Muted response

Beacon Hill still figuring out how to fight back while bracing for the worst

By Chris Lisinski

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Many of the chief issues atop Beacon Hill are unfolding at uneven paces, or stuck in limbo altogether, at the same time that following the news out of Washington, D.C. is more like trying to row vertically up Niagara Falls using a fork as a paddle.

A monthslong freeze as the Legislature moved from one term to another is starting to thaw, with committees clearing out the cobwebs and beginning to weigh controversial legislation and develop spending plans. Yet to some frustrated onlookers, the House and Senate still appear to be standing still.

Legislative leaders had already drawn the ire of progressives, who are outraged by President Donald Trump and want the Democratic supermajority to do more to blunt the impact of his spending cuts, deportation efforts and other policy changes.

Senate President Karen Spilka and her top deputies did not exactly reassure activists on the left. She called a press conference billed to unveil the "Senate's response to the federal government's threats to Massachusetts residents." When the cameras arrived, all senators had to announce was that an existing committee would speak with other lawmakers and with experts to potentially craft a Trump-inspired plan.

"This is a concrete, very real response of the Senate Committee on Steering and Policy," Spilka replied when a reporter asked if her announcement represented anything "tangible today" instead of a promise for later action.

Jonathan Cohn, policy director of Progressive Massachusetts, questioned why it took Senate Democrats until 10 weeks into Trump's term to announce they would consider unspecified action at an unspecified later date.

"Somehow, the Senate's announced response is more comical and more underwhelming than creating a new committee: they held a press conference to let the public know that an existing committee is going to do the work that it should have already been doing," he said.

Celebrating Keith Regan

Long-time MASSterList readers will remember Keith Regan’s byline. For years, he rose early, scoured the headlines, and crafted news briefs for this newsletter. Keith passed away in August 2024 after battling lung cancer. This year, his son Andrew will run the Falmouth Road Race in celebration of his life, supporting the Jimmy Fund.

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Against the wind

But the Legislature is not exactly inactive. At almost the same time that Spilka and her deputies were outlining their vague plans, other senators hosted a virtual meeting about how lawmakers might shift their clean-energy approach to meet emissions reductions goals despite Trump's opposition to offshore wind, which he has contended relies on expensive, "ugly" equipment.

Senate Majority Leader Cynthia Creem, who chaired the Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change hearing, said Tuesday she hoped people listening "will leave not only with a hardnosed sense of the damage the Trump administration is doing to our climate efforts, but also, and more importantly, with an understanding of how Massachusetts can push forward."

"Mass. law requires us to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. That hasn't changed," she said. "And if we're going to comply, we can't have time to be in despair. We have to work immediately."

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Rules?

Joint committees responsible for reviewing the thousands of bills filed every session are starting to pick up the pace. This week, panels heard hours of testimony about controversial medical aid in dying legislation and constitutional amendments that would overhaul voting rights. Next week, they'll dive into an annual road and bridge funding measure, a cellphone data location shield proposal, local property tax policies, and more.

Committee work is accelerating without an agreement on joint rules reforms that would change legislative operations. The House and Senate each approved divergent proposals packed with modifications to committee attendance, publication of written testimony, and reporting deadlines. A final compromise has not emerged.

Two weeks after a conference committee held its first meeting to iron out the joint rules, the group still has not scheduled a second session. Creem, the lead Senate negotiator, said staff are "working to resolve issues impacting the administration of joint committees."

Some committees appear to be implementing House-proposed reforms before any final decision on joint rules. Last week, new Revenue Committee Co-chair Rep. Adrian Madaro said all members of his panel are "expected to participate in person" and that written testimony would be available "at the discretion of the chairs," two policies that mirror the House's rules proposal. Representatives on the Public Health Committee have 60 calendar days to report on the medical aid in dying legislation, a deadline attached to the hearing date outlined in the new House rules -- which are already in effect -- and its joint rules proposal still under negotiation.

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Funding friction

The bulk of legislative attention remains trained on state spending, a common trend for this time of year.

Lawmakers split their work this week between Maura Healey's $62 billion annual budget, which got a hearing in West Barnstable, and her related proposal to deploy $1.3 billion in collected-but-uncommitted surtax revenue from recent cycles.

Budget-writers face the usual crosswinds -- western Massachusetts lawmakers think their region would get shortchanged to support the MBTA, state agencies want more money than Healey proposed for them, and so forth -- and they also need to grapple with the gale-force uncertainty blowing out of Washington, D.C.

From Medicaid to education grants to research funding and more, state policymakers do not have a clear view of how significantly Trump's spending cuts and policy shifts will slash federal dollars for Massachusetts.

Doug Howgate, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation president regularly relied upon by Beacon Hill, cautioned that lawmakers could be in for "quite a roller coaster ride for the next three-plus years."

"At the end of the day, so much of what is going to be coming down the pike related to whatever the feds do or don't do, whatever happens to the economy, is going to be intertwined with the budget," Howgate told the Ways and Means Committee.

A sense of upheaval is not limited to state government. Associated Industries of Massachusetts, an influential business group that at times has opposed Democrat-led ideas like the income surtax, sent its members an alert Wednesday warning that Trump's sweeping new tariffs "will cause significant harm to Massachusetts businesses, which export some $77 billion worth of goods and services each year to 210 markets globally."

The tariff announcement sent shockwaves throughout markets. By one hour before the closing bell Friday, the S&P 500 had lost nearly $5 trillion in market value, CNN reported, while the Nasdaq closed more than 20% below its record high in December.

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Odds + Ends

Negotiators again postponed their deadline to complete contract talks for the state's next offshore wind procurement, pushing the timeline nearly a year behind the original schedule.

Auditor Diana DiZoglio's voter-empowered bid to probe the Legislature remains stuck in limbo amid persistent resistance from Beacon Hill, and this week Senate Democrats heard from invited constitutional experts about the potential for an audit to lead to "interference" in the lawmaking process.

Sarah Peterson, the acting commissioner of the Department of Developmental Services, dropped the "acting" part of her job title.

Legislative leaders said Friday they want to direct $10 million in state funding to the Holocaust Museum Boston, describing it in a joint statement as "an institution that will serve as a powerful reminder of the atrocities perpetrated because of prejudice, the importance of resisting hate in every form, and the power of democratic institutions to fight back against bigotry and dehumanization."

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Weekend Planner

Saturday — "Hands Off!" anti-Trump protests

Hadley: Richard Neal speaks at South Hadley Town Commons (10:30 AM).
Boston: Ed Markey, ACLU’s Carol Rose, AFL-CIO’s Chrissy Lynch, AFT’s Jessica Tang, and others are slated to speak. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll is also listed as a speaker, though the event does not appear on her public schedule. Josh Kraft is expected to attend but is not listed among the speakers. Following an 11:20 AM march from Boston Common, the Dropkick Murphys will perform a short acoustic set at City Hall Plaza (11 AM - 2 PM).
Worcester: Jim McGovern speaks at Worcester City Hall Common (12 - 3 PM).