Beacon Hill Update from Mass Access
September 22, 2020David Gauthier
WINCAM
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
As of Monday night, DPH reported a total of 125,723 cases of COVID-19. The state has now confirmed a total of 9,107 deaths from the virus. A bill setting the terms for capital improvement bonds bounced back and forth between the House and Senate on Monday, earning final passage in each branch. The House also passed a bill that would bill provide survivor benefits to the daughter of fallen Worcester firefighter Christopher Roy, who died battling a five-alarm blaze in 2018, and signed off on gender-neutral name-changes for what are now the boards of selectmen in Billerica and North Andover. Representatives took moments Monday to honor the memories of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and former state Rep. John Costello. The Senate sent Governor Baker legislation to allow two new liquor licenses in Westford, passed a local measure allowing Littleton to use land for a water treatment facility, and gave initial approval to a Plainfield bill to keep their fire chief on the job until 2022.
The Senate meets next on Thursday morning. Both of the state’s U.S. senators called Monday for Enbridge to halt operations at its Weymouth compressor station, warning that the facility should not become operational mere weeks after an equipment failure prompted a release of natural gas. A veteran MBTA employee was struck by a vehicle while reporting to his bus for a shift around 6 a.m. Monday and died from his injuries after being transported to a local hospital. MBTA officials identified the employee killed in the accident at the Charlestown Bus Yard as Bernadin Etienne, an 18-year veteran of the transit agency. The Baker administration has left school reopening plans up to local officials but the state education commissioner is now asking 16 districts to lay out plans for when they will bring students back into the classrooms, citing a “stark discrepancy” between their reopening models and local public health metrics.
Education Commissioner Jeff Riley on Friday night wrote to officials in the districts that are offering remote-only instruction and have COVID-19 transmission rates that fall into the lowest risk categories in the state’s color-coded assessment system – Amesbury, Bourne, Boxford, East Longmeadow, Gardner, Pittsfield, Provincetown, West Springfield, Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public, Hoosac Valley Regional, Gill-Montague, Mohawk Trail, Mohawk Trail/Hawlemont, Manchester Essex Regional, Belmont and Watertown. He asked for more information about their fall reopening plans and gave them 10 calendar days to respond. State and federal officials have not settled on a preferred design for a years-long mega project in Allston, and are extending the review process to further analyze possible construction layouts and to allow more time for public feedback. Monday had been circled as a deadline for the state Department of Transportation and federal partners to decide a consensus option for the more than $1 billion infrastructure project, but Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack said the process is “taking a little longer” than a schedule she outlined. Under an updated outline Pollack presented at a Monday MassDOT board meeting, agencies will continue talks into October. Officials will then open another public comment period, then attempt to find agreement on a preferred design this fall.
