An Act relative to health equity and community health workers

194th Legislature (2025-2026) Introduced by Marjorie Decker and 5 co-sponsors

Requires candidates in partisan races to prominently display their party affiliation in all candidate-originated election communications, effective July 1, 2025.

Reporting date extended to Thursday, December 31, 2026

Purpose

H 359 requires disclosure of a candidate’s political party affiliation in election communications for partisan races. The bill’s stated intent is to reduce voter confusion, improve transparency about who is behind campaign messages, and thereby support election integrity while not restricting political speech.

Key provisions

Legislative findings (Section 1) state the Legislature’s interest in preventing voter confusion and note that party disclosure already appears on declaration-of-candidacy forms.

Amended operative text (Section 2) requires:

Every candidate in a partisan election to include the candidate’s political party affiliation, if any, in all election communications made by the candidate.
The party affiliation must be prominently displayed within each election communication.
“Party affiliation” is defined as the party name the candidate is registered with or a commonly recognizable party symbol.

Exceptions (as adopted in the House amendment):

The requirement does not apply to election communications on stickers or items designed to be worn by a person.

The bill contains an emergency clause; the act is to take effect on July 1, 2025.

Who is affected

Primary effect: candidates in partisan elections who produce any form of election communication (ads, mailings, websites, social media posts, graphics, etc.). They must add prominent party identification to candidate-originated messages.

Campaign vendors/platforms and communications designers will likely need to modify content and templates to comply.

Voters are intended beneficiaries through increased contextual information about candidates.

Exceptions, scope, and enactment details

The House-amended version narrows the operative requirement to candidate communications; some earlier draft language addressing independent expenditures and detailed internet exceptions was removed from the operative subsection by amendment.

The bill does not include new fiscal costs (fiscal note: no state/local fiscal impact stated).

Enforcement mechanisms or penalties are not detailed in the amended statutory text.

Procedural status

Introduced: March 3, 2025 (Rep. Dori Healey contact listed).

House passage: Read third time as amended and PASSED (39–31–0) on March 20, 2025.

Referred to the Senate (State Affairs matters) for further consideration.

Effective date (if enacted): July 1, 2025 (emergency clause).

Notes: The bill’s findings reference independent expenditures, but the final House-amended statutory requirement focuses on candidate-originated communications; readers should consult the enacted text for the precise legal obligations and any subsequent Senate amendments.

Bill