Weekly roundup - Crossed power lines
Solar energy legislation will also have to wait
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Like air escaping from an untied balloon, the 2015 formal lawmaking session fizzled to its anti-climactic end this week as the sun set on Beacon Hill before lawmakers could strike a deal to unchain the solar industry from restrictive caps.
The prospects for a compromise over solar energy legislation were the brightest, albeit still quite dim, heading into the final days before the Legislature's winter recess. But like other major pieces of legislation that saw at least some progress these past 10 months, it too will have to wait.
Gov. Charlie Baker didn't even bother to stick around to see what might hit his desk, taking off Tuesday night for a short family get-a-way to Key West, Florida. He didn't miss much.
The final few days of formal sessions became an exercise in deadline deal-making attempts and trying to read the power dynamics of the building. The House and Senate leadership never seemed more like they were running on different tracks than when they hastily convened a last-minute conference committee meeting to try to negotiate a truce over solar power.
Some senators publicly complained that the House had waited so long to release a solar bill that unduly reflected the influence of the public utilities on Beacon Hill. House leaders, including Rep. Thomas Golden, said controlling consumer cost was their driving inspiration.
The meeting, despite the desire of both branches to lift the cap on solar net metering so as not to stifle industry growth into the new year, lasted just 15 minutes before hands were thrown in the air.
"We initiated today's meeting to demonstrate a commitment to resolution as soon as we can, but the issues aren't necessarily easily resolved," said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Brian Dempsey.
While solar advocates have reason to hope that a compromise can be fashioned and passed during informal sessions in the coming weeks, other bills - including the House's long-awaited stab at public records reform - saw action this week with no illusions that they would be finished soon.
After many spent last weekend glued to the television watching scenes from Paris where Islamic State terrorists carried out deadly mass shootings, Baker returned to the State House Monday to find a press corps eager to know what he now thought about Syrian refugees resettling in Massachusetts.
"No, I'm not interested in accepting refugees from Syria," Baker told reporters. "I would need to know a lot more than I know right now before I would agree to do anything."
Whatever he said after that didn't seem to matter much because the first word he used was, "No," appearing to join with what became a long list of Republican governors staking out degrees of opposition to accepting Syrian refugees on the chance that one could be a terrorist in disguise.
While the notes of caution are familiar ones played by Baker on any host of issues, the tone seemed in stark contrast to what people had grown accustomed to hearing on such issues from former Gov. Deval Patrick.
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, a Salem Democrat and Iraq war veteran, led the Democratic backlash against the governor on Twitter, and editorial pages around the state followed suit, either condemning or applauding Baker's position.
Moulton and his criticism of Baker stood out for both its substance as well as its existence as a sort of unicorn in the political discourse, the rare Democrat willing to challenge the popular Republican governor.
And just how popular is Baker? Well on Friday, the website Morning Consult published new national polling that found 74 percent of Bay State residents approve of the job he's doing, making him - in an apple-to-apples comparison - the most popular governor in the country.
Baker's disappointment in Moulton for what he considered to be a quick rush to partisanship took on added weight later in the week when Congressmen Stephen Lynch and William Keating and nearly four dozen other Democrats voted with GOP representatives in favor of a refugee screening bill that opponents and the White House criticized as being a roadblock to those fleeing war-torn Syria from finding refuge in the United States.
Neither colleague received the same pushback from Moulton, at least publicly.
Baker's comments on Syria basically stepped on the message he had hoped to drive for the day, overshadowing the fact that moments earlier he had testified with Boston Mayor Marty Walsh on his opioid abuse prevention bill.
While action on addiction and treatment will have to wait until next year, Baker embraced the fact that some of his ideas - 72 hour prescription supplies and involuntary hospital commitments - are proving controversial.
"I understand that some of our proposals disrupt the status quo. They're supposed to. Simply put, the status quo is unacceptable and it needs to be disrupted," Baker said.
Familiar to disruption, DraftKings became that rare breed of business in Massachusetts that basically celebrated the idea this week that it might be regulated by the state. As it tries to fend off those like New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman who want to shut down its fantasy sports betting site, the company said it welcomed Attorney General Maura Healey putting them under her thumb in the name of consumer protection.
Healey rolled out proposed daily fantasy sports regulations that would require, among other things, players to be at least 21 years old.
Professional athletes - like, say, Red Sox DH David Ortiz - would also be barred from playing, at least for one more year. Ortiz, the curse-crushing Dominican slugger and hero to New England baseball fans, announced this week that, at age 40, the 2016 season will be his last.
So for fans and lawmakers alike, there's always next year.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Compromise is elusive as the first year of the legislative session came to a close.
About the Author »
Matt Murphy covers major media, lobbying firms, government agencies, political junkies as well as towns Statewide. He likes to cover politics and campaigns.
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