STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE DURING ITS FIRST session of the final month of serious legislating, the Massachusetts Senate on Tuesday released and passed a bill further extending some pandemic-era policies. Several policies dealing with remote or virtual participation would be kept alive until Dec. 15, 2023 under the bill, including the ability for towns to […]
Government
Posted inState Government, State House News Service
Baker tax relief bill clears committee mostly intact
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE LEGISLATURE’S Revenue Committee advanced a $600 million tax relief package on Friday, but the panel’s House chairman said the measure remains a work in progress. The committee voted 17-0, according to House chairman Rep. Mark Cusack, to advance a redraft of Gov. Charlie Baker’s tax relief plan that does not […]
Posted inState Government
Long to-do list for end of legislative session
IT’S JULY 1, and this month is shaping up to be an enormously busy one on Beacon Hill. There’s one month until the Legislature wraps up its business for the 2021-2022 legislative session and, as is typical, lawmakers have a lot left on their plates. They have billions of dollars in budget and bond bills […]
Posted inHealth Care
House passes abortion provider protections as advocates clamor for more
THE MASSACHUSETTS House on Wednesday passed a bill protecting Massachusetts abortion providers from adverse consequences by other states and requiring insurers to cover abortion care. Yet even with the Legislature’s swift action, health care advocates and Massachusetts’ US senators continued to push for additional steps to respond to the US Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe […]
Posted inCourts, State Government
MassGOP challenges vote-by-mail law
PERMANENT MAIL-IN voting is now the law in Massachusetts – unless Republican Party chair Jim Lyons has his way. The conservative GOP chair filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday challenging voting by mail as unconstitutional, a day after Gov. Charlie Baker bucked many in his party by signing voting-by-mail into law. […]
Posted inState Government
Senate staff get raises and pay scale changes – but no union
MASSACHUSETTS SENATE staff seeking to unionize have gotten a big portion of what they want – minus the union. Senate President Karen Spilka on Wednesday announced a new compensation system for Senate staff, which standardizes job classifications and aligns them with pay grades and salary ranges that are based on work experience, training, and education. […]
Posted inEducation
Massachusetts can lead in supporting LGBTQ+ youth
RECENT LEGISLATIVE ACTION in Texas and Florida reminds us that LGBTQ+ youth continue to be targeted and criminalized for expressing their gender identity. Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law prohibits instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity for students in kindergarten through 3rd grade, while requiring that such instruction be “age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate” in later […]
Posted inEconomy
Help for Boston taxi owners?
TAXI OWNERS HAVE been hit with a one-two punch in recent years. First, the explosion of the Uber and Lyft rideshare apps proved devastating to their business. The pandemic added insult to that injury, turning downtown Boston into a ghost town as the bustle of the city that is a cabbie’s lifeblood ground to a […]
Posted inEconomy
Help for Boston taxi owners?
TAXI OWNERS HAVE been hit with a one-two punch in recent years. First, the explosion of the Uber and Lyft rideshare apps proved devastating to their business. The pandemic added insult to that injury, turning downtown Boston into a ghost town as the bustle of the city that is a cabbie’s lifeblood ground to a […]
Posted inHealth Care
House plans vote on mental health bill
THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE on Thursday plans to vote on a mental health bill that would improve access to mental health care, particularly for children, while ensuring that the health care system treats mental and physical health care equally. The House bill builds on a major bill that the Senate passed in November and includes many […]