It’s looking like another term without success for unionizing legislative staffers, who were unable to get House support for their bill and continue to face skepticism from Senate leadership.
Chris Lisinski
Chris Lisinski covers Beacon Hill, transportation and more for CommonWealth Beacon.
After growing up in New York and then graduating from Boston University, Chris settled in Massachusetts and spent three years covering the Merrimack Valley for the Lowell Sun. He then worked at State House News Service for more than six years, reporting on everything from legislative action to MBTA slow zones to the 2022 gubernatorial election. His stories, photographs and data visualizations have appeared in outlets across the state, including the Boston Globe, WBUR and the Worcester Telegram.
Chris has also been a regular guest on radio, television and podcast programs to discuss politics and policy in the Bay State, including Keller @ Large, NEPM's Beacon Hill in 5 and The Horse Race.
Posted inTransportation
Where the rubber meets the road: MBTA questions if electric bus mandate is worth the tradeoffs
State law requires the MBTA to purchase only zero-emissions buses starting in 2031 and to have the entire fleet transitioned by 2041. Now, to the ire of a key lawmaker, agency leaders want to kickstart a public discussion about whether that hard-to-accomplish change is still in the state’s best interest.
Posted inPolitics
House Republicans have a big decision in 2027 after Brad Jones retires
House Minority Leader Brad Jones will not seek another term, creating a vacuum atop the chamber’s small GOP caucus for the first time since George W. Bush’s first term with major implications on how Republicans work with the Democratic supermajority.
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: Eager to be counted — on largely symbolic vote
The House’s vote on cuts to the Mass Save energy efficiency program provided a chance for several representatives in the midst of election fights to stake out a position they might soon tout on the campaign trail.
Posted inBallot Questions
More than paychecks at stake in legislative stipend ballot question
A ballot question aiming to reform the Legislature’s controversial system of stipends would reach beyond capping the value or number available. It would also require legislative committees to follow new review and voting procedures as a prerequisite to earning bigger paychecks.
Posted inCourts
Supreme Judicial Court says it’s up to Legislature, not judiciary, to set pay for court-appointed lawyers
Justices were wary of overstepping the “separation of powers” in a bid for courts to increase pay for attorneys who represent indigent defendants.
Posted inBallot Questions
Mass. Senate asks top state court to examine constitutionality of legislative reform ballot questions
For the first time in a decade, lawmakers exercised their authority to seek an advisory opinion from the state’s highest court, asking justices whether a pair of ballot questions on course to reach voters in November raise constitutional concerns.
Posted inEnvironment
Ratepayer revolt: Has the affordability debate soured Mass. on climate commitments?
Fighting climate change was once a badge of honor in Massachusetts, embraced by virtually all Democrats and even a lot of Republicans. But as households grapple with soaring energy bills, elected officials have become much more squeamish about the topic.
Posted inBallot Questions
Rent control opponents warn of $300 billion impact to property values
The real estate industry has a new line of attack in its campaign against rent control: the impact on property values, which could crumble and trigger difficult local decisions about cutting services or hiking taxes, according to a new report.
Posted inState Government
‘Frustration’ remains among lawmakers despite shrinking unemployment delays
Although a legislative response appears not to be a priority, some lawmakers used Labor Secretary Lauren Jones’s appearance at a budget hearing to prod the Healey administration on the unemployment payment delays that plunged the system to worst-in-the-nation performance last year.
Posted inPolitics
Two veteran Democrats sue to block all-party primary ballot question
A pair of Democratic state committee members want the state’s highest court to toss a ballot question that would shift state elections to an all-party primary system, teeing up a legal fight over a measure that could fundamentally reshape political power in Massachusetts.
Posted inBallot Questions
Lawmakers and DiZoglio clash again – this time over public records reform
Auditor Diana DiZoglio showed up ready to fight, and some lawmakers indulged her, at a hearing about a ballot question that would subject the Legislature and governor’s office to the public records law.
Posted inPolitics
Often at odds, Mariano and Spilka united by ballot question frustration
As the Legislature prepares to review 11 ballot questions with major policymaking implications, the top two Democrats came together to complain that the process is “fraught with peril.”
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: Wu and Rooney on collision course, again
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce chief Jim Rooney are cruising toward another political fight that could strain their sometimes-friendly, sometimes-cool relationship. Over the course of the past week, Wu came out in support of a rent control ballot question, while Rooney’s organization joined the real estate-led campaign seeking to defeat the measure.
Posted inHousing
Ed Augustus becomes eighth member of Healey’s Cabinet to depart
Housing Secretary Ed Augustus will step down next week to take over a Central Massachusetts bank, and the governor picked former HUD official — and onetime MassINC chief operating officer — Juana Matias to succeed him.
Posted inImmigration
It’s anyone’s guess when Beacon Hill will agree on an immigration response
Three weeks after both Gov. Maura Healey and the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus offered separate roadmaps for action, it’s still unclear how or when House and Senate Democrats will proceed amid national pressure to respond to ICE raids.
Posted inState Government
With auditor’s office funding on the line, DiZoglio and Legislature play nice for an hour
A day after Diana DiZoglio sued the Legislature over her stalled audit attempt, both she and lawmakers avoided the topic during a routine budget hearing.
Posted inState Government
‘It just requires people to be destitute’: Healey draws criticism over push to tighten eligibility for safety-net program
Five years after lawmakers scrapped the asset limit attached to the Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled, and Children program, Gov. Maura Healey wants to bring it back at a higher threshold — a move that advocates say will impose unnecessary burdens on at-risk recipients.
Posted inEducation
From T support to school aid, surtax emerges as crutch for state budgeting
Gov. Maura Healey’s spending proposals has reopened debate about whether voters intended for the surtax on high earners to fund only new investments or anything related to transportation and education.
Posted inState Government
Despite improvement, Mass. unemployment system remains one of the worst in the country by some measures
The Bay State boosted its rate of timely unemployment payments in November and December, but it still ranked in the bottom three states in that span, and legislative leaders are mostly silent on the issue.
Posted inState Government
Growing health care pressure drives up spending in Healey’s annual budget
MassHealth spending would increase more than 7 percent under Gov. Maura Healey’s new state budget proposal, roughly twice as much as all other state spending in a reflection of the challenge Beacon Hill faces to control health care costs.
Posted inEconomy
Sharp decline in immigration slows Mass. population growth
Like the rest of the country, Massachusetts experienced a significant decline in immigration from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, spotlighting the significant role that foreign-born workers play in the state’s economy.
Posted inState Government
Healey comes out swinging against Trump in election-year address
Gov. Maura Healey’s final State of the Commonwealth before she’s up for reelection featured plenty of criticism of the Trump administration, plus hints of modest new action to rein in costs of living.
Posted inTransportation
Another MBTA deficit is on the horizon. Did the state miss its chance for a more permanent fix?
The T is once again warning of a financial shortfall on the horizon, but this time around, its push for more state funding will bump up against a tighter economic environment and a series of federal cuts affecting every corner.