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 […]
State Government
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 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 […]
Posted inEconomy
It’s time to ensure everyone a seat at the table on public boards
NO DOUBT MANY of us watched with pride and emotion as Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s appointment to the US Supreme Court was recently confirmed by the Senate. At last, the Supreme Court will look more like America with a Black woman justice seated. But closer to home, in leadership positions on prominent Massachusetts public boards […]
Posted inHealth Care
Speaker Mariano says health care regulation needs updates
IT”S BEEN A DECADE since the Legislature revamped the way the state regulates health care, passing legislation establishing the Health Policy Commission and instituting a cost control benchmark. House Speaker Ron Mariano, one of the architects of the 2012 law, said on The Codcast that much has changed over the last 10 years and the […]
Posted inOpinion
Cemeteries exploring climate-friendly burials
IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE Greater Boston without its expansive cemeteries that serve as both resting places and public spaces – Mount Auburn, Forest Hills, Mount Hope. These garden cemeteries replaced the earlier practices where Americans were laid to rest in isolated plots or in crowded town and city graveyards. Rural, landscaped cemeteries were created in […]
Posted inMarijuana, State Government
Do marijuana community impact fees really address impacts?
AARON VEGA, director of the Office of Economic Development and Planning for the city of Holyoke, said the money Holyoke collects in community impact fees from cannabis companies will address costs related to the industry. So far, Holyoke spent $45,000 of nearly $2 million collected on staff for Vega’s office to review special permits for […]