The 194th General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is in session, and transparency and change were referenced in opening remarks made by the returning legislative leaders. The state Legislature, governor and judiciary are exempt from public records law. Colin Young, editor at the State House News Service, explains how lawmakers could measure and achieve a new level of transparency.
Colin Young, SNHS: You know, I don't think it's going to be the sort of thing that's measured by what is now open that had been closed before. I think the House and Senate want their transparency to be measured on their work product and what they're able to produce. I think to them, it's an issue of the perception of the Legislature and how well your average citizen can understand what the Legislature is doing and why. So, I think they're going to want to be measured on what they produce by the time the session ends, and how well people were able to sort of follow that process each step along the way.
Carrie Healy, NEPM: So, you won't be sitting in more open debates then, Colin.
No, because that's sort of the prerogative of the rank and file, and I'm not sure they're terribly willing to go much deeper into debate.
House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka both took aim at the media in remarks to their chambers, saying reporters have painted an unfairly negative picture of the Legislature. Colin, here's your opportunity to put some context to those remarks. Explain the origin of the comments and what Mariano and Spilka are trying to accomplish by putting that out there.
Yeah, there's definitely been frustration. Some of it goes back to that July 31st deadline, where a lot of the media attention did focus on what they didn't get done, and they felt like that maybe wasn't totally fair.
But really, I think they're mad at the Boston Globe. That's really what this boils down to. The Globe has done a series of reports this year or last year, I should say, on sort of how the Legislature operates, pulling the curtain back a bit. I think Mariano and Spilka aren't happy with the way that newcomers — people who don't always follow the Legislature— I don't think they're happy with the way those people view them, having read the Globe's reporting. So, I think that's really what this boils down to.
But it is interesting to hear Massachusetts Democrats sort of take aim at the press as Donald Trump is preparing to return to the White House. When he was going into the White House eight years ago, Massachusetts Democrats were very vocal about, you know, calling him out for his attacks on the media.
A recent federal report shows Massachusetts unhoused population increased to more than 29,000 individuals last year. Massachusetts has the right to shelter law that carries a hefty price tag that lawmakers and officials are trying to cut. They're tweaking access to state funded shelters with caps and quotas. So, is the new legislature going to want to touch this issue or leave it to the governor?
I don't think they want to touch it any more than they already have. And this is going to be one we're going to see fairly early in the session. Funding for emergency shelters is set to run out at some point this month, so the new Legislature will have to tackle this early.
I think we'll see them do a lot of what they've done so far, set sort of the parameters by giving the Healey administration a set amount of money and then saying, governor, this one's on you: You manage the day-to-day, you manage the details of this.
I think that's especially going to be the case as 2025 unfolds, and we start looking ahead to the 2026 elections. I think this is going to be an issue that if Healey does run for reelection, the other side is going to try to really hang around her neck. So, I don't think House and Senate Democrats are going to want to sort of jump into that rowboat with her.
Finally, Governor Maura Healey has signed a number of the bills sent to her desk as the last legislature gaveled out. She has until the end of this week to veto, pocket, veto or sign those bills. One measure she did approve renames a state facility in Jamaica Plain, where the 2012 drug testing scandal played out with chemist Annie Dookhan. Under the new bill that will have new associations drawn to Doctor Alfred DiMaria Jr. What’s going on here?
Yeah, this is a bill… It doesn't rename the Hinton Drug Lab in Jamaica Plain, but it adds sort of a new layer of identity over the top of it. So, the drug lab will remain the Hinton Lab, but it will now be located at the Doctor Alfred DeMaria Jr. campus. And that's in honor of the former state epidemiologist who retired about 6 or 7 years ago. So, it will now be the “Hinton Drug Lab at the DeMaria campus,” just sort of getting an extra naming recognition in there.
