To mark the New Year, we are looking at the big picture for Massachusetts in 2026. We’ll leave the chair jumping to the Danes. Did you know Danish tradition calls for apparently leaping into the fresh start, literally?! Instead, we will stick to our own tradition of political forecasting. Sam Drysdale at the State House News Service predicts what’s on the horizon.
Sam Drysdale, SHNS: We have a big year coming up. It's 2026. We have midterm elections and a slew of ballot questions on the horizon. And more immediately, in two weeks, the governor will unveil her budget, and we're excited to see what is going to be in that. Its kind of the blueprint for the year, and it'll kind of set the stage for the rest of the legislative process throughout the year.
Carrie Healy, NEPM: Before Christmas, the Massachusetts House passed a bill requiring groups spending big on town meeting votes to go public with their funding. Is this transparency push to eradicate dark money gaining steam on Beacon Hill? And what's the story behind it?
Yeah, this is this is gaining a little bit of traction. So far, it cleared the House. It passed an initial passage in the House. And it's also cleared a Senate committee.
The story behind it is that it’s really driven largely by concerns on Cape Cod and the Islands about undisclosed spending on housing and short-term rental decisions. Lawmakers there say that there's a lot of influential developers who are pouring money into local decisions that they say should be up to the local voters to make. The bill would require people or groups that spend $1,000 or more to influence a local town meeting to publicly disclose that they're spending all that money, and they say it would close a loophole in local government.
There's just not the same kind of transparency reporting for finances (in local government). So, I think we're seeing a little bit of traction there. And even though this is starting on the Cape and Islands, it's definitely an issue statewide!
For years, after a tragic FaceTime related crash killed a well-known Northampton musician, a bill to ban video recording while driving remains stalled in the state Senate. The city of Northampton took some steps and added new bike lanes and safety signals, and the Recorder newspaper is reporting that Senator Jo Comerford is pushing for ‘Charlie's Law’ to close that legal loophole, as distracted driving rates among young people continue to climb. So, is this bill likely to surface as the legislature gets underway again?
Yeah, Charlie's Law, as it's called, has been heard by the Transportation committee in a hearing last year, but it hasn't advanced yet to a full Senate vote. I think we're going to see whether or not it will.
It's stalled for a few sessions in a row, and advocates are frustrated that the Legislature hasn't acted yet, because it is a loophole in a law that passed in 2020. The hands-free law, which took effect to broadly outlaw handheld phone usage, including texting and emailing while driving. I think they feel it's past time to close this loophole.
Moving on, a petition to repeal recreational marijuana in Massachusetts has cleared its first major hurdle after the state certified over 78,000 signatures for the November ballot. Voters originally legalized the industry a decade ago, and now this measure would roll back adult use sales while keeping the state's medical marijuana program intact. There’s been a lot of public support for legalization in polling over recent years, so how likely is it that the Legislature would, or could, or will, intervene before this reaches voters in November?
The Legislature has a big stake in continuing the marijuana industry! They've invested a lot of time and money into getting it off the ground.
In Massachusetts, the Cannabis Control Commission has set up regulations, laws, and invested so much time and money into getting marijuana businesses off the ground here. The Legislature is not interested in repealing the marijuana legalization in Massachusetts.
Plus, the Legislature gets a ton of tax money from this and they don't want to lose out on that money. I think it's possible they could be looking to strike a deal, considering that this ballot question is looking to move forward.
However, I think it would have some trouble gaining the type of success that it would need in the Fall when the marijuana question, is put before statewide voters, since marijuana legalization is generally considered popular in Massachusetts. So, lawmakers might take a gamble that it will fail at the ballot in 2026 and not look like they will strike a deal. We'll have to see.
