POLITICS
CommonWealth Beacon takes the pulse of Massachusetts politics by examining the policies, personalities, and pressing issues shaping moves in local governance, on Beacon Hill, and among the state’s congressional delegation in Washington.
Healey move puts abortion law into effect early, relaxing restrictions and teeing up fierce 2028 ballot fight
In the letter announcing the preamble, Healey said the state’s exemptions to its previous restrictions on later abortions have proven “too narrow to account for the full spectrum of high-risk pregnancy complications that can arise later in pregnancy.”
A former state lawmaker, Clark now ready to help set US House agenda
Top Democrats agree their agenda will focus on ways to lower costs including reversing Medicaid cuts and opposing tariffs proposed by President Donald Trump.
Voters subject governor and Legislature to public records law, but there’s no guarantee lawmakers will comply
All eyes will now turn to the House and Senate, where negotiators need to decide in the next eight weeks whether to follow through on an earlier proposal to substitute their own idea for public records access for the version that four out of five voters embraced.
Primary election reform backers concede as ballot measure falls short
Voters rebuffed an attempt to inject more competition into the state’s low-energy elections by shuttling all candidates through a single primary contest, regardless of their party affiliation.
Democrats, in seismic blue wave, continue domination in Massachusetts as they take back power in Washington
In a national political environment favoring Democrats, Bay State voters chose to stick with Healey and Markey at the top of the ticket for another term in this Democratic stronghold.
Backers of primary election overhaul say the proposal is ‘Massachusetts-grown.’ For years, its top donors funded similar efforts across the country.
Campaign finance records paint a more nuanced picture of who’s backing the measure, and color the Bay State as the next front in a national debate over systemic reforms intended to fix persistent electoral problems.
Ballotmania: Inside the flurry of measures upending Massachusetts politics
The record-tying number of initiatives on the ballot next week put Beacon Hill on the defensive, and it’s resurfaced thorny questions about the powers and pitfalls of lawmaking by statewide vote.
No clear signs that Legislature will act swiftly on child sexual abuse amendment
Pollsters asked about the proposed law to eliminate the time limit for filing civil lawsuits related to child sexual abuse. Respondents overwhelmingly said they would strongly (60 percent) or somewhat (24 percent) support this change, and 79 percent said they would like their state legislators to vote for it.
Mass. spent nearly $400K on an energy study. Three years after its completion, the state hasn’t released the results.
Even before Gov. Maura Healey entered the heart of campaign season — one that has been defined by skyrocketing energy costs and affordability issues — her administration has seemed sensitive to the price tag attached to the tens or hundreds of billions of dollars likely needed to support a sweeping green transition.
State says resident data is safe with state AI tool. Advocates have concerns.
Given recent AI hacking incidents, CommonWealth Beacon checked back in with state officials to see how they’re protecting resident data flowing through an AI assistant. Here’s what you need to know.
Mass. upgraded from least competitive elections in the country to second-worst
For the first time since Barack Obama was president, Massachusetts did not land in dead last in Ballotpedia’s biennial assessment of state legislative competition across the country.
Senators decry ‘disastrous,’ ‘flabbergasting’ Census changes
The change, if implemented, would “dramatically and inaccurately favor southern states where many northern residents, sometimes called snowbirds, spend some or all of the months of December through March, despite spending a majority of their time voting in and paying taxes to northern states like Massachusetts,” Jessie Partride Guerrero, director of data services at the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission, testified.
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