Negotiations on a final compromise could prove arduous, but the House and Senate agree on the fundamental idea of more than doubling the share of health care spending that goes toward primary care to ease the crisis that’s left many patients struggle to find appointments.
House
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: House Speaker foretells Senate tax swerve
He was joking when he described “fortune-telling” as a preferred pastime, but House Speaker Ron Mariano still managed to divine the way electoral politics would affect a Senate tax cap proposal.
Posted inPublic Records
Senate ready to open access to legislative records, muddying outlook for ballot question
The Senate will take up a bill next week that would subject the governor’s office and Legislature to public records requirements, but huge questions still linger about how legislative action would affect a question on the November ballot seeking a similar goal.
Posted inTransportation
Mass. lawmakers move to create statewide framework for e-bikes and scooters
The rapid adoption and quickly changing technology of smaller vehicles has outpaced the ability of regulations to keep up, leaving riders, local officials, and law enforcement without a clear understanding of how these devices should be operated safely. New legislation sets up a statewide framework, leaving flexibility to localities for further regulation.
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 […]
Posted inTransportation
DeLeo calls off transpo tax debate – for now
HOUSE SPEAKER ROBERT DELEO is putting off a debate over tax legislation to fund transportation improvements until next year, throwing into doubt whether anything will happen in an area that […]
Posted inPolitics
In Mass., white pols dominate state and local politics
THE PREDOMINANCE OF white male politicians in positions of power in Massachusetts may be a symptom of the way elections are run, according to a report released Wednesday entitled MassForward. […]
Posted inPolitics
Former rep backs up Kaufman’s account
FORMER STATE REP Cleon Turner remembers it well. Jay Kaufman was in an aisle of the House chamber in 2013 venting about how Speaker Robert DeLeo had told him that […]
Posted inPolitics
From insurgent to incumbent
TO SECURE A victory in last September’s Democratic primary against one of the most powerful members of the Legislature, Nika Elugardo ran a blistering campaign excoriating the entire House establishment, […]
Posted inPolitics
Senate trying to limit policy proposals in budget
THIS YEAR THE annual spending bill may be just that. While the budget process is only about halfway through, the leadership of both legislative branches appears determined to focus on […]
Posted inPolitics
House Progressives get some action on budget priorities
THE HOUSE’S 58-member Progressive Caucus scored some modest victories in its three priorities for the fiscal 2020 budget bill this week. The House ramped up funding in the three spending […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Legislative income inequality
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE NOW THAT PAY RAISES for lawmakers have been finalized, House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Stanley Rosenberg will soon dole out the lucrative leadership and […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
DeLeo rips Globe for ‘painful’ analogy
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HOUSE SPEAKER ROBERT DELEO lashed out at the Boston Globe Friday afternoon, asking for an apology after the broadsheet likened the House to a plantation. The […]
Posted inPolitics
Senate ups ante in battle with House
IN A SHARP escalation of the infighting gripping Beacon Hill, the Senate took a major step Wednesday toward remaking the legislative process by ending the longstanding system of joint committees […]
