Bhaamati Borkhetaria, “Legislators push to restore felon voting rights,” CommonWealth, January 30, 2024.

“Inmates with voting rights also become another constituent group that gets attention from elected officials, said Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven, a Somerville Democrat and cosponsor of House versions of the measures to restore felon voting rights. “When incarcerated individuals had the right to vote, there were [many] more legislators going in and out of prisons and jails because there are voters there,” she said.”

Sarah Betancourt, “In key election year, prisoners with felonies seek right to vote in Massachusetts,” WGBH, January 29, 2024.

“State Sen. Liz Miranda, a Democrat from Roxbury, says she filed legislation as “a matter of racial justice.”…“The disenfranchisement of these citizens, our people, perpetuates the racial injustices already present in the entire system,” Miranda said. “It’s effectively diluting the political voice of entire communities.”

Joanna Gonsalves, “Letter: State can make a debt-free education possible,” Boston Globe, January 28, 2024.

“Economists have shown that investment in high-quality, debt-free public higher education is one of the best ways to advance individual and community prosperity. With passage of the Fair Share Amendment, Massachusetts has dedicated annual education funding that could be put toward this goal.”

Yvonne Abraham, “Tenants facing eviction need legal representation. Let’s give it to them.,” Boston Globe, January 20, 2024.

“So many parts of this state’s crippling housing crisis seem impossible to solve, meaningfulfixes many years and billions of dollars down the road. Here is something we can do, and right now. It’s right, we know it works, and it will keep thousands of families in their homes.”

Molly Dickens and Lucy Hutner, “What the Child Care Crisis Does to Parents,” New York Times, January 16, 2024.

“We know inadequate child care is an economic issue, costing states, families and businesses billions of dollars every year. We know it’s a gender issue that contributes to a widening pay gap. We know it’s a policy issue, made worse by the absences of a federal pre-K program and a federal paid-leave policy. But here is another critical consideration worth pushing for: Our country’s inadequate child care system is also a health care issue.”

Rebekah Gerwitz, “Letter: Our state’s most vulnerable children will feel the effects,” Boston Globe, January 9, 2024.

“The Lift Our Kids Coalition, of which our organization is a member, has worked for years with families, teachers, lawyers, social workers, service providers, and others on the front lines to pass an increase in subsistence benefits to lift families out of poverty. The Legislature agreed in this year’s state budget to a much-needed and very modest increase, set to go into effect in April. With a stroke of the governor’s pen, the increase is now erased.”

Gabrielle Gurley, “The Fight for $15 Can Take a Bow,” The American Prospect, January 11, 2024.

“Massachusetts has a persistent unaffordability dynamic in play. Child care is more expensive than a state-college education. The state has some of the highest annual child care costs for toddlers at $19,961, representing more than 50 percent of the median single mother’s income, and close to 15 percent for a married couple with children. In-state tuition at University of Massachusetts Amherst is $17,364 for the current academic year.”

Walter Wuthmann, “$1.5 billion in estimated revenue: A look at the Mass. ‘millionaire’s tax’ first year,” WBUR, December 28, 2023.

“The money is going where it was promised,” said Raise Up MA Coalition spokesperson Andrew Farnitano in an interview. He said such investments are “only possible because the voters passed this constitutional amendment and we created this new tax.”

Zeninjor Enwemeka, “Mass.’ minimum wage will stay at $15 this year. There’s a new push to raise it to $20,” WBUR, December 27, 2023.

“After they take out my health insurance, after they take out my taxes, I’m making $5 an hour,” Stevens, 41, said. He lives in Peabody with his wife and two kids.””After they take out my health insurance, after they take out my taxes, I’m making $5 an hour,” Stevens, 41, said. He lives in Peabody with his wife and two kids.”

Macie Parker, “Communities at climate risk need help, but state dollars are hard to come by,” Boston Globe, December 25, 2023.

“There are proven solutions to climate impacts….We just need the funding and technical assistance to implement those solutions.”

Rebecca Ostriker and Mark Arsenault, “A Boston Building, Scattered Souls, and Rent Control Revisited,” Boston Globe, December 17, 2023.

“The story of the Hotel Hemenway is the story of acity transformed, and also of the state’s on-again, off-again history with rent control. And that story continues, with intensity, today. Twenty-nine years after Massachusetts voters ended rent control in a ballot initiative, there’s an escalating political battle over resurrecting government controls, a response to the region’s unprecedented housing crisis that has pushed costs out of reach for many working people.”

John Micke, “Healey: Mass. cities, towns in line for $100M in infrastructure aid through millionaires’ tax,” MassLive, December 15, 2023.

“Days before Christmas, Massachusetts’ 351 cities and towns are in line for $100 million in state aid to help them cover local infrastructure costs, according to Gov. Maura Healey’s office.”

Editorial Board, “Give supervised consumption sites a chance to reduce drug-related deaths,” Boston Globe, December 15, 2023.

“On Wednesday, Governor Maura Healey’s Department of Public Health released two reports that provide a rationale for opening supervised consumption sites and a practical blueprint for doing so. The state Legislature should take the next step and create a legal framework that would let public health professionals oversee these efforts without fear of state-level professional or legal liability.”

Phyllis Keenan, “My Turn: Restoring the promise of Massachusetts’ community colleges,” The Greenfield Recorder, December 12, 2023.

“By addressing the needs of adjunct faculty, relieving students of crippling debt, and improving campus infrastructure, lawmakers can make good on the promise of our public higher education system. It’s time for Massachusetts to prioritize the education of its citizens. Passing the CHERISH Act is a crucial step in the right direction.”

Annette Duke and Trevor Samios, “Tenants facing eviction need lawyers,” CommonWealth, December 7, 2023.

“Landlords and tenants, organizations fighting homelessness, healthcare leaders, faith-based organizations, and mayors all agree it is time Massachusetts stepped in with legal help for those facing the trauma of eviction.”

Miriam Wasser and Colin Young, “Mass. outlines new strategy for getting customers and utilities off of natural gas,” WBUR / State House News Service, December 7, 2023.

“At its heart, the order is a strategy to help steer the state toward a cleaner energy system that is safe, reliable and affordable for all. It says that utilities can’t charge gas customers for new gas infrastructure if there are viable non-gas alternatives. It changes the existing cost recovery process that incentivizes adding new gas customers. And it prohibits utilities from using ratepayer money to “promote” natural gas.”

Stefanos Chen, “New York’s Millionaire Class Is Growing. Other People Are Leaving.,” New York Times, December 5, 2023.

“Now, a new report based on the latest census and state tax filing data has found a reversal: The ranks of millionaires have come surging back, while lower- and middle-income New Yorkers are heading for the exits, according to the study, published Tuesday by the Fiscal Policy Institute, a left-leaning policy group.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, “Massachusetts can improve equity in higher ed by passing CHERISH Act,” MassLive, December 5, 2023.

“Building on Gov. Healey’s work to expand financial aid access and enable more students to attend college tuition-free, the CHERISH Act would create a path for debt-free college in Massachusetts, expand student support services, provide funding to repair crumbling campus buildings and improve wages and working conditions for staff.”

Andrew Brinker, “Investors snagged 1 in 5 homes for sale in Greater Boston, worsening housing crisis, report finds,” Boston Globe, December 3, 2023.

“Even more challenging though will be figuring out how to pump the brakes on the trend, said Draisen. A real estate transfer tax could help, he said, because it could discourage speculators from buying and selling homes in quick succession. And it would provide funding for more affordable housing efforts.”

Miriam Wasser, “Mass. is on track to meet its near-term climate goals, but the hardest work lies ahead,” WBUR, December 1, 2023.

“So how is the state doing on all of this? On Friday, the Healey administration revealed in its first annual climate report card that the state is on track for its 2025 goals….But, when it comes to meeting the 2030 and 2050 goals, a lot more work (and funding) is needed. And success is far from a sure thing.”

Samantha Gross and Matt Stout, “Mass. Legislature closes out least productive period in decades,” Boston Globe, November 29, 2023.

“In the House, where any spending bill must originate, lawmakers have taken fewer votes at this point in their two-year session than any other going back two decades, a Globe review found.”

Diti Kohli, “With funding challenges looming, Mass. child care could be in jeopardy,” Boston Globe, November 28, 2023.

“But providers said the child-care industry is so broken that it requires a more permanent funnel of government money that goes directly to providers, such as the Commonwealth Cares for Children grants that came through during COVID-19.”

Lisa Guisbond, “Myopic focus on test prep means students are missing out (Letter),” Boston Globe, November 24, 2023.

“If Massachusetts weren’t so myopically focused on prepping students for standardized MCAS exams, there would be more capacity to assess student learning through project-based performance assessments that have been shown to help prepare students for college, career, and civic life.”

Andrew Brinker, “A housing crisis in Massachusetts: A look at single family homes,” Boston Globe, November 22, 2023.

“Roughly 950,000 homes in Massachusetts have large enough yards to accommodate at least one ADU in their backyard…”

Sarah Betancourt, “Massachusetts becomes fifth state in nation to make prison calls free,” WGBH, November 17, 2023.

“Ensuring that individuals in state and county prisons can keep in contact with their loved ones is key to enhancing rehabilitation, reducing recidivism, and improving community safety,” Healey said in a written statement. “I’m proud to sign this important legislation and grateful to the Legislature and advocates for their partnership.”

Rep. Andy Vargas and Sen. Lydia Edwards, “It’s time to protect gig workers and consumers,” CommonWealth, November 15, 2023.

“These are not impossible standards. Most are already the current laws of Massachusetts. Every other company that chooses to do business here has to follow our laws, which include a minimum wage and the worker protections that come with the presumption of employee status.”

“Big College Aid Expansion Will Lift 25,000 Students,” State House News Service, November 15, 2023.

“The governor announced that $62 million in new program funding included in the fiscal year 2024 budget she signed this summer will go toward expanding the MASSGrant Plus program, which her administration says will benefit approximately 25,000 students attending the state’s community colleges, state universities and the University of Massachusetts.”

Gregg Croteau and Mary Gomez, “To reduce recidivism, raise the age of juvenile jurisdiction,” CommonWealth, November 14, 2023.

“Raising the Age does not remove accountability….Rather, it allows for learning and growth in a different setting so that the likelihood of further criminal activity is dramatically reduced as brain development advances. When we do this, we’ll be giving every young person the opportunity for redemption and to be part of the solution moving forward. And our communities will be that much safer.”

Enid Eckstein, Steve Dubb and Lydia Lowe, “Boston’s large nonprofits fall short once again,” CommonWealth, November 12, 2023.

“Yet each year contributions have failed to meet even this modest standard. While some smaller institutions may be financially challenged, many larger institutions also consistently fall short.”

Zeninjor Enwemeka, “How Greater Boston’s zoning decisions reverberate a century later,” WBUR, November 8, 2023.

“Zoning causes us to have areas of concentrated advantage and areas of concentrated disadvantage,” said Amy Dain, who researched and wrote the report for Boston Indicators. “So, if you’re living in an area of concentrated disadvantage, you are missing out on the social networks, the best schools, the access to certain jobs that will help you to advance economically in life.”

Matt Stout, “Healey, promising more compassion, overhauls state’s guidelines for pardons, commutations,” Boston Globe, October 31, 2023.

“Healey, the state’s first openly gay governor, saidin weighing a petition for a commutation — or reducing a sentence — she intends to also consider whether a person is LGBTQ+, as well as a survivor of sexual assault, domestic violence, or human trafficking.”

“Investor eyed Boston. Then he considered his workers’ housing costs.,” Boston Globe (Letters), October 29, 2023.

“Wistful for my youth, I looked recently at investing in Boston and building a genetics lab. But what of my employees, whose salary would be consumed by one of the priciest real estate markets in the nation? I couldn’t do that to them or their families.”

Bahar Akmar Imboden, “Tracing the origins of our college affordability crisis,” CommonWealth, October 27, 2023.

“Let’s imagine a future where student loans are the exception, not the rule. Let’s demand a reality where high-quality, debt-free higher education is attainable for every aspiring student in the state.”

Bhaamati Borkhetaria, “Senate passes menstrual period equity bill,” CommonWealth, October 27, 2023.

“We have hundreds of years of stigma to combat to make it a top of mind priority so [that] when legislators are thinking about basic needs, they are thinking of period products,” said Goodfriend, the Mass NOW official.

The Editorial Board, “Statewide zoning could boost accessory dwelling unit construction,” Boston Globe, October 22, 2023.

“But there’s no substitute for a strong statewide policy. Rules for ADUs that are generally the same everywhere in Massachusetts should also attract more builders and lenders to create what is now still largely a bespoke product.”

Ian Rhodewalt, “Student Debt Is Haunting Us,” Daily Hampshire Gazette, October 17, 2023.

“There is currently legislation at the State House — the Cherish Act and the Debt Free Future bill — that will continue to use Fair Share Amendment funds to make high quality public higher education available for all. Call and write your legislators to make sure that they support these.”

Diti Kohli, “The median Uber and Lyft driver in Mass. makes $12.82 an hour, report finds,” Boston Globe, October 17, 2023.

“The study, based on third-party data from one million ride-hail trips in the state from June 2022 to July 2023, found that nearly three of five drivers made less than $15 an hour — the state minimum wage for hourly employees — and that half of ride-hail earnings were taken up by expenses such as gas and vehicle maintenance.”

Max Page and Debt McCarthy, “State needs to end MCAS as a graduation requirement,” Boston Globe, October 2, 2023.

“Educators, parents, students, and community allies have won big gains for school funding and greater economic equality. We need to reclaim real teaching from destructive high-stakes testing so that every child has the opportunity to receive the great public education they deserve.”

Alison Kuznitz, “Bill would ensure tenant access to lawyers in eviction cases,” State House News Service, September 27, 2023.

“I know the difference a lawyer can make,” Spencer said at the hearing. “It feels like when you’re by yourself in an eviction, you don’t have a chance at all.”

Lindsay Schachnow, “Advocates call for increased minimum wage in Mass.,” Boston Business Journal, September 26, 2023.

“Many local business owners in Massachusetts understand that raising the minimum wage means their customers have more money in their pockets to spend at their businesses,” he said. “Every dollar minimum wage increase represents a dollar in the pocket of a worker who’s gonna spend in their community and that is money that’s gonna circulate in our local economy.”

James Aloisi, “The MBTA is in crisis. Let’s treat it that way.,” CommonWealth, September 23, 2023.

“Without a high functioning transit and rail system, Massachusetts will not meet any of its climate, public health, or equity goals, because mode shift and transit access are critical elements of those goals.”

Jamie Eldridge and Steve Owens, “Polluters should fund measures to combat climate change,” CommonWealth, September 22, 2023.

“We must ensure that the responsibility of handling this cost does not rest on the residents of the Commonwealth but rather the oil and gas companies most responsible for the damage….Our bill would ensure that all parties engaged in the business of extracting fossil fuels, or refining crude oil, are held accountable for more than 1 billion tons of covered greenhouse gas emissions.”

Bhaamati Borkhetaria, “Another union push from legislative staffers,” CommonWealth, September 21, 2023.

“I have spoken to dozens of Senate staffers about why they’ve joined the union,” she testified. Simko said staffers have talked to her about “being unable to afford to live in Boston, experiences of harassment, and being shut down if they try to advocate for change…Every story I heard had a common thread running through it. Staff desperately need a seat at the table.” 

Gregg Hersh, “My Jewish faith spurs me to back prison moratorium,” CommonWealth, September 20, 2023.

“The Massachusetts criminal legal system is also rife with stark racial disparities, with spending on incarceration outpacing investment in wellbeing depending on the zip code. Is that the best use of our tax dollars?”

Sophie Hauck, “Holyoke School Committee seeks end to state receivership of school district,” Daily Hampshire Gazette, September 20, 2023.

“We’re, from the bottom of my heart, certainly ready,” Garcia said after reading a series of metrics to demonstrate growing student achievement in Holyoke. “There’s a lot of improvements [to come], but we’re ready to do that on our own.”

Alison Kuznitz, “Debt-free college framed as cure for workforce woes,” State House News Service, September 18, 2023.

“Even after a good semester, I feel ashamed of what little has come from my investment in my education,” Parkison said. “The funding that the CHERISH Act seeks would get me closer to dignified working conditions.”

Alvin Buyinza, “Debt-free college? Mass. advocates say its time has come,” MassLive, September 19, 2023.

“State funding cuts toward higher education have forced the commonwealth’s public colleges to take more from students’ wallets. After accounting for inflation, tuition and fees at four-year colleges in Massachusetts have skyrocketed 135% over the past two decades, according to a report from the Hildreth Institute, a Boston-based education think tank.”

Niki Griswold, “Mass. approves new health and sex ed guidelines for the first time since 1999,” Boston Globe, September 19, 2023.

“The new framework emphasizes skills like healthy decision-making and problem solving, social awareness, media literacy, and communication and relationship skills, as well as topics like the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity, and sexual health.”

Adam Reilly, “Healey unveils ‘groundbreaking’ policies on biodiversity and single-use plastic,” WGBH News, September 18, 2023.

“She announced that, later this week, she’ll sign an executive order directing the state to create new biodiversity conservation goals for 2030, 2040 and 2050, as well as strategies for meeting them. Those targets, which will include coastal and marine habitats, will be “the strongest in the nation,” Healey vowed.

In addition, Healey said, she’ll sign another executive order that immediately bans the purchase of single-use water bottles by state agencies, a step she described as unprecedented among U.S. states.”

Phil Johnston, “Today’s UMass students deserve the same opportunities I had,” CommonWealth, September 19, 2023.

“As much as students like me have counted on public higher education to help us secure our futures, the state is also counting on those colleges and universities to secure the economic future of the commonwealth.”

Vick Mohanka, “Utilities need to stop building natural gas infrastructure,” CommonWealth, September 13, 2023.

“Rather than spending billions of dollars on unnecessary fossil gas infrastructure, Massachusetts should pause fossil gas expansion and pipe replacement projects (except where necessary for safety) and prioritize electrification of building heating instead.”

Alison Kuznitz, “Student hails new free community college program as ‘life-changing,'” State House News Service, August 24, 2023.

“I got called and was told that I was eligible for this program, which is going to be life-changing for me,” said Mends, who attended Needham Public Schools, at a press conference in Wellesley. “It’s been a long road and to have this financial burden lifted is amazing. And I’m excited for the opportunities that are going to open up and the things that are going to change my family.”

“New program will allow undocumented students in Massachusetts to get in-state tuition rates,” CBS News, August 22, 2023.

“This is a big step forward for students who have been growing up here, learning here, living here, working hard here, following their dreams right here in Massachusetts,” Healey said a press conference Tuesday. “It’s nothing more than what is fair and what is right. They’re going to be able to continue their journey on the same terms as their peers in a place that is their home.”

Matt Stout, “Massachusetts to change how Asian, Black, and other populations are counted in ‘most expansive’ effort in country,” Boston Globe, August 21, 2023.

“If we’re able to break down that data, we can target messages better, we can understand where there are disparities in health, disparities in education,” said Gary Chu, chairperson of the state’s Asian American & Pacific Islanders Commission. “No group is a monolith.”

Ayana Archie, “A 4% income tax on millionaires will make lunch free for Massachusetts K-12 students,” NPR, August 18, 2023.

“Massachusetts’ new budget will provide free school lunches for K-12 students, thanks to an additional 4% income tax on state residents’ incomes above $1 million….The extra tax, known as the Fair Share Amendment, was approved by voters in November 2022. It is generating an extra $1 billion for the state. Of that, $224 million will go to K-12 programs, including free lunch and implementing “clean energy” in schools, the governor’s office said.”

Andrew Brinker, “State may deny grants to communities that don’t comply with new MBTA housing law,” Boston Globe, August 17, 2023.

“The new rules threaten towns that avoid rezoning under the new law with losing out on more than a dozen state grant programs, which combined provide tens of millions of dollars to communities for an array of local planning and development programs. That’s on top of two major programs — MassWorks and Housing Choice — from which state officials could already withhold money, as well as the threat of legal action from community groups and the attorney general.”

Christian MilNeil, “A More Generous State Budget Means Better Service Is Coming to Regional Transit Authorities,” StreetsBlog Mass, August 16, 2023.

“But in the meantime, the RTA administrators we spoke with say they’ll likely use the funding to expand their service hours into evenings and weekends, and to expand fare-free programs, which heretofore have relied on dwindling federal pandemic relief funds.“

Emily Piper-Vallillo, “‘Food is the biggest expense’: Mass. families welcome permanent free school meals for students,” WBUR, August 15, 2023.

Right now 26% of families with children in Massachusetts are food insecure. And when you take a look across those families, one in four of them don’t qualify for free or reduced pricing meals,” she said. “They make too much, but they’re still struggling to put food on the table.”

Taylor Dolven, “Massachusetts’ goal to reduce driving lags behind other states,” Boston Globe, August 13, 2023.

“Massachusetts is aiming to reduce the number of miles driven per household by just 3 percent from 2015 to 2030 as part of its climate plan, according to figures provided by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Minnesota, by contrast, is aiming to reduce vehicle miles traveled per person by 7 percent in that time frame. In Colorado, the goal is 8 percent. In Washington, the goal is around 16 percent. And in California, the goal is 20 percent.”

Margaret Monsell, “Maybe the Globe should take a look at itself,” CommonWealth, August 5, 2023.

“But this recent Globe trip on the Wayback Machine suggests a possibility that its editorial melancholy about our degraded legislative democracy hasn’t yet considered: Has the downsized State House coverage by the Globe itself helped to bring about this lamentable state of affairs?”

Marcela García, “The simple card that’s changing undocumented immigrants’ lives,” Boston Globe, July 31, 2023.

“People like Mayra and her cousin know very well that a driver’s license is issued for public safety purposes only. But the card exemplifies other intangibles for them: relief, gratitude, hope, a sense of belonging — and the feeling ofbeing a little less invisible to the rest of Massachusetts.”

Nik DeCosta-Klipa, “What is — and isn’t — in the (again-late) Mass. budget deal,” WBUR, July 31, 2023.

What’s in it: The massive spending bill includes some big policy changes. Here are the ones that made the final cut.

• Free community college: The budget includes $38 million to offer free community college for students 25 or over, plus another $12 million to cover all costs for those in community college nursing programs, beginning this fall.
• In-state tuition for undocumented immigrants: The deal also covers the Senate’s proposal to make students without legal immigration status eligible for in-state tuition and state financial aid at Massachusetts’ public colleges. The condition is that they attended an in-state high school for at least three years or got their GED here.
• Free school lunch: Meanwhile, the House got its way on extending the state’s pandemic-era universal free school meal program for another academic year.
• Prison phone calls: The budget deals would also eliminate the costs of making phone calls for inmates in state and county prisons. (Former Gov. Charlie Baker vetoed a similar proposal last year, but Healey has been supportive.)

Ashley Nellis, “It’s time to end eternal punishment for young adults,” CommonWealth, July 27, 2023.

“The racial dynamics at play in extreme sentences cannot be overlooked. The Sentencing Project’s study finds that a shocking two thirds of young people sentenced to LWOP are Black (including Semedo). At the time of his crime, the media was blatantly contributing to racist portrayals of Black people through racially charged descriptors like savage, animalistic, and superpredator. These misrepresentations of Black people have surely contributed to the high representation of them in our prisons, especially when we look at those with the harshest penalties.”

Sen. Pat Jehlen, “Some thoughts on where we need to be competitive,” CommonWealth, July 26, 2023.

“Some urge us to reduce the tax on short term capital gain, but 80 percent of the benefits would go to the top 1 percent, widening the income gap. It would contribute nothing to economic growth. It would cost $130 million a year that can’t be spent on housing, childcare, transit, childcare, and other things that would help businesses, families, and competitiveness.”

Editorial Board, “Free prison calls provide a lifeline for inmates, families,” Boston Globe, July 25, 2023.

“Keeping those who are incarcerated connected to their families is one of the simplest ways to encourage rehabilitation and, therefore, enhance public safety. This tiny bit of progress is already a year overdue. It shouldn’t have to wait any longer.”

Margaret McKenna, “Our state hasn’t achieved anything resembling educational equity,” Boston Globe, July 17, 2023.

“The basic principle in the 1993 Education Reform was that all students should be educated to meet high standards and that progress should be measured. In order to achieve that, we need to recognize that students come from different environments, have different learning styles and needs. Treating all students equally does not produce equity. Students are much more than what is measured with a group of narrow subject matter tests.”

Harris Gruman, “Bid to close Fair Share tax loophole is a good move, not a switcheroo,” Boston Globe, July 11, 2023.

“We should not tolerate an ultrawealthy household filing its federal tax return jointly and then filing state returns as single people in order to avoid taxes. The Senate’s tax bill would close that loophole…Every dollar saved by closing this loophole is an extra dollar to help fix our roads and transit or make our public colleges affordable again.”

Grant Welker, “BBJ Seven Letter poll: Home costs, state taxes, commuting are ‘much worse’ in Mass.,” Boston Business Journal, July 10, 2023.

“More than two-thirds of respondents among Boston-area businesspeople view housing costs in Massachusetts as “much worse” than other states, a far greater share than those who said the same of commuting or taxes, according to a new BBJ-Seven Letter poll.”

Deanna Pan, “As conservative activism targets sex ed, new Mass. guidelines are on the horizon,” Boston Globe, July 8, 2023.

“If students aren’t learning through schools,through a qualified teacher based on research and scientific educational information, they’llbe [learning about sex] from some sketchy website online or from a YouTube video that hasn’t been fact checked, or a porn site,” Nugent said. “Kids are going to learn this one way or the other, and so I feel like it’s important for schools to try to be the ones to impart that education.”

Jim Braude, “Why should state legislators control the fate of rent control in Boston?,” Boston Globe, July 8, 2023.

“State legislators are entitled to think Wu’s plan is bad policy, too, and maybe they’d be proven right. Local leaders, however, should be allowed to embrace such ideas. Then, if their constituents ultimately decide they are hurt by them, they can fire those responsible….So where does this antidemocratic power come from? A half-century old provision in the state constitution and history that pre-dated it, with the Brahmins on Beacon Hill not trusting the Irish in Boston to properly run their own lives. The players may have changed, but the antipathy for local self-government has not.”

Phineas Baxandall, “Nix cap gains, single sales factor tax cuts,” CommonWealth, July 5, 2023.

“Imagine a conversation on Zoom with 100 participants on the screen. Suppose one person’s face occupied over three quarters of the space while the other 99 were crammed into less than a quarter of the screen. And most of those 99 have their faces blacked out because they receive zero benefit at all. You’re imagining a portrait of how the short-term capital gains cut would be distributed among Massachusetts tax filers.”

“World Registers Hottest Day Ever Recorded On July 3,” Reuters, July 4, 2023.

“Unfortunately, it promises to only be the first in a series of new records set this year as increasing emissions of [carbon dioxide] and greenhouse gases coupled with a growing El Nino event push temperatures to new highs,” said Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at Berkeley Earth, in a statement.

Travis Anderson, “Thousands of undocumented residents expected to seek driver’s licenses as new law takes effect,” Boston Globe, July 3, 2023.

”Having the ability to have a driver’s license enables them to operate in our communities, operate in our economy, take their families and friends to doctors, visit friends and family,” Registrar Colleen Ogilvie said during a news briefing Monday in Brockton, according to footage posted by WBZ-TV.

Jennifer Smith, “Lawmakers target cell phone tracking data in abortion fight,” CommonWealth, June 26, 2023.

“Location data can make known whether a person has visited an abortion provider, how long they stay, and even identify where they came from,” said Sen. Cynthia Creem, the Senate majority leader and sponsor of a bill that would ban selling, leasing, trading, or renting cell phone location data. “Notably, this information can follow the travel paths of individuals coming to Massachusetts for reproductive health care.”

Sarah Betancourt, “In ‘historic’ moment, MCI-Framingham prisoners testify live at moratorium hearing,” WGBH, June 27, 2023.

A group of 20 women incarcerated at MCI-Framingham testified live on Zoom at a hearing on Monday — for the first time in legislative history….Clad in green uniforms, each woman sat in front of a camera in a white room and spoke in favor of a prison moratorium bill. The legislation would put a five-year pause on planning or building new prisons and renovating current prisons “beyond maintenance or building code requirements.””

Sam Drysdal, “Gov. Healey pushes to update state sex education guidelines,” State House News Service, June 21, 2023.

“She said the guidelines cover LGBTQ+ health and wellness, mental and emotional health, personal safety, bodily autonomy, dating safety, violence prevention, physical health and hygiene, nutritionally balanced eating, physical activity, substance use disorder, and public, community and environmental health.”

Andrew Brinker, “Two decades later, public housing is once again coming to Boston,” Boston Globe, June 13, 2023.

“Until now. Through a new but little-known federal program, some municipalities in Massachusetts are building the first new public housing units since that cap was passed, a moment many in the housing world thought might never come.”

Amy Dain, “Zoning in the Boston suburbs is stacked against families with children,” Boston Globe, June 12, 2023.

“This is why the new MBTA Communities zoning law requires Massachusetts municipalities served by the transit system to reform their zoning to allow multifamily housing “suitable for families with children.” The region has perhaps not seen local zoning reform taking place at this scale since The Boston Globe concluded in 1960 that “suburban Boston is zoned to the eyeballs.””

Jarone Lee, Angie Liou, Raymond Liu, and Audrey Nguyen, “High rents are bad for your health,” CommonWealth, June 6, 2023.

“High rental prices lead to adverse health effects. When rent becomes a source of financial strain, other universal needs like healthcare become secondary. Money allocated to rent cannot be used for crucial medical treatment. Once rents surpass families’ ability to pay, they risk eviction and homelessness, which is associated with poor birth outcomes, higher rates of suicide and mental health hospitalizations, and higher rates of all-cause mortality.”

Ellen Fleming, “Bill could help fund affordable housing in Massachusetts,” WWLP, June 6, 2023.

“The idea here is this is just to empower and enable municipalities to do what they think is best, so a lot of flexibility in this bill. The baseline really is those that are profiting the most off of this crisis should be able to contribute just a little bit to solving it.”

Jennifer Smith, “State moves to bring sex education out of the ‘90s,” CommonWealth, June 6, 2023.

“Planned Parenthood reviewed all 50 states plus Washington D.C. and ranked their sexual health curriculum and their level of abortion protections. Massachusetts is somewhat of an outlier among states that are “protective” or “very protective” of abortion care, Hart said, because the state standards for sex ed do not require education to be medically accurate, cover birth control options, include LGBTQ+ identities, or affirm abortion access.”

Erin Tiernan, “Massachusetts Senate tax relief plan earns progressive stamp of approval — to conservative chagrin,” MASSterList, June 9, 2023.

“Jonathan Cohn, policy director of Progressive Massachusetts, praised the Senate for “rejecting the flawed trickle-down economics that believes that tax cuts for the super-rich and large corporations, rather than investments in our state’s commonwealth, are what make our state ‘competitive.’””

Jonathan Cohn, “Letter: Mass. lawmakers have two bosses, heed one (hint: it’s not the voters),” Boston Globe, June 8, 2023.

“With Massachusetts having the least competitive elections in the country, it’s no surprise which “boss” speaks loudest to legislators, but we all lose out from the lack of urgency around the many crises our state faces, from the growing costs of child care to the affordable housing crisis to a transit system in desperate need of care.”

Bahar Amkan Imboden, Rich Levy, and Ian Rhodewalt, “Congratulations Mass. grads, but watch out for that $400m in debt,” CommonWealth, June 3, 2023.

“This spring, the graduating class of 2023 from our Massachusetts public institutions alone, which comprises both community college graduates and individuals receiving bachelor’s degrees from public higher education institutions, collectively carries a staggering debt of approximately $400 million.”

“Letters: Can MCAS be improved? Curbed? Learned from? All of the above?,” Boston Globe, June 3, 2023.

“As a parent in Lawrence, I’ve seen how state takeover disrupts students’ education with a revolving door of administrators and educators. I’ve seen how students’ learning experiences are limited by a narrow focus on test prep. But because there’s no role for local democracy in the state takeover system, there’s no way for parents to make our voices heard on these issues.”

Katie Lannan, “Supporters of sex ed bill say it’s time for Massachusetts to act,” WGBH, May 30, 2023.

“Young people across the country witness their rights and access to care and education eroding before their eyes,” Hart said. “Passing the Healthy Youth Act is one way we can step up right now to ensure that our youth today, tomorrow and in the future have the access and the means to make the best decisions for their own health and safety.”

Doug Arnett and Laura Crimaldi, “‘Are you guys going to shoot me?’ Police encounters with mentally ill people increasingly turn deadly.,” Boston Globe, June 3, 2023.

“A Globe analysis ofpolice confrontations since 2016 shows that the majority of those shot by police in Massachusetts — 51 out of 88 — were people in the throes of a mental health crisis or who had been diagnosed with mental illness. That rate has risen significantly in the years since a 2016 Spotlight Team report, “The desperate and the dead,” on police shootings of people with mental illness.”

Yvonne Abraham, “Let’s make representatives more representative of us,” Boston Globe, May 31, 2023.

“That prohibition helps keep some excellent candidates from seeking public office. And it’s embarrassing, especially in a state like Massachusetts, where we like to think of ourselves as progressive. On this particular point, we are behind Texas, Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, Montana, and some 20 other states, all of which allow candidates to claim child care costs as campaign expenditures.”

Addario Miranda, “It’s hard to learn when you’re hungry. ‘I’m living proof’,” WBUR, May 23, 2023.

“Currently, 1 in 5 households with children in our state report that they have difficulty affording food, with BIPOC families being affected the most. If Massachusetts fails to make the pandemic-era program permanent, it means 400,000 students in the commonwealth could lose access to school meals.”

Sen. Pat Jehlen, “Letter: Cries to keep the state competitive overlook data on just who’s leaving,” Boston Globe, May 30, 2023.

“Our housing crisis is largely because we have gained so much population. Competition for housing has driven up housing prices. That’s one of the main reasons cited for the loss of low-income essential workers, as multiple Globe articles have reported.”

Lisa Guisbond, “Time to end the state’s ‘test and punish’ accountability system,” CommonWealth, May 24, 2023.

“But our current MCAS-driven assessment and accountability system, instead of promoting such an education, has become a barrier to opportunity for too many students. A new bill called the Thrive Act would take down some of these barriers.”

Sen. Lydia Edwards, Sen. Adam Gomez, and Sen Liz Miranda, “Time to enact new rules for use of facial recognition software,” CommonWealth, May 24, 2023.

“After all, as senators of color, we represent communities that stand to gain the most from these recommendations becoming law. Our communities deserve safety, both from violence and from wrongful targeting by police.”

Jonathan Hecht, “Letter: House leaders made a mockery of the process in ramming through tax package,” Boston Globe, May 26, 2023.

“That tax cut’s inclusion in the tax package shows how House leaders’ complete control of the legislative process gives powerful people a back channel to advance their interests with none of the public scrutiny and participation that democracy demands.”

Editorial Board, “An unfinished piece of criminal justice reform business: Raising the age for juvenile offenders,” Boston Globe, May 25, 2023.

“Raising the age for juvenile defendants is one of those bits of unfinished business from a trailblazing piece of legislation now five years into its implementation. Today, given the state of scientific research on developing brains, the case is even stronger to keep young adults out of a prison system ill-equipped to provide the education and the rehabilitation they need. Today it’s time to try something different, something better.”

Editorial Board, “It’s time to restore legislative democracy on Beacon Hill,” Boston Globe, May 22, 2023.

“Yes, but it requires both voters and lawmakers to demand more. Legislative bodies, after all, set their own formal rules and establish or accede to their own norms. At present, both rules and norms surrender too much power to the leaders of the legislative chambers. But what’s been given could and should be taken back — if lawmakers make that, and not internal turf battles, their goal.”

Kara Miller, “Public Colleges Should Be Truly Public Again,” Boston Globe, May 18, 2023.

“We have been steadily “shifting the cost burden to students and their families,” argues Tom Harnisch, vice president for government relations at the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. “There’s a real intergenerational equity issue here that I don’t think gets talked about nearly enough.””

Editorial Board, “Give in-state college tuition to undocumented immigrants,” Boston Globe, May 20, 2023.

“There are 23 states that offer in-state tuition to immigrants without legal status who graduated from their state’s high schools, according to the National Immigration Law Center. Some are liberal-leaning like California and New York, but others vote conservative, like Kansas, Texas, and Utah. Seventeen states offer state financial aid to students without legal status.”

Diti Kohli, “Boston thrives off the dreams of young people. But can they make it here?,” Boston Globe, April 25, 2023.

“It’s not a coincidence. Part of the exodus can be attributed to the pandemic and the usual ebb and flow of students and footloose young people from the city. But many agreed that the soaring cost of living here is a major factor….Baby boomers and Gen Xers benefited from economic conditions that do not exist for millennials. And by many measures, the path ahead for Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012, is even more fraught.”

“Tide is turning, rightly, to considering voting rights behind bars” (Letters), Boston Globe, April 24, 2023.

“Allowing incarcerated people to civically engage contributes to rehabilitation, which benefits everyone in Massachusetts. The idea of denying civic engagement for the sake of punishment belongs in the ash heap of history.”

Andrew Brinker, “Rent control battle looms but it’s never been easy to pass tenant protections on Beacon Hill,” Boston Globe, April 23, 2023.

“And yet as Boston’s supercharged housing market transforms lower-income corners of the city, there are few formal mechanisms in place to keep vulnerable renters in their homes. Policies that have long been on the books in other high-cost cities, such as prohibiting so-called “no cause” evictions or allowing tenants the opportunity to buy their building when it goes up for sale, have gone nowhere in Boston, often because such measures also need approval from the state Legislature. “

Bill McKibben, “A Massachusetts Town Leads a Way Out of the Housing Crisis,” New Yorker, April 19, 2023.

“My family lives in multifamily housing; without it, we wouldn’t be able to live here in Lexington,” he said. “When my family dealt with financial hardship and eventual homelessness, we were told by many people in this town that we didn’t belong in Lexington and we should move somewhere else. How do you think it makes me feel when some people from a point of great privilege say that they don’t want the type of multifamily housing that I live in because it looks ugly?”

Emma Platoff and Matt Stout, “Massachusetts Legislature, hostile to rent control, includes more landlords than renters,” Boston Globe, April 21, 2023.

“Figures compiled by the Globe suggest that dozens of legislators may have a conflict on major housing policy proposals as they weigh their own financial interests alongside the needs of their constituents. A top-down government body that often moves at a plodding pace even on pressing issues, the Legislature has sometimes been a place where major housing policy proposals go to die.”

Nina Lev, “Needs of the many outweigh the desires of a few” (Letter), Boston Globe, April 19, 2023.

“Don’t these citizens already live in comfortable homes, send their children to good schools, and enjoy nice vacations? Wouldn’t their lives, like those of the rest of us, be enhanced by providing secure housing and great educational opportunities to all of the Commonwealth’s children? Like the rest of us, don’t they wantreliable transportation, environmentally sustainable infrastructure, public art, and glorious parks? Until we can fully fund all these priorities, shouldn’t we hold off on talking about refunds to the most fortunate?”

John Hilliard, “In the MBTA’s proposed $9.2 billion spending plan, transit advocates argue more funds are needed for expansion,” Boston Globe, April 12, 2023.

“Stacy Thompson, the executive director of LivableStreets Alliance, said the T must balance both near-term safety and maintenance, while also working on expansion….“Things like expansion and resiliency are not extras, or nice to have. They should be considered core to the viability of the system,”Thompson said.”

Peter Coy, “The 100-Year-Old Reason U.S. Housing Is So Expensive,” New York Times, April 14, 2023.

“Once a neighborhood is zoned for single-family detached homes, it almost always stays that way, even when a city’s growth makes such low density inefficient. Los Angeles permits the building of only detached houses on 75 percent of its residentially zoned land; Chicago, 79 percent. First, those detached houses are built to last. Second, “the politics of local zoning almost invariably works to freeze land uses, especially in a neighborhood of detached houses,” he writes. “This is a significant finding, not yet part of urban lore. I chose the title of the book to emphasize it.””

“MCAS is the problem, not the solution” (Letters), Boston Globe, April 11, 2023.

“If over 700 students in a single year were denied a diploma because of MCAS, that probably means many thousands have been deprived of diplomas since MCAS became a graduation requirement in 2003….DESE should publish the total number of students denied diplomas because of MCAS for each year since MCAS became a graduation requirement.”

Joan Vennochi, “When it comes to issues facing the state, it’s Maura ‘in the middle’ Healey,” Boston Globe, April 10, 2023.

“To progressive Democrats, the answer is not enough. Pointing out that Healey’s tax reform proposal is basically the same as Baker’s, Jonathan Cohn, policy director of Progressive Massachusetts, said, “Her instinct has been to give that money back, weakening our state’s ability to deliver on the promise of investment.” On housing and transit, he added, “I think we need to see more from her administration about what their major goals are and how they would track their own success. There isn’t enough communicated urgency about what is needed for the affordability crisis and the crisis of the MBTA.” Cohn also flagged Healey for a “wait-and-see” attitude on zoning changes that are aimed at increasing affordable housing.”

Mohamad Ali and Anne Margulies, “Here’s How We Define Competitiveness,” CommonWealth, March 11, 2023.

“However, some groups are using the issue of competitiveness as an excuse to rehash arguments against the Fair Share Amendment, which passed by a solid majority of voters last November. Rather than recycling rationales that voters rejected, or lobbying for new tax cuts that would contradict the expressed will of the electorate, it’s now time for state leaders, municipal officials, and business and community leaders to focus on how to invest the funds resulting from this amendment for the betterment of our state.”

Bruce Mohl, “Exodus of wealthy residents called non-existent,” CommonWealth, April 6, 2023.

“Kurt Wise, the senior policy analyst at the Budget and Policy Center, said in the brief that research shows state tax levels have little impact on decisions by high-income households about where to live. Wise suggested it would be smarter to use tax revenues to make investments that would make Massachusetts more affordable for working families rather than cutting taxes to benefit the wealthy.”

Christian Wade, “Healey gets pushback on $750M tax cut plan,” The Eagle-Tribune, March 28, 2023.

“Estates worth more than $3 million – including those worth hundreds of millions of dollars – would receive the biggest tax break: a guaranteed $182,000,” he told the panel. “Massachusetts can reform the estate tax without large giveaways to the ultra-rich.”

Nik DeCosta-Klipa, “What to know about Gov. Healey’s estate tax proposal — and why some Dems are pushing back,” WBUR, March 28, 2023.

“Several Democratic lawmakers argued that the real reason people have moved away is the state’s expensive housing and child care costs — and suggested Healey’s tax plan should double down on those issues. State Sen. Lydia Edwards said that “if we’re going to center equity,” Healey’s proposed tax cuts for renters should be “doubled, if not tripled,” while the estate tax reforms should be pared back. “I’m OK with being an outlier on so many things, because we lead,” Edward said.”

Matt Stout, “Healey is pushing a plan to make calls free in Massachusetts state prisons — with limits,” Boston Globe, March 7, 2023.

“But in reviving the issue, Healey would also set a monthly 1,000-minute cap for free calls per person, making it one of the most restrictive such programs among those adopted across the country. She is also seeking to limit the change to the Department of Correction.”

Ivy Scott, “Proposed amendment to state constitution could give prisoners back their right to vote,” Boston Globe, April 6, 2023.

““Those people are still in our care and our custody,” she said. Before 2000, it was common for elected officials to visit the prisons or jails in their districts, even if just to observe the quality of the facility. But Miranda and Uyterhoeven both said that since inmates lost the right to vote, the presence of elected leaders in correctional houses has been, with few exceptions, sporadic and infrequent.”

Cabell Eames, “Fair Share for the Fossil Fuel Industry,” CommonWealth, March 5, 2023.

“Should the Polluters Pay bill become law, the state will have a sizable downpayment to achieve its climate goals and build resiliency for the Commonwealth. With a democratic stronghold in both the executive and legislative branches and the first-in-the-nation climate chief, Massachusetts is poised to deliver on climate strategies that we can all agree on.”

Brooke Mohr and Dan O’Connell, “Help us address the Cape, Islands housing crisis,” CommonWealth, April 8, 2023.

“The families, healthcare workers, teachers, and public safety officers who came to the State House are demanding the right to adopt a mechanism to raise the kinds of funds commensurate with the problem they face: A transfer fee on high-end real estate transactions. The creation of a transfer fee on real estate transactions of 0.5 percent to 2 percent – with an exemption for lower-cost properties – would create millions of dollars for each community that opts in to creatively address its own specific problems. Adoption of the transfer fee is by local option only – you won’t have the fee if you don’t see a need and choose to pursue it. The details, too, are up to each city or town: How much the fee would be, what would be exempt, how the funds would be used.”

Jeremy Siegel, “Ridership on fare-free MBTA buses more than doubled in program’s first year,” WGBH, March 6, 2023.

“I think what’s so exciting about this is that it doesn’t look all that different. But for the people who are using free buses, it feels very different,” Thompson said. “And what that means is that when it is pouring rain outside, when it’s snowing, you can get on the bus faster; the bus moves faster; there’s more money in your pocket if you’re not making a transfer and that’s your only ride.”

Dharna Noor, “Red states are leading on renewable energy, while Mass. ranks 29th, new analysis shows,” Boston Globe, March 8, 2023.

“Buta separate February analysis of federal data from Yale Climate Connections, which considered not only wind and solar, but also hydropower, found that 16 states now generate at least half their electricity from renewable sources, and Massachusetts is not one of them. South Dakota, another red state, has the largest share of renewable energy at 83 percent, largely as a result of impressive adoption of wind energy.”

Diego Lopez, “Evictions in Boston spike over last year,” Boston Globe, March 21, 2023.

“The number of evictions filed each week in Boston are up nearly 75% from last year, according to new data released by Princeton University’s Eviction Lab, looking at the four-week average. Advocates and attorneys say eviction rates are coming back up after a lull during the pandemic, saying it’s been a decades-long problem exacerbated by a cost-of-living crisis.”

Tiffany Jenkins (letter), “Lawmakers, be bold and lift the crushing burden of child-care costs,” Boston Globe, April 3, 2023.

“Like many, I’ve had to juggle raising my daughter and working a part-time job while attending school full time and working toward a certificate. Paying for child care on top of that is a burden that forces me to make impossible decisions about paying for other basic needs, from groceries to transportation.”