Recap and analysis of the past week in state government
The first snow of the season, a light dusting that greeted early risers Thursday morning, served as both a physical reminder that another year of the pandemic is coming to a close and a mental callback to last winter when COVID-19 transmission rates, sadly, looked a lot like they do today.
COVID-19 is roaring back, with daily recorded cases, test positivity rates, and hospitalizations back to levels not seen since last January and February. The state reported 5,472 new cases on Thursday, and the rate of tests that come back positive has jumped nearly three points in a month to over 5 percent.
That’s not to say the landscape hasn’t changed since vaccines were introduced to the general public earlier this year, but it does mean that the credits have not yet begun rolling on this horror movie.
“Stay masked, follow precautions, get vaccinated, get boosters,” Massachusetts General Brigham CEO Dr. Anne Klibanski told the New England Council this week. “That’s what you need to do, and I think if we follow those rules, we will be at the very best place in terms of protecting ourselves, protecting our families.”
Gov. Charlie Baker has said he has no plans “at this point in time” to return to a statewide indoor mask mandate or other precautionary measure taken during pre-vaccine times, instead continuing to urge people to get their shots and boosters and to get tested. But Rep. William Driscoll, who will lead a COVID-19 oversight hearing next week, told the Boston Herald a return to mandatory masking might be a good idea.
Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders told municipal leaders that the administration would soon have more to say about additional testing resources, but Baker said he is not planning now to reopen field hospitals as the existing in-patient infrastructure continues to become overcrowded.
Staffing shortages contributing to hospital capacity worries are not unique to the health care industry either. MBTA bus drivers are in short supply, and the T says it plans to cut the frequency of trips this winter by 3 percent.
In Boston, the indoor mask mandate is here to stay for now, and Mayor Michelle Wu announced the formation of a 17-member board to advise the city’s continuing COVID-19 response, which includes sending 20,000 rapid at-home antigen tests and free masks to neighborhoods with the highest transmission rates.
An announcement on testing isn’t the only thing Beacon Hill is waiting on from Gov. Baker.
Baker has until Monday to act on the $4 billion bill the Legislature put on his desk last week. The governor has been eager to get the bill and put the money from the state’s fiscal 2021 surplus and its share of the American Rescue Plan Act to work. But as he takes his allotted 10 days to review it, Baker this week flagged “red tape” in the bill that he warned could slow disbursements.
More specifically, Baker noted the proposed creation of a 28-member panel to advise his administration on how to structure a $460 million bonus-pay program for low-income, essential workers as bureaucracy that could slow the delivery of the funds to families in need.
What he plans to do about it, however, is another question. If he tries to amend the program by sending a proposal back to the Legislature, that might also cause delays in getting checks in the mail, especially with the Legislature meeting only in informal sessions until January.
While it’s unlikely Baker is taking advice from Republican gubernatorial candidate Geoff Diehl these days, the Whitman Republican said this week Baker should just veto the whole bill, and put it through what Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr would call the “redraft-a-tron.” Diehl’s issue is mostly the $500 million to offset unemployment insurance costs for business owners.
Not nearly enough, he said.
Baker himself proposed using $1 billion for unemployment insurance, but there’s always the $2.3 billion in remaining ARPA funds to tap, especially since the administration has yet to offer any insight into how deep a whole the trust fund is in and how much will need to be borrowed to build it back up.
The Legislature didn’t get up to much of anything this week, though committees continue to be active during the recess, taking testimony on everything from bills to address diaper shortages and access to insulin to ways to boost solar installations.
Meanwhile, Congress finally got around to confirming one of three pending White House nominees from Massachusetts – Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins.
Though it took Vice President Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote, Rollins overcame objections from Republicans who accused her of being soft on crime to secure her Senate confirmation to become the next U.S. attorney for Massachusetts and the first Black woman to hold the position.
Baker now gets to appoint Rollins’s short-term successor as district attorney, with names like Michael Flaherty and Linda Champion swirling in the chatter-sphere.
Closure came for Rollins, but not yet for Reps. Claire Cronin (ambassador to Ireland) and Maria Robinson (U.S. Department of Energy) who are still awaiting Senate confirmation votes.
Attorney General Maura Healey also stayed mum this week on whether she will run for governor, but Reps. Nika Elugardo and Liz Miranda both said they’d made up their minds to seek the state Senate seat being vacated by Democratic gubernatorial contender Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz.
While Elugardo and Miranda are planning their exits from the House, Topsfield Democrat Jamie Belsito became its newest member, taking the oath of office this week after winning a special election last week to replace former Republican Rep. Brad Hill, who has joined the Gaming Commission.
