Middleboro Review 2: POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Procrastinating legislating

Monday, August 1, 2022

POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Procrastinating legislating

DEAL OR NO DEAL — In the end, it was tax relief that killed tax relief.

Lawmakers were unable to salvage their sweeping economic development bill before the end of formal sessions after learning last week that the state’s record-setting revenues could trigger a 1986 tax-cap law that would send roughly $3 billion back to taxpayers.

The development scrambled lawmakers’ plans to provide more than $1 billion in tax rebates and other forms of relief. It ultimately upended the entire $4 billion-plus bill that was poised to include millions of dollars for financially strained hospitals and reproductive health care, among other projects, and was also the vehicle for the potential return of happy hours.

Lawmakers won't know whether the obscure 1980s law will come into play until state Auditor Suzanne Bump certifies the state's revenues in September. But House Speaker Ron Mariano conceded this morning that it's "the law of the land."

House and Senate negotiators vowed to keep plugging away at the larger economic development bill — and its tax reforms — during informal sessions that start up again later this week and continue through the end of the year.

"Things can move," Mariano told reporters. "It's possible that we can pick away at this as we get more information about the financial state of the economy."

Gov. Charlie Baker said the state could afford both the one-time rebates and permanent tax code changes working through the Legislature and the credits for taxpayers under the 1980s law. But House and Senate lawmakers agreed it was financially prudent to hit pause.

"We had investments that are necessary for our hospitals, for our human service workforce, for early education," state Sen. Michael Rodrigues, his chamber's budget chief, told reporters. "We're disappointed, but we want to make sure we get it right."

Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka each notched wins on priority bills as negotiators struck deals on sports betting and mental health shortly before dawn. Mariano got most of what he wanted on sports betting — the bill allows collegiate betting except for on in-state schools, unless they're in tournaments, among other things. And Spilka got what lead Senate negotiator state Sen. Julian Cyr described as a "very substantive bill" that guarantees insurance covers yearly mental health exams, among other aims. Lawmakers also reached a deal on legislation to retool the state's gun laws in the wake of June's Supreme Court ruling expanding gun rights.

Votes on those are ongoing because, yes, the Legislature is still legislating even though formal sessions were supposed to end at midnight. Other bills that sailed through in the final days of formal lawmaking include an agreement to help grow and promote diversity in the state’s cannabis industry and a transportation bond bill . The latter included $275 million for East-West Rail and $400 million for MBTA fixes in response to a federal probe of the troubled transit system, but lost a low-income fare program.

Lawmakers ultimately clashed over Baker's attempt to tie his criminal dangerousness reform effort with lawmakers' move to make calls free for inmates. Senators passed a very-slimmed-down version of Baker's bill that creates a new misdemeanor for destroying a GPS device, expands the list of crimes that can trigger a dangerousness hearing and requires victims of those crimes or of abuse be notified before a person is released from custody. The House, which rejected Baker's amendment, has yet to respond to the Senate's.

One potential point of contention didn’t end up being one at all: Baker on Friday signed a law expanding access to abortions and protections for patients and providers. That includes the provision allowing the procedure after 24 weeks of pregnancy in cases of “grave fetal diagnosis” and not just “lethal” fetal anomaly, language that had become a sticking point between chambers after lawmakers had different ideas of what they could get past a self-described “pro-choice” Republican governor.

Massachusetts House Speaker Ron Mariano takes a call in the entryway to the House chamber on the final day of formal sessions on July 31, 2022. | Lisa Kashinsky/POLITICO

GOOD MONDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Let campaign season begin in earnest.

That’s partly the point of this mad-dash legislating at the end of July — to give lawmakers time to go campaign in their districts ahead of the September primary and November general election.

But first, get ready for a new batch of campaign finance reports in the statewide races. Up first is Andrea Campbell, who will report raising roughly $222,000 in July, according to her campaign, as she looks to stay ahead of her attorney general rivals in the money race. She'll join the Democrats for an AG debate hosted by GBH’s Jim Braude at 6:30 p.m. on YouTube and 7 p.m. on GBH 2.

TODAY — Attorney General Maura Healey is on GBH’s “Boston Public Radio” at 11 a.m. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu attends BPD National Night Out events beginning at 3 p.m. GOP governor/LG running mates Chris Doughty and Kate Campanale announce their “Plan for Western Massachusetts” at 2 p.m. in Springfield.

Tips? Scoops? Actually stayed up until the end of session? Email me: lkashinsky@politico.com .

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DATELINE BEACON HILL

— “Baker in take-it-or-leave-it position on climate bill,” by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: “The Legislature returned compromise climate legislation to Gov. Charlie Baker on Sunday and urged him to sign it into law even though he didn’t get all the changes he wanted. … Baker sent the Legislature’s original climate change bill back on Friday with 19 pages of amendments, including a call for a $750 million appropriation of federal and state funds for clean energy development. The governor’s amendment also neutered a proposal to allow 10 Massachusetts communities to ban fossil fuel infrastructure in most new construction, did away with a price cap on offshore wind procurements, and restored the way the Clean Energy Center board is selected. The Legislature responded by amending the governor’s amendment, rejecting his proposed $750 million appropriation and his neutering of the 10-community proposal, while accepting his language eliminating the price cap and a change in the Clean Energy Center Board.”

— “Mass. boosts anti-discrimination funding 78% to help clear backlog of complaints,” by Simón Rios and Todd Wallack, WBUR: “The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination will receive an additional $3.3 million in funding in this year's state budget, following a WBUR report detailing wait times of well over a decade. The money is in the budget Gov. Charlie Baker signed this week.”

— “‘Better off flipping a coin’: Beach advocacy organization wants state review of water quality flagging accuracy for ocean beaches,” by Chris Van Buskirk, MassLive: “A beach advocacy organization is calling on Massachusetts Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders to direct the state Department of Public Health to review water quality flagging accuracy for all ocean beaches in the state, arguing the system used to broadcast if water is safe to swim in is ‘fundamentally flawed.’”

— “Bill seeking homes for research dogs and cats headed for Baker's desk,” by Salem News staff: “Cats and dogs that have been subjects in research institutions and product testing facilities could have a second shot at life under a bill headed to Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk for his signature.”

FROM THE HUB

— “Boston’s new police commissioner tried to bring change to Ann Arbor. It wasn’t easy,” by Ivy Scott, Boston Globe: “[Michael] Cox, appointed by Mayor Michelle Wu on July 13 to be Boston’s next police commissioner, recalled last week in an interview at the Ann Arbor Justice Center that he had wanted a change of pace and imagined he might one day retire in the town where his son played college football years ago. His appointment was widely viewed as a win-win situation: a victory for the city to bring in a reform-minded leader with decades of experience, and a chance for Cox to facilitate meaningful change at the helm of a small department in a liberal town. Yet his three years in Ann Arbor would prove anything but problem-free.”

— “Demonstrators rally in Jamaica Plain against neo-Nazi group that protested children’s drag queen story hour,” by Laura Crimaldi, Boston Globe: “A week after a neo-Nazi organization demonstrated outside a historic mansion in Jamaica Plain that hosted drag queen story hour for children, about 150 people gathered Saturday afternoon to denounce the hate group and show support for the LGBTQ community.”

— “Wu: ‘My understanding’ no Boston Police officers were in Capitol during riot,” by Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: “Mayor Michelle Wu said the belief now is that no Boston Police officers entered the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riots, though the internal investigations continue a year and a half later. ‘My understanding is that there were no officers inside the building on that day,’ Wu said in response to questions on GBH’s Boston Public Radio .”

PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES

— “Federal transit regulators order ‘safety standdown’ at MBTA citing repeated runaway train incidents,” by Taylor Dolven, Boston Globe: “The Federal Transit Administration has ordered ‘an immediate safety standdown’ at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority affecting all workers who operate or secure out-of-service trains at the agency’s railyards amid ongoing issues with runaway trains. FTA chief safety officer Joe DeLorenzo said safety briefings with hundreds of employees need to happen immediately because the federal agency has ‘determined that a combination of unsafe conditions and practices exist such that there is a substantial risk of death or personal injury,’ according to a July 28 letter addressed to MBTA general manager Steve Poftak obtained by the Globe.”

YAHD SIGNS AND BUMPAH STICKAHS

— FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: The Rev. Jesse Jackson has endorsed the Rev. Miniard Culpepper for Second Suffolk state senator, per his campaign.

— “Western Massachusetts Sen. Eric Lesser struggles to rally the home team in his lieutenant governor bid,” by Stephanie Barry, Springfield Republican: “[Rep. Richard] Neal, who has worked closely with [Eric] Lesser pursuing passenger rail linking Springfield and Boston, was joined by a parade of other local elected officials who came out for the young state senator, including Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno; state Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, D-Springfield; state Rep. Bud Williams, D-Springfield, state Rep. Jake Oliveira, D-Ludlow (also running to succeed Lesser); Chicopee Mayor John Vieau; plus outgoing Governor’s Councilor Mary Hurley. … The showing was a welcome boost after a cluster of Springfield-based elected officials snubbed Lesser at the state Democratic convention and came out publicly for Lesser’s rival, Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll.”

— WATCH: Lesser on WBZ’s “Keller @ Large” discussing his lieutenant governor bid , super PACs in the Democratic primary, and his support for the so-called millionaires tax on the ballot this fall.

— ALSO WATCH: Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo on gun violence in the city , white supremacist groups and his political family on WCVB’s “On the Record.”

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PARTY POLITICS

— SOMERVILLE ROW: A group of Somerville ward committee chairs is calling for one of their own to resign after he proposed bylaw changes for Ward 7 officers that some interpreted as transphobic.

At issue is wording about elected officers in draft bylaws circulated for edits last week by Ward 7 chair Justin Klekota and obtained by Playbook: “The Chair and 1st Vice Chair shall be of different sexes (female, male, intersex, or transitioning). Sex shall be determined at birth or by assignment.”

Members of the city’s LGBTQ community, Democratic activists and some city councilors and representatives, including Ward 7 committee member and Somerville City Councilor Judy Pineda Neufeld and state Rep. Christine Barber , condemned the proposed language as offensive to the transgender community and called on Klekota to apologize and change it to be inclusive.

Klekota initially said on Twitter that the “Democratic Party continues to be proud as it strives to embrace greater diversity in language and action and rejects the misinformation being spread by extremists anywhere.” Klekota later said that as a member of the LGBTQ community himself, he is “committed to gender diversity & diversity in all its forms. I look forward to working with the ward committee to adopt the most inclusive language possible & apologize if earlier bylaw rough drafts fell short of our goal of inclusivity.”

But other Somerville ward committee chairs are now calling on Klekota to step down from both the Ward 7 committee and the Democratic State Committee over the bylaw wording and accusing him of blocking some activists and local elected officials on Twitter since the kerfuffle began. Klekota appeared to address that on Twitter , saying that “due to safety concerns, I need a pause in this traffic." He also decried the "misinformation" and "harassing tweets" he says are spreading online.

Klekota declined to share the latest version of the bylaws with Playbook ahead of when they’re expected to be finalized in mid-August, but said “we are trying to find ways to make sure women are not excluded from party leadership, while preventing anyone from being misgendered and that wording has been very difficult.”

MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS

— “Berkshire Mall sells for $8 million. Cannabis mini-farms are planned for former Sears and Macy's stores,” by Aina de Lapparent Alvarez and Larry Parnass, Berkshire Eagle: “A network of indoor cannabis farms is poised to replace long-gone commerce at former anchor stores at the Berkshire Mall.”

ROE FALLOUT

— “After Roe v. Wade, more college students want contraception vending machines on campus,” by Katie Mogg, Boston Globe: “A Northeastern University student group focused on reproductive justice has petitioned the school to install a 24/7, on-campus Plan B vending machine that would offer a generic version of what is known as the morning after pill. As of Monday, 138 students had signed the petition.”

THE LOCAL ANGLE

— “Mass Audubon has ‘no plans’ to change name over naturalist’s ties to slavery,” by Camille Caldera, Boston Globe: “At least three organizations that bear the name of acclaimed avian artist John James Audubon have opted to reject their namesake because of his ties to slavery. But officials at the local conservation organization Mass Audubon say there are ‘no plans’ for such a change.”

— “Arizona election official threatened with bomb in 2021; Massachusetts man arrested for hoax, feds say,” by Jackson Cote, MassLive: “Federal authorities arrested a Massachusetts man this week who they say made a bomb threat in 2021 to an election official in Arizona, one of the hotly contested states of the 2020 presidential election that former Republican President Donald Trump lost.”

James W. Clark was arrested Friday in Falmouth, Massachusetts, where he lives. The 38-year-old man is accused of sending a message containing a bomb threat to an election official who works at Democratic Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’ office, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

— “Everett lawsuits between mayor, paper, city clerk ramp up,” by Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: “The intra-city feud between the Everett mayor, city clerk and local newspaper has ratcheted up a few more notches as the mayor now alleges that the paper’s publisher says he simply made up lies about him.”

— IN MEMORIAM: “Celtics legend Bill Russell, towering champion in Boston, dies at 88,” by John Powers, Boston Globe.

HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH

SPOTTED — at PR guru George Regan’s wedding to Elizabeth Akeley on Saturday at Nauticus Marina in Osterville: Gov. Charlie Baker, who officiated; Sen. Ed Markey, Reps. Lori Trahan and Stephen Lynch; Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, state Treasurer Deb Goldberg, Secretary of State Bill Galvin, Boston City Council President Ed Flynn , UMass President Marty Meehan and former Boston Police Commissioner William Gross, who were ushers; Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria, Suffolk County Register of Deeds Stephen Murphy, Cape & Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz, Norfolk County Treasurer Michael Bellotti, former ambassador and Sen. Scott Brown and his wife, New Hampshire congressional candidate Gail Huff Brown; Mashpee Town Manager Rodney Collins, former Rep. Bill Delahunt , former state House Speaker Robert DeLeo, former Boston/New York/Los Angeles police head Bill Bratton, who was best man; Patriots owner Bob Kraft, who did a reading during the ceremony; the Boston Globe’s Shirley Leung, Jon Chesto, Joan Vennochi, Beverly Beckham, Larry Edelman; the Boston Herald’s Joe Dwinell and Boston Magazine’s Chris Vogel. Pic … Another pic .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Boston City Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune, Jehuda Reinharz and Asher Perez.

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