Auditor Diana DiZoglio showed up ready to fight, and some lawmakers indulged her, at a hearing about a ballot question that would subject the Legislature and governor’s office to the public records law.
State Government
Posted inEnergy
House passes landmark energy bill with deep cuts to Mass Save, sending it to Senate
The legislation reflects the larger tradeoffs around energy policy as Beacon Hill grapples with rising power demand, soaring costs, and quickly approaching climate commitments.
Posted inPolitics
Often at odds, Mariano and Spilka united by ballot question frustration
As the Legislature prepares to review 11 ballot questions with major policymaking implications, the top two Democrats came together to complain that the process is “fraught with peril.”
Posted inEducation
Massachusetts is poised to shake up literacy instruction — and some educators don’t like it
The Bay State is poised to enact what its supporters call some of the strongest reading legislation in the nation — and some educators worry it goes too far in imposing new standards that override teacher control of classrooms.
Posted inEnergy
House tees up sprawling energy package that would cut $1B from Mass Save
The legislation thrust Beacon Hill’s Democratic supermajority into a fierce debate when an earlier version of the bill that would have weakened the state’s 2030 climate targets advanced out of committee.
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: Wu and Rooney on collision course, again
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce chief Jim Rooney are cruising toward another political fight that could strain their sometimes-friendly, sometimes-cool relationship. Over the course of the past week, Wu came out in support of a rent control ballot question, while Rooney’s organization joined the real estate-led campaign seeking to defeat the measure.
Posted inHousing
Ed Augustus becomes eighth member of Healey’s Cabinet to depart
Housing Secretary Ed Augustus will step down next week to take over a Central Massachusetts bank, and the governor picked former HUD official — and onetime MassINC chief operating officer — Juana Matias to succeed him.
Posted inImmigration
It’s anyone’s guess when Beacon Hill will agree on an immigration response
Three weeks after both Gov. Maura Healey and the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus offered separate roadmaps for action, it’s still unclear how or when House and Senate Democrats will proceed amid national pressure to respond to ICE raids.
Posted inState Government
With auditor’s office funding on the line, DiZoglio and Legislature play nice for an hour
A day after Diana DiZoglio sued the Legislature over her stalled audit attempt, both she and lawmakers avoided the topic during a routine budget hearing.
Posted inState Government
‘It just requires people to be destitute’: Healey draws criticism over push to tighten eligibility for safety-net program
Five years after lawmakers scrapped the asset limit attached to the Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled, and Children program, Gov. Maura Healey wants to bring it back at a higher threshold — a move that advocates say will impose unnecessary burdens on at-risk recipients.
Posted inEnvironment
Mass. climate chief missed her own deadline to calculate the cost of state’s climate commitments
Hoffer set out to put a price tag on the state’s net-zero climate commitment and develop a menu of options for how to pay for it. That price is still not yet known more than a year after the report was due.
Posted inEducation
From T support to school aid, surtax emerges as crutch for state budgeting
Gov. Maura Healey’s spending proposals has reopened debate about whether voters intended for the surtax on high earners to fund only new investments or anything related to transportation and education.
Posted inState Government
Despite improvement, Mass. unemployment system remains one of the worst in the country by some measures
The Bay State boosted its rate of timely unemployment payments in November and December, but it still ranked in the bottom three states in that span, and legislative leaders are mostly silent on the issue.
Posted inState Government
Growing health care pressure drives up spending in Healey’s annual budget
MassHealth spending would increase more than 7 percent under Gov. Maura Healey’s new state budget proposal, roughly twice as much as all other state spending in a reflection of the challenge Beacon Hill faces to control health care costs.
Posted inHousing
Researchers find MBTA housing law benefits ‘modest’ so far
According to the report, 34 municipalities have projects in the pipeline, ranging in size from two to more than 500 units.
Posted inEnergy
House energy chair must be removed from post over his controversial climate bill, Mass. Sierra Club says
The move kicks the already-high tension around energy issues in Massachusetts up a notch and offers somewhat of a finer point on the political fallout from Cusack’s proposal last year.
Posted inState Government
Healey comes out swinging against Trump in election-year address
Gov. Maura Healey’s final State of the Commonwealth before she’s up for reelection featured plenty of criticism of the Trump administration, plus hints of modest new action to rein in costs of living.
Posted inTransportation
Another MBTA deficit is on the horizon. Did the state miss its chance for a more permanent fix?
The T is once again warning of a financial shortfall on the horizon, but this time around, its push for more state funding will bump up against a tighter economic environment and a series of federal cuts affecting every corner.
Posted inEnergy
Next up on Beacon Hill: House leaders plan closed-door meetings on Healey’s energy affordability bill
The political pressure to lower energy prices in the Bay State, home to the third-highest electricity costs in the country and rising gas bills, has intensified and will likely continue to escalate in an election year for both Healey and the Legislature.
Posted inState Government
Massachusetts set out to modernize its unemployment insurance system. Then it hit a new low.
Massachusetts was the slowest state in issuing initial unemployment payments in the country between June and October.
Posted inTransportation
Keolis was once on thin ice over commuter rail concerns. Now, it’s a finalist for another lucrative MBTA contract.
Better on-time performance and major ridership milestones have boosted the outlook for commuter rail operator Keolis, which early in its tenure faced major scrutiny from Beacon Hill.