CHARLIE BAKER: ALL FLUFF, NO SUBSTANCE!
STORM POLITICS REPORT - As a fourth winter storm knocks Massachusetts with more of a whisper than a wallop, the state House and Senate leaders of the committees on Global Warming and Climate Change say Gov. Charlie Baker's week-old $1.4 billion environmental bond bill (with $300 million for infrastructure and mitigation and prevention of climate change) doesn't go far enough to gird the state from the effects of climate change.
And Senate chair Marc Pacheco specifically criticized the timing around Baker's proposals.
"It's good optics, when you talk about politics, it all sounds good, but when you really have a chance to analyze the bill's language," Pacheco told me. "When I read it, I found a watered-down version of the climate adaptation bill that had already passed the Senate." The Senate bill in reference has been passed multiple times by the body, and stalled out before getting to the House floor.
Pacheco says his full response to the bill itself was delayed in part because he and others had only seen the text of the governor's proposal the morning of the announcement.
"The danger is that we can't think that we're solving something just based upon the optics of what the governor has filed," Pacheco said.
Pacheco (and his House counterpart state Rep. Frank Smizik) said any comprehensive response would require a so-called coastal buy-back program that would enable the state to buy-back coastal properties frequently demolished by storms, as well as the need for a comprehensive, statewide plan to respond to climate change.
Smizik hinted at the potential those proposals be folded into the finished bill by the House and Senate. "Though I am glad that the bill would significantly boost funding to help municipalities plan for the impacts of climate change, the Legislature must expand the bill's reach," Smizik said in a statement. "We must include provisions allowing for coastal buyback and requiring that policies be consistent with the statewide climate adaptation plan."
Meanwhile, 47 percent of Massachusetts voters say the state is "somewhat prepared" to deal with the effects of climate change, according to new polling from MassINC and WBUR. Only six percent say the state is "very prepared" while 16 percent say Massachusetts is "not at all prepared."
- "Massachusetts students take case to lawmakers, keep pressing for gun legislation," by Amanda Kaufman, Boston University Statehouse Program: "Massachusetts students are walking out of their classrooms and lobbying state legislators for stricter gun laws, joining a wave of young people who are demanding safer learning environments and an end to gun violence ahead of nationwide rallies Saturday. Days of action in communities across the state, including Pittsfield, are slated to take place in tandem with Saturday's March For Our Lives event in Washington, organized by students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., after a gunman opened fire and killed 17 people at the school last month."
- "As Students Plan Another March For Gun Control, WBUR Poll Finds Widespread Support," by Max Larkin, WBUR: "As thousands of Massachusetts students are readying another march for gun control this Saturday, most voters stand with them. Seventy-three percent of respondents to a new WBUR poll (topline results, crosstabs) say they support the recent student activism. Even larger majorities favor some of the reforms that many students are calling for."
CHARLIE BAKER: YOU'RE IN CHARGE!
- "After scandals, State Police need to restore accountability, legal specialists say," by Mark Arsenault, Boston Globe: "The series of scandals that has tarnished the Massachusetts State Police since last fall - most recently the alleged theft of overtime pay - speaks to an organization suffering from a breakdown of professional culture and accountability, police and legal specialists say. The next step for a law enforcement organization in turmoil is recovery - and that sort of change of culture is never something that happens by itself, said William Bratton, who has served as the head of the Boston, New York City, and Los Angeles police departments."
