Mass. Gen. Laws » Part I Title VIII Chapter 55
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 55, § 8 (2026)

Political contributions by corporations; penalties

✓ current as of July 2026
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Section 8. No corporation carrying on the business of a bank, trust, surety indemnity, safe deposit, insurance, railroad, street railway, telegraph, telephone, gas, electric light, heat, power, canal, aqueduct, or water company, no company having the right to take land by eminent domain or to exercise franchises in public ways, granted by the commonwealth or by any county, city or town, no trustee or trustees owning or holding the majority of the stock of such a corporation, no business or professional corporation, partnership, limited liability company partnership under the laws of or doing business in the commonwealth and no officer or agent acting in behalf of any corporation mentioned in this section, shall directly or indirectly give, pay, expend or contribute, or promise to give, pay, expend or contribute, any money or other valuable thing for the purpose of aiding, promoting or preventing the nomination or election of any person to public office, or aiding or promoting or antagonizing the interest of any political party.

No person or persons, no political committee, and no person acting under the authority of a political committee, or in its behalf, other than a political committee organized on behalf of a ballot question campaign shall solicit or receive from such corporation or such holders of stock any gift, payment, expenditure, contribution or promise to give, pay, expend or contribute for any such purpose.

Any such corporation violating this chapter shall be punished by a fine of not more than fifty thousand dollars and any officer, director or agent of the corporation violating any provision thereof or authorizing such violation of any provision thereof, or any person who violates or in any way knowingly aids or abets the violation thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4 cases, 1975–2018 · leading case: First Nat'l Bank of Boston v. Attorney Gen., 359 N.E.2d 1262 (Mass. 1977).
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First Nat'l Bank of Boston v. Attorney Gen., 359 N.E.2d 1262 (Mass. 1977). · cites it 15× “The Attorney General (the original defendant herein) indicated that he would prosecute the plaintiffs under the provisions of G. L. c. 55, § 8, as appearing in St. 1975, c.”
1A Auto, Inc. v. Dir. of the Off. of Campaign & Political Fin., 105 N.E.3d 1175 (Mass. 2018). · cites it 8× “The plaintiffs here are business corporations who challenge Massachusetts's ban on corporate contributions, G. L. c. 55, § 8, claiming that it imposes an unconstitutional restraint on their rights to free speech and association.”
Answer of the Justices to the House of Representatives, 367 N.E.2d 793 (Mass. 1977). · cites it 6× “In that case the plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of G. L. c. 55, § 8, as appearing in St. 1975, c.”
In the Matter of Larkin, 333 N.E.2d 199 (Mass. 1975). “1173, § 5, making the acceptance of a cash contribution of more than $100 a *90 crime, and G. L. c. 55, § 8, as appearing in St. 1962, c.”
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