Region

DiZoglio Files Bill Granting State Employees Pay Raises Matching That of Legislators

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Sen. Diana DiZoglio says state workers should receive the same percentage raise as the one legislators gave themselves. The Senate admitted a late-filed petition Monday from DiZoglio that would raise the incomes of state employees whose collective bargaining agreements expired more than six months ago. DiZoglio’s bill would give those employees a pay raise “equal to the most recent amount received by the members of the General Court” under the 2017 law granting pay raises to House and Senate members. The Senate referred the matter to the Committee on Public Service for legislation relative to public employee income protection. The Senate meets again Thursday morning.

Haverhill

Gov. Baker Says All Residents 16 and Up Eligible for COVID-19 Vaccine April 19

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More than a year into the pandemic, every adult in Massachusetts now has a date certain when they will become eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Gov. Charlie Baker cautioned as he unveiled the timeline Wednesday that it could still take several weeks of eligibility to secure a vaccine appointment, but the April 19 target to open up the process to all adults still marks a significant milestone. In a social media post, Haverhill Mayor James J. Fiorentini urged residents who are already eligible to receive the vaccine to not delay making appointments. “…Once the floodgates open, it will be much more difficult to get vaccinated. My advice: if you are eligible now, get vaccinated now,” the mayor said.

Region

Area Lawmakers Seek Emergency Salisbury Beach Erosion Help, Calling it ‘Dire Situation’

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Four area lawmakers are flagging what they call a “dire situation” with rapid erosion at Salisbury Beach. Sens. Diana DiZoglio and Bruce Tarr and Reps. Lenny Mirra and James Kelcourse wrote to Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides last week, seeking a severe weather emergency declaration. “This must be addressed as soon as possible,” the letter said.

Beacon Hill News

Feds Approve Pandemic-Related Massachusetts Food Benefits Request for 2,600 Children

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Around 2,600 children with disabilities will be able to receive additional food benefits, a change state health and human services officials said they’d been seeking federal approval of for several years. The Executive Office of Health and Human Services said Thursday that Massachusetts had received a green light from the federal government to directly certify certain children with disabilities who qualify for Medicaid because they receive Supplemental Security Income for free and reduced-price school meals, starting this month. Those children will then automatically be eligible for the Pandemic EBT program that provides emergency food benefits to cover the cost of missed school meals for students who are learning at least partially remotely. According to the administration, Medicaid programs are allowed to provide direct certification for children to qualify for free or reduced price-meals without their household applying, but a different set of program rules made Medicaid-qualifying children who receive SSI and live with a grandparent or other relative caregiver ineligible for direct certification. Patricia Baker, a senior policy advocate at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, said in a statement that her organization helped the state advocate for the policy clarification and is ready to help implement it.

Beacon Hill News

Gov. Baker Signs Police Reform Legislation, Creating Accountability and Oversight System

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As the year and legislative session come to a close, Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday signed into law legislation creating a police accountability and oversight system under which officers need to be certified every three years and can lose their certification for violating to-be-developed policing standards. As the country reacted to the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police officers this summer, policing reform was catapulted to the top of Beacon Hill’s priority list and lawmakers set out on what would become a complicated, circuitous and, at times, controversial path to address police violence and some of the disproportionate impacts communities of color experience from law enforcement, and to bolster the state’s oversight of police officers. Seven months later, after heated debates, public outcry from police unions, back-room negotiations, a veto threat and more negotiations, Baker made the reforms state law. “This bill is the product of bipartisan cooperation and thanks to the Black and Latino Caucus’ leadership on the hugely important issue of law enforcement accountability, Massachusetts will have one of the best laws in the nation,” Baker said. “Police officers have enormously difficult jobs and we are grateful they put their lives on the line every time they go to work.

Homepage Featured

House Members Elect Ronald Mariano to Succeed Speaker Robert DeLeo

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One day after House Speaker Robert DeLeo resigned, the Speaker Ronald Mariano era began. The House elected Mariano, a 74-year-old Quincy Democrat and longtime DeLeo deputy, as its next speaker Wednesday with 123 votes, and he takes control of the House six days before the end of the unusual 2020-2021 lawmaking session. All 31 Republican members of the House voted for Minority Leader Brad Jones as speaker rather than Mariano. Independent Rep. Susannah Whipps of Athol chose Mariano. Democrat Rep. Denise Provost of Somerville voted present, while Democrat Reps.

Featured in Category

Most Greater Haverhill Legislators Vote to Override Baker’s Veto, Enact Abortion Law

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Most of Greater Haverhill’s legislative delegation was in agreement this week to override Gov. Charlie Baker’s Christmas Eve veto of legislation reforming reproductive rights. The Senate reaffirmed its support Tuesday for what is known as the Roe Act on a 32-8 vote.  Sens. Diana DiZoglio of Methuen and Barry R. Finegold, were among those in the majority. Sen. Bruce E. Tarr of Gloucester voted against overriding the governor.

Haverhill

House Speaker DeLeo, Who Backed Haverhill’s Renaissance, to Resign Today

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House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, a Winthrop Democrat, plans to resign from the legislature after 30 years on Beacon Hill on Tuesday. His resignation ends a 12-year run as speaker of the House during which he oversaw the legalization of casino gambling and passage of landmark health care, gun control and criminal justice reform laws. The speaker came to Haverhill in 2016 to help dedicate The Representative Brian S. Dempsey Boardwalk. DeLeo said Dempsey spelled out his dream of a reborn Haverhill during a tour the two took years ago when the situation looked nearly hopeless. “Well, he took me around and he took me first of all to a vacant parking lot.