Senate budget targets health, workforce

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With help from Megan Messerly

ANOTHER BUDGET DAY DAWNS — Facing workforce shortages and continued threats to health care access, Senate Democrats are prioritizing investments in health and education in the fiscal year 2024 spending plan they’re rolling out this afternoon.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Senators are aiming to codify access to preventive health care services for millions of Bay Staters on the heels of a federal court ruling striking down a provision of the Affordable Care Act covering cancer screenings and preventive mental health care.

After the House passed similar protections as a budget amendment last month, state Sen. Cindy Friedman told Playbook it’s a no-brainer for the Senate to follow suit.

“The thought process with this is the same as the thought process that we had around the Dobbs decision. These are fundamental health care rights and they are part of the law. And somebody with a completely political and pretty much discriminatory agenda is trying to take away the rights of people — the fundamental rights of people — to get a cancer screening,” Friedman, a leading health care advocate in the Senate, said. “If we can prevent an illness, we should do that.”

The Biden administration is appealing the Texas judge’s ruling jeopardizing no-cost access to various physical and behavioral health services for roughly 3.3 million Bay Staters on state-regulated health plans. While the judge only struck down one of the four major categories of preventive services, the Senate is moving through an outside budget section to preserve all of them.

WORKFORCE WOES — Senators also want to pump tens of millions of dollars into programs aimed at bolstering the workforce, including:

— $55 million for free community college, paid for out of millionaires tax revenue. That includes $20 million to cover tuition for those over 25 who lack college degrees, putting one of Gov. Maura Healey’s signature proposals another step closer to becoming law, the Boston Globe’s Matt Stout and Samantha J. Gross scooped. It also includes $20 million to cover the costs for attending community college nursing programs and a $15 million down payment toward Senate President Karen Spilka’s goal of making community college free for all.

— $100 million for a loan repayment program for behavioral health care workers, State House News Service’s Michael P. Norton scooped.

GOOD TUESDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. One thing that’s not coming today: the Senate’s tax-relief plan.

The Senate president won’t commit to a timeline for that, beyond saying it’ll follow the budget. Both the governor and the House released their tax-break proposals in tandem with their budgets.

Spilka said her chamber will still pursue “permanent, progressive tax relief.” Now, after April’s revenue downturn, that comes with a qualifier that anything senators put forward will be “smart and sustainable.”

But Spilka didn’t offer any details beyond expressing continued support for expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit when she spoke to reporters after yesterday’s leadership meeting. The controversial cut to the short-term capital gains tax rate put forward by Healey and the House? “Nothing’s been ruled out,” Spilka said. But “nothing’s been necessarily ruled in,” either.

TODAY — Healey tours Riverside Community Behavioral Health Center at 10:30 a.m. and holds a press conference with EPA officials announcing the state’s participation in the Biden administration’s Climate Pollution Reduction grant program at 1 p.m. at Finch Cambridge. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll speaks at the Massachusetts Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs’ legislative luncheon at noon at the State House and chairs a Local Government Advisory Commission meeting at 1 p.m. AG Andrea Campbell testifies on several bills at 1 p.m. at the State House.

Tips? Scoops? Need a reminder not to eat or drink on the MBTA? The T has that last one covered. Email the rest to me: [email protected].

DATELINE BEACON HILL

— “Inspector general: Put MBTA safety oversight somewhere else,” by Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald: “Testifying Monday at a Joint Committee on Transportation hearing, [IG Jeffrey] Shapiro said that he instead favors moving this watchdog role from the Department of Public Utilities to a new independent agency ‘focused solely on safety of the MBTA.’ … Notably, the inspector general’s proposal dismissed the notion that safety oversight should be moved to his office, as suggested in legislation filed by state Rep. William Straus that was considered at a Monday hearing that Straus co-chaired.”

— More: “‘Lives depend on each one of you:’ Mother of professor who fell to his death through a dilapidated metal staircase urges lawmakers to create new T oversight agency,” by John Hilliard and Daniel Kool, Boston Globe.

— Speaking of the T: “As Green Line Extension maps across MBTA remain out of date, some people draw updates on with marker,” by Sonel Cutler, Boston Globe.

— “MassHealth to limit payments for high-cost drugs,” by Christian M. Wade, Eagle-Tribune: “The state’s Medicaid program is moving to limit payments for high-cost drugs to treat cancer, neurological disorders and other illnesses. In a report to the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, MassHealth said it plans to stop paying for nearly a dozen drugs pending approval or approved by the Food and Drug Administration that have been estimated to cost more than $100,000 a year for patients.”

DAY IN COURT

— “Federal judge grants injunction in Boston redistricting case: ‘The ball is back in the City Council’s court’,” by Danny McDonald and Emma Platoff, Boston Globe: “A federal judge on Monday barred the City of Boston from using a new district map approved by the City Council and mayor last fall, saying a legal challenge to the redistricting process could be successful in proving race played too heavy a hand in the process. …

The specific effects of the ruling were not immediately clear Monday evening, as it could potentially throw the city’s election calendar into confusion. In her order, Saris noted the next election relying on the enacted map is this fall’s municipal contest. The deadline for submitting nomination papers for that election is May 23. And in her ruling, Saris said it was unclear if such a deadline could be extended by the Boston Election Commission, which is a defendant in this case.”

— “Accused military leaker Jack Teixeira’s detention hearing to resume Thursday in Worcester,” by Marco Cartolano, Telegram & Gazette.

FROM THE DELEGATION

— “Massachusetts members of Congress call for gun law reform after Texas shooting,” by Katie Lannan, GBH News.

— “Free opioid test kits and research into safe use sites in refiled Markey bill,” by Matthew Medgser, Boston Herald.

IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN

— “Why ‘100% renewable electricity’ plans may not be as green as you think,” by Miriam Wasser, WBUR: “You might not be using renewable energy when you turn on your lights, but is your supplier actually buying 100% green power? The answer is: it depends.”

FROM THE 413

— “UMass Advancement unions taking case to governor,” by Scott Merzbach, Daily Hampshire Gazette: “Unions representing the Advancement division at the University of Massachusetts are taking their appeal for keeping 100 or more workers from losing their state employment to Gov. Maura Healey, asking her to intervene in the ongoing situation in which the employees may be laid off or compelled to work for the private UMass Amherst Foundation.”

— “State’s education secretary gets an earful from educators, politicians in Northampton stop,” by Alexander MacDougall, Daily Hampshire Gazette.

THE LOCAL ANGLE

— “Woburn cop accused of helping plan 2017 white supremacist rally decertified,” by Chris Van Buskirk, Boston Herald: “The state’s law enforcement licensing commission decertified a former Woburn police officer accused of helping plan a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., a move that adds the cop’s name to a national database of decertified officers. It is the first time the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission has decertified an officer under a 2020 police reform law that was created and passed in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.”

— “Former Boston police commissioner to lead investigation of Uxbridge committee resignations,” by Jeff A. Chamer, Telegram & Gazette: “The former commissioner of the Boston Police Department, Ed Davis, will conduct an independent review of the circumstances that led to the sudden resignation of six Uxbridge School Committee members recently, Supt. Michael Baldassare said in an email to parents Monday evening.”

— “Massachusetts joins probe into health impact of gas stoves,” by John Atwater, WCVB: “The Massachusetts attorney general has joined 10 others across the country in calling for the federal government to ‘address the public health and safety dangers of gas stoves.’”

— “Writers Guild of America blasts Boston University for picking Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav as commencement speaker,” by Rick Sobey, Boston Herald.

— “In Cambridge, residents welcome street cleaning without the threat of a tow,” by John Hilliard, Boston Globe.

— IN MEMORIAM: “Sara Robertson, 88, first woman mayor in Worcester, dies in Florida,” by Craig S. Semon, Telegram & Gazette.

MEANWHILE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

— “No, you’re not going crazy. Vivek Ramaswamy is everywhere,” by Natalie Allison and Lisa Kashinsky, POLITICO: “Vivek Ramaswamy will return your call. He’ll say ‘yes’ to almost any interview request — no matter the outlet — and will linger long after scheduled events die down, autographing a piece of fruit or letting prospective supporters lay hands on his chest to cancel Satan’s plans. It’s the most always-on, always-available strategy of the 2024 presidential race. And it appears to be working.”

— “Tim Scott Was Given a Chance to Attack Biden as Too Old. He Didn’t,” by Maya King, New York Times: “During a town hall on Monday at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina received a question about President Biden’s fitness for office, putting his stated desire to run a positive campaign to the test.”

MEDIA MATTERS

— AND THE AWARD GOES TO: POLITICO was named a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in breaking news reporting for Josh Gerstein, Alexander Ward, Peter S. Canellos, Hailey Fuchs and Heidi Przybyla’s reporting on the draft Supreme Court opinion that would strike down Roe v. Wade and their subsequent stories on the high court.

The Boston Globe’s Janelle Nanos was named a Pulitzer finalist in feature writing.

HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH

TRANSITIONS — Federal housing administrator and former state lawmaker Juana Matias has been named to the board overseeing Lawrence Public Schools, which remains under state receivership. She’s joined by newcomers Dolores Calaf and Edgar Deleon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Marina Chafa, Drew Sullivan (h/t Laura Picard), Cory Bisbee, David Gergen and Ben Herman.

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