Last week, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed an executive order mandating COVID-19 vaccination for some 42,000 state employees. The order says they must be vaccinated by mid-October or face consequences, which could include losing their job.
With the order, the Republican governor enacted some of the toughest vaccination policies in the nation.
Many unions for state workers supported that move, but some didn't. Some state employees have said they'll refuse to follow the mandate.
Matt Murphy of the State House News Service joins us to talk about the week ahead, including opposition to the order.
Matt Murphy, State House News Service: We know that some of the unions and some employees in the unions that supported the governor's steps to impose a vaccine mandate are not particularly happy with this work requirement.
The union representing the guards and prisons and houses of correction across the state, Department of Corrections employees, is threatening that if they can't get the governor to relax some of these requirements, they will not think twice about filing an injunction in court, and try and use the court system to block this from going into effect.
But one big thing to remember here: the governor announced this mandate without having negotiated this policy with all of the employee unions.
That is something that is starting to take place, and something that we need to watch very closely.
The corrections officers’ union is among those that will try to negotiate what this discipline would look like, and what is actually required of employees for them to continue on the job.
Carrie Healy, NEPM: Rep. Peter Durant of Spencer has put forward a bill to prohibit requiring proof of vaccination in order to enter public buildings and businesses. Are other lawmakers also supporting this bill in the Legislature, or is the measure kind of like a line drawn in the sand?
There are a small number of lawmakers supporting this provision. I think there are about eight co-sponsors — Republicans — that signed on to Rep. Durant's bill. He is making a statement here.
It's difficult, maybe, to see this gaining much traction on Beacon Hill, particularly with Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate voicing their own support for Governor Baker's policy for state employees. They say they're pursuing their own vaccine mandate for the return to work in the Statehouse for employees under their own control.
But it could help shape some of the conversations around the details of those policies. What exactly is required of workers to show they've been vaccinated?
But that is something that bears watching.
The legislative leaders have not announced a date yet for the reopening of the Statehouse as they work through their own programs. And as we just talked about, the governor is still negotiating with unions and others about what these vaccine mandates look like for state agencies, schools and all the rest.
The vaccine mandate came after weeks of saying vaccines and masking should be local decisions. Late Friday, we learned Massachusetts Education Commissioner Jeff Riley is seeking authority to mandate masks for all K-12 students, teachers and staff through October 1. Do we know the timeline for the state to implement regulations on this latest development?
The Board of Education is convening a meeting on Tuesday morning to hear Jeff Riley's request. Presumably, they will support that, and vote to give the commissioner and the Baker administration the authority to implement this rule, and that will be signed and go into effect.
This policy would require masks of everybody: students, faculty, teachers, staff in all public schools through October 1, after which, if schools can achieve vaccination status of 80% vaccinated, they have the option of relaxing those mask requirements.
This was a bit of a reversal from the governor. He is saying this is something he hopes will respond to some of the anxiety out there as the delta variant spreads, and also encourage people — give them an incentive — to get the vaccine, which he continues to push as the way out of this pandemic.
The fiscal '21 close-out budget filed last week by Governor Baker for $1.57 billion has been sent to the House Ways and Means Committee. When do we expect legislative leaders to weigh in on spending in that measure?
They're not returning to formal business until sometime after Labor Day. And this is going to be a high on their list to do, but it won't be very quick.
They'll take some time to look at this, I would assume, as they also look at how to spend ARPA money —sometime this fall. Traditionally, this is something that comes up around October, sometimes earlier in September. But I would look for the next month or two for them to take their time, look at this, and come up with their own plan.
