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New from CommonWealth Beacon |
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CLIMATE CHIEF: Gov. Maura Healey set a national standard when she appointed Melissa Hoffer to be the country’s first cabinet-level state climate chief. But as the Trump administration fights clean energy projects and utility prices balloon, how does Hoffer navigate the changing landscape? Jordan Wolman talked to three dozen sources to produce an incisive profile that asks: What exactly is Hoffer’s job? |
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COURT SUPLEX: A high-profile bid to revive rent control with a strict statewide cap cannot appear on the ballot in November, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled, because it contains language exempting religious properties and therefore improperly puts a matter of religion before voters. Chris Lisinski and Jennifer Smith unpack the decision that reshapes campaign season and upends negotiations about a legislative alternative. |
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CHILD CARE: A new state pilot program will allow some family child care providers to enroll up to 12 children if they have an “approved assistant,” up from 10 under current regulations. Alison Kuznitz reports for State House News Service. |
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A question has been swirling around some corners of the reform-the-Legislature movement this month: Why did a trio of groups supporting greater transparency, some of whom have previously taken Beacon Hill to task for its closed-door ways, support legislation that crusading state Auditor Diana DiZoglio dubbed a “dumpster fire”? |
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The answer has to do with the messy sausage-making details of legislation — details that in this case are perhaps not so much a bug as a feature of the bill designed to smooth its passage. |
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When House leaders announced plans for a controversial measure that would both curtail DiZoglio’s power to audit the Legislature and also subject lawmakers to public records requirements, they included statements of support from the ACLU of Massachusetts, the good-government group Common Cause, and the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association. Those written comments focused only on the records portion of the bill, not the audit sections. |
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But the statements caught some observers off guard, given that the legislation tied the two issues together, and muddied the debate over a path forward on issues that have roiled state government for years. Rep. Mike Connolly, who wound up voting against the proposal, even picked up the phone to call leaders at the ACLU and Common Cause to ask if they were endorsing the whole bill or just one segment of it. |
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Meanwhile, one of the leaders of the campaign pushing a ballot question to apply the public records law to the Legislature pointed out that House leaders did not approach her organization about the proposal, despite pitching it as a way to eliminate the need for a statewide vote. |
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“It was curious to me that those were the organizations whose opinions were solicited on this,” said Scotia Hille, executive director of Act on Mass, about the trio of groups that supported the House bill. “None of them are involved in the campaign.” |
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While endorsing the House’s public records reforms, the ACLU, Common Cause, and the newspaper publishers’ group are all staying silent on the arguably more controversial portion of the bill curtaining the audit-the-Legislature power voters gave to DiZoglio. |
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In the weeks following the vote, the ACLU clarified that it neither supports nor opposes anything related to auditing the Legislature. The civil rights group for years has avoided taking a position on DiZoglio’s underlying fight, and it does not have a stance on the provisions in the newly approved House bill that would permanently limit the scope of any legislative audit and bar any auditor from going to court to force Beacon Hill’s compliance. |
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“We were specifically asked by the House to weigh in on the right way to balance constitutionality, privacy, and transparency for the public records provisions of the bill,” Gavi Wolfe, legislative director for the ACLU of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “While we have not been engaged on the intragovernmental audit, it has been the subject of constitutional concerns raised by both advocates and scholars regarding separation of powers, and we don’t want the important expansion of the public records law to face similar delays.” |
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More from CommonWealth Beacon |
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NEW CODCAST: Juana Matias, Massachusetts’s new housing secretary, said that the state is on track to meet its housing goals amid a scramble to dig out of a major shortfall, she told Jennifer Smith in the most recent episode of The Codcast. |
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BALLOT MEASURE: The Supreme Judicial Court in a ruling Monday allowed a ballot measure that would overhaul Massachusetts elections by ushering in a single, “all-party” primary system to go before voters this fall, Chris Lisinski reports. |
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VACCINES: Massachusetts lawmakers will be weighing legislation seeking to eliminate a parent’s ability to claim a “religious exemption” from school vaccine mandates, writes Felice J. Freyer. |
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ECONOMY: A Coca-Cola plant in Northampton is expected to close by the end of the year, laying off 175 workers in the process amid ongoing concerns about the state’s economic competitiveness. Alison Kuznits at State House News Service has more details. |
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OPINION: Gov. Maura Healey should opt in to a federal scholarship tax credit program and put aside concerns that it could fund private school tuition. Not doing so would give up on $1.25 billion for Massachusetts students – and possibly cost far more, write Jorge Elorza, CEO of Democrats for Education Reform, and Timothy Murray, president and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. |
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CAMPBELL: After the state’s highest court tossed two ballot questions from consideration, Attorney General Andrea Campbell defended her office’s approach to certifying both measures, saying, “No one should expect us to get a perfect result.” (GBH News) |
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GUNS: Supporters of a ballot question seeking to repeal a 2024 gun control law see their campaign in Massachusetts – perhaps the nation’s bluest state – as a framework for action in the rest of the country. (The Boston Globe – paywall) |
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TALKS OVER: Tamara Small, the CEO of commercial real estate group NAIOP, made clear that she’s walking away from the negotiating table over a rent control compromise now that the statewide ballot question – and the leverage it provided proponents – is dead. (WBUR) |
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LAST CALL: Boston City Councilor Brian Worrell wants to permanently extend last call in the city until 3 a.m. following a summertime pilot linked to the World Cup, Tall Ships, and other events that have fueled a big tourism boost. (Boston Herald – paywall) |
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FRAUD CASE: Republican lieutenant governor candidate Anne Brensley said the paid signature-gatherer used by both her and fellow challenger Anne Manning Martin submitted signatures from people who had already died. (State House News Service – paywall) |
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