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New 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 sat down with 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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The nation’s first cabinet-level state climate chief learned to shoot a shotgun before she could drive, started her career working as a public high school teacher in San Francisco, and raises goats on her nearly 18-acre property smack dab in the middle of Massachusetts — and has the homemade yogurt to prove it. |
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Melissa Hoffer is the force behind Gov. Maura Healey’s climate agenda, or what’s left of it, anyway. |
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Hoffer was plucked from a plum spot in the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency in Washington to return to the Bay State in a never-before-seen role to lead a hard-charging effort catapulted by a wave of momentum to accelerate Massachusetts’s fight against climate change. When Healey first took office in 2023, such an undertaking looked like it would be good for the planet, it would be good for the economy, and it would be good politics. |
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If the saying is true that a dream job is one that you craft for yourself, consider Hoffer in a pretty good spot: Hoffer’s role came about through a “mutual envisioning” between herself and Healey, she said in a wide-ranging interview with CommonWealth Beacon. |
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“What this role is really supposed to do,” Hoffer said, “is catalyze, open doors, remove friction, connect the dots, so that we have a more multidisciplinary team working to solve problems that are inherently multidisciplinary.” |
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Yet for a portfolio as sweeping as Hoffer’s, it is worth examining whether she was set up for success with the structure of the job. The executive order creating the climate chief position provided Hoffer an almost-untapped well to mine, with a mission to “marshal all resources and authority available to the Governor and the executive department in support of advancing the Commonwealth’s climate innovation, mitigation, adaptation, and resilience policies.” |
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In practice, that’s meant Hoffer has bounced around state government, picking her spots in something of a grab-bag attempt to nudge the slow bureaucratic wheels toward action on climate change. As she works to bring agencies together, it remains unclear what the status is of her No. 1 priority — an analysis of what it will cost to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. |
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For Hoffer in particular, what a difference three and a half years makes. |
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Nearly half of Hoffer’s time as climate chief has coincided with the second term of President Trump, who immediately threw out the state’s lofty offshore wind plans when he returned to the White House two years later. Rising gas and electric bills have prompted a fierce consumer backlash and led Democrats across states to scale back climate efforts. |
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All of that has played out in Massachusetts, where a clean energy future is challenged by struggling major renewable energy projects and rising utility bills that are driving voter angst. The governor displays little hesitation sprinkling in her desire to see more natural gas enter the state as part of her “all of the above” approach to energy — while the gas industry has shown that it views Healey as persuadable and a new pipeline expansion proposal looms. A constrained state budget brought by deep federal funding cuts has put environmental programs at risk. And the fact that the ambitious climate commitments signed into law by Healey’s Republican predecessor are now teetering does not appear to be among Healey’s top priorities as she runs for reelection, standing in contrast to the 5,000-word section of her 2022 campaign platform devoted to climate issues. |
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In the middle of all of that is Hoffer, a lawyer who worked in the state attorney general’s office and is exceedingly careful in characterizing the current dynamic. |
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“When we're talking about homegrown energy, reliable energy, job creation here in Massachusetts, those are things that are coming from the clean energy sector,” she said. “So I think that's what you're hearing [Healey] say. It is also true, as a practical matter, that we have two systems running alongside each other right now, and we are trying to shift over to a clean energy system. We can't do it overnight.” |
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“So, you might hear us talk about it a little bit differently,” she conceded. “But as far as, are we slowing down in advancing the pace of what we're doing? No.” |
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More from CommonWealth Beacon |
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TAX SLAP-DOWN: The state’s highest court on Thursday tossed a measure from the November ballot that sought to trim the income tax rate by one-fifth, stopping in its tracks a bruising, months-long political fight that would have carried major implications for both household budgets and public services. Chris Lisinski and Jennifer Smith have the details. |
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THINK SMALL: A new report from the Pioneer Institute says there is a mismatch between need and supply on smaller homes, and that’s causing issues for young families and seniors who would like to downsize. Jennifer Smith digs in. |
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OPINION: In a blistering pushback, House Speaker Ron Mariano says State Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s attempt to audit the Legislature may be an effective “political strategy,” but “don’t mistake her performative attacks for a genuine attempt to reform the system for the better.” |
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OPINION: Recent federal reviews have raised questions about Massachusetts’s oversight of special education services, writes Ben Tobin, a board member of the special education advocacy group SPEDWatch. Those findings, he said, should serve as an opportunity for reflection and reform rather than defensiveness. |
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EV: Uber and Lyft drivers in Massachusetts are pushing back on a proposed new rule that would push more of them to use electric vehicles. (GBH News) |
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TAXES: South Hadley residents could vote on a $3.5 million property tax increase this fall after voters rejected $9 million and $11 million increases earlier this year. (Daily Hampshire Gazette) |
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AI: A group of Boston activists is planning a July conference with the pope to discuss the dawning intersection of artificial intelligence and nuclear war. (The Boston Globe – paywall) |
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COURTS: A judge opted not to extend a temporary harassment prevention order against Brockton Mayor Moises Rodrigues. (GBH News) |
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ENERGY: A Virginia developer is looking to bring battery storage projects to six Massachusetts towns. (Boston Business Journal -- paywall) |
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