Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Ralph Gants has died, the court’s associate justices said this afternoon. Gants, 65, had served as the high court’s top judge since July 2014, when he was sworn in to the post by Gov. Deval Patrick. He announced last Tuesday that he underwent surgery after suffering a heart attack on Sept. 4. Later in the week, Justice Frank Gaziano said that Gants was following proceedings in a lawsuit around Gov. Charlie Baker’s powers during the COVID-19 emergency and planned to participate in the final decision.
A voter-approved Citizens Commission, studying what role the state can play a role in repealing the 2010 Supreme Court Citizens United decision, may receive an extension to continue its work. The legislature’s Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs, co-chaired by Methuen Rep. Linda Dean Campbell, voted favorably to advance a bill that would keep the Commission in place until a federal constitutional amendment is ratified that formally overturns the decision. “Millions of Massachusetts residents voted to not only study the impacts of corporate funding in elections, but also to advance measures at the state level to overturn Citizens United,” said Campbell.”
Campbell’s office said the bill would formalize the non-partisan commission that Massachusetts voters created in a 2018 ballot initiative as well as clarify the commission member appointment process. The Citizens Commission released its first report last year. It provides a historical and legislative analysis of different constitutional amendments that limit corporate spending in elections.
A new coalition of educators, school nurses and other support staff called Monday for schools across the state to postpone any in-person learning and adopt a phased approach until a range of potential COVID-19 safety issues are addressed. Their priorities include ensuring all staff and students have access to personal protective equipment, requiring all schools to enforce six feet of social distancing rather than three feet, and increasing access to rapid testing. Patty Comeau, who works as a Methuen school nurse, explained in a press release
“This process represents one of the most consequential decisions our communities and our state will make as our state and nation construe to grapple with a pandemic that is still surging across the nation, showing signs of a second wave in our state, with the threat of the flu season looming,” she said, adding, “In confronting this challenge a safe, scientifically guided, well planned, adequately funded and appropriately resourced process must be the priority for all involved, as the stakes couldn’t be higher and the outcome of our decisions truly have life and death consequences.”
The statement comes as 45% of the members of the Andover Education Association refused to go to work in person yesterday. Suggesting the action was strike-like, Andover School Committee members voted unanimously to petition the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations to act. The Coalition to Safely Reopen Schools—a group that has the backing of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts and other labor groups—outlined 16 specific concerns in a lengthy position statement it offered to guide a return to K-12 education.
The Massachusetts Senate recently passed Sen. Diana DiZoglio proposal to end the use of taxpayer-paid nondisclosure agreements throughout state government, but the other branch of the legislature and the governor aren’t expected to quickly follow suit. DiZoglio, who during a debate on sexual harassment policies in 2018 broke a non-disclosure agreement she signed when fired from a job as a House aide years earlier, recently renewed her call for House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Gov. Charlie Baker to take action. “The practice of using taxpayer funded hush agreements to silence employees and victims of abuse across our state government is a shameful one, and one that must be ended—not only to help those who have already been silenced but also to protect potential future victims from abusers who could be hiding in plain sight,” said DiZoglio. The senator added, “NDAs don’t just silence victims, they perpetuate harassment and outright assault and place others at risk by keeping these offenses secret.”
The state Senate approved the ban 38-1 and also changed its own rules to prohibit the practice. However, DiZoglio said, the governor’s office has refused to release information about the amount of tax dollars spent on NDAs, while the House is known to have given out at least 33 NDAs in recent years.
A bill approved unanimously by the state House of Representatives requires the public be notified within two hours of untreated sewage entering a waterway. Sponsored by Rep. Linda Dean Campbell of Methuen, the bill requires treatment plans to issue public advisories within two hours of an overflow and every eight hours thereafter until the discharge has ended. A final advisory would be required within two hours of the conclusion of the discharge. “State government has a responsibility to ensure residents are notified in a timely manner of sewage discharges so that they can avoid serious health repercussions,” said Campbell. “This legislation is the first step, and an important one, in the process of eliminating (combined sewer overflows) CSOs.
As they settle in for debate on a sweeping police reform bill and more than 200 proposed changes to its text, House lawmakers will need to grapple with blistering opposition from one of the largest law enforcement associations in Massachusetts. Lawmakers this month are closing in on new rules to hold police accountable for their conduct and dozens of police chiefs launched a volley of criticism Tuesday, complaining that both the House and Senate bills alter training and accountability too significantly and are advancing without sufficient input from police. Hampden Police Chief Jeff Farnsworth, who serves as the president of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, said at a press conference that the legislation is “nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction to the events happening hundreds of miles away from here.”
“These bills are not a response to any current situation in Massachusetts,” Farnsworth said. “These bills are being used to make a political statement. They do not address issues in Massachusetts.
Technology that could help early education providers reopen safely, ensure students’ equitable access to remote learning and body cameras for police departments are at stake as the Massachusetts Senate and House try to come to agreement on a $1.7 billion borrowing bill. The six-member committee charged with negotiating differences met for the first time Tuesday afternoon. The committee convened in Senate Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues’ office at noon and quickly voted to close the meeting after opening remarks. The members—Reps. Aaron Michlewitz, Danielle Gregoire and David Vieira and Sens.
Most evictions and foreclosures will remain banned in Massachusetts until Oct. 17 under an extension to the COVID-prompted moratorium Gov. Charlie Baker triggered on Tuesday. Baker’s action adds another 60 days to a temporary ban that was set to expire Aug. 18—a step that the governor said will help keep many vulnerable families in secure housing while the state continues its gradual progress to revive public activity. The moratorium law that Baker signed on April 20 prevents virtually all non-emergency evictions and foreclosures amid the pandemic, and gave the governor the authority to extend the eviction ban for up to 90 days.
