BOSTON, MA, November 18, 2024 -- In MassLandlords v. City of Boston, Suffolk Superior Court informed the parties late Friday of the court’s intent to issue a sweeping order against the city to provide all digital records through March 15, 2022 containing the phrase “rent stabilization advisory committee” and associated acronyms (e.g., RSAC).

This case is building towards the first ever enforcement of the “money in politics” lobbying disclosure laws that took effect in Massachusetts in 2011.

Some for-profit and nonprofit developers on the committee are believed to have engaged in unlawful, unreported lobbying to corrupt public policy towards private interest, in some cases using public funds and tax exemptions.

The committee proposed a return to the rent control boards of the 1970s, repealed by voters in 1994 and near-universally recognized by economists as having contributed to housing scarcity, disparate impact on the basis of race, and price increases in exempt properties. The proposal would have indirectly exempted some committee members’ and their organizations’ properties.

Such a corrupt regime would have made it difficult or impossible for existing rental housing to operate, forcing a wave of sellouts to RSAC appointee organizations. The RSAC’s bill was stopped by the state legislature.

The city has so far resisted public records requests for over two years. It has provided thousands of pages of largely off-topic documents, discouraging MassLandlords’ lawful request. MassLandlords seeks to shine a light on how these committee members were picked in order for the public to understand the influence of campaign donors and unreported lobbying.

Twenty-three of the 25 individuals and organizations named to the RSAC are listed on the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance as donors to Boston races. Only three RSAC appointees were registered as lobbyists. Lobbyist registration is required by city ordinance and state law of everyone who conducts more than a de minimis amount of policy advocacy for compensation.

Not one rental housing organization was named to the RSAC.

Enforcement of the law is expected to protect against future corruption and move us more directly towards housing for all.

February 2023 testimony by city employees in favor of the RSAC recommendations raised questions about the need for rent control boards. Chief of the Office of Housing Stability, Sheila Dillon, said, “the vast majority of landlords in this city are charging, you know, less than five percent [rent increases].” Tim Davis said of the RSAC, "It was intended to be consistent with what developers were looking at... that was another way of addressing all the psychology about developers."

MassLandlords would ask members of the public in possession of RSAC documents to help us verify compliance with the judge’s order by forwarding all such documents to hello@masslandlords.net.

The case is 2384CV00483.

Masslandlords, Inc. is a 501(c)6 trade association with a legal purpose to create better rental housing in Massachusetts. MassLandlords operates the sites MassLandlords.net and RentControlHistory.com.

Contact information: Executive Director Doug Quattrochi, 857-557-6196, dquattrochi@masslandlords.net.

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The view of the building housing Suffolk Superior Court from where MassLandlords Executive Director Doug Quattrochi parked his bike prior to the hearing. The case was argued by legislative affairs counsel Attorney Peter Vickery. Pictures from inside any court are prohibited.