Update from Massachusetts State House via MassAccess July 21, 2022
July 21, 2022David Gauthier
MassAccess
Thursday, July 21, 2022:
• As of Thursday, 7/14, DPH reported a total of 1,783,187 cases of COVID-19.
• The state reported 7,096 new confirmed cases and 31 new deaths in the past 6 days
• The state now has 19,818 deaths from the virus.
• The Baker administration official responsible for placing people into executive branch jobs and getting them appointed to boards and commissions has himself been tapped to serve as the newest member of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.
• Jordan Maynard, an attorney who has been Gov. Charlie Baker’s chief secretary and director of boards and commissions since February 2019, was jointly appointed by Baker, Treasurer Deborah Goldberg and Attorney General Maura Healey to fill the Gaming Commission slot that is designated for someone with experience in legal and policy issues related to gaming.
• Before joining the governor’s office in early 2019, Maynard was statewide director for MassVictory, a grassroots arm of the MassGOP, during the 2018 election and then was deputy director of the Baker-Polito 2019 Inaugural Committee. Before the 2018 election cycle.
• Maynard joins the Gaming Commission as the scope of the agency could be about to change. The commission has focused mostly on overseeing the operations of two resort casinos and a slots parlor since Encore Boston Harbor opened in June 2019, but could soon assume responsibility for writing the rules for legal sports betting here, licensing sports betting operators and overseeing that form of gaming, if the Legislature makes it legal.
• A decision on whether to allow the Massachusetts Lottery to sell its products online is poised to be part of the Senate’s consideration Thursday of a $4.3 billion economic development package.
• Sen. Paul Feeney filed an amendment (#527) that largely mirrors the language adopted by the House in its own economic development bill last week. If the Senate were to adopt the Feeney amendment, the proposal would be cemented as part of legislation that appears likely to reach Gov. Charlie Baker this month.
• Online Lottery authorization was not included in the bill when Senate leadership rolled it out this week. Like the House language, Feeney’s amendment would remove the prohibition that prevents the Massachusetts Lottery from selling most of its products online.
• The Senate has previously supported the idea of online Lottery products – the branch voted 22-17 in 2016 to add online Lottery authorization to that year’s economic development bill. In that case, the House did not go along and the provision did not survive conference committee talks.
• The Senate is planning to gavel in at 10 a.m. Thursday to get to work on the 631 amendments filed to the economic development bill.
• The House cycled through a batch of redrafts that emerged from the Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday, passing two of them – dealing with licenses for direct wine shippers (H 5044) and an extension for legal horse racing and simulcasting in the Bay State (H 5047) – and teeing up four more for possible roll calls on Thursday.
• A $164 million bond bill to modernize technology systems in the judicial branch (H 5046, redrafted from H 4817) was given initial approval vote ahead of Thursday’s formal, along with land bills for Malden, Townsend, and Oak Bluffs.
• Conferees gave indications Wednesday that a compromise clean energy bill might also be filed in time for consideration Thursday.
• A $164 million bond bill to modernize operations in state courthouses and a three-year extension to the law allowing live horse racing and simulcast wagering are both on the move Wednesday in the House.
• The House Ways and Means Committee began polling its members Wednesday morning on redrafted versions of a judicial system IT bond bill (H 4499) and the latest simulcast bill (H 4817), pushing both onto the agenda for the final week and a half of formal sessions.
• The IT bond bill, which judiciary officials in March pitched as a way to bring their infrastructure “up to speed,” would dedicate $94 million toward creation of “digital courthouses and courtrooms” that would make electronic files more easily accessible and offer remote video interpretation services. It also calls for $35 million to upgrade security systems in courthouses and another $35 million to modernize technology judicial workers use.
• The borrowing bill for the judiciary adds to an overflowing plate of spending bills on the march this month. In addition to the $52.7 billion annual state budget sent to Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk on Monday.
• The Legislature is in the process of moving toward the governor’s desk a $10 billion infrastructure bill, a $4 billion economic development bill, and a $5 billion bill to authorize upgrades and maintenance of general government assets.
• The Registry of Motor Vehicles now has another tool at its disposal to track out-of-state driving records, an area where gaps in the past have been tied to tragic results.
• The system will help transportation officials in Massachusetts more easily exchange individual drivers’ records with other participating states, information that will help Bay State officials determine if someone should have their license suspended or revoked here.
• Massachusetts became the fourth state to join the state-to-state DHR project, Registrar Colleen Ogilvie told the Department of Transportation’s board on Wednesday.
• After two months of talks, House and Senate negotiators planned to file a compromise offshore wind and clean energy policy bill late Wednesday that they said represents “going all out” to connect to new sources of clean energy and then use it to power everyday life in Massachusetts.
• No conference committee report outlining the substance of the agreement had been filed with the House clerk’s office by the 8 p.m. deadline for the bill to be considered on Thursday, so the House and Senate would have to suspend their fair notice rules to take up the compromise then, as House Speaker Ron Mariano said is the plan.
• Massachusetts lawmakers, along with Gov. Charlie Baker, have committed the Bay State to reducing carbon emissions by at least 33 percent by 2025, at least 50 percent by 2030, at least 75 percent by 2040 and at least 85 percent by 2050, with tag-along policies required to get the state to net-zero emissions by the middle of the century.
• If the House and Senate both approve the conference committee compromise Thursday, it would head to Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk. The governor’s 10 days of review would end on July 31, meaning that the Legislature could have only hours to review any gubernatorial vetoes or amendments and act on them before formal sessions are done.
• Legislative negotiators tasked with finalizing bills reforming governance at state-run soldiers’ homes and bonding billions of dollars to invest in government infrastructure appear to be closer to final deals.
• The House clerk’s office confirmed that two additional conference committees picked up jackets late Wednesday afternoon, joining the panel working on clean energy legislation that undertook the same procedural step earlier in the morning.
• The “jacket” refers to the parchment wrapped around a final conference report containing a compromise bill that resolves House-Senate differences, and it must be signed by lawmakers on the six-member panels who crafted the deal.
• State Treasury officials on July 5 touted plans for a $2.7 billion bond sale to repay federal unemployment insurance loans, but postponed the major transaction planned for this week, citing unsettled legislation.
• The treasurer’s office says the size and structure of the bonds might be affected by measures in an economic development bill that would have the state make a special deposit to the unemployment insurance trust fund as a way of minimizing the effects of rising insurance costs employers are facing due to the COVID-19 layoffs.
• But like so many other issues on Beacon Hill with formal sessions due to end on July 31, House and Senate Democrats are not in agreement on the size of the deposit. The House economic development bill approved last week includes $300 million; the Senate bill marked for debate Thursday and possibly Friday has $100 million.
• The Treasury says it has postponed the special obligation revenue bond sale until August, when it expects a final economic development bill to have been approved and signed into law. The Treasury says the bonds are expected to amortize.
For more information go to the Mass.gov website
