Regulators have been intrigued about the prospect of an innovative care model to expand primary care access, but the sticker shock continues to linger and the HPC said Thursday it “remains uncertain” whether or when MinuteClinic will “provide comprehensive, high-quality primary care.”
State House News Service
Posted inHealth
Policy Points: Takeaways from the 2026 Medicaid Summit
As the agency navigates how to minimize coverage losses, cope with federal funding cuts and keep MassHealth members informed, the 2026 Medicaid Summit on Tuesday brought together state government policy experts and researchers from around the country to make sense of the impacts of the nearly one-year-old federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Posted inState Government
Healey taps National Grid counsel, clerk magistrate for District Court bench
She also hopes to elevate Judge Zachary Hillman, associate justice of the District Court since 2021, to serve as a judge in the Appeals Court.
Posted inChild Care
Surtax fueling early ed expansion, but will it last?
The money expanding child care access this year comes from one-time surplus funds. Maintaining long-term funding will mean finding a permanent home for it in next year’s state budget.
Posted inState Government
Shortsleeve would tie legislative funding to audit compliance
Angered by the Legislature’s tactics to curtail the scope of the voter-backed audit law, Republican Brian Shortsleeve said Monday that if he were governor, he would veto the budget appropriations […]
Posted inState Government
House approves later last call bill that would run through July
If it clears the Senate and is signed into law, the bill would take effect Monday, June 8 and expire Friday, July 31, and enable bars to push last call to 3 a.m. “subject to approval of the local licensing authority.”
Posted inTransportation
Lawmakers preserve 20-cent rideshare fee in surtax deal
The per-ride fee established in a 2016 law regulating transportation network companies is set to sunset in January 2027. The Senate quietly voted in April to extend the fee tacked onto all rideshares in its version of the surtax bill, and that language survived into the bill released Tuesday.
Posted inEducation
Senate ready to give teachers second shot at retirement program
The Senate plans to take up a bill to enhance retirement benefit programs for teachers after resisting for years, following the House’s approval of a similar policy through a state budget amendment.
Posted inGovernment
Healey backs later last call for ‘once-in-a-generation summer’
The proposed bill would allow Massachusetts restaurants and bars to stay open later from June 1 through Aug. 31, during the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 250th American Revolution celebrations.
Posted inPolitics
UnitedHealthcare defrauded MassHealth of $100M, AG alleges
The lawsuit alleges that United “falsely manipulated” their health evaluations in order to secure bigger payments.
Posted inImmigration
Saying ‘people are afraid,’ Healey lays out ICE guidance
“People are afraid to worship. We have reports from our health care centers that people are afraid to go,” Healey said.
Posted inPolitics
Rikleen ends US Senate bid, endorses Markey
Rikleen, a former history teacher and fantasy sports writer making his first run for public office, launched his longshot Senate bid a year ago with calls for Democrats to more aggressively confront President Donald Trump and pursue sweeping reforms to the country’s political institutions.
Posted inGovernment
Barney Frank, 86, left mark as trailblazer in politics
Barney Frank, the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out publicly as gay and a liberal bulldog who left his fingerprints on the nation’s banking regulations, died May 20, 2026. He was 86.
Posted inPolitics
Lawmakers complete bid to kill legislative stipend reforms
Supporters have framed the measure as a pro-democracy reform aimed at rebalancing power in a system that they say rewards loyalty to Democratic leadership. Lawmakers have pushed back harshly against that characterization.
Posted inState Government
House votes 149-9 to approve annual state budget bill
Fiscal year 2027, which begins July 1, is projected to be “a very, very difficult fiscal year in a truly, truly challenging economic environment,” House Speaker Ron Mariano said this month. Repeatedly throughout the week, Democrats echoed that sentiment as they resisted Republican calls for tax relief or spending cuts.
Posted inState Government
Minogue wins GOP endorsement in a romp; Shortsleeve ekes out ballot spot
The Massachusetts Republican Party convention set up a one-on-one showdown for the party’s gubernatorial nomination in the September primary between wealthy businessman Mike Minogue and former MBTA official Brian Shortsleeve.
Posted inBallot Questions
Frustrated by voter initiatives, lawmakers plot ballot reform
There have been rumblings on Beacon Hill surrounding reforms of the initiative petition for decades that have grown louder recently as a record number of 12 are making their way to the 2026 ballot.
Posted inState Government
Senate extends 20-cent fee on ride services
The Senate on Thursday passed a Transportation Committee Chair Sen. Brendan Crighton amendment — within a bundle of other amendments adopted on a single voice vote — to its surtax supplemental budget that would preserve the existing fee structure by eliminating the sunset clause in the 2016 law.
Posted inCourts
PROTECT Act will disrupt ‘soft diplomacy’ between ICE, state courts
Chief Justice of the Trial Court Heidi Brieger described for lawmakers the more informal relationships that she said she and Court Administrator Thomas Ambrosino have had “at a very deep level” with various leaders of ICE in New England.
Posted inState House News Service
Doula certification effort set for launch this spring
“The Department of Public Health is working with MassHealth to implement more than 20 provisions within the 2024 maternal health law designed to bolster access to services and tackle racial disparities in care outcomes.”
Posted inState Government
Mariano weighs in on energy bill savings, audit preferences
“Mariano described the House energy bill as an attempt to strip away some of the public policy charges that have accumulated on electric and gas bills over the last two decades as Massachusetts sought to incentivize a transition away from fossil fuels.”
Posted inPolitics
Healey won’t attend White House events with governors
“‘For years, Governors of both parties met with Presidents of both parties annually,” Healey said in a statement released after 4 p.m. Thursday. ‘This has always been an important opportunity for us to discuss the most pressing issues facing our country and how we can work together on solutions. But it should come as no surprise to anyone that President Trump has completely politicized this.'”
