The months ahead could feature court battles, a hefty signature-gathering effort and a bruising campaign to sway voters.
Chris Lisinski I State House News Service
Posted inState Government
Deal to raise bar advocate pay panned as ‘a slap in the face’
Legislative leaders on Wednesday rolled out a take-it-or-leave-it proposal that some dissatisfied attorneys quickly slammed as insufficient.
Posted inHealth Care
Insurance regulators OK steep increases, reject two as too large
Two of the largest health insurance carriers must either appeal or go back to the drawing board after state regulators on Monday rejected their proposed rate hikes as excessive.
Posted inHealth Care
HHS chief Walsh stepping down, Mahaniah named successor
After a more than two-year tenure in which she charted the state’s path through the tumultuous Steward Health Care collapse, Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh will step down.
Posted inState Government
Agreement reached on state budget
The Legislature plans to approve a final fiscal year 2026 state budget on Monday, the day before the new spending cycle starts, after House and Senate Democrats announced they reached an accord.
Posted inState Government
Spending push interrupted by executive branch hiring freeze
Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday paused executive branch hiring due to what her office described as “widespread economic uncertainty at the national level and a tightening budget outlook.”
Posted inState Government
Senate budget panel recommends 6.3% annual spending increase
The draft budget bill, which will be up for debate in the Senate starting May 20, does not feature any tax increases.
Posted inState Government
Weekly roundup – budget bonanza
The House-approved annual budget bill reveals policy and political fault lines
Posted inEducation
Tutwiler: Immigration chill leading to “extended absences”
According to the state’s top education official, some Mass. schools have reported “extended absences” for students as a result of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement.
Posted inState House News Service
Former Baker deputy Mike Kennealy launches campaign for governor
A former private equity manager, who spent four years as state housing and economic development secretary under Gov. Charlie Baker, declared his candidacy for governor.
Posted inState House News Service
Gov. Healey seeks $756 million for ‘time-sensitive deficiencies’
Healey’s office pitched the $190 million the bill includes for a child care financial assistance program as a way to “support Massachusetts residents at a time of rising costs.”
Posted inState Government
Health care cash rained on Mass. lobbying world in 2024
At a time when lawmakers are wrestling with cost, access and regulatory questions, health care industry power players continued to dominate the Beacon Hill lobbying world last year, spending the most on employing influential insiders who sway development of public policy.
Posted inEconomy
AG Campbell: Medical research change could ‘undermine our economy’
Attorney General Andrea Campbell and nearly two dozen of her peers sued the Trump administration and federal health care agencies Monday, alleging that they unlawfully moved to cut crucial federal dollars for research.
Posted inState Government
Mass. scrambles to understand, react to fed funding freeze
The Trump administration’s move to pause trillions of dollars in federal spending triggered an avalanche of uncertainty, panic and outrage, including a lawsuit from Attorney General Andrea Campbell and several of her counterparts.
Posted inState Government
Healey budget leans on surtax to drive up spending
Gov. Maura Healey proposed increasing state spending to more than $62 billion next fiscal year, relying on burgeoning income tax collections from the state’s wealthiest and a slew of other budget-balancing strategies in a spending plan unveiled Wednesday.
Posted inImmigration
Trump citizenship order draws quick lawsuit
President Donald Trump’s executive order attempting to redefine birthright citizenship drew an immediate lawsuit from immigrants’ rights groups, including the ACLU of Massachusetts, and another subsequent complaint from Attorney General Andrea Campbell and more than a dozen of her peers.
Posted inState Government
Mass. owes feds $2.1 billion to resolve unemployment mistake
The state will pay the federal government $2.1 billion over the next decade after the Baker administration mistakenly used federal pandemic funds to cover unemployment benefits.
Posted inState Government
Democrats redirect savings deposit to balance state budget
Lawmakers moved Monday to redirect more than half a billion dollars headed for the state’s long-term savings account and instead use it to close a budget gap and fund some additional spending.