SENATOR SONIA CHANG-DÍAZ

Blog title

Lawmakers Open Up While Closing Out Careers

By Chris Lisinski, Colin A. Young and Sam Doran | Dec 13, 2022

Departing Reps, Senators Deliver Traditional Farewell Remarks

Blog title

‘The law is the law’: Mass. tax cap law will return more to high earners

By Greater Boston Staff | Sep 28, 2022

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Massachusetts to take a quantum leap or two on some of the things that voters have been telling Beacon Hill for a long time that they want to see us do,” Chang-Díaz said.

Blog title

Massachusetts Legislature approves marijuana industry reforms

By Dan Adams | Aug 01, 2022

Long-awaited measure includes crackdown on local fees, funding for equity

Blog title

Midnight Cannabis Compromise Sails Through House, Senate

By Colin A. Young | Aug 01, 2022

Tackles Equity, Host Community Agreements, Cannabis Cafes

Blog title

Mass. boosts anti-discrimination funding 78% to help clear backlog of complaints

By Simón Rios and Todd Wallack | Jul 30, 2022

"It’s going to be a game changer," Chang-Díaz said. "I know it's going to take time for the MCAD to fill the staffing shortages that they've been experiencing in recent years, but this is a huge step forward."

Blog title

Mass. politicians call for end to long waits at anti-discrimination agency

By Simón Rios and Todd Wallack | Jul 05, 2022

State Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz recently sponsored a budget amendment to increase the MCAD's funding by nearly two-thirds.

Blog title

After years of debate, Mass. Senate passes bill to allow driver’s licenses for undocumented people

By Samantha Gross | May 05, 2022

“It has been a long, long road for this bill,” Sen Chang-Díaz said. “This bill means trust and dignity for immigrants in our state who lack federal status.”

Blog title

With Senate passage and veto-proof margins, immigrant licensing bill takes major step toward becoming law

By Chris Lisinski | May 05, 2022

“Without a license, a routine traffic stop can have a lasting and traumatic set of repercussions: arrest, ICE detention, deportation. It can tear families apart, and that is a heavy, heavy burden to carry."

Blog title

Legalization 2.0: Massachusetts Senate approves overhaul of marijuana laws

By Dan Adams | Apr 07, 2022

Cannabis cafes, crackdown on local fees among reforms headed to House

Blog title

Infrastructure bills are kicking off billions in construction projects. Will workers of color get the jobs?

By Chris Burrell | Feb 08, 2022

“The numbers here are lackluster, to put it lightly,” said state Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz, head of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Racial Equity. “But I think that equally, if not of greater concern, is the lack of transparency."

Blog title

With Speaker Mariano’s backing, Mass. Legislature poised to advance marijuana reforms

By Dan Adams | Jan 30, 2022

“The gap between the law’s stated commitment to equity and the on-the-ground reality of the industry shows just how much work we have left to do,” said Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz, the other co-chair of the cannabis committee.

Blog title

Advocates urge legislators to establish early education, child care system

By Stephanie Ebbert | Nov 24, 2021

“We need to come to terms with the fact that we are free-riding on the backs of women,” said state Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz, a Boston Democrat.

Blog title

Racial Equity Scorecard Will Grade ARPA Spending

By Katie Lannan | Oct 18, 2021

A coalition of advocacy groups plus a handful of lawmakers on Monday released a scorecard they’ll use to measure whether the American Rescue Plan Act spending plans prioritize racial justice.

Blog title

Activists march against prison

By Anna Lamb | Sep 15, 2021

Activists and elected officials marched the three miles in support of a moratorium on construction of a new women’s prison in Norfolk.

Blog title

Legislators, advocates call for Mass. prison reforms after Spotlight investigation into excessive force allegations

By Mark Arsenault | Aug 16, 2021

"Across the Commonwealth, far too many people — and let’s be real: it’s disproportionately Black and brown people — are incarcerated in toxic conditions that place their health, safety, and human dignity, and the safety of the communities to which they will return, at risk," said Sonia Chang-Díaz.

Blog title

More local leaders call on Charlie Baker’s administration to reverse change to COVID-19 data reporting

By Nik DeCosta-Klipa, Boston.com | Jul 28, 2021

More local leaders are pressuring Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration to resume reporting the age, race, and sex of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Massachusetts, as concerns about the impact of the Delta variant heighten.

Blog title

Sen. Chang-Diaz sees progress with justice reinvestment bill

By Morgan C. Mullings | Jun 02, 2021

Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz is advancing legislation that would reinvest savings stemming from criminal justice reforms back into communities.

Blog title

How George Floyd's death sparked major changes in Massachusetts

By Sharman Sacchetti | May 25, 2021

The new law, among other changes, set up a commission to certify and decertify police officers, banned the use of chokeholds by police and limited the use of no-knock warrants.

Blog title

Sen. Ed Markey: Proposed 1.5 million-member Civilian Climate Corps invests in planet-saving jobs in communities like Roxbury, Dorchester

By Benjamin Kail | May 03, 2021

State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz said that unemployment in Roxbury is “routinely double the unemployment rate in the rest of our commonwealth.”

Blog title

State Hearing Focuses On Racial Inequities, Among Other Issues With Vaccine Rollout

By Greater Boston Staff | Feb 26, 2021

State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, D-Suffolk, and Atyia Martin, former chief resiliency officer for Boston, joined Jim Braude to talk about the key takeaways from the COVID Oversight Hearing.