[Coverage Developing] The House will pursue a tax relief package aimed both at making Massachusetts more affordable for its residents and "more competitive with other states," Speaker Ron Mariano told business leaders on Thursday.
The House moved a bill creating a sick leave bank for a Trial Court employee from committee to enactment during its informal session Thursday.
As tax reforms spring back into the conversation on Beacon Hill, a coalition of 30 organizations pitched its priorities that leaders said would buoy low- and moderate-income families.
When 3,800 UMasss Boston students receive their degrees on May 25, they will hear from U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Granite Telecommunications co-founder and philanthropist Rob Hale.
A new report from an organization representing the private higher education world quantified the economic impact the sector has in Massachusetts, but the group's president said the impacts go beyond spending at a time when Massachusetts' competitive position is getting a closer look on Beacon Hill.
![Margaret Estes of Framingham holds a sign encouraging policymakers to "Protect Our Children!! Not The Guns" at a Moms Demand Action rally in the State House's Gardner Auditorium on Wednesday. [Sam Doran/SHNS]](https://www.statehousenews.com/content/frontpage_photo/2023/03-29_Moms_Demand_Action_Margaret_Estes.jpg "Margaret Estes of Framingham holds a sign encouraging policymakers to \"Protect Our Children!! Not The Guns\" at a Moms Demand Action rally in the State House's Gardner Auditorium on Wednesday. [Sam Doran/SHNS]")
Two days after news of another mass shooting rocked the nation, this time in Nashville, Massachusetts lawmakers renewed their commitment to passing an omnibus gun bill this session.
From an $87 million boost to housing assistance funds to a "streamlined" licensure process for internationally-trained medical doctors, hundreds of immigrant policy advocates lobbied lawmakers on their 2023 priorities Wednesday, and received a "toast" from House Speaker Ronald Mariano for a high-profile win in 2022.
Massachusetts historically has not had too much need to compete for federal funding, which left it without the same kind of "muscle" that other states are deploying to take advantage of new grant opportunities, the Healey administration's economic development chief said Wednesday.
An increasing reliance on travel nurses is contributing to high turnover rates among nurses in Massachusetts, as health care remains strapped by labor shortages here and around the country, according to a Health Policy Commission report.
Gaming regulators decided this week to allow a ban on certain sports betting marketing arrangements to take effect next month and made a number of tweaks to advertising regulations that had been sought by Attorney General Andrea Campbell's office.
![A bill filed by Rep. William Straus would, among several other reforms, reassign authority over the commuter rail from the MBTA to the state Department of Transportation. [SHNS/File 2022]](https://www.statehousenews.com/content/filefoto/Commuter_rail_South_station_lr.jpg "A bill filed by Rep. William Straus would, among several other reforms, reassign authority over the commuter rail from the MBTA to the state Department of Transportation. [SHNS/File 2022]")
The eastern Massachusetts commuter rail network and its hundreds of thousands of riders would no longer be the responsibility of the MBTA under safety and management reforms targeted by the House's transportation chief.
Gov. Maura Healey is on the verge of signing into law a roughly $1.1 billion combined spending and borrowing bill, according to her economic development chief.
Staring down the barrel of a statewide housing shortage that has helped push prices to record levels, the Healey administration pitched a major boost to a tax credit designed to encourage much-needed production.
[Story Developing] From an $87 million boost to housing assistance funds to a "streamlined" licensure process for internationally-trained medical doctors, hundreds of immigrant policy advocates lobbied lawmakers on their 2023 priorities Wednesday, and received a "toast" from House Speaker Ronald Mariano for a high-profile win in 2022.
With the state mired in a labor crunch, MassHealth hopes to double its call center workforce capacity in the next two months to deal with the undertaking of determining which of the 2.3 million people on the state-funded health plan are still eligible.
The sound of chanting students rang through the State House during the Massachusetts YouthBuild Coalition's annual advocacy day Tuesday, as the group looks to keep hold of its funding to serve around 300 participants in 11 cities.
The state's governing document still only refers to elected officials by male pronouns. And while the process to change that language would be lengthy, this is the year to start because "history has blown by the Massachusetts Constitution," according to one lawmaker.
For a Revenue Committee hearing, there was relatively little in-depth talk Tuesday about the nitty-gritty details of Gov. Maura Healey's tax package.
The Department of Children and Families is dealing with fewer cases today than it was several years ago, but those that remain are increasingly complex matters involving children with significant needs, the bureau chief said Tuesday.
Lawmakers should approve both funding proposals Gov. Maura Healey rolled out in the past month to ease the burden on schools facing a jump in special education costs, not one or the other, a top administration official said Tuesday.