Western Mass. lawmakers seek a speedy fix by Gov. Healey in filling judicial vacancies

Federal judges are in the headlines nearly every day hearing legal challenges to Trump administration actions. And in western Massachusetts lawmakers are calling on Gov. Maura Healey to ensure justice is no longer delayed by filling vacant seats.

Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, and 15 other lawmakers from the four westernmost counties want the governor to expedite filling Superior Court seats in the region. Reporter Chris Lisinski of the State House News Service explains, with a constitutionally mandated retirement age of 70, how this situation may have arisen.

 Chris Lisinksi, SHNS: Yeah, theoretically it should be possible for somebody in state government to have a running list of when every judge is going to be forced out by mandatory retirement, and when that position would need to be filled. I don't think this is the first time we've heard of some slowness in filling open judicial vacancies. This is the most recent instance I can recall with a specific geographic angle attached to western Massachusetts.

Sometimes these things just seem to go slowly. It might be an issue with The Judicial Nominating Commission, which gives recommendations to Governor Healey. Maybe they're not getting as many people vetted and ready for the governor's review as quickly as some folks would want. It could also be because we're only three and a half months, or four months into the new term for the Governor's Council, which is responsible for vetting and approving judicial nominees. Granted, there wasn't all that much turnover on [that] council, but we've seen at the start of a new term all sorts of elected bodies get off to a slow start as they find their footing.

Carrie Healy, NEPM: And it is just one more thing on the minds of lawmakers. As April nears, more attention will be focused on the state budget.

Last week, the Speaker of the House said there were health policies in the Governor's budget proposal that the House will not be including in their budget draft. So, at this point, Chris, what are lawmakers saying they like or don't like about the first budget proposal?

Well, we heard the speaker say what he doesn't like in the Governor's budget. It's effectively a pair of taxes included as outside sections; one would put fees on prescription drug manufacturers for excessive price increases, another would reestablish a pharmacy assessment (basically 6% per prescription or $2 per prescription charged to pharmacies). Together, those could have generated $200 million per year in revenue, according to the Governor's office. But Speaker [Ronald] Mariano spoke at an event at the MassBio conference - in front of pharmaceutical industry leaders and biotech industry leaders - to say ‘no’ the House is not on board with that.

Sticking with the budget last week, lawmakers at budget hearings heard about siting a new veterans extended care facility to complement the Chelsea and Holyoke homes. And the superintendent of the Soldiers Home in Holyoke told lawmakers when renovations are complete, the expanded 234 bed facility will require significantly more money for staffing in the next fiscal year's budget. So, how are lawmakers reacting to increased budgetary demands in these uncertain financial times?

It is the question of the time right now in basically every single-issue area. You know, that's a real pressure point for officials at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. It's also the same dynamic that almost every other industry organization that relies on state funding is feeling. Everybody's going to the Legislature with hat in hand, asking for more to offset federal cuts to cope with inflation. And state lawmakers at this point just seem really uncertain how to respond, because they themselves are grappling with so much uncertainty about what the federal government is going to do.

So, I think what we're going to see is a bit of a waiting period on Beacon Hill for something close to answers about Medicaid funding, and then everything else will get decided somewhere downstream of that.

It seems like lawmakers are only hearing from elected and appointed officials from departments that are funded in the state budget, who are the ones who testify at these budget hearings. But there will be a time for regular citizens to have their say. So, Chris, when is that and what's ahead for budget hearings as they wind down this week?

At least right now the legislature has penciled Tuesday, April 8th as the final budget hearing and the one dedicated just to the public for anybody to show up and share their thoughts. As you noted, all of the hearings in the long series before then are our invite only for public agencies and quasi-public agencies that get recurring state funding. Folks can write to their lawmakers in the interim ahead of that April 8th hearing. And it's worth noting that that final public hearing comes, I think, less than a week before we expect House Democrats to roll out their budget draft. So, it's not leaving a ton of time for feedback offered there to make its way into the final document.