As the legislature neared the end of its formal sessions for the year, both the House and Senate approved bills that include funding for the Governor’s DRIVE initiative.

On July 8, the House approved an economic development bill (HB5562) that included $200M in DRIVE funding. Of the $200M, $175M would be available to public higher education while the remaining $25M would be available to private non-profit entities. 

On July 24, the Senate approved its own economic development bill (SB3228) that included $100M in DRIVE funding for public higher education. Because of the differences between the two bills, a conference committee was appointed to reconcile the differences between the two bills. Conferees are:

Sen. Michael Rodrigues

Sen. Barry Finegold

Sen. Peter Durant

Rep. Aaron Michlewitz

Rep. Carole Fiola

Rep. Michael Soter

While conferees have until the end of the year to act on the economic development bill, UMass Chan and UMass system leadership continue to advocate for its swift passage through meetings with legislators and communication with conferees.

For updates on the DRIVE initiative please visit the OCGR SharePoint site.

We are thrilled to share that UMass Chan has received the 2026 Highly Established Acton Plan Seal from the nonpartisan organization ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. This recognition was awarded to 233 campuses nationwide leading the way with innovative strategies to increase nonpartisan civic engagement on their campus.

Stay tuned in the coming months for additional voter registration and polling information. In the meantime, mark your calendars for upcoming elections on September 1st (state primary) and November 3rd (state election).

More voting information, resources, and upcoming deadlines can be found here.