sponsored by The Boston Foundation
CommonWealth Voices aims to be a beacon of robust discourse, offering a platform for analysis and advocacy on the challenges and aspirations of political life in Massachusetts.
The Boston Foundation is deeply committed to civic leadership, and essential to our work is the exchange of informed opinions. We are proud to partner on a platform that engages such a broad range of demographic and ideological viewpoints.
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We welcome informed commentary about local, state and national public policy. Please include the author’s contact information when submitting.
Massachusetts must regulate cannabis like alcohol and tobacco
The retail cannabis sector faces a fraction of the regulatory strictness, compliance checks, and public safety enforcement applied to other age-restricted products.
I led efforts to increase primary care spending in Rhode Island. Here are the things Massachusetts must get right.
High-quality primary care must be a common good for all Massachusetts residents. It is the most important part of a health care system, and it needs to be treated as such.
The Legislature can adopt a simple fix to help Massachusetts communities drowning in student transportation costs
According to the recent IG’s report, 53 percent of Massachusetts school districts received no bid or only one bid for student transportation contracts. When that becomes the rule, not the exception, it is clear what the problem is.
SJC ruling shouldn’t be the last word on rent control
State lawmakers must take action to uphold the will of Bay Staters by lifting the ban on rent control and allowing local jurisdictions to pass the rent stabilization ordinances that work best for their communities.
In the panic over a talent exodus, Massachusetts is forgetting the underutilized talent it has
Most states compete for the workers everyone else wants. Talent activation is a different discipline. It starts not with who might move to the state, but with who is already here.
House transparency bill is anything but
The bill is an excellent example of just why the Legislature is so unpopular.
A plunge in the Charles River is no longer a zany stunt
Through regional collaboration, environmental enforcement, and sustained investment, the Charles has become one of the cleanest urban rivers in the country. But can we keep it that way? Even better, why not set our ambitions high for a river that’s fully swimmable.
‘The Pitt’ showed us the stigma patients with obesity face. Massachusetts policies cutting GLP-1 drug coverage reflect the same biases.
Policymakers must work with insurers and GLP-1 manufacturers to make sure these life-changing therapies remain accessible. Blanket denials of coverage will harm patients, invite long-term costs, and worsen the stigma we should be fighting against.
Massachusetts communities are learning to predict — and prevent — domestic violence homicide
Many domestic violence homicides are not random. They are often preceded by recognizable warning signs. When communities are trained to recognize those signs and respond together, outcomes can change.
Before cutting solar credits, Massachusetts should do the math MIT didn’t
A study filed with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities could be used to cut what homeowners are paid for their solar power, but its conclusion only holds up if you don’t account for the full costs of residential vs. large utility-scale solar.
An educator’s take on Jaylen Brown and the limits of data analytics
But when numbers become the only language an organization speaks, certain forms of value disappear—not because they don’t exist, but because they’re difficult to measure.
Stronger primary care means better specialty care
Every specialist depends on a healthy primary care system. It is the front door to health care and the foundation upon which the rest of medicine is built.
Here are the strong elements of House and Senate energy legislation that should be included in the final bill
The energy bills recently passed by the House and Senate — and now being reconciled on Beacon Hill — show great potential to save households money while protecting our climate and our children’s futures.
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