Days after the SJC ruled on the MBTA Communities Act, proponents consider the way the housing law was pitched and debated. Greg Reibman, president of the Charles River Regional Chamber, and Luc Schuster, executive director of Boston Indicators at the Boston Foundation.
Courts
Posted inHousing
SJC says attorney general can enforce MBTA Communities Act, but state must rework regs
The state housing office must re-issue its MBTA Communities law guidelines, after the Supreme Judicial Court held that the attorney general can enforce the sweeping housing law as long as the guidelines are promulgated correctly.
Posted inMedia
The top ten CommonWealth Beacon stories of 2024
ALL ROADS lead to home, or perhaps the nearest T station. Housing and transportation are both issues that roiled policymakers on and off Beacon Hill, as state officials sought to navigate crises on both fronts by passing a multibillion housing bond bill and debating ways to fund transportation as the MBTA faces a yawning budget […]
Posted inEducation
US Supreme Court passes on Boston exam school challenge
For the second time this year, the US Supreme Court opted against weighing in on policies that use geographic proxies for race to allow more Black and Latino students to enroll in competitive high schools.
Posted inCourts
SJC tosses warrantless secret video recording
Considering the case of a man secretly recorded by an officer’s cell phone without a warrant, the Supreme Judicial Court concluded that because Boston police made an illegal audio recording, the video captured alongside it should also be kept out of evidence under the wiretap statute.
Posted inCourts
SJC: $70,000 engagement ring must be returned to giver if wedding called off
“We now join the modern trend adopted by the majority of jurisdictions that have considered the issue and retire the concept of fault in this context; where, as here, the planned wedding does not ensue and the engagement is ended, the engagement ring must be returned to the donor regardless of fault,” Justice Dalila Wendlandt wrote for a unanimous court.
Posted inCourts
Tracking cookies doesn’t violate wiretap law, SJC rules
The 1960s-era Wiretap Act prohibits covertly intercepting communications, but the majority of Supreme Judicial Court justices concluded Thursday that use of popular AdTech tools that monitored a Revere resident’s browsing on the New England Baptist Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center websites doesn’t fall under that definition.
Posted inHousing
Lawmakers say they meant for MBTA Communities law to have teeth
“What I found interesting was what the case was not about,” zoning expert and consultant Amy Dain said on The Codcast. “The justices and the lawyers in the courtroom were not debating whether there’s a housing crisis. “
Posted inCourts
Post-Bruen decision, everyone has to be a gun-law historian
The decision has opened almost all aspects of the state’s gun safety law regime to challenge and sent lawyers scrambling for history books. As recent Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decisions have shown, if a policy is not tied to a founding-era law or practice – a so-called historical analogue – it likely will not survive judicial scrutiny.
Posted inHousing
SJC raises questions about MBTA Communities Act penalties
There seemed to be a mixed reception to the arguments on Monday, with some justices inclined to parse legal minutiae that could support a narrow ruling on technical grounds. Others appeared compelled by a broader public policy argument that could allow wide latitude for the state to enforce laws designed to address the crippling housing shortage.