Massachusetts
Who’s their best at 3 a.m.? Not the Massachusetts Legislature. – The Boston Globe
Just after 8:30 a.m. on Thursday as the Senate prepared to vote on a major housing bond bill, Republican Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr took the floor. Members, he said, had gotten the $5.16 billion bill after pulling an all-nighter, with no time to review it, hours after formal legislative sessions were supposed to have concluded at midnight. “We can’t accept this,” Tarr said. “It can’t become normal. It can’t be institutionalized. Members deserve better than that. Citizens of the Commonwealth deserve better than that.”
Tarr is right. A legislative process that starts with months of inaction and ends in a flurry of overnight lawmaking — where important legislation is left on the cutting room floor simply because time expires — does not serve members or the public.
To its credit, the Legislature completed one of its most important tasks this session. Lawmakers reached agreement on a housing bond bill that will invest in building all kinds of housing that the state desperately needs to address sky-high prices, a homelessness crisis, and a cost of living that threatens to chase companies out of state. The bill will provide money for affordable housing, public housing, mixed-income housing, market-rate housing, and the conversion of commercial to residential properties, among other initiatives. It will allow accessory dwelling units to be built without special permits everywhere in Massachusetts.
While the housing bill was a top priority of Governor Maura Healey — who introduced her version of it last fall, giving the Legislature ample time — there were real differences between the versions passed by the House and Senate, and passage wasn’t assured until a compromise was reached early Thursday.
Lawmakers also passed a bill increasing access to benefits for veterans. They sent Healey a bill — which this board supported — modernizing parenthood laws in cases when a parent uses assisted reproduction or surrogacy and does not have a genetic tie to their child. They also sent Healey a bill phasing out PFAS chemicals in firefighting equipment.
But lawmakers failed to pass important bills related to health care, economic development, and the environment.
On health care, the House and Senate both passed complicated bills aimed at lowering the cost of prescription drugs, ensuring better oversight of for-profit health care companies, and improving long-term care facilities. But while the topics had been discussed for months, the House only passed its version of a prescription drug bill in July, and the Senate waited until July to pass its version of the long-term care and market oversight bills. Lawmakers were simultaneously considering bills related to substance use and maternal health, which presumably required expertise from lawmakers on health care committees.
House Speaker Ron Mariano said health care negotiators were trying to consider the hospital oversight and prescription drug bills together, and it simply became too difficult at the last minute. “I’d rather have a good bill than bills with errors and mistakes,” Mariano told reporters.
The economic development bill — a $3.40 billion bill in the House and a $2.86 billion bill in the Senate, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation — also fell through. Those bills included major investments in climate technology and life sciences. They were also loaded with policy priorities, many of which differed between the House and Senate, ranging from allowing happy hour to advancing a proposed Everett soccer stadium.
Legislation related to energy project siting also fell through, even though there was agreement on core parts of the bill; the Globe reported key negotiators blamed the collapse on differences related to natural gas usage policy.
The House and Senate each passed a flurry of last-minute bills in the last few days on topics as diverse as Boston property taxes, animal rights, and safe injection sites. But as Mariano himself said — a line Senate President Karen Spilka repeated back to him — passing a bill at the very last minute “tells me you’re not serious about getting the bill done.”
To be sure, there’s nothing like a deadline to motivate action. Key lawmakers defended the flurry of last-minute lawmaking as the way Beacon Hill has always done business. Representative Paul Donato, a Medford Democrat and a representative for 23 years, said lawmakers working on conference committees “have to stay here as long as we can until we figure that we can’t do anything else.” Mariano called all-night sessions “the nature of the business we’re in.” Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues said there is less overnight work today than 20 or 30 years ago when “working around the clock happened all the time.”
Caffeine-fueled levity powered lawmakers through the night. Representative Brian Ashe, a Longmeadow Democrat, said he would offer a quote — then snored loudly. Retiring Representative Smitty Pignatelli, a Lenox Democrat, said he was “humbled that in my last formal session my colleagues don’t want me to leave.”
But on a more serious note, Pignatelli called it “frustrating” and “disappointing” that lawmakers failed to agree on the economic development bill. “The bond bills give everybody across the Commonwealth opportunities to get some money and put it to work,” Pignatelli said. Ashe added, “Staying this late, sometimes you might expect that. What you hope is you get the results with it.”
While buying coffee at the State House café, Representative Rodney Elliott, a Lowell Democrat, called it “disappointing” given the urgency of climate change that lawmakers failed to pass an energy bill.
The Legislature will meet in informal sessions through the end of the year, so there will be opportunities to pass more bills — and lawmakers can and should keep working. Both Spilka and Mariano said they would. But the objection of a single lawmaker can derail a bill in informal sessions, and bond bills like the economic development bill can only pass in formal sessions since they require approval by a two-thirds majority of members in a roll call vote.
Legislative leaders did find time to pass hundreds of thousands of dollars in state budget earmarks benefiting their districts, the Globe reported. Democratic senators found time to hold a 9:30 a.m. fundraiser on July 31, according to State House News Service. It’s a shame they couldn’t find time to pass vital legislation affecting the health, environment, and economic prosperity of the people of Massachusetts.
Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us @GlobeOpinion.
Massachusetts
State police investigate fatal crash on I-93 in Quincy
A person has died after a single-vehicle crash on I-93 in Quincy on Sunday morning.
Troopers responded to the single-vehicle crash around 6:05 a.m. and found two people injured. One person has died, and another was seriously hurt.
The right lane remains closed at this time to allow for an investigation, according to Massachusetts State Police.
The victim’s name is not being released at this time.
Massachusetts
Here’s what’s on tap during Mass Beer Week
Calling all beer lovers…More than 200 small, independent breweries from all over the state are participating in Mass Beer Week, a celebration that highlights the craft beer community by bringing businesses together.
Gov. Maura Healey has officially proclaimed March 7-14 as Mass Beer Week in the Commonwealth, formally recognizing the vital role that local breweries play in the state’s economy, culture, tourism and communities.
“From Boston to the Berkshires, our craft breweries are anchors in their communities and significant contributors to our regional economies,” Healey said in a statement. “I’m proud to proclaim Mass Beer Week and encourage everyone to go celebrate at their local brewery safely and responsibly!”
The statewide celebration of Massachusetts-made beer officially kicked off Saturday and continues through the next week, during which time participating breweries will host special releases, collaborative brews, tasting events, educational programming, and community fundraisers.
The Massachusetts Brewers Guild says the formal recognition of this week by the Commonwealth is an incredible honor for the brewing community.
“Massachusetts breweries are small manufacturers, employers, and community gathering spaces,” said Katie Stinchon, the executive director of the Massachusetts Brewers Guild. “This proclamation underscores the importance of supporting local businesses and the people behind them.”
The owner of Drawdown Brewing says unification is exactly how she would describe Mass Beer Week.
“Beer is intrinsically very community based and brings people together and the Massachusetts/New England community we’re definitely kind of ride or die so it’s just a great unifier,” said Liz Nicol. “We’re all making beer. We’re all moving in the same direction, but everyone has something that makes us really unique so for us we do more malt forward beverages.”
Sarah Harkness says she also loves the comraderie.
“I just love that it grows the craft beer community as opposed to pitting breweries against each other,” she said.
While others say they just love beer, period.
“It’s such a New England thing to go to a brewery after going hiking and stuff so Boston really loves their beer,” said Dylan Pollman-Blom.
Events are scheduled all over the state for the next week. Beer lovers are encouraged to visit local taprooms, try Massachusetts-made beer, and share their experiences on social media. Click here for a full list of participating breweries and event details.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners approves design of new Otis Library building – The Berkshire Edge
Otis — Earlier this year, the Otis Library announced that the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) approved the feasibility design for the new Otis Library building. Now, the town must vote to fund a portion of the building’s construction at its upcoming Annual Town Meeting in May in order for the project to move forward. Should the town vote in favor of this action, construction of the new library at the town-owned West Center Road site will begin in mid-2027.
The Otis Library was awarded a state grant by the MBLC that covers 75 percent of qualifying construction costs for the new building. If the library cannot fund the additional 25 percent, the grant is revoked and the project comes to a halt.
The Berkshire Edge spoke with Otis Library Director Stephanie Skinner, who has been spearheading project efforts since she was appointed director.
“It’s been a whirlwind. [The MBLC grant] is an amazing grant. It covers 75 percent of eligible costs which, if you know anything about grants, particularly capital grants, that is well above what you would expect. So, it’s pretty remarkable,” stated Skinner. “We are a tiny town, though, so there is also the need to raise additional money to offset the 25 percent the town has to throw in. So we do lots of fundraising and are looking for additional grants to go side-by-side with it.”
Why a new library?
The decision to construct a new library was based on the desire to better serve the Otis community and size constraints that currently place limitations on resource selection and community programming. There are also structural concerns at play.
“[The library is] not ADA compliant and we are an aging population in general,” Skinner explained. “We also have lots of little rooms instead of a single space, which makes it hard for staffing because you want to have line of sight to whoever is in the library. If somebody’s upstairs, we have no idea if they’re up there. You want to make sure you have a line of sight, especially if there are kids in the library. Also, the building itself was built in the 1940s and could use a refresh—but we can’t tear up the walls. Apparently, there’s asbestos in some of the areas.”
With a new building, Skinner is also hoping to meet the needs of a fluctuating population by providing a larger community space. “As a town, we go from 1,700 full-time residents to 10,000 to 14,000 in the summer, so we’ve been adding programming, meaning: lots of talks, meditations on Thursday morning, and we do cookbook club and bookclub—we do tons of different things.” The community room in the current library can only accommodate up to 25 people.
The new design
Of the new design, there was little Otis Library compromised on. In fact, the wish for a larger community room was “granted,” with a planned 750-square-foot community room. A lot of the design, however, was dictated by the requirements of MBLC.
“Pretty much everything inside is specified by the MBLC,” explained Skinner. “We have to have a children’s area, we really have to have a teen area, our adult stacks, we have to have X-amount of seating—these are all prescribed by people who have been librarians all their lives, so they really do know what is needed in the library. … Things like how many bathrooms and stuff like that, there is no question about those things. It’s how it all fits together and how to make it affordable that really is the driving force right now.”
The location of the new library, which was selected by the Otis Select Board, also opens up what the library will be able to do. “So the plan is to have walking paths all around [the property], and we’ll be able to do our story walks. Right now we have to use somebody else’s land for that,” said Skinner. “In general, we’ll be able to do a lot more with the outdoors.”
What happens if Otis votes “No”
The plans are approved, the site has been chosen, and it is up to the town to vote. Otis’s Annual Town Meeting is currently scheduled for Tuesday, May 19, from 7 to 10 p.m., per the town website.
“It’s going to cost something,” said Skinner. “At this point in time, there are other increased expenses that the town also has to vote on, so there’s a lot of uncertainty. We are applying for grants left, right, and center and raising money. We’re doing our best to offset it. ”
Should the town of Otis vote against appropriating the remaining costs to fund the new library, the MBLC grant effectively “goes away.” The Otis Library will still be operational, but the town will not get the new library, as proposed. “But that also means that at some point, [the town] will need to begin investing in the current building,” added Skinner.
As residents prepare for Town Meeting, Skinner asks them to consider the library’s role in the future of Otis. “We are the heart of the town. We are a place that welcomes everybody, and you do not have to pay anything for anything. You walk in this door and you can read anything or work on a computer all for free. There is no place else in town where you can do that. The second thing,” Skinner continued, “is that [a library] is a value increase for the town.”
For more information on the Otis Library project, or to view past meetings and presentations, please visit the library’s website.
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