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With vaccination required, Mass. state agencies may see some employees not reporting to work

2019 File Photo. The 44th Western Mass. County Correctional Officer Academy graduation ceremony. Correctional officers pictured include men and women from Hampden and Berkshire counties.
Don Treeger
/
MassLive / masslive.com
2019 File Photo. The 44th Western Mass. County Correctional Officer Academy graduation ceremony. Correctional officers pictured include men and women from Hampden and Berkshire counties.

A major COVID-19 vaccine deadline has passed for the executive branch of the Massachusetts government. Governor Charlie Baker's vaccine mandate deadline was Sunday, October 17 — the day employees needed to show proof of vaccination.

Baker did not spell out alternatives to vaccination, like regular testing. 

Matt Murphy of the State House News Service joins us to discuss next steps for employees who have resisted vaccination, like some corrections officers.

Matt Murphy, State House News Service: There is the potential Monday that hundreds, if not thousands, of state executive branch employees can't or won't be able to report to work.

Friday, the correction officer’s union — which sued in federal court to try and block this — failed.

A federal District Court judge denied their request for a preliminary injunction, and the lawyer for the correction officers union had reported to the court that very same day, on Friday, that as many as 1,400 correction prison jail guards were not vaccinated or had not shown proof.

So Gov. Baker has called up the National Guard to address some of the potential staffing shortages in the Department of Correction Monday morning.

We don't yet know how severe that's going to be, or what it looks like in other state agencies — like the state police, for instance, where they also tried the legal avenue to block this mandate. And it failed.

But we should know more in the coming days as this mandate takes effect, and agencies have to decide how to handle employees who may be resisted getting the shot.

Carrie Healy, NEPM: The COVID-19 numbers are looking a little bit better. Is there any possibility that the governor could change his mandate, and decide to accept, for instance, a weekly testing schedule, instead of vaccination?

There doesn't seem to be any inclination in the administration to adjust their strategy.

The governor  says he did not allow for things like regular testing because he thought that the higher the vaccination rate was, the safer he could protect both employees in state government, but also the public that they interact with.

So his intention here is to get that vaccination rate as high as he possibly can. He believes doing that is giving people the fewest options to alternatives to getting the shot.

Last week, proposed redistricting maps for Massachusetts were released. What do we expect from lawmakers in the coming days, now that those in office and those seeking to run all have a better idea of what those maps may look like?

We're starting to see some decisions get made. Last week, for instance, Sen. Adam Hinds announced that he was going to run for lieutenant governor. We saw Rep. Timothy Whelan announce that he was going to take a shot for sheriff of Barnstable County.

This is the time usually when lawmakers start making decisions on what they're going to do in the next election cycle, and getting a look at these maps will help crystallize, and help lawmakers make some of those decisions, whether that be retirement, reelection or another office.

Rep. Paul Mark, the Peru Democrat of the Berkshires, announces Monday afternoon that he will be running for the state Senate. That's the Senate seat that Sen. Hinds is vacating to run statewide.

Rep. Mark was one of the handful of lawmakers who found themselves in a district with one of their House colleagues under the proposed maps. He is opting to run for the state Senate instead of a seventh term in the House.

Western Massachusetts communities have seen population and economic decline, making it hard for communities to maintain basic infrastructure like roads and fire stations. Lawmakers on Beacon Hill are considering related funding measures. But President Biden's infrastructure bill is dividing House Democrats in Congress. What does it mean to Massachusetts if Biden fails to get that bill passed?

The potential in that infrastructure bill is weighing heavily on the deliberations here over how to spend the American Rescue Plan Act funds.

The traditional things you think of with transportation got its own money through ARPA, but there is other infrastructure in this bill that the Legislature is eager to know whether there's going to be more federal dollars directed towards it, or whether they should use ARPA before it.

I'm thinking about climate resiliency infrastructure, as well as the future of that second social safety net package the Congress is deliberating, and that some Democrats are holding out for.

The Legislature is trying to see exactly how much money they're going to have to spend, and how much money the feds will be willing to pay for, before they start to deciding how to allocate some of the money at the state's disposal.

Keep up here with Beacon Hill In 5.

Carrie Healy hosts the local broadcast of "Morning Edition" at NEPM. She also hosts the station’s weekly government and politics segment “Beacon Hill In 5” for broadcast radio and podcast syndication.
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