Middleboro Review 2: POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: 99 problems but a budget ain't one

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: 99 problems but a budget ain't one

ON TO THE NEXT ONE — There’s nothing like the threat of a delayed summer vacation to get warring Democratic lawmakers to lay down their arms.

A relative, if temporary, peace settled over the State House on Monday as lawmakers made quick work of the month-late state budget accord. The mood was light: House and Senate Ways and Means Chairs Aaron Michlewitz and Michael Rodrigues each quoted Jay-Z in presenting their deal.

By nightfall, legislators had also extended horse racing and simulcasting, directed $180 million in aid toward financially strained hospitals and set aside $20 million for central and western Massachusetts farmers who lost crops in last month's floods.

But the flurry of eleventh-hour activity belies the reality that the clashes between chambers that have dominated Beacon Hill as of late are hardly resolved.

Lawmakers are heading for the exits with millions of dollars in tax breaks for renters and businesses and credits for seniors and families still on the negotiating table for the second straight summer. The larger supplemental spending plans from which horse racing and hospital and farm aid were plucked remain in limbo.

“It’s just the volume of things before us,” Rodrigues told reporters at the State House. “We wanted to get the budget done first. So I’m sure we’ll get tax relief done as soon as possible.”

Top Democrats are also teeing up dueling gun bills for the fall. Senate President Karen Spilka told the Boston Herald that she wants to move forward with her own firearm regulations after the August recess. Such a move would again put the chambers at odds over gun legislation, after Speaker Ron Mariano’s attempt to fast-track the House’s firearms bill got jammed up in procedural drama.

But first, lawmakers will have to deal with any budget amendments or vetoes from Gov. Maura Healey, who now has 10 days to review the fiscal year 2024 spending plan.

“I’m grateful to Senate President Spilka, Speaker Mariano and the Legislature for putting forward a budget that includes investments that are urgently needed to make our state more competitive, affordable and equitable,” Healey said in a statement.

But she also nudged lawmakers to get back to their tax talks. “We also know that the job isn’t done until we pass tax relief to make our state more affordable for families and businesses,” the governor said.

GOOD TUESDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Just how late is the late state budget accord?

Not late enough to break records. This budget deal is on track to be the second-latest in 22 years, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation . And Massachusetts isn't the only state with a fiscal year 2024 budget still outstanding.

But the drawn-out negotiations add to an already sluggish start to the legislative session. So Playbook asked Rodrigues if he thinks the policies lawmakers packed into the budget bill make up for the relative lack of laws they’ve passed so far this year .

“Yeah, I mean, we have a lot in there,” Rodrigues said. But he also rejected the notion that lawmakers are being lethargic.

“I have not been slow. I've been in here every day, all day,” he said. “So it certainly hasn't been slow in Senate Ways and Means land.

The Massachusetts State House | Lisa Kashinsky/POLITICO

TODAY — Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll have no public events. Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su speaks at the NAACP convention at 11:45 a.m. at the BCEC. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu speaks at a Roxbury park opening at 1 p.m. and attends National Night Out events starting at 3:15 p.m.

Tips? Scoops? August recess book recommendations? Email us: kgarrity@politico.com and lkashinsky@politico.com .

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DATELINE BEACON HILL

— “Lawmakers Tap One-Time State Funds To Fuel Spending Boost,” by Sam Drysdale, Colin Young and Chris Lisinski, State House News Service (paywall): “The Legislature in its new annual budget agreement used about $1 billion from the state's new income surtax to push state spending up by more than $3.5 billion, but also tapped more than $600 million from other state funds and sources to fuel the spending surge.”

— “East-west rail not in state budget, but backers see other funding options,” by Jim Kinney, Springfield Republican: “The projects — $4 million for site selection and preliminary engineering in Palmer and $8.5 million for track work in Pittsfield — were included last month in MassDOT’s 2024-2028 Capital Investment Plan. … But [a Western Massachusetts Passenger Rail Commission] report remains overdue three months after its last meeting, raising fears the train plan is losing steam while there is federal money on the table.”

FROM THE HUB

— “Boston police watchdog agency at crossroads as directors leave, first sustained complaint rejected,” by Sean Cotter, Boston Globe: “Boston’s police watchdog agency broke new ground at its meeting this month: Two years after it was first created and after receiving more than 200 citizen complaints, the Office of Police Accountability and Transparency’s Civilian Review Board sustained an allegation against a police officer. Even then, the finding — which took issue with the department’s practice of publicly identifying children who have been killed — was almost immediately rejected by Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox.”

— “Boston Mayor Wu bans fossil fuels in new city-owned building construction,” by Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald: “In the latest push for her Green New Deal, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu signed an executive order that prohibits city-owned buildings from being constructed or renovated in a way that allows for the use of fossil fuels.”

— “Unionization efforts underway amid overhaul of Boston planning agency,” by Gintautas Dumcius, Dorchester Reporter: “As the Wu administration moves to revamp the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA), two unions — AFSCME Council 93 and SENA Local 9158 — have been seeking out BPDA staff members as part of unionization drives.”

— WATCH: Black voters helped propel Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House. But their support has softened over time. Harris, at the NAACP convention in Boston, told GBH’s Paris Alston and Jim Braude “that tells me that we have more work to do, which we are doing, which is to inform people about what we have achieved and to also thank them.” More from the interview .

— “After 10 hours of discussion, NAACP approves slate of policy priorities,” by Tiana Woodard, Boston Globe.

— “Combating violence in Boston a ‘top issue' for officials, mayor says,” by Mary Markos, NBC10 Boston.

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THE RACE FOR CITY HALL

— ENDORSEMENT CORNER: The Environmental League of Massachusetts Action Fund has endorsed Samantha Perlman for mayor of Marlborough. The group also endorsed Henry Santana for Boston at-large city councilor this week.

— “Petition drive to limit New Bedford City Council terms crashes,” by Arthur Hirsch, New Bedford Light.

MIGRANTS IN MASSACHUSETTS

— FEDERAL APPEAL: Cape and Islands District Attorney Robert Galibois is asking federal prosecutors to probe the migrant flights to Martha’s Vineyard orchestrated by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last September. “My office posits that, due to the interstate transportation of these migrants, this alleged scheme remains available for federal prosecution,” Galibois wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday.

— “State opens second welcome center for migrants and families experiencing homelessness,” by Sarah Betancourt, GBH News: “State officials on Monday opened the second welcome center for resident and migrant families experiencing homelessness on the campus of Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy. Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh said the center, the first to also accommodate an on-site shelter, is meant to serve the growing number of people seeking refuge in Massachusetts.”

— "Mass. lawmakers ask Biden administration to speed up migrant work permits," by Tal Kopan, Boston Globe: "Bay State lawmakers, led by Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, appealed to the Department of Homeland Security and its sub-agency, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, to expedite the process of issuing work permits so newly arriving immigrants are not stuck for months without sources of income, reliant on state services."

FROM THE 413

— “Easthampton city council expected to override mayor veto of crisis pregnancy center ordinance,” by Juliet Schulman-Hall, MassLive: “Almost a month after Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle vetoed a controversial ordinance passed by the city council related to crisis pregnancy centers, the city council is meeting again to discuss the ordinance. … Councilor Owen Zaret, who spearheaded the ordinance, said he expects the council to override the veto.”

— More: “Reproductive equity groups urge Easthampton council to override mayor’s veto on pregnancy center ordinance,” by Maddie Fabian, Daily Hampshire Gazette.

THE LOCAL ANGLE

— “Mass. women's colleges are at the forefront of trans admissions dilemma,” by Jenny Hellwig, Boston Business Journal: “Massachusetts is home to five women’s colleges, more than any other state in the U.S. … [O]nly six women’s colleges across the country have written policies accepting applications from transgender men. Three of those are located in Massachusetts: Mount Holyoke, Simmons University, and Bay Path University.”

— “Attorney general files public records lawsuit against Malden charter school,” by Adria Watson, Boston Globe: “Andrea Campbell’s office said the Malden-based charter school received 10 records requests between January and November of last year, but declined to provide the records. In response to the requests, Mystic Valley Regional officials claimed the school was exempt from the state’s public records law.”

HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH

SPOTTED — Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Frontier Security Strategies’ Ed Cash last night at the Parish Cafe in Back Bay and at Mr. Dooley’s Irish pub.

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

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