Beacon Hill Update: January 29, 2021
February 2, 2021“Friday, January 29, 2021:
- As of Thursday night, DPH reported a total of 488,861 cases of COVID-19.
- The state reported 4,222 new confirmed cases.
- The state has now confirmed a total of 14,056 deaths from the virus.
- The Legislature returned an emissions reduction and climate bill (S 9) to Governor Baker’s desk Thursday about two weeks after the governor vetoed a version the House and Senate passed last session.
- In the waning moments of the 191st General Court, the two branches gave Baker a compromise version of the bill but left little to no time for the governor to return it with potential amendments.
- Now, the bill is heading back to Governor Baker, this time with the support of veto-proof majorities.
- House Minority Leader Brad Jones said he views returning the bill to Governor Baker as a parliamentary way of having the legislation carry over from one session to the next.
- The House also delayed a rules debate, which normally takes place at the start of a new session, until July, opting instead to adopt last session’s emergency rules and conduct an audit of both the emergency and existing rules.
- House leadership directed the Rules Committee to return a report of their findings by July 1 with amendment recommendations.
- U.S. Sen. Edward Markey is distancing himself from a Beacon Hill debate revolving around transparency at the State House after his campaign’s logo, contact list and an event organizing web page were used by advocates to recruit for their campaign to pressure House Democrats to change their rules.
- A group called Students for Markey partnered with Act on Mass to host a virtual event last Friday to build support for the Act on Mass campaign to change the rules regarding how the House operates.
- The episode sheds some light on Speaker Ronald Mariano’s decision to ask his Rules Committee to develop guidelines for dealing with what he described as “unregistered, or vaguely-affiliated, advocates and coalitions.”
- The House on Thursday approved an order directing the Rules Committee to develop recommendations for interacting with outside coalitions, as well as ways to improve transparency.
- Both were passed without debate.
- In an email to House members Wednesday night, Speaker Mariano said he’s heard from legislators about an increase in recent years in these types of groups, and has found parameters for interacting with them to be “ill-defined.”
- Two House officials, who requested anonymity to discuss private deliberations, said legislators have grown frustrated by the tactics used by some advocacy groups that include setting up meetings that lawmakers believe to be with constituents, only to sit down with a group of people who live outside their district.
- The House’s COVID-19 emergency rules were extended in the House through July 15, with the Rules Committee review to be completed by July 1, according to the orderoffered by Speaker Mariano.
- The order directs the committee to investigate rules, policies and procedures around the House’s scheduling and consideration of legislation and around House administration, “including policies and procedures related to the conduct of advocates including registered lobbyists and unregistered advocates and coalitions.”
- Similar to previous versions, the emergency House rules allow representatives to participate in session remotely, with most lawmakers “strongly encouraged” to do so, and spell out procedures for how remote participants can speak and vote on bills.
- The House is back for an informal session on Monday at 11 a.m.
- The Senate also repassed the climate change legislation and shipped it back to the Governor on a voice vote Thursday afternoon during their first formal session of the new term.
- The Senate is back informal session Monday at 11am.
- The outgoing Walsh administration announced Thursday morning that Boston Police Commissioner Willie Gross, who had been weighing a run for mayor, is retiring on Friday.
- Walsh named BPD Superintendent Dennis White to succeed Gross and said White will become the second African American to serve as commissioner, following Gross, who was the first.
- White, who serves as chief of staff under Gross, will take over the top job in the department on Friday on an acting basis, with a swearing-in planned in the coming days, according to Walsh’s office.
- Governor Baker renewed his push to create a new, larger MBTA board, proposing a successor to the soon-to-expire Fiscal and Management Control Board as part of his annual spending bill.
- Governor Baker’s fiscal year 2022 budget includes language convening a permanent board that would start its oversight role on July 1, one day after the FMCB, created in response to service failures during the disastrous winter of 2015, dissolves.
- The new board would have seven members, two more than the current panel, including the transportation secretary serving in an ex officio capacity.
- Real gross domestic product in Massachusetts increased at a 7.9 percent annualized growth rate in the fourth quarter, compared to the 4 percent growth rate in the nation’s economy, local economists reported Thursday.
- According to MassBenchmarks, the growth rates reflected the anticipated slowdown following record increases in GDP at the state and national level, both above 33 percent, during the third quarter, when activity surged in response to the reopening of economies that had been held back to guard against COVID-19 transmission.
- Economists affiliated with MassBenchmarks reported that during the fourth quarter the Massachusetts economy fared better than the U.S. in terms of GDP, employment, and wage and salary income growth.
- However, economists cautioned that labor markets are weaker than unemployment rates suggest because people have fallen out of the labor force because they cannot find work or have to stay at home, and are not being counted as unemployed.
- Payroll employment in Massachusetts in the fourth quarter remained 9.2 percent below the employment levels in the fourth quarter of 2019, while employment in the U.S. was 6 percent below its fourth quarter 2019 levels.
- Attorney General Maura Healey said Thursday that Governor Baker should adopt a “wartime” approach to COVID-19 vaccination, questioning why the state doesn’t have a centralized website where people can preregister for a vaccine and get notified when doses become available.
- The Republican governor has been under fire in recent days after his administration opened up vaccine registration to seniors 75 and older, who have become frustrated and angry to find that appointments are limited due to the availability of vaccine from the federal government.
- Frustration about the state’s rocky COVID-19 vaccine rollout and its impact on older adults continued to escalate Thursday, even as Governor Baker promised more appointments would become available and the launch of a new call center to help with scheduling.
- Lawmakers lobbed new rounds of criticism at the administration for funneling residents 75 and older to the state’s website to try to book vaccine slots, arguing that many do not have reliable internet access or the technologic literacy needed to navigate the site.
- Other older residents face difficulties in traveling outside their homes, particularly during a deadly pandemic.
- Sen. Anne Gobi of Spencer called the rollout a “total nightmare.”
- Eight representatives flagged “deep concerns” with the distribution plan in a Wednesday night letter.
- Sen. Harriette Chandler, who at 84 will qualify for the vaccine in the start of Phase 2 next week, tweeted that she thought of herself as equipped to navigate the digital landscape until “the state’s vaccine website proved me wrong.”
- Just hours after he filed it, more than four dozen legislators had already cosponsored a Sen. Eric Lesser (D-Longmeadow) bill (SD 300) aimed at immediately forcing the Baker administration to launch a new phone-based system for securing appointments and an easier-to-use centralized web portal.
- Another 1,100 Massachusetts small businesses will split $45.3 million in grants designed to keep them afloat during the COVID-19 crisis, the Baker administration announced Thursday.
- The fifth round of funding awards pushes the total awarded to $277 million since Governor Baker unveiled the relief program in December.
- After touring Plymouth’s 1620 Winery on Thursday, Governor Baker told reporters that the effort, combining a $688 million relief fund and another $50.8 million included in a separate economic recovery package, is the “largest small business grant program of its kind in the country.”
By David Gauthier
