LEGISLATURE

House Speaker Ron Mariano, traditionally a fierce critic of the ballot initiative process, signaled a major shift last week by expressing a willingness to negotiate on one of the state’s most high-stakes and debated proposals.

Mass. Senate advances a $1.8B supplemental budget splitting surtax funds differently than the House, with less for the MBTA and more for regional aid. Lawmakers brace for clashes ahead of negotiations.

Massachusetts lawmakers on Monday pressed state officials to confront longstanding concerns with the state's K-12 school funding formula, signaling growing momentum for a long-delayed review.

Population growth is important for a thriving community. A recent UMass Donahue Wayfinders report projected population declines in all four WMass counties between 2020 and 2035.

A Legislative budget hearing focused on the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Executive Office of Transportation and the Registry of Motor Vehicles will be held this week.

Mass. lawmakers this week take up immigration enforcement. This comes as the Feds continue to sharply restrict legal immigration, and deport legal residents in mass deportation initiatives.

The so-called Bright Act, is a $3 billion bond bill aiming to put at least $2.5 billion of that back into campuses across Massachusetts.

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey’s budget boosts spending 3.8% over last year, even as tax revenue growth slows to 2.9%, federal aid is uncertain, and reserves have already been tapped.

In her proposed budget released last week, the Mass. governor included a multi million-dollar "down payment" that will staff up and investing in infrastructure that could be used to kick thousands of residents off Medicaid programs like MassHealth, next year.

Lawmakers will peer into the future and guess how much tax revenue Massachusetts can reliably count on to support state spending beginning six months from now and running through June 2027.