STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A DAY AFTER VOTING to raise taxes and fees by as much as $600 million per year, the Massachusetts House on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a roughly $18 billion bond bill authorizing spending on transportation projects and infrastructure over 10 years. Before adopting the bill on a 150-1 vote, the House without […]
Michael P. Norton I State House News Service
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
MTF projects $900m funding gap in FY21
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WITH A SLOWDOWN in tax revenues expected and spending pressures escalating, Gov. Charlie Baker and the Legislature will grapple with a gap between likely revenues and spending of nearly $900 million, according to a new report. The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation on Wednesday predicted the upcoming budget cycle will differ significantly from […]
Posted inPolitics
Lawmakers cram a lot in at the end
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MASSACHUSETTS LAWMAKERS wrapped up work Wednesday on bills calling for long-term K-12 education investments, requiring motorists to use only hands-free technology while driving, and banning flavored tobacco products. Legislators tried to come up with a late-night deal allocating a more than $1 billion fiscal 2019 surplus, but House and Senate Democrats […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Baker proposes $175m of tax relief
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE REPUBLICAN GOV. CHARLIE BAKER is pushing a new tax relief proposal that his administration says will benefit 1 million taxpayers with dependents. In a $648 million spending bill that allocated surplus fiscal 2019 revenue, Baker is proposing to double the income tax exemption for dependents from $1,000 to $2,000. The tax break would […]
Posted inPolitics
Ranked-choice may be headed to ballot
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE SUPPORTERS OF RANKED CHOICE VOTING plan to file an initiative petition by next week to put the voting reform on the 2020 ballot in case they are unable to advance it through the Legislature before then. “While we will continue advocating for the successful passage of two ranked choice voting bills […]
Posted inPolitics
Unions look for another win with Janus bill
HOUSE SPEAKER ROBERT DeLEO will bring a bill to the floor for a vote this week that would allow unions to charge non-members fees for certain services, a response to the Supreme Court ruling last summer that choked off an important source of money for organized labor. An affirmative vote in the House would not […]
Posted inTransportation
Baker: New taxes not needed to address congestion
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE FACING BLAME from Democrats for mounting public frustration with clogged roads and public transit problems, Gov. Charlie Baker touted his administration’s plan to pour more money into transportation over the next five years than “in any five-year period outside of the Big Dig,” but said the state doesn’t need to raise […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Baker: My hands were tied on compressor station
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER said Monday he “basically had no choice” but to approve air quality permits for a natural gas compressor station in Weymouth given the federal rules governing the project and results of a state-authorized review. The Baker administration on Friday approved the permits for the Enbridge Energy project, a […]
Posted inPolitics
DeLeo acknowledges drafting error in Grid bill
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AS THE HOUSE on Dec. 6 passed legislation authorizing wage benefits for locked out utility workers, House Speaker Robert DeLeo announced that the utility responsible for locking out its workers would be on the hook for any related costs under the bill. That’s still the intent, but it appears that’s not […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
Wind firms pay $135m each for offshore tracts
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THREE LEASE WINNERS have each agreed to pay $135 million to gain access to ocean tracts off the coast of Massachusetts where they may someday build commercial-scale wind energy installations. The results of Thursday’s federal government auction of 390,000 acres were announced Friday by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The […]