In 2013, state lawmakers gave the MBTA the go-ahead to raise fares at predictable intervals in order to boost its bottom line and put riders on notice about the timing and the size of fare increases they could expect. The move was seen as a way for the authority to tamp down the criticism from riders that other fare increases evoked in the past.

Legislative leaders have always stressed that the MBTA has to do a better job of generating its own revenues, so that transit officials don’t come caterwauling back to them every year about the system’s latest fiscal catastrophe.

The MBTA gets about one-third of its revenues from fares. The MBTA is considering fare increases for fiscal 2017, which would go into effect on July 1, 2016.

Yet the winter 2015 collapse appears to have introduced a new caveat to the 2013 transportation finance law: the MBTA shouldn’t increase fares until it makes demonstrable improvements in service.

State Rep. James Miceli told the Lowell Sun that he hasn’t seen any proposals to fix the deficit aside from fare hikes (Actually, some of those other proposals, such as real estate and parking plans, can be found in these detailed MBTA documents.) The Wilmington Democrat added that he won’t support a fare increase until the MBTA demonstrates that it can improve service.

Miceli is following the lead of House Speaker Robert DeLeo, who said last week that the MBTA should increase fares only as a last resort. Yet the MBTA is staring at a $242 million deficit for fiscal 2017. One of the keys to erasing that deficit so that the authority does not have to come back to the Legislature looking for cash is raising fares.

Setting up a war of words with the MBTA over the fare increase issue is politics at its finest. No one likes fare increases. But using the tired old T to score political points with voters by linking fare hikes to performance issues is a great election strategy: The MBTA’s winter performance and Election 2016 are two of the next big events on the political calendar.

Even though the authority has scarfed up every third rail available for purchase in the USA, there will be winter performance issues. There may be fewer, there may be more, but New England winters bring delays and shutdowns on mass transit. Slowly upgrading the MBTA’s infrastructure after decades of neglect won’t change that; only a mild winter can.

State lawmakers can bluster about fare increases, but the MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board has the ultimate authority to vote fare increases up or down. With discussions about the 2017 MBTA budget already in progress, fare increases are playing a key role in that calculus.

Gov. Charlie Baker, the unseen hand behind the control board’s deliberations, is a better barometer of where the MBTA fare conversation is headed. “I’m not going to rule them in or out at this point. I certainly think they should be a part of the conversation,” Baker told WCVB’s On the Record. “It may be that the right thing for the T to do is to lower some fares and raise others depending upon traffic patterns and who’s riding them and all the rest.”

The prospect of radical changes in MBTA fare policies to help trim the 2017 deficit is a more interesting conversation than the same worn out ones that state lawmakers want to have.

—GABRIELLE GURLEY

BEACON HILL

The Globe reports that federal prosecutors are not through with former probation chief John O’Brien, forcing him to testify several times over the last six months before a grand jury probing legislators’ involvement in hiring schemes at the agency.

Package stores are pushing legislation that would allow them to sell booze by mail order. (Salem News)

More than 80 percent of the $411 million the state has given out in film tax credits has been sold off to companies and individuals looking to reduce their tax liability because the film production receiving the benefit did not owe enough taxes to use the credits against. (Boston Herald)

A decision on whether to appeal a recent court decision handing former House speaker Tom Finneran back his pension will likely come on Thursday when the state retirement board meets. (Boston Herald)

The Legislature’s public health committee will consider a right-to-die bill Tuesday that would allow terminally ill patients to obtain a prescription for drugs to end their life. (Boston Herald)

Lawmakers are considering tax breaks for vets seeking housing. (Gloucester Times)

The House plans to address the net metering solar cap before the break. (State House News)

Ralph D. Gants, the chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, gives his state-of-the-courts address. (CommonWealth)

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

A crackdown on landlords not in compliance with building codes and other regulations is paying dividends in Lowell. (The Sun)

The New York Times focuses on the struggles for Lawrence and the recall effort aimed at Mayor Daniel Rivera, the fifth mayor to be targeted for recall in the city in 25 years, though none have yet made the ballot. The piece features some observations by MassINC research director Ben Forman.

CASINOS/GAMBLING

The Globe reports that MGM Resorts International‘s recent trimming back of its Springfield casino project could bring the enterprise close to the $500 million minimum mandated level of construction spending the state established for any casino.

Chip Tuttle, chief operating officer of Suffolk Downs, says part of the problem for the fantasy sports industry is there’s no one leading the charge in telling their story. (Bulldog Reporter)

The New York Times and PBS’s Frontline run the second in their series on gambling, focusing on how the Internet has spawned an offshore betting industry that thrives in the US despite a federal law that was designed to stem its growth.

WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

The Obama administration calls for limiting the time students spend taking standardized tests. (Governing)

An analysis by the New York Times of traffic stops in North Carolina, as well as a half dozen other states, show blacks are vastly more likely to be pulled over by police for traffic violations and are more prone to be subjected to searches and violence than whites.

US Rep. James McGovern, nearing 20 years in office, has no plans on going anywhere. (Telegram & Gazette)

ELECTIONS

Status quo gets the nod as the Patriot Ledger endorses Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch for reelection while its GateHouse sister paper The Enterprise backs Brockton Mayor Bill Carpenter.

The Bush family gathers in Houston to rescue Jeb. (Politico)

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Boston internet company Brightcove is helping companies ensure that online ads bypass blockers that users have put in place to avoid seeing ads. (Boston Globe)

A new study says baby boomers are expected to give $6.6 trillion in charitable donations and another $1.4 trillion in volunteer services over the next 20 years. (Chronicle of Philanthropy)

EDUCATION

A Sunday Herald editorial says it’s encouraging that state education commissioner Mitchell Chester is now calling for a revamped MCAS test rather than outright adoption of the PARCC test, but the paper still isn’t happy that the Common Core standards are now the basis for any state test.

The MetroWest Daily News calls for lifting the charter school cap.

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

A Globe Spotlight report on Sunday looks at the controversial practice of surgeons being concurrently involved in two operations, a practice that is coming under scrutiny after a prominent Massachusetts General Hospital orthopedic surgeon accused the hospital of sacrificing patient safety by continuing to allow it. (Boston Globe)

Tens of thousands of people with low income who did not have to file tax returns are at risk of losing their health insurance under the Affordable Care Act which mandates recipients of government subsidies file returns to prove eligibility. (New York Times)

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

Haverhill Mayor James Fiorentini signs an agreement with Northampton-based Hampshire Power offering residents a steep cut in their rates. (Eagle-Tribune)

Kinder Morgan opponents dig in for a fight against the company’s proposed $5 billion natural gas pipeline. (Eagle-Tribune)

With no promised federal storage site for nuclear waste, plant owners are tapping funds paid by customers earmarked for decommissioning to build on-site storage facilities, raising concerns over whether the money will be there when the facilities close down. (Associated Press)

Wheelabrator Technologies wants to have a discussion with officials in Saugus about the future of its ash landfill. (The Item)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

A Hyde Park family is trying to come to terms with the fatal shooting of a beloved “family man,” allegedly at the hands of a favorite niece. (Boston Herald) The Globe reports that the niece had developed a drug problem.