Beacon Hill News

Sen. Payano, Area Reps. Call on Regulator to Roll Back ‘Unfair and Deeply Damaging’ Electric Rates

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Newly sworn-in Sen. Pavel Payano and Rep. Francisco Paulino joined a number of area legislators last week urging the state Department of Public Utilities to roll back its approval of higher electricity rates in light of dropping oil prices. Payano, one of Haverhill’s new senators, and freshmen Reps. Paulino, representing Lawrence and Methuen, and Adrianne P. Ramos, now representing Boxford, Groveland, North Andover and West Newbury, were among those legislators statewide signing a letter to DPU Chair Matthew H. Nelson. Other area representatives included Reps. Frank A. Moran, Lawrence and Andover, and Tram T. Nguyen, Andover, Boxford, North Andover and Tewksbury.

Beacon Hill News

Massachusetts Cultural Council Awards Haverhill’s Riverfront Cultural District $15,000 Grant

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Haverhill’s Riverfront Cultural District was among those awarded a $15,000 state investment grant last Friday. The Riverfront Cultural District covers Washington and Wingate Streets in downtown Haverhill, and is administered by Creative Haverhill. Besides Haverhill, other area communities, including Newburyport and Lowell, also received 2023 Cultural District Investment Grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, an independent state agency charged with supporting a vibrant cultural sector across the Commonwealth, at the Danforth Art Museum at Framingham State University. “A decade ago, our partners in the legislature asked Mass. Cultural Council to develop and administer this initiative to spur cultural and economic activities in cities and towns of all sizes and in all regions of the Commonwealth,” said Executive Director Michael J. Bobbitt.

Beacon Hill News

Trio of Legislators to Hear Disputed Election Arguments Friday in Mirra, Scarsdale Cases

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Chris Lisinski, State House News Service

In a rare move, a special legislative panel will convene public hearings Friday to take a closer look at two House elections, including one between Rep. Lenny Mirra and Democrat Kristin Kassner, that were decided by extremely narrow recount votes. The three representatives on the panel—Democrat Michael Day of Stoneham, Democrat Daniel Ryan of Charlestown and House Minority Leader Brad Jones of North Reading—said in a joint statement Monday they will invite candidates in both contests and their lawyers to the State House to discuss the elections. “The Special Committee of the House to Examine the Returns of Votes for Certain Representative Districts today announced that it will hold hearings on the contested races in the 1st Middlesex and 2nd Essex Representative Districts,” the trio of lawmakers said in a joint statement. The panel plans to focus on the Second Essex District, which Kassner won by one vote over five-term Republican Mirra, at 10 a.m., followed by the 1st Middlesex District, which Democrat Margaret Scarsdale topped by seven votes over Republican challenger Andrew Shepherd, at 2 p.m.

House Speaker Ronald Mariano said the night before the start of the 2023-2024 term that the House would delay the swearing in Kassner and Scarsdale until the special committee completes an examination of the contests. The House, where Democrats hold a supermajority, voted last week to keep Mirra in his seat until the three-member panel makes a final decision about the contest.

Beacon Hill News

Gov. Healey Pledges to Expand Tax Deductions for Renters and Other Key Policy Changes

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Colin A. Young, State House News Service

Maura Healey took the oath of office as the 73rd governor of Massachusetts early yesterday afternoon, ascending to the state’s top job after two terms as attorney general and pledging to tackle challenges such as housing, cost of living, transportation and climate change. “We have untold wealth in Massachusetts. But record public revenue does little good when families can’t pay the rent, or buy a house, or heat their homes or hire child care. Our health system is the envy of the world. Yet our hospitals are desperate for staff,” Healey said in her inaugural remarks, adding, “Our companies are eager to expand, but they can’t find workers with the skills they need.

Beacon Hill News

Haverhill and Surrounding Communities Receive Student and Senior Fire Safety Education Money

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Haverhill, Methuen, Lawrence, Groveland and North Andover Fire Departments were among area communities this week receiving state grants to buy fire and life safety education for children and older adults. The state grants were allocated between the Student Awareness of Fire Education—SAFE, for short—and Senior SAFE programs. Haverhill and Lawrence were each awarded $6,781 for the student program and $2,677 for senior education. For Methuen, it was $5,481 and $2,477 respectively; North Andover, $4,381 and $2,277; and Groveland, $3,781 and $2,077. “For more than 25 years, the SAFE grant program has provided hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts students with fire and life safety lessons that last a lifetime,” said outgoing Gov. Charlie Baker. “We are glad that this year’s awards will support consistent, statewide, professional safety education in a record number of communities.”

Altogether 266 community fire departments shared $1.9 million in grants, setting a new record for the Student Awareness of Fire Education and Senior SAFE programs. Every department that applied for a grant received money.

Beacon Hill News

Mass. House to Delay Swearing In Two Representatives as They Review Mirra, One Other Challenge

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Chris Lisinski, State House News Service

Top House Democrats plan today to task a special committee with examining the results of two elections decided by microscopic margins following recounts, a process House Speaker Ronald Mariano expects will “temporarily delay” the apparent victors from taking office. Mariano said Tuesday night the House will pause the inauguration of Rep.-elect Kristin Kassner of Hamilton and Rep.-elect Margaret Scarsdale of Pepperell to give a yet-to-be-named panel time to affirm they won their races. Kassner appeared to defeat incumbent Rep. Lenny Mirra by one vote following a recount. “While I look forward to swearing in Representatives-elect Scarsdale and Kassner, the House will temporarily delay their swearing in to allow the Special Committee to Examine the Returns to thoroughly review the last minute legal issues raised in each race, and affirm the results of each election,” Mariano said in a statement. Legislative leaders convene special committees to examine vote returns at the start of each two-year lawmaking session.

Beacon Hill News

State Officials Warn Emergency Shelters Will Run Out of Space for New Families by March

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By Sam Drysdale and Chris Lisinski

The Baker administration says it expects the state’s emergency assistance shelter system will burn through available money and no longer be able to guarantee spots for eligible families by late March—a deadline one top lawmaker described as “a little bit arbitrary.”

Escalating a weeks-long push for an injection of state dollars amid an influx of families in need, top Baker administration deputies formally warned lawmakers in a letter on Wednesday that within 90 days, the Department of Housing and Community Development “will not be able to immediately place all eligible families into [emergency assistance] shelter.”

The executive branch will be able to continue operating its existing network of 3,500 shelter units, but without additional funding, it will need to cease efforts to expand the number of available shelter units, Housing and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy and Department of Housing and Community Development Undersecretary Jennifer Maddox wrote. “At that time, placements of new families into shelter will be possible solely upon availability of suitable shelter units,” the letter said of the 90-day deadline. “Without adequate appropriations to expand capacity, it is probable that the EA system will be unable to accommodate families who otherwise would be forced to remain in unsafe situations or sleep in cars, emergency rooms or other places not intended for human habitation.”

Gov. Charlie Baker filed legislation Nov. 18 asking lawmakers to put $130 million toward standing up more than 1,300 emergency shelter units, offering provider rate increases, paying for a central intake center for newly arrived families and helping place students in local schools. The bill is still pending before the House Ways and Means Committee, whose chairman, Aaron Michlewitz, called 90 days “a very arbitrary number.”

Baker administration officials said in their letter that the Emergency Assistance family shelter system has been overwhelmed in recent months due to “both a challenging housing market for long-time residents and new arrivals into the state as a result of federal immigration policy.”

Michlewitz also pointed out that Gov.-elect Maura Healey will take over atop the executive branch on Thursday.

Beacon Hill News

Baker Administration Awards Workplace Safety Grant to Haverhill Company

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A Haverhill company is the only one in the area to be awarded a state Workplace Safety Grant to train employees. DiPietro Heating and Cooling Thursday was awarded $6,825 from the program aimed at injury prevention and safety education. DiPietro plans to train workers in such areas as lead safe renovator and asbestos contractor. Altogether, Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration awarded $800,000 to 99 companies. “Keeping the Commonwealth’s workforce safe is important to both employees and employers as well as the greater community,” said Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Rosalin Acosta.