Massachusetts 2025-2026 Regular Session

Massachusetts House Bill H2154 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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1	1	1 of 1
2	2	HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3058 FILED ON: 1/16/2025
3	3	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2154
4	4	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
5	5	_________________
6	6	PRESENTED BY:
7	7	Steven Owens
8	8	_________________
9	9	To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
10	10	Court assembled:
11	11	The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
12	12	An Act establishing parking cash-out.
13	13	_______________
14	14	PETITION OF:
15	15	NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Steven Owens29th Middlesex1/16/2025James K. Hawkins2nd Bristol2/11/2025 1 of 6
16	16	HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3058 FILED ON: 1/16/2025
17	17	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2154
18	18	By Representative Owens of Watertown, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2154) of
19	19	Steven Owens and James K. Hawkins relative to parking benefits. Labor and Workforce
20	20	Development.
21	21	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
22	22	_______________
23	23	In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
24	24	(2025-2026)
25	25	_______________
26	26	An Act establishing parking cash-out.
27	27	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
28	28	of the same, as follows:
29	29	1 SECTION 1. Chapter 90 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition,
30	30	2is hereby amended by inserting after chapter 90J the following chapter:-
31	31	3 CHAPTER 90K
32	32	4 Parking Cash-Out
33	33	5 Section 1. (a) As used in this section, the following words, unless the context clearly
34	34	6requires otherwise, shall have the following meanings:-
35	35	7 “Daily parking cash-out” shall mean employees elect to opt in or out of parking on a
36	36	8daily basis and receive the daily market rate cost of parking amount of benefit for each day that
37	37	9the employee chooses to forego driving alone to work; provided, if an employer offers a parking
38	38	10benefit exclusively for the days an employee is physically present at work, and the parking is not 2 of 6
39	39	11reserved for or available to the employee on other days, daily parking cash-out shall mean
40	40	12offering a cash-out option only for those days the employee is physically at work.
41	41	13 “Employee” shall have the same meaning as provided in subsection (h) of section 1 of
42	42	14chapter 151A.
43	43	15 “Employer” shall have the same meaning as provided in subsection (i) of said section 1
44	44	16of said chapter 151A; provided, however, that the United States government shall not be
45	45	17considered an employer; provided further, however, that an individual employer shall be
46	46	18determined by the Federal Employer Identification Number.
47	47	19 “Market rate cost of parking” shall mean an amount no less than the cost of parking if the
48	48	20parking were obtained by an individual unaffiliated with the property on which parking is
49	49	21provided or by the employer through a transaction with no special rate due to a property lease.
50	50	22 “Monthly parking cash-out” shall mean employees elect to opt in or out of parking on a
51	51	23monthly basis and receive the monthly market-rate cost of parking amount of benefit for each
52	52	24month that the employees choose to forego driving alone to work; provided, however, that
53	53	25employees may still pay market rate for their own parking on certain days.
54	54	26 "Parking subsidy" shall mean the difference between the market rate cost of parking
55	55	27owned, leased or otherwise subsidized or paid for by the employer and the cost paid by an
56	56	28employee for the parking space.
57	57	29 “Parking cash-out” shall mean an employer-funded program under which an employer
58	58	30offers to provide a benefit of equivalent financial value to the parking subsidy, which shall
59	59	31include offering employees a choice of tax-exempt employer-paid transit or vanpool subsidies, 3 of 6
60	60	32taxable cash or a combination of the two, such that the value of the total benefit received is equal
61	61	33to or greater than the market value of the parking space.
62	62	34 (b) The employer shall maintain appropriate evidence of its effort to establish the
63	63	35monthly or daily market rate cost of parking for at least 4 years. If the amount cannot be
64	64	36established because the parking is unavailable to the public, then an amount that is the monthly
65	65	37or daily price for use of a similar parking space within one-quarter mile of the place of
66	66	38employment shall be used; provided, however, that documentation supporting the
67	67	39appropriateness of the price shall be maintained by the employer, which could include evidence
68	68	40of a public offer, such as through a printed or otherwise publicly displayed advertisement, or a
69	69	41listing including price, such as on a publicly accessible parking smartphone application, from
70	70	42within the previous 6 months, available for acceptance by a member of the public for use of that
71	71	43parking space. If the employer uses a listing as the basis for determining the market rate cost of
72	72	44parking, then the employer shall maintain appropriate evidence of the offer it relied upon, such
73	73	45as a physical copy or photograph of an advertisement or a screenshot showing availability and
74	74	46price within a parking smartphone application, for at least 4 years from the time of any financial
75	75	47allowance offer or payment is made. The market rate cost of parking shall be adjusted
76	76	48periodically in accordance with subsection (g), unless it is reassessed per the methods provided
77	77	49in this subsection, which employers shall do at least every 4 years. If the parking used by the
78	78	50employee is not commercially available to the public and there is no commercially available
79	79	51parking with one quarter-mile of the place of employment, then the employer shall document and
80	80	52retain records related to the failed effort to find commercially available parking; provided, that
81	81	53the monthly market rate cost of parking shall mean the higher of the monthly price of the lowest
82	82	54priced transit serving within one-quarter mile of the site or 60 dollars per month, and the daily 4 of 6
83	83	55market rate cost of parking shall mean the higher of the daily price of the lowest price transit
84	84	56service within one-quarter mile of the site or 3 dollars per day, adjusted based on subsection (g).
85	85	57 (c) The requirements of this section shall apply to every employer that offers a parking
86	86	58benefit and that has at least 10 employees, but will not apply to employers that choose to
87	87	59discontinue offering a parking benefit; provided, however, that said employers shall continue to
88	88	60comply with report filing and record retention requirements related to the prior offering of
89	89	61parking benefits; provided further, however, that this subsection shall not apply to employers
90	90	62with employees who are (i) covered by a collective bargaining agreement that requires the
91	91	63employer to provide the employee subsidized parking, except if the agreement has expired or is
92	92	64extended after the date of enactment of this law, or (ii) are required to operate their own vehicle
93	93	65for employment purposes and who are reimbursed by their employers in accordance with
94	94	66Internal Revenue Service regulations for said use; provided further, this subsection shall not
95	95	67apply to employers that have, prior to enactment, leased employee parking that prohibits
96	96	68subletting of parking and penalizes the reduction of the number of parking spaces subject to the
97	97	69lease, until the expiration of that lease excluding lease extensions, or January 1, 2027, whichever
98	98	70is sooner.
99	99	71 (d) Said employers that have between 10 and 99 employees shall comply with this
100	100	72requirement by implementing (i) a daily parking cash-out program or (ii) a monthly parking
101	101	73cash-out program. Employers that have 100 or more employees must implement a daily cash-out
102	102	74program; provided, however, that the employers may implement a monthly parking cash-out
103	103	75program only in the first year when required to implement a parking cash-out program. 5 of 6
104	104	76 (e) An employee shall only be entitled to parking cash-out after declining the parking
105	105	77benefit offered by the employer.
106	106	78 (f) Employers shall clearly inform each employee in writing of their right to receive
107	107	79parking cash-out, if applicable, and shall maintain records of related communications with
108	108	80employees.
109	109	81 (g) Beginning 1 year after enactment, the commissioner of the department of revenue
110	110	82shall annually adjust the amount of the market rate cost of parking based on the changes in the
111	111	83Massachusetts Consumer Price Index. This adjustment shall apply in years when employers have
112	112	84not reassessed the market rate cost of parking.
113	113	85 (h) At the request of an employer that has implemented a parking cash-out program, the
114	114	86municipality in which this program exists shall grant an appropriate reduction in the parking
115	115	87requirements otherwise applicable, based on the demonstrated reduced need for parking;
116	116	88provided, that the space no longer needed for parking may be used for other purposes based on
117	117	89an agreement between the employer and the municipality.
118	118	90 (i) A parking cash-out program may include a requirement that employee participants
119	119	91certify that they will comply with guidelines established by the employer designed to avoid
120	120	92neighborhood parking problems; provided, that employees not complying with the guidelines
121	121	93will be ineligible for parking subsidies and for the parking cash-out program.
122	122	94 Section 2. (a) Each covered employer shall, by 1 year after enactment, and every 2 years
123	123	95thereafter, submit to the department of transportation a report that includes, but shall not be
124	124	96limited to, (i) the total number of employees; (ii) the number of employees offered a parking
125	125	97benefit, the market rate cost of parking and the amount, if any, that employees contribute to their 6 of 6
126	126	98parking expenses; (iii) the number of employees using a parking benefit; (iv) the number of
127	127	99employees offered parking cash-out, separately reporting offers of monthly and daily parking
128	128	100cash-out; (v) the number of employees accepting the parking cash-out option separately reporting
129	129	101acceptance of monthly and daily parking cash-out; and (vi) any other information required by the
130	130	102department of transportation.
131	131	103 (b) Beginning 15 months after enactment, and every 2 years thereafter, the department of
132	132	104revenue shall submit to the joint committee on transportation, the joint committee on revenue,
133	133	105the house committee on ways and means and the senate committee on ways and means a report
134	134	106that includes, but shall not be limited to, (i) aggregate data from the reports required by
135	135	107subsection (a); (ii) an assessment of how many covered employers have not filed the report
136	136	108required by subsection (a); and (iii) a description of actions that will be taken to achieve full
137	137	109compliance with this section.
138	138	110 Section 3. (a) The department of transportation shall create a program to promote the
139	139	111awareness of parking cash-out and to offer related compliance assistance to employers. This
140	140	112program shall include, but not be limited to, information made available in a variety of languages
141	141	113in a prominent place on the website of the department.
142	142	114 (b) The department of revenue shall impose fines or penalties, no less than the amount
143	143	115that employees would have been entitled to be offered as parking cash-out, and no more than 5
144	144	116times that amount, for violations of this act.
145	145	117 (c) The department of revenue shall appoint or hire no fewer than 2 employees to oversee
146	146	118the implementation of a parking cash-out program and the provisions of this act including, but
147	147	119not limited to, imposing fines, preparing reports and managing awareness programs.