With the backing of the most powerful man in the Beacon Hill triumvirate, Gov. Charlie Baker may be inching closer to the formation of a temporary fiscal and management control […]
Massachusetts Legislature
Posted inPolitics
Baker has reservations on Senate tax plan
A DAY AFTER THE STATE SENATE took a major step towards accomplishing one of his tax policy priorities, Gov. Charlie Baker on Wednesday expressed disappointment that they didn’t match his […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Senate backs boost in EITC, exemption
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MASSACHUSETTS SENATE on Tuesday approved a package of tax cuts aimed at helping the working poor and middle class, dismissing objections from Republicans and some […]
Posted inPolitics
House threatens legal action if Senate votes taxes
THE HOUSE AND SENATE may be headed for a bruising constitutional confrontation if the Senate next week approves budget amendments that raise or lower taxes. Senate President Stanley Rosenberg and […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
The underinflated MBTA football
There should be as much handwringing about the MBTA as there is about Tom Brady and underinflated footballs. But there isn’t. MBTA riders are waiting on Gov. Charlie Baker and […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download, Transportation
Senate guts Baker’s T plans
While the Legislature’s Transportation Committee was busy on Monday taking testimony on Gov. Charlie Baker’s MBTA reform bill, the Senate Ways and Means Committee was cutting to the chase and […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Baker presses lawmakers for T control board
Gov. Charlie Baker turned up the pressure on state lawmakers, appearing at a joint transportation committee hearing Monday flanked by former Chelsea and Springfield officials who expressed strong support for […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Rosenberg and DeLeo at odds — again
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE ANOTHER RIFT has opened between the House and Senate, this time over whether senators can consider changes in tax policy when they debate their annual state […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
GOP not pushing for House roll calls
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HOUSE REPUBLICANS THIS WEEK repeatedly opted not to support requests for roll call votes on several controversial budget amendments, prompting one outspoken GOP rep to question […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download, Transportation
Pushing back on Baker’s T reform
Lawmakers began pushing back against the Baker administration’s MBTA reform plan on Monday, questioning the need for a special T control board, raising doubts about unspent capital funds, and suggesting […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
House fends off film tax credit change
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WITH NO RECORDED VOTES and many members absent from the chamber, the House retained the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax along with state aid for the […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Headlight law surcharge gets attention — after the fact
How much of a deterrent is a $5 ticket for failing to have headlights on in tandem with windshield wipers when it’s raining? Not much. How about tacking a surcharge […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Alvaro critiques MBTA panel
FERDINAND ALVARO UNDERSTANDS the MBTA’s finances and inner workings better than most outsiders. Ask him who is to blame for the bundle of issues that led to the transit agency’s […]
Posted inPolitics
House-Senate split goes beyond rules
SENATE PRESIDENT STANLEY ROSENBERG and some of his colleagues indicated on Thursday that the Senate and House are in sharp disagreement over more than just legislative rules. The two branches […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Baker, Rosenberg go nuclear
There’s a new credo on Beacon Hill, apparently: If things aren’t going your way, blow it up. In the Legislature, Senate President Stanley Rosenberg appears to be following through on invoking the […]
Posted inPolitics
House plan exempts T from Pacheco Law
THE HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE unveiled on Wednesday a $38 billion spending plan for the coming fiscal year that tracks fairly closely to Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposal and even gives the […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Rainy day fund taking hits
THE STATE’S RAINY DAY FUND is set aside for years when the economy is tanking, tax revenues are falling, and officials are scrambling to fill budget gaps. That’s what happened in […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, State House News Service
Charting postpartum depression
WHENEVER SHE PICKED UP a knife, Jamie Zahlaway Belsito thought about stabbing herself. The thought intruded so often that the mother-to-be thought it was a sign that having a baby was […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
DeLeo vs. Rosenberg
The battle for control of the legislative process on Beacon Hill took an interesting turn on Tuesday, when House Speaker Robert DeLeo dismissed a Senate rules proposal as “ill-advised, disruptive, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
What really happened at Probation’s electronic monitoring operation?
IT STARTED WITH Michael Bizanowicz, a dangerous sex offender who broke into a Woburn home in 2004 and raped and killed Joanne Presti and then murdered her 12-year-old daughter, Alyssa. […]
Posted inPolitics
Group changing the way lawmakers are graded
THE ENVIRONMENTAL LEAGUE of Massachusetts is putting out a legislative scorecard that attempts to more accurately reflect the way votes are – or, increasingly, are not – actually taken on […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Rules debate puts Beacon Hill on hold
THE MBTA ISN’T the only state entity that’s been operating with significant delays. The movement of legislation on Beacon Hill has been ground to a halt by a debate on […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Earned income tax credit vs. film tax credit
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER made the first move, calling early in March for an expansion of the politically popular earned income tax credit and proposing to pay for it with money […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Probation drama not over yet
For months during the federal trial of former Probation commissioner John O’Brien and two top deputies, defense attorneys continually drew attention to the fact that only O’Brien, Elizabeth Tavares, and William […]
