Negotiations on a final compromise could prove arduous, but the House and Senate agree on the fundamental idea of more than doubling the share of health care spending that goes toward primary care to ease the crisis that’s left many patients struggle to find appointments.
Month: July 2026
Backers of the Maine law argue that super PAC spending is rapidly ballooning, and becoming so associated with particular candidates and their pet issues that the principle of limiting campaign contributions should also apply to super PAC contributions.
As the campaign shifts from ballot-qualifying to general election mode, what the end result will be of all the money raised and spent, all the signatures collected and ads likely to come, and all the potential friction introduced with Beacon Hill — even if the question passes this fall — is for now unclear.
Legislative leaders opted not to engage in serious negotiations with initiative petition proponents earlier in the year, when a compromise might have averted measures going to the ballot. And now, they’re weighing last-minute action that could reshape or even upend a pair of decisions voters will make.
The compromise bill takes a broader approach to “sensitive locations,” expanding protections against warrantless civil immigration arrests from courthouses to include public schools, child care centers, and health care facilities.
Asked if she has a position on any of the questions yet, Healey told GBH’s Jim Braude and Margery Eagan, “Not on all of them, and you know, there are some that I’ve sort of taken a closer look at as a matter of priority,” before mentioning the conservation measure.
“It’s not very tailored to Massachusetts related-housing concerns,” said Andrew Mikula, senior housing fellow at the Pioneer Institute. “The bill nibbles at the edges on a number of process and regulatory standards,” which “disproportionately” affect other regions more than the Northeast.
SOCIAL WORKERS IN and outside of Massachusetts could see clients across state lines more easily under a policy senators embedded within the chamber’s
The K-12 Statewide Graduation Council recommends in a new proposal that students complete state-designed and administered end-of-course assessments, sparking debate over whether Massachusetts is reintroducing the standardized testing voters rejected by ballot question in 2024.
The escalating use of low-value care — medical services that are unnecessary for patient care — was identified as a contributor to health care spending growth. One in four commercially insured residents received at least one low-value service in 2024.