The COVID-19 pandemic may have increased the urgency of business before the state Legislature, but the 2021 legislative session has started at its usual slow pace.
Lawmakers quickly passed a climate change bill – basically a holdover from last session when they passed the bill too late to override a gubernatorial veto. Otherwise, a month after new lawmakers were sworn into office, legislative leaders are largely sorting out rules and assignments and filing bills.
Traditionally, committee assignments are made mid-February, and lawmakers appear to be on a similar track. While they have not yet made those assignments, House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka this week announced three new joint committees: COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management; Racial Equity, Civil Rights, and Inclusion; and Advanced Information Technology, the Internet, and Cybersecurity.
The committees highlight lawmakers’ shifting focus. They must respond to the ongoing pandemic, work that was done last year primarily through ad hoc committees. They are facing pressure to address racial equity amid a national reckoning on race precipitated by the killing of George Floyd combined with the unequal impact COVID-19 has had on communities of color. Mariano and Spilka explained the third committee by saying the pandemic, and national and world events, “has made very clear the importance of connectivity and technology in the twenty-first century.” That committee will focus on internet and telecommunications issues. (The committee that previously dealt with telecommunications also oversees energy and utility policy.)
The new committees will also give lawmakers more opportunities to earn the stipends that come with committee leadership.
On the rules front, there was going to be debate over House rules, with the progressive group Act on Mass pushing for more transparency. But Mariano decided to postpone that debate six months and re-adopt emergency rules crafted during the pandemic.
The Senate on Thursday released proposed Senate and joint rules, which senators will vote on next Thursday. The joint rules must be adopted by both bodies, so will not go into effect until the House votes.
Senators are proposing some changes. Regarding transparency, the joint and Senate rules would make committee testimony public upon request, and would post committee votes on the legislative website. The Senate rules would also keep the text of withdrawn amendments online.
Black staffers on Beacon Hill have been asking for improved workplace conditions. The Senate rules impose mandatory implicit bias training for members and staff and mandatory anti-harassment and bystander intervention training. A provision would require committees to “make reasonable efforts to promote the diversity of expert witness panels.”
In a nod to the pandemic, the rules lay out procedures for remote hearings and broadcasting formal sessions.
Sen. Joan Lovely, who chairs the Senate’s temporary Rules Committee, told State House News Service that the Senate did not consider delaying its debate until July. Deciding on permanent rules now, she said, “It gives us stability, it gives the members opportunity to make recommendations, especially based on what we’ve just been through in the last 12 months.”
SHIRA SCHOENBERG
FROM COMMONWEALTH
Nursing homes may be turning the corner on COVID as deaths at the facilities are no longer the driving force behind coronavirus fatalities.
It was smooth sailing for Boston Mayor Marty Walsh at his confirmation hearing in Washington for labor secretary.
Attorney General Maura Healey says Massachusetts will receive $13.2 million from a McKinsey opioid settlement. The company, without admitting wrongdoing, advised Purdue on how to “turbocharge” Oxycontin sales.
House and Senate leaders plan to create three more committees that will produce more paid leadership positions that members can fill.
Running the numbers: With COVID cases and the number of high-risk communities falling, Gov. Charlie Baker loosens capacity restrictions for restaurants, stores, and casinos. Vaccination numbers remain confusing.
Opinion: Judy Drench of 826 Boston, a youth writing and publishing organization, says there are many Amanda Gormans out there.
FROM AROUND THE WEB
BEACON HILL
State Rep. Jack Patrick Lewis, the Museum of Science, and scientists announce the filing of a bill to name the Podokesaurus holyokensis as Massachusetts’ state dinosaur. The carnivorous dinosaur, whose name means “swift-footed lizard of Holyoke,” was discovered near Mt. Holyoke. (MassLive)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh’s quick move to appoint new Police Commissioner Dennis White with no wide-ranging search or public process differs significantly from how other cities approach such a big hire. (Boston Globe) Lots of questions are now being asked about the lack of vetting of White, who was put on leave just two days after his swearing in when the Globe asked the Walsh administration about a 1999 allegation of domestic violence. (Boston Globe) What a mess Walsh is leaving behind, says Joe Battenfeld. (Boston Herald)
A Berkshire Eagle editorial applauds Lee officials for not opposing a plan to dump contaminated soil generated by the Housatonic River cleanup in a quarry in the town.
The Cambridge City Council joins Somerville in voting to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms and all controlled substances. (WBUR)
HEALTH/HEALTH CARE
Worcester State University will host a vaccine supersite. (Telegram & Gazette)
Johnson & Johnson applies for emergency use authorization for its single dose COVID-19 vaccine.
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
Vice President Harris cast the tie-breaking vote at 5:30 am today as Democrats passed a budget measure in an all-night Senate session that paves the way for adoption of the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion pandemic relief legislation. (Washington Post)
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene apologizes for some, but not all, of her previous statements, but is nevertheless removed by her colleagues from the committees she had been serving on. (NPR)
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
State officials received more than 1,400 complaints last year about businesses not complying with COVID-19 regulations. Just 25 resulted in citations, 159 got warnings, and another 56 received cease and desist orders from local or state health boards. (Eagle-Tribune)
EDUCATION
Enrollment of black and Latino students plummets at Massachusetts community colleges, a striking development that seems to underscore the disruption caused by the pandemic. (Boston Globe)
Former Falmouth High School students, including one who was criminally charged and suspended for 10 months before those charges were dismissed, question racial disparity in discipline. (Cape Cod Times)
Hanover students and parents say they were shut out of the decision to send students back for full-day, in-person instruction four days a week, which was approved by the School Committee and teachers’ union this week. (Patriot Ledger)
Worcester pastors raise concerns about plans to adopt comprehensive sex education in schools. (Telegram & Gazette)
TRANSPORTATION
The MBTA won’t detail the budget savings from service cuts it has put in place that the agency said were needed initially because of failing revenue and now to better match ridership and service levels. . (Boston Globe)
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Salem may be used as a site to help build offshore wind turbines. (Salem News)
Members of Congress from Massachusetts and New Hampshire are seeking additional federal money to protect the Merrimack River from sewage discharges. (Eagle-Tribune)
The town of Sandwich is hoping the federal government can help find a permanent solution to beach erosion after the collapse of three homes. (GBH)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS
State courts will decide what will happen to the boats owned by the disgraced fishing mogul nicknamed “The Codfather.” (Associated Press)
A Worcester police officer caught on video slapping a man on a stretcher is suspended. (MassLive)
A state trooper is on unpaid leave after a drunk driving incident that injured a Holyoke police officer. (MassLive)
A pizza delivery driver from North Adams faces charges for entering the US Capitol during the violent riots in Washington on January 6. (MassLive)
Edgar Bowser, who killed a Shrewsbury police officer in 1975, is granted medical parole due to cancer. (MassLive)