An Act relative to protecting municipalities from unfunded mandates
HD 273 prevents new state legislation from imposing costs on cities and towns without providing funding. It requires the legislature to include clear cost explanations ("fiscal notes") for bills that would create such expenses before they can be approved. The bill also mandates that the legislature cannot pass any law with municipal costs until it has first allocated funds to cover those costs. This directly affects municipalities by ensuring state laws don’t create unexpected financial burdens without prior budgetary support.
Bill status
passed
3 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Feb 2025
Senate Passage
Feb 2025
Governor
Introduced Feb 27, 2025
Last action Feb 12, 2026
Floor votes
How they voted
This bill passed the Senate. No roll call record of that vote is available.
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
7
Key actions
1
Committee
1
Feb 27, 2025
Upper · Passed
Senate concurred
upper
Feb 27, 2025
Committee
Referred to the committee on Municipalities and Regional Government
lower
0 primary · 5 co-sponsors
Sponsors
No sponsor information available.
Ask Maddy
·
AI policy assistant
Ask Maddy about H 2297
Scope: MA
Hi! I can help you understand H 2297. What would you like to know?
Try one of these
i
Maddy answers using official bill text and legislative records. Always verify before sharing.
Sources cited inline