15 September 2026

Psychology, Social Work,  and Physical Therapy Compacts
are in the Senate version of the Economic Development Bill,
now in conference committee!

Thank you to everyone who called and wrote to their legislators!
Just before the deadline, three key health-care compact bills were attached to S.3178/H.5576), the economic development bill:

• PSYPACT (amendment 11)

• The Social Work Compact (amendment 222)

• The Physical Therapy Compact (amendment 402)

Here's the Senate's press release about the bill (magically dated a week earlier than the actual events), and it even mentions these amendments!

Unfortunately, none of them were included on the House side.   So now the bill is in conference committee.  We are cautiously optimistic, but nothing is certain.  

(also unfortunately, the other health-related compact laws (counseling, medical, EMT, etc) are moving even more slowly and will not be able to be enacted this session.  But getting these compacts signed into law will help pave the way for the future.)

So, you know the drill... 

Call and email your Legislators NOW!

"I am your constituent.  I will remember in November!"

"Please tell the Conference Committee that your constituents really want MA to join all of these health care compacts!"
"MA residents need consistent access to high-quality well-regulated health care!  Emergency room visits due to interrupted care and staffing shortages cost the Commonwealth far more money!" 

Include a short but vivid vignette from your own experience.  How has the legislature's ongoing failure to pass these no-brainer, no-cost laws harmed you, your clients, or someone you love?

And then tell everyone you know to do the same thing!
This isn't just about what's good for clinicians.
Everyone in MA needs health care!

Send this request to everyone you know who lives in MA -- everyone in your family, social contacts, group chat, house of worship, running club, knitting circle, parent-teacher organization, jam band, everyone.

No one realizes this problem even exists until they or someone they love is bitten by it.  And those situations come up far more often than you might think.  Everyone assumes that the health licensure system can't possibly be this stupid... but it is.  The legislature needs to understand that this problem affects a lot of people, and that no one will be mad at them for putting these simple and well-tested fixes in place.  In fact, we'll all be super-grateful!

Remind them that the cost is trivial and there is literally no opposition to any of these!  If you need more ideas for what to say, look in the Advocacy Toolkit or on the PsyPact Explainers page.  Here's a link to another terrific website with great sample language, made by an MA resident who found out about PSYPACT the hard way, when her own family was affected...

If you can speak to the brain-drain issue, ask them to stop making MA a licensing desert!  Right now, healthcare professionals are incentivized to to leave the Commonwealth, to establish their licenses, their practices, their careers (and, ahem, their income taxes!)  literally almost anywhere else in the country.  MA is already struggling to staff its own healthcare facilities, making it harder for folks even to get local treatment!  Here's a fresh one-pager on this specific topic!

Compacts don't reduce state oversight, they strengthen it.  This is about not forcing vulnerable folks to stop treatment just when it's working for then, just because of legal technicalities  It's about not encouraging them to seek treatment from unlicensed folks anywhere on the planet, who might be well-meaning (or maybe not, or maybe just call centers, or maybe just AI chatbots), but in any case, who won't be held accountable if they cause harm.  

PSYPACT did attract several co-sponsors for this amendment, including Sen. Jason M. Lewis, Sen. Jamie Eldridge, Sen. Michael J. Barrett (assistant majority leader!), Sen. Bruce E. Tarr (minority leader!), Sen. Lydia Edwards, and Sen. Michael O. Moore.   We also attracted 33 co-sponsors in the House, even though the legislators couldn't be bothered to cut-and-paste the text of the amendments into that version of the bill...

Here is a basic phone / email script. 

Many more resources are available in the Advocacy Toolkit and under the PsyPact Explainers page.

“Hello, my name is [Name], and I am a constituent, living in [Town]. I’m calling to urge [Representative/Senator X] to help us pass the PSYPACT bills (H.2528/S.1487/Amendment 11 to S.3178).  Both bills were reported favorably out of committee on the merits, and now are in fiscal-impact review, but PSYPACT is also crucial for economic development in the Commonwealth.

PSYPACT is very important for Massachusetts residents.  It expands access to high-quality mental health care, maintains all of the legal protections we already have, and eliminates a huge source of disruptions to therapy.  This is particularly crucial to those who come from vulnerable populations or who need specialty care.  There is literally no known opposition to PSYPACT, and 46 (soon to be 47!) other states have already passed it, including all of the other New England states.  Even New York is sending it to their governor's desk!

Here's something terrible that really happened to me / someone I know / someone I love... (don't go on at length, but make it clear that real people are really being denied access to therapy and/or being forced to spend a lot of money and time and effort to get around this problem which has such an easy fix.  If you know someone whose therapist has left the state entirely, or a recent graduate who chose not to bother getting licensed here in the first place, because it was pointless to establish and maintain an expensive license that is so limited in its actual usefulness, say so! 

We need [Representative/Senator X] to help us move these bills forward ASAP, either by getting the standalone bill reported favorably out of Ways & Means, or by their co-sponsoring it as an amendment to the Economic Development Omnibus Bill currently in preparation.  Not only is PSYPACT not expected to present any substantial additional cost to the Commonwealth, it will likely save money and let the Board of Registration focus on their important work of protecting the public.

More examples of sample text you can use:

No one should be forced to lose their therapist just because they move to another state, whether to go to college, get another job, take care of family emergencies, or even just enjoy summer vacation..  But in Massachusetts, that’s exactly what happens — because we still haven’t joined PSYPACT, the interstate compact that 45+ other states already use to protect continuity of care and client choice.  

Massachusetts is behind the curve.  Almost all of the other states have already joined PSYPACT, a bipartisan solution that makes mental health care far more accessible across state lines and greatly increases the options for vulnerable clients who need high-quality specialty care.

Both sides of the Joint Committee on Public Health, as well as the House Committee on Health Care Financing, reported the bills favorably.  Now, we need to clear Ways and Means in both chambers -- the folks who take care to not waste our tax dollars need to understand that the direct cost of these bills is trivial (just $10 per participating psychologist per year, capped at $6000 -- that's couch-cushion money!) and that PSYPACT will in fact streamline administrative burdens, such that it will likely save money.

Both chambers’ Public Health committees -- and the House Committee on Health Care Financing -- have already agreed: PSYPACT is a good bill.  Now the fiscal committees simply need reassurance that the price tag is tiny — about $10 per psychologist per year, capped at $6,000 and soon to be zero! —and that the administrative efficiencies will likely save money in the long run.  A small investment unlocks huge gains in access, continuity, and client wellbeing.

Massachusetts families shouldn’t have to choose between staying with a trusted therapist and handling real-life transitions like college, job changes, or caregiving. PSYPACT offers a ready-made, bipartisan framework — already embraced by 45+  states — that protects continuity of care and expands access to specialized mental health services. It’s time for Massachusetts to finally catch up.

**********************************************************************************

Welcome! This site is a central hub for Massachusetts psychologists and allies who want to help move key legislation forward — especially the PSYPACT bills, which will expand access to mental health care, strengthen our profession, and bring Massachusetts in line with 46 (soon to be 47!) other jurisdictions which have already enacted this simple and inexpensive legislative improvement to the outdated and fragmented licensing system.

We know it’s hard to keep track of deadlines, drafts, and legislative updates. That’s why everything you need to take action — background info, timelines, scripts, letter templates, and one-pagers to share with colleagues and friends — is gathered here.

Quick Links:

• Key Towns and Committees

• Advocacy Toolkit

• PSYPACT Explainers

• Other Bills Related to Psychology in MA