THE MASSACHUSETTS House on Wednesday passed a bill protecting Massachusetts abortion providers from adverse consequences by other states and requiring insurers to cover abortion care. Yet even with the Legislature’s swift action, health care advocates and Massachusetts’ US senators continued to push for additional steps to respond to the US Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe […]
House
Posted inTransportation
DeLeo calls off transpo tax debate – for now
HOUSE SPEAKER ROBERT DELEO is putting off a debate over tax legislation to fund transportation improvements until next year, throwing into doubt whether anything will happen in an area that advocates and business groups say is in desperate need of more funding. After expressing some uncertainty Wednesday about his plans to take up the tax […]
Posted inPolitics
In Mass., white pols dominate state and local politics
THE PREDOMINANCE OF white male politicians in positions of power in Massachusetts may be a symptom of the way elections are run, according to a report released Wednesday entitled MassForward. The report recommends addressing the lack of minority representation in state and local government through reforms big and small, from relieving legislative staffers from the often […]
Posted inPolitics
Former rep backs up Kaufman’s account
FORMER STATE REP Cleon Turner remembers it well. Jay Kaufman was in an aisle of the House chamber in 2013 venting about how Speaker Robert DeLeo had told him that if he didn’t vote for a controversial tax proposal, he would lose his chairmanship of the Revenue Committee. “The speaker let him know: ‘Well, we […]
Posted inPolitics
From insurgent to incumbent
TO SECURE A victory in last September’s Democratic primary against one of the most powerful members of the Legislature, Nika Elugardo ran a blistering campaign excoriating the entire House establishment, which she later analogized to a slave plantation. The Jamaica Plain Democrat hasn’t recanted her incendiary statements, but her tone has softened, and she has […]
Posted inPolitics
Senate trying to limit policy proposals in budget
THIS YEAR THE annual spending bill may be just that. While the budget process is only about halfway through, the leadership of both legislative branches appears determined to focus on appropriations and to limit the amount of policy provisions included in the fiscal 2020 budget. “We talked a lot about the fact that we’re trying […]
Posted inPolitics
House Progressives get some action on budget priorities
THE HOUSE’S 58-member Progressive Caucus scored some modest victories in its three priorities for the fiscal 2020 budget bill this week. The House ramped up funding in the three spending areas prioritized by the liberal caucus to more than $26 million above what Gov. Charlie Baker included in his budget proposal. Those priorities, which the […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Legislative income inequality
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE NOW THAT PAY RAISES for lawmakers have been finalized, House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Stanley Rosenberg will soon dole out the lucrative leadership and committee assignments that could allow some legislators to more than double their pay. That power in the hands of just two Democrats sparked some of […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
DeLeo rips Globe for ‘painful’ analogy
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HOUSE SPEAKER ROBERT DELEO lashed out at the Boston Globe Friday afternoon, asking for an apology after the broadsheet likened the House to a plantation. The article by Globe State House Bureau Chief Frank Phillips reviewed 2015 and forecast the year ahead for DeLeo, Senate President Stanley Rosenberg and Gov. Charlie […]
Posted inPolitics
Senate ups ante in battle with House
IN A SHARP escalation of the infighting gripping Beacon Hill, the Senate took a major step Wednesday toward remaking the legislative process by ending the longstanding system of joint committees of the two branches and establishing separate Senate committees to consider bills. The Senate voted 39-0 to instruct the Senate Rules Committee to develop plans […]