Weekly roundup: Autumnal equinox
Recap and analysis of the week in state government
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Something subtle happened on Wednesday that had nothing - and yet everything - to do with the next two months on Beacon Hill: the season changed to fall.
More than the slight morning and evening chill in the air, the noticeable shortening of days and the warm pinks and oranges brightening the dusk skyline, the arrival of autumn means politicians are on the clock for all of those things they said over the course of the spring and summer that they would get around to in the "fall."
The list is long. And there's always the option of pushing things off to 2016, the second year of the two-year session. But let's assume they meant what they said.
Baker at Charter School rally
Gov. Charlie Baker showed up Tuesday at a rally in the State House with backers of a proposed ballot question that would allow state education officials to circumvent the cap on charter schools.
"We're here today to talk specifically about a ballot proposal to lift the charter school cap," Baker said to applause. "My view on this is really simple: I don't really care how the cap gets lifted, I just wanted the cap lifted."
Left unsaid was that Baker has yet to file a bill of his own to lift the cap on charters, despite it being one of the safest bets anyone could have made coming off his victory last November. Baker, who is said to be working with Boston Mayor Marty Walsh on the legislation, has promised the proposal will be forthcoming - you guessed it - this fall. Could Baker and Walsh be parlaying their friendship into a policy victory on an issue that to date has defied compromise?
With the Education Committee gearing up over the next two weeks to hear testimony on charter school-related legislation, it looks like it may be time for the governor to put his marker down.
The governor has also tipped that his office is developing a more comprehensive bill to tackle opioid abuse, but the Senate has chosen not to wait any longer, and this week teed up their own drug abuse prevention and education legislation that will start the policy back-and-forth on quite possibly the key issue of the session so far.
The bill includes a controversial recommendation to require schools to screen (not drug test) students in the 7th and 10th grades for signs of addiction and drug abuse. Baker has questioned the idea and DeLeo has raised constitutional concerns, but Sen. Jennifer Flanagan insists her proposal is just misunderstood.
"I've heard I'm a Communist" - Sen Flanagan
"I've heard I'm a Communist. I've heard I want to drug-test every kid in the state. It's got nothing to do with drug testing and there's no criminal ramifications from it," she said.
The other "it" topic remains energy with all eyes on how the House will respond to the Senate's solar power proposal and Baker's bills dealing with solar and hydropower.
Both DeLeo and Energy Committee Chair Rep. Thomas Golden said this week their preference remains to address all types of energy sources in one major bill this session, but the longer they wait the more pressure will grow to separate solar from the fold to address what is an immediate concern of projects being stalled due to a state cap on net metering.
While advocates inside and outside the Legislature wait for clear policy signals from the governor's office on some of these issues, the gaming industry will be getting no such direction. Baker is deferring to the Gaming Commission on the decision of whether to license a commercial casino in southeastern Massachusetts even though the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe now has the federal land approval it needs to build a casino of its own.
Rather than use the bully pulpit to influence the commission's decision, Baker chose to keep his fingers, at least publicly, out of the pie. The commission, in turn, decided on Thursday that it would keep on keeping on, making no commitment to potential Brockton casino developers that a license would be available come the spring, but not saying no either. Further complicating the issue, Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, one of the architects of the 2011 expanded gambling law, thinks casinos in Taunton and Brockton, along with Springfield and Everett, would oversaturate the gaming market, but the fact that East Hartford this week is reportedly "one step closer" to hosting a satellite casino jointly operated by Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun doesn't make that picture any prettier.
Of course, Pope Francis's visit to the United States this week garnered wall-to-wall coverage as he made stops in Philadelphia, Washington and New York, but here in Boston the red carpet was rolled out for another foreign dignitary.
Baker welcomed Cape Verde Prime Minister Jose Maria Neves to the State House, presenting the African leader with a Gurgling Cod pitcher as a gift from the Commonwealth.
"The thing you should know about this is when you fill it, and when you pour it, when you pour from it, it will gurgle. Hence the name gurgling cod," Baker said, awkwardly acknowledging how ridiculous it looked.
Rep. Leah Cole picks nursing over politics
Rep. Leah Cole caught many off guard this week with her announcement that she will resign her seat in the House next week to focus on her nursing career. While the decision to jump ship mid-term understandably angered some of her supporters, her colleagues in the House wished her well before the focus quickly turned to how the GOP can hold the traditionally Democratic seat.
Two Republicans - Cole's aide Stephanie Peach and local Peabody campaign operative Jaclyn Corriveau - quickly lined up for the special election, while some Democrats eyeing the seat are opting to take a little more time.
Cole's ability to wrest the seat from Democratic hands after the death of Joyce Spiliotis was seen at the time in 2013 a coup, but now the Republican Party is looking at potentially dropping seats after seeing modest, but steady gains on Beacon Hill.
Republican Sen. Robert Hedlund is looking strong in his race against incumbent Weymouth Mayor Susan Kay, heading a stable of lawmakers eyeing the move this fall from the State House to a city setting. Hedlund's is another seat that Democrats would look to claim.
Rep. Stephen DiNatale topped the preliminary ticket in Fitchburg this week, joining Reps. Michael Finn of West Springfield and Thomas Stanley of Waltham in looking to swap out the title representative for mayor this fall.
While the House extended its August recess into fall, the pace in the Senate picked up. In addition to readying the substance abuse prevention bill, the Senate passed legislation repealing a 26-year-old law that mandated a license suspension for anyone convicted of a drug crime, regardless of whether the offense involved the operation of a motor vehicle.
As part of Rosenberg's focus on criminal justice reform and opioid abuse, supporters said the bill would remove an obstacle from the path of drug offenders trying to turn their lives around.
The Senate also passed Sen. James Timilty's bill to ban teenagers under 18 from using or operating a tanning device or tanning themselves. The bill now moves to the House, where similar measures have stalled out over the years. The idea got closest to the governor's desk in 2014, when the House gave a bill initial approval, but never took a final vote.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Senate grabbing the fall agenda by the horns.
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