Michael Segal and MassTrac's Beacon Hill Expertise
After more than 50 years “working” the Massachusetts State House, I've learned that effective advocacy isn't just about having access to information - it's about understanding what that information means. I'm Michael Segal, President and CEO of InstaTrac, and I built MassTrac service 31 years ago because I believe Massachusetts government relations professionals deserve better than mere data dumps. They deserve insight.
The Evolution of Legislative Intelligence
My journey in Massachusetts politics began in the 1960s as what I affectionately call "a trouble-maker who lived out of a suitcase." Over the years, I had the privilege of observing our state's legislative process from nearly every vantage point: as a political columnist for Boston newspapers, as publisher of State House-oriented newsletters, as co-author of a biography on Governor Michael Dukakis when he ran for President in 1988 and, eventually, as founder of InstaTrac in 1994.
What I witnessed is a fundamental shift in how legislative information is consumed and used. We've moved from an era where access to bills and votes was the challenge to today, where the real challenge is cutting through the noise to find what matters. The question is no longer "What's happening on Beacon Hill?" but rather "What does it mean, and what can I do about it?"
This is the question that drove me to create MassTrac 31 years ago, and it's the question we answer every single day for over 1,900 government relations professionals across Massachusetts.
Institutional Memory as Competitive Advantage
Something I've learned that might surprise you: The most valuable commodity in legislative tracking isn't speed - it's context. Anyone can tell you a bill was filed or an amendment was adopted, but knowing why it matters, and what it means for your clients requires something technology alone cannot provide.
At MassTrac, we built our entire operation around this principle. Our team includes former legislative staffers and attorneys steeped in the laws of the Commonwealth who know how to decode the process. They understand the official rules of the House and Senate, and they know how those rules are bent.
Customer service by people who know our customers, and who know how to give excellent service
When you call MassTrac, you're talking to someone who actually knows the answer—not a call center script-reader, not a chatbot, not someone in another state reading off a screen. You reach real legislative professionals right here in Massachusetts, people who've been tracking the State House for years and know the process inside and out. We know the legislators, the committee staff, the procedural quirks that can make or break a bill. We know which assistant picks up the phone in which office and how things really work on Beacon Hill.
With other services, you're left wondering who's on the other end of the line and whether they've ever set foot in the building. We live and breathe Massachusetts politics every day—nobody knows this State House better than we do.
A Partnership, Not a Product
I didn't build MassTrac to be just another software service. I built it to be a partnership between experienced legislative professionals (us) and the advocates who need to navigate Beacon Hill successfully (you). Every feature we developed over the past 31 years emerged from a simple question: "What would help a lower case “L” lobbyist and legislators do their jobs better?"
Two new benefits illustrate very clearly:
“Smart Compare” - the very best bill text comparison tool; light years better than any alternative
“Smart Search” - an artificial intelligence-built “hybrid” search tool that understands precisely what you’re looking for in bill text, funds it for you, and displays the results in ranked descending order of significance for you
When you work with MassTrac, you're not just subscribing to a tracking service. You're gaining a partner who's been embedded in Massachusetts politics since before many current legislators and legislative professionals were born. You're tapping into networks and knowledge that took decades to build. You're benefiting from mistakes I made, and lessons I learned.
Looking Forward
Success still depends on knowing what's happening, understanding what it means, and acting on that understanding before your opponents do.
This is what we do at MassTrac. This is what I've dedicated my professional life to understanding. And this is why, when Massachusetts legislative pros need the power to compete on Beacon Hill, they turn to the pros: They turn to MassTrac.
In the end, legislative tracking isn't about technology. It's about knowledge - real knowledge that only comes from experience.
If you have any questions, please call me directly on my cell number: (617) 290-4986, or email me at: segal@instatrac.com. Let's discuss how the institutional knowledge at MassTrac can become your competitive advantage on Beacon Hill.