With the change of the calendar year comes change at the Statehouse. Massachusetts lawmakers will begin a new legislative session on Wednesday.
Last week, a new speaker of the House, Ron Mariano, was elected. And this week, 19 new faces will join returning lawmakers for swearing-in ceremonies during a pandemic that persists.
Carrie Healy, NEPM: Has the pandemic changed how some of these traditions will be taking place?
Matt Murphy, State House News Service: Yeah, it absolutely has. You have 160 members — well, now, 159 members, with the former Speaker DeLeo leaving the House. The House is still working on their plans to swear in all those members.
Eyeing perhaps an in-person, distanced swearing-in for the 17 new lawmakers, and something less traditional for the returning members, the Senate is also attempting a hybrid approach here.
We're told that the Senate will be conducting an outdoor swearing-in for a quorum of their 40 members — probably about 20 or so members in Ashburton Park, with the governor, outside of the Statehouse — while the remaining members will be sworn in virtually. So it'll be a much different affair this year.
There's still some legislative work to finish up from the old session. What's in the deal on climate change legislation? And with only two days left, is it likely to get approved by lawmakers and signed by the governor in time?
Yeah, there's quite a bit in this bill. But the big piece of this is setting a goal of "net zero" carbon emissions by 2050 for the state.
The governor did this with his executive authority, but this would codify that into state law and set some posts along the way to keep the state on track to meet its goal.
There's also an expansion of offshore wind, calling for the additional purchase of 2,400 megawatts of wind generation that would bring the state's total authorization to 5,600 megawtts.
We've heard from new speaker of the Massachusetts House, Ron Mariano, that he wants to make the development of a wind industry in Massachusetts a priority. So those are two of the big elements of this climate bill. And yes, I do think you're likely to see this pass the legislature in the coming days.
There's a lot in here that the governor should be on board with, since it looks like a lot of the things he's done, or proposed himself — though it remains to be seen whether or not he can just sign it, or if he has any changes he will attempt to make at the last moment.
It does go well beyond some of the goals that he had already given voice to, correct?
That is correct. The governor, if we can remember back to January, gave a state of the Commonwealth address, committing Massachusetts to a goal of "net zero" emissions by 2050 in that speech. And he followed through with an executive order.
This goes a step further, ensuring that that goal will outlast even this governor, and sets a sort of path forward, in some respects, for wind power and for other electricity sector developments to help Massachusetts achieve that goal.
Do you expect any other last-minute deals to be announced over the next couple of days?
There are two other big bills that still remain unresolved after the governor on New Year's Day signed a major health care bill, essentially ensuring telehealth will become a permanent fixture of the care delivery system in Massachusetts with insurance coverage, mandates and reimbursement strategy.
But there's a big economic development bill still hanging out there, as well as a long-term transportation, borrowing and spending bill for transportation infrastructure.
And the economic development bill, in particular — a lot of new money. This is something that the legislature does every two years. This would recapitalize a lot of the business development programs that the state relies on, and especially at a time when lawmakers are looking for ways to jolt this economy and make sure that Massachusetts has a quick recovery from this pandemic.
I would think that that would be something that they would like to get done. But there is one big piece in that bill that has proved contentious, and that is an expansion, or I should say, legalization of sports betting in Massachusetts. And we're told that is one of the things that has gummed up the works on this bill.
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