annually adjust the amount of the market rate cost of parking based on the changes in the
83Massachusetts Consumer Price Index. This adjustment shall apply in years when employers have
84not reassessed the market rate cost of parking.
85 (h) At the request of an employer that has implemented a parking cash-out program, the
86municipality in which this program exists shall grant an appropriate reduction in the parking
87requirements otherwise applicable, based on the demonstrated reduced need for parking;
88provided, that the space no longer needed for parking may be used for other purposes based on
89an agreement between the employer and the municipality.
90 (i) A parking cash-out program may include a requirement that employee participants
91certify that they will comply with guidelines established by the employer designed to avoid
92neighborhood parking problems; provided, that employees not complying with the guidelines
93will be ineligible for parking subsidies and for the parking cash-out program.
94 Section 2. (a) Each covered employer shall, by 1 year after enactment, and every 2 years
95thereafter, submit to the department of transportation a report that includes, but shall not be
96limited to, (i) the total number of employees; (ii) the number of employees offered a parking
97benefit, the market rate cost of parking and the amount, if any, that employees contribute to their 6 of 6
98parking expenses; (iii) the number of employees using a parking benefit; (iv) the number of
99employees offered parking cash-out, separately reporting offers of monthly and daily parking
100cash-out; (v) the number of employees accepting the parking cash-out option separately reporting
101acceptance of monthly and daily parking cash-out; and (vi) any other information required by the
102department of transportation.
103 (b) Beginning 15 months after enactment, and every 2 years thereafter, the department of
104revenue shall submit to the joint committee on transportation, the joint committee on revenue,
105the house committee on ways and means and the senate committee on ways and means a report
106that includes, but shall not be limited to, (i) aggregate data from the reports required by
107subsection (a); (ii) an assessment of how many covered employers have not filed the report
108required by subsection (a); and (iii) a description of actions that will be taken to achieve full
109compliance with this section.
110 Section 3. (a) The department of transportation shall create a program to promote the
111awareness of parking cash-out and to offer related compliance assistance to employers. This
112program shall include, but not be limited to, information made available in a variety of languages
113in a prominent place on the website of the department.
114 (b) The department of revenue shall impose fines or penalties, no less than the amount
115that employees would have been entitled to be offered as parking cash-out, and no more than 5
116times that amount, for violations of this act.
117 (c) The department of revenue shall appoint or hire no fewer than 2 employees to oversee
118the implementation of a parking cash-out program and the provisions of this act including, but
119not limited to, imposing fines, preparing reports and managing awareness programs.