This week on The Codcast, we dive into Gov. Maura Healey’s “Gateway to Pre-K” agenda. By the end of 2026, her administration declared that every family of a 4-year-old in the state’s 26 Gateway Cities would have the opportunity – at low or no cost – to enroll their child in a preschool program that prepares them for kindergarten. But local providers say they won’t get there.
Taxes and Budget Issues
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 inThe Codcast
‘Administrative fat’ or ‘amnesia’: How much should we spend on the MBTA?
This week on The Codcast, we dive into a long-running debate: is the significant growth in state funding for the T an acknowledgment that good public transit requires big public investment, or is it a reflection of out-of-control spending? CommonWealth Beacon senior reporter Chris Lisinski moderates a discussion with former Transportation Secretary Jim Aloisi and Pioneer Institute senior fellow Charlie Chieppo.
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 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 inThe Codcast
Unpacking the governor’s state budget proposal
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon senior reporter Chris Lisinski hosts Viviana Abreu-Hernandez of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center and Jim Stergios of the Pioneer Institute for a discussion about Gov. Maura Healey’s fiscal year 2027 state budget proposal.
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 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 inState Government
What to expect when you’re expecting (legislative action)
Major policy issues like housing affordability, primary care access, and utility bills loom over Beacon Hill in 2026, when voters could also decide a dozen ballot questions and pick statewide elected officials.
Posted inState Government
Our top five Beacon Hill stories of 2025
The Democrats who control the levers of power in Massachusetts spent most of the year fretting about upheaval from the federal government and preparing for more expansive action down the line.
Posted inTransportation
Talk of new transportation dollars? Bring it on, says Senate chair
Brendan Crighton, the Senate’s point person on transportation issues, wants his colleagues to have hard conversations about new transportation-related levies even if the topic might be politically fraught.
Posted inState Government
Amid shaky economy, tax cut proposal draws heightened scrutiny
Already buffeted by economic pressures and federal funding cuts, top Democrats are beginning to warn that major financial upheaval would follow if voters approve a pair of tax-reform measures en route to the 2026 ballot.
Posted inEnvironment
Mass. home insurer of last resort sees spike in enrollment
Massachusetts’s home insurance market, officials and experts stressed, is in a much better place than other parts of the country. Still, signs of change are emerging.
Posted inState Government
Legislature downshifts into holiday mode after short burst of activity
What reached Gov. Maura Healey’s desk, and what’s still on hold until 2026 now that the Legislature is done with major business for the year?
Posted inBallot Questions
Cutting taxes, recriminalizing recreational pot, scrutinizing Beacon Hill: record number of ballot questions in the mix for 2026
Voters could have up to a dozen statewide ballot questions to decide in 2026, ranging from legislative transparency to marijuana policy to gun safety, following the latest big hurdle in the biennial process.
Posted inGovernment
DTA: Some food aid recipients will see benefits drop to ‘zero’
“I’m trying to do the best I can to manage the situation,” Healey said. She added, “No state can come forward and replace what the federal government has taken away.”
Posted inGovernment
Municipalities crank up the heat with report warning of financial ‘perfect storm’
A new report from the Massachusetts Municipal Association could put more pressure on Beacon Hill to reconsider stalled reforms amid bigger-picture economic uncertainty and a persistent “affordability” debate.
Posted inHealth Care
HHS chief Walsh stepping down, Mahaniah named successor
After a more than two-year tenure in which she charted the state’s path through the tumultuous Steward Health Care collapse, Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh will step down.
Posted inTransportation
Federal funding for I-90 Allston project in jeopardy
The massive package of tax and spending cuts President Trump signed into law on July 4 contains a provision that eliminates a federal transportation grant program that set aside $335 million last year for the nearly $2 billion I-90 Allston highway project in Boston.