With a bevy of bills in play, legislators need to figure out not just which policies they want to advance to protect user data and shield minors from addictive feeds, but which vehicles will host the proposed reforms.
Massachusetts was actively engaged on many of the most important cases, with some of them running through the New England federal courts and Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office often wading in, typically with a coalition of blue state attorneys general.
On Monday, SJC Justice Frank Gaziano denied the State Ballot Law Commission’s appeal of an Essex County Superior Court ruling that overturned the commission’s decision and reinstated Walsh’s name onto the ballot.
Starting in 2024, a group of 10 Massachusetts communities kickstarted a first-of-a-kind experiment by pledging to go fossil fuel free. But moving off gas for new buildings doesn’t preclude the utilities from needing to spend tens of millions of dollars each year upgrading the existing infrastructure by replacing pipes. This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporters Hallie Claflin and Jordan Wolman discuss Wolman’s latest piece uncovering how gas companies have spent $100 million on natural gas infrastructure in nine of those 10 communities, roughly since they adopted their fossil fuel-free ordinances.
While law sets clear patterns for most of the ballot, officials need to lean more on the skills used by magazine or newspaper layout editors when it comes to statewide questions.
The commission plans to appeal the decision to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, according to a spokesperson for MassDems.
As these municipalities are quickly finding out, moving off gas for new buildings doesn’t preclude the utilities from needing to spend tens of millions of dollars each year upgrading the existing gas system.
The campaign only qualified for the ballot by a margin of 122 signatures in the most recent, final round, leaving little room for error should regulators find that the claims carry weight.
With election season heating up, the governor did not make any vetoes to the package, according to a Healey spokesperson.
Legislators have proposed 688 ways to change an economic development bill the House plans to pass Wednesday. Some amendments carry statewide implications as representatives look to squeeze as many of their priorities as possible into the late-session legislation.