Beacon Hill News

State’s Highest Court Sets Deadline for AG in DiZoglio Audit Case

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Dizoglio ‘Grateful’ And Campbell Says Auditor Provided Court ‘Clarity And Commitments That We Have Been Seeking’
By Colin A. Young

A day after signaling they wanted to see an end to the bitter back-and-forth, justices of the Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday gave Attorney General Andrea J. Campbell 30 days to decide whether she will represent Auditor Diana DiZoglio in her attempt to sue the Legislature. In an order issued after 5 p.m., the court said Campbell “shall make a final determination as to the Auditor’s request for representation” within 30 days as it relates to DiZoglio’s pursuit of claims against the Legislature for alleged failure to respond to four specific requests outlined in a January 2025 memo: the official budgets for each chamber of the Legislature for fiscal years 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024; copies of official audits of each chamber for the same fiscal years; a listing of all transactions related to each chamber’s balance forward line item for those fiscal years; and a list of all monetary settlement agreements entered into by each chamber with any current or former employees or elected members during the same timeframe. “This order moves the process forward and ensures the attorney general must finally make a determination regarding legal representation so the public’s interest is prioritized. We are very grateful to the Supreme Judicial Court members for their timely decision,” DiZoglio, of Methuen, said in a statement Thursday night. Campbell’s office said it would “expeditiously” comply with the court’s order.

Beacon Hill News

As Disconnects Loom, Residents Find Little Help with Heat Bills

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Residents trying to catch up on high home heating bills may find working with utilities and state regulators an equally chilling experience. Natural gas and electric ratepayers who got behind on their bills are now receiving disconnection notices. They are no longer protected by the state’s “winter shut-off moratorium” that ended April 1 despite continuing cold temperatures. Pleas to National Grid to set-up payment plans may bring surprises. In one example, an elderly Haverhill caller who was subjected to the utility’s telephone auto attendant was denied a payment plan in a recorded message.

Beacon Hill News

Healey Plan Aims to Limit ‘Out of Control’ Youth Social Media Use

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Tech group warns guv’s approach takes a “legally vulnerable path”
By Ella Adams

Less than a week after the House moved to ban social media for users under 14 years old, Gov. Maura Healey proposed her own, “complementary” proposal in an attempt to crack down on youth social media use. Healey tucked language into a $227.3 million supplemental spending bill filed Tuesday afternoon that would require social media platforms to have a “default” setting that disables addictive practices and imposes a two-hour time limit on users under the age of 18. “Kids are spending an average of three and a half hours a day on social media. We know that even with three hours a day spent on social media, kids are twice as likely to suffer from depression and anxiety,” Healey said at a State House press conference. Healey’s proposal would require platforms to implement an age assurance system to determine whether a user is a minor, as well as a review process to allow users to appeal an age designation.

Beacon Hill News

Redrafted Vargas Bill to Protect Immigrant Rights Clears Legislative Committee

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Due Process Safeguards Are Focus of Bill That Could Get Full House Vote Before April’s Annual Budget Debate
By Alison Kuznitz

Legislation spearheaded by Haverhill Rep. Andy X. Vargas to protect immigrants by banning federal agents from making civil arrests at courthouses is clearing a legislative committee, but a vote in the House may still be weeks away as fears continue to swirl over aggressive deportation efforts. The so-called PROTECT Act the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus unveiled in late January served as the “template” for the redrafted measure advancing in the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, House Speaker Ron Mariano said at a press conference Thursday. “This bill doesn’t exist just to make a point,” Vargas said. “It exists so that a family in Haverhill or in Chelsea or in Springfield can go to work, seek justice in court, cooperate with law enforcement without fear, and live in a commonwealth that honors the rights and liberties of our constitution.”

Committee co-chair Rep. Daniel Cahill said the bill will come up for a vote “in the next couple of weeks.” House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz said the measure likely needs to pass through his committee too, with the North End Democrat eyeing a vote before budget deliberations kick off in April. “We’re going to work towards that,” Michlewitz told reporters.

Beacon Hill News

State Senate Approves Pets Act to End Commercial Sales, Allow Pets in Public Housing

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The Massachusetts Senate unanimously passed legislation Thursday to end, what legislators called, the inhumane puppy-mill-to-pet-shop pipeline by cutting off commercial sales of cats and dogs in Massachusetts pet stores, among other measures. The bill, nicknamed the PETS Act, would also ban unnecessary testing of animals for non-medical purposes, allow pets within state-aided public housing and prohibit discrimination based on breed or size. “Having had my pit bull Teja in my life shaped how I understand the role pets play in our families and communities,” said Sen. Pavel M. Payano, who represents Lawrence, Haverhill and Methuen. “In neighborhoods across the First Essex District and throughout Massachusetts, no one should face higher insurance costs because of a dog’s breed, be forced to choose between housing and their pet or be burdened by unclear and rising pet fees,” he added. Under the bill, pet shops could display animals from nonprofits for adoption, but for-profit sales—said to be linked to large commercial breeders known as puppy mills—would be banned.

Beacon Hill News

State Highest Court Agrees to Hear DiZoglio’s Case to Advance Legislative Audit

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State Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s so far unsuccessful attempt to force a voter-approved audit of the Legislature got a boost Thursday when the state’s highest court agreed to take up DiZoglio’s quest to retain her own lawyer. The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance applauded, what it called, the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision to grant a full bench review of DiZoglio’s legal petition to obtain independent legal representation. “This is a clear and meaningful step forward. Speaker Ron Mariano, Senate President Karen Spilka, and Attorney General Andrea Campbell have thrown up as many roadblocks as possible in an attempt to derail the will of the voters. By taking up this case, the full bench of the SJC is beginning the process of determining if the auditor can have counsel after the attorney general publicly made the decision to represent the speaker and senate president,” said Paul Diego Craney, executive director of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.

Beacon Hill News

Judge Rejects DiZoglio Bid for Representation In Legislative Audit Case

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Disappointed Auditor Says ‘Court Deck Is Stacked Against the People Right Now’
By Michael P. Norton

In another setback to Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s bid to audit the Legislature, a high court judge on Tuesday denied her motion to obtain a special assistant attorney general to represent her in court. “The State Auditor cites no statute, constitutional provision, or other authority that would permit a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court to appoint a SAAG,” Supreme Judicial Court Judge Dalila Argaez Wendlandt wrote in a two-page ruling. Attorney General Andrea Campbell has chosen to represent House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka in the case, resisting calls from DiZoglio to challenge their refusal to be audited by DiZoglio’s office. “It’s incredibly disappointing that Judge Wendlandt believes access to justice is not for all—and is just for the AG,” DiZoglio told the News Service early Tuesday night. A 2024 law approved by Massachusetts voters authorizes the state auditor to audit the “accounts, programs, activities and functions” of the House and Senate.

Beacon Hill News

Senate Joins House in Supporting $30M for Shared Northern Essex Community College Whittier Tech

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The Massachusetts state Senate, following steps taken last fall by the House of Representatives, approved a state borrowing bill that could bolster plans for a shared Haverhill campus for Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School and Northern Essex Community College. Like its House counterpart, senators Thursday approved a $3.28 billion version of a bond bill, called the BRIGHT Act initially filed last year by Gov. Maura Healey. BRIGHT stands for Build Resilient Infrastructure to Generate Higher Education Transformation. The Senate version included an amendment from Sens. Bruce E. Tarr, minority leader, and Barry R. Finegold and Pavel M. Payano, setting aside $30 million for Northern Essex Community College “for facilities for high school career and technical education.”

“Public higher education provides invaluable advantages to students, businesses and our communities.