SHANNON O’BRIEN, the former state treasurer and newly appointed chair of the Cannabis Control Commission, is not a novice to cannabis. O’Brien worked as a consultant for two marijuana companies that obtained licenses from the commission, although she says she has had no contact with either one for nearly a year. Treasurer Deb Goldberg announced […]
Government
Posted inState Government, State House News Service
Baker administration puts tax cap excess at $2.9b
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Wednesday filed a $1.6 billion supplemental budget to close the books on fiscal year 2022, proposing another $200 million in aid for the MBTA and setting aside more than $2.9 billion of the state’s surplus to be returned to taxpayers. The bill (HD 5364) would still leave […]
Posted inMarijuana, State Government
Former treasurer Shannon O’Brien picked to lead cannabis board
FORMER STATE TREASURER Shannon O’Brien, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2002, will be the next chair of the Cannabis Control Commission. Treasurer Deborah Goldberg announced the appointment Tuesday. O’Brien will be sworn in Thursday, the fifth anniversary of the commission’s founding. O’Brien replaces Sarah Kim, who had been serving as interim chair since […]
Posted inState Government
SJC says Legislature has broad powers on voting
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT on Tuesday dismissed the major constitutional challenge that has been levied against the new state law allowing voting by mail, formally addressing a legal question that has been hovering over attempts to expand the law for years. The court found that the Constitution, which lays out specific reasons why someone may […]
Posted inGovernment, Opinion
Zoning variances are out of control in Boston
ALMOST NOTHING in Boston is built without a zoning variance. Yet few of the thousands of individual variances granted annually satisfy the relevant legal standard. There is perhaps no area of law where practice departs from legal doctrine more than zoning variances. Casebooks and court decisions frequently note that they are intended to be granted […]
Posted inOpinion, State Government
Ready to sue to protect tax cap giveback
NEARLY 40 YEARS AGO, the esteemed taxpayer watchdog group Citizens for Limited Taxation (CLT) and the Massachusetts High Tech Council (MHTC) had the foresight to fight and win the passage of a taxpayer protection law. That law would prevent taxpayers from being gouged during times of plenty, when state tax revenues skyrocket far more quickly […]
Posted inPolitics, State Government
Edwards cuts an independent path
IN THE WEE HOURS of their final legislative session earlier this month, the state Senate took up a proposal from Gov. Charlie Baker to expand the list of charges under which a defendant could be deemed dangerous and held without bail before trial. Progressive advocates were hoping the Senate, where Democrats dominate by a lopsided […]
Posted inGovernment, Transportation
A Freakanomics debate about free fares
FREAKANOMICS RADIO is out with an interesting podcast on whether public transit should be free – and, not surprisingly, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is the headliner for those who say yes. Wu has called for eliminating all fare across the MBTA system, but on the podcast – a spinoff of the popular 2005 book of […]
Posted inGovernment, Opinion
State laws to blame for lack of minority contracting
IN THE EARLY DAYS of the pandemic, the Paycheck Protection Program offered a crucial lifeline for millions of suddenly desperate businesses. Yet as banks doled out nearly $1 trillion in PPP money, minority-owned businesses were at the back of the line. It was a glaring example of how even the most well-intentioned public policies can […]
Posted inState Government
Bump dismisses claim of tax cap pressure on her office
STATE AUDITOR Suzanne Bump on Monday strongly denied suggestions that she was under any pressure to delay calculating how much money should be returned to taxpayers under the tax cap passed by voters in 1986. “This is not and it never has been a political process,” she said in a telephone interview. “This is a […]