K-ZONE WPKZ FM105.3/AM 1280

Your Hometown Radio

listen nowLISTEN NOW
listen nowLISTEN NOW
K-Zone Studio Line 978.348.1280

State House

Sunday Notebook: As a cold wind blows, prepare for this winter’s heating bills to hurt

by

Snap poll: when you woke up Friday to find a crisp morning with the temp hovering somewhere south of 50 degrees, did you fire up the heat?

Some of our hardier readers probably scoffed at the question — it’s not even October, and this is New England, where a higher tolerance for cold weather is a badge of pride. Just put on a sweater, they might say. And as the calendar flips forward, that resistance might be more potent than in years past.

Many Bay State families will face significant strain to keep their homes warm this winter amid projections that energy bills will soar, the latest blow in months of relentless inflation. Utility giant National Grid attributed the looming challenges to spiking natural gas prices amid “global conflict, inflation and high demand.”

Massachusetts officials did not roll out the same kind of sugar-coat spin they often use. “At best,” Baker administration Undersecretary of Energy and Climate Solutions Judy Chang said, it will be “a very high-cost energy winter.” Attorney General Maura Healey’s press secretary cautioned the rate hike will be “devastating for hundreds of thousands of customers in Massachusetts who simply cannot afford it.”

The example National Grid provided for a basic service customer forecasts a $114 increase in a monthly electric bill. If that holds true, only a couple of months of chilly temperatures at the higher energy rates will effectively wipe out any one-time relief Bay State taxpayers can expect from state government.

Lawmakers approved but never finalized rebates of $250 for single middle-income earners and $500 for married middle-income earners, a plan legislative leaders pitched at the time as a more targeted way to address inflation and prices at the pump than suspending the state’s gas tax. The Baker administration predicts tax refunds under Chapter 62F will cover about 13 percent of what a taxpayer paid the state last year; the average middle-quintile earner in 2019 owed $1,642 in state income taxes, which would translate to a check of about $213, though the final amount will vary based on other credits.

Top Democrats either tacitly or explicitly signaled they are mostly on board with the plan Gov. Charlie Baker rolled out a week ago to return nearly $3 billion to taxpayers using checks and direct deposits this fall. It seems less and less likely they have the appetite to intervene and change the proportional formula that will direct most of the money to higher earners who paid most of the taxes.

While House budget chief state Rep. Aaron Michlewitz called complaints that millionaires who probably do not need the money will get tens of thousands of dollars “a legitimate gripe,” he made clear House Democrats are not currently planning to change the voter-approved law “midstream.” That’s a conversation for the future, he said, maybe next session.

Even though the final amount of money due back to taxpayers ($2.941 billion) is within a single percentage point of the Baker administration’s estimate from late July ($2.965 billion), Michlewitz maintained this week that he and fellow lead negotiator state Sen. Michael Rodrigues still need more time to figure out if the state has enough money to cover both the mandatory relief and the roughly $4 billion economic development and tax relief bill the branches approved this summer and then shelved.

His uncertainty extends to the aforementioned one-time relief checks.

“We’re still looking at all of that. Everything is still on the table,” Michlewitz said, nearly two months after Baker made public the impending impact of 62F. “The challenge that we faced was with 62F being triggered and those rebates going out, we do have to reanalyze what we can and can’t afford. That’s currently what we’re working on right now.”

In the meantime, the House has signaled it’s closer to a conclusion on allowing a new local tax to take effect.

The chamber quietly gave initial approval to a home rule petition from Boston that would authorize the city to impose a charge of up to 2 percent on real estate transactions worth more than $2 million, designed to generate revenue — up to $100 million, in Mayor Michelle Wu’s estimation — for affordable housing.

It’s not clear how far the measure will make it during the informal sessions, where a single lawmaker’s objection can stall a bill, on tap for the remainder of the term.

Lawmakers also need to wrangle during informal sessions with Baker’s proposed changes to a road safety bill, which emerged as the most significant item of business so far during an otherwise quiet, vacation-filled stretch for the Legislature.

The Republican governor sent back a wide-ranging bill seeking to pare down the minimum “safe passing distance” requirement to a more consistent and less confusing measurement, and he also warned that allowing municipalities to set a 25 miles per hour speed limit on state roads in densely populated areas could imperil federal funds for road and bridge construction.

There might not be a Massachusetts bridge construction project more high-profile than the planned replacement of the Bourne and Sagamore Bridges — well, unless you’re former Republican congressional candidate Rick Green, who in 2018 swam across the Merrimack River in a campaign ad highlighting the nightmarish traffic on Lowell’s Rourke Bridge — but that effort is not off to a flying start.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers struck out on the first of several applications for federal grants to help foot the bill for demolishing the pair of 87-year-old bridges and building new spans connecting Cape Cod to the rest of Massachusetts.

We wish we could say exactly how much of a blow that represents, but both the Army Corps and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation are staying tight-lipped about exactly how much funding their unsuccessful bid for an INFRA grant sought.

The federal government only awarded $1.5 billion in this round, with the largest grant totaling $150 million, so maybe it wouldn’t have made that much of a difference to a Cape Cod bridges project that could spiral to as much as $4 billion in costs.

There are other grant program options still in play for the federally-owned bridges, so it could wind up being nothing more than an early hurdle, but the Cape residents and millions of tourists who cross the canal every year will need to continue their wait for a funding plan.

Off the coast of the cape, fallout continues from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s move to fly immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard using taxpayer dollars. DeSantis now faces a class action lawsuit filed in federal court in Massachusetts on behalf of the immigrants, who allege they were subject to a “ruse to exploit them for political purposes.”

One matter that will not get decided in federal court is the case of Newton District Court Judge Shelley Joseph, who was indicted more than three years ago on allegations that she helped an undocumented immigrant facing drug possession charges evade an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer seeking to detain him at the courthouse.

Joseph and U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island Zachary Cunha struck an agreement that will drop the federal charges and instead shift her case to a state judicial disciplinary review.

It’s a sign of the changing times: a Trump-appointed prosecutor filed the indictment against Joseph, and now a Biden-appointed prosecutor dropped the charges.

STORY OF THE WEEK: The checks flowing back to taxpayers this fall might not make much of a difference if projections about exploding energy prices hold true.

SONG OF THE WEEK: They may not span troubled water, but an early grant application failure poses a headache for officials planning to replace the Bourne and Sagamore Bridges. (Thanks to our friends at Bloomberg Baystate Business for the inspiration.)

Sunday Notebook: Oh what a (tax) relief it is

by

That great whooshing noise you heard Friday was the sound of millions of Bay Staters trying to dig out their 2021 tax return to calculate just how much money the state could be sending them later this fall.

The prospect of tax relief under an obscure and largely-forgotten voter law called Chapter 62F first emerged in late July like a mirage in the inflation desert, but two significant announcements this week have it looking like it’s actually a real oasis.

First, Auditor Suzanne Bump certified that state tax collections last budget year surpassed the limit established by 62F by more than $2.94 billion, confirming that the state is required to return that amount in proportion to what each taxpayer paid in income tax. Within about 24 hours, Gov. Charlie Baker’s office announced that about 3.6 million Bay State taxpayers can expect to get “a credit in the form of a refund” worth roughly 13% of their income tax liability last year. The credit/refunds will start going out in November either by mail or via direct deposit.

The median income for Massachusetts households from 2016 through 2020 was $84,385, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That amount of income (not factoring in credits or deductions and filed as the head of the household) would result in a state income tax liability of $3,999, according to a Forbes income tax calculator. Thirteen percent of the tax liability for the median household income — in other words, the credit that the median household could expect — would be about $520.

Or think of it this way: For every $1,000 paid in state income tax, about $130 will be refunded. (You can also use the state’s own refund calculator.)

With the fate of the Chapter 62F tax relief mostly settled — some Democrats are miffed that Baker plan to issue refunds rather than credits on next year’s taxes and others are still talking about trying to alter the law to make the distribution of the excess tax revenue more equitable — the big question now is what will become of the $1 billion in tax refunds and reforms that legislative Democrats had already agreed to before they realized that 62F would come into play.

“With the certification of 62F, it is my hope that we may now expeditiously pass an economic development bill that provides additional and equitable tax relief to residents and that invests in communities, small businesses, human service workers and industries,” Senate President Karen Spilka said this week.

Problem is, House Speaker Ron Mariano doesn’t seem to see things the same way. While Baker and Spilka have repeatedly said they think there is enough left over from the fiscal year 2022 surplus (about $2.3 billion after the 62F money is returned) to move ahead with the tax relief and investments in the economic development bill that’s been stalled since late July, Mariano still has not been convinced.

“Now that the Auditor has officially certified the final revenue numbers, and with the knowledge of the exact amount that will be given back to taxpayers under 62F, conferees currently negotiating an economic development package will continue their ongoing talks,” Mariano said without explicitly voicing the same kind of support for additional tax relief as Spilka.

If anything is going to get done before the legislative session officially ends the first week of January, coordination between Spilka and Mariano will have to sync up. Now that formal sessions have ended under the House and Senate rules, the objection of any one representative or senator can grind all work to a halt. So both leaders will have to work to get their members on board with whatever plan they come up with.

The House and Senate leaders of the Transportation Committee were on the same page Wednesday as they grilled the head of the Department of Public Utilities and others about the MBTA’s flunking grade for safety. The DPU is supposed to be responsible for oversight of the T and has been chastised by the Federal Transit Administration for not overseeing the system “adequately.”

“We have a series of events I outlined in my opening remarks, really a five-alarm fire here, yet you never rang the alarm,” co-chair state Sen. Brendan Crighton said to DPU Chair Matthew Nelson during Wednesday’s oversight hearing. “You have not been there when safety incidents have occurred, and I need to know why, frankly.”

Nelson, a former Eversource executive tapped by Baker for the DPU job, said that his agency had done the bare minimum, but also acknowledged that more is required of it given the persistent — and in at least one case, fatal — safety problems at the T.

“MBTA is still the primary and first line of defense on all safety activities. We’re an auditing department,” he said. Nelson added, “I’m trying to say we’ve met our requirements, but given the circumstances, more needs to be done.”

As Nelson and then MBTA Board Chair Betsy Taylor testified, workers along the Orange Line continued to address the kind of safety and infrastructure problems that the FTA called out after its nearly unprecedented safety investigation of the MBTA.

The T is preparing to reactivate the subway line Monday after a 30-day shutdown that, by most accounts, has gone as well as anyone could have hoped and better than almost everyone expected. Sure, the attempt to do five years worth of work in one month made commutes longer and disrupted routines, but none of the most dire predictions from a month ago came to fruition.

Remember the red cloud of doom that Department of Transportation officials overlaid on a map of the Greater Boston region to illustrate the traffic impacts of the subway line’s closure? “It will be chaos,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu predicted in August. MassDOT similarly thought it was going to be pretty bad and suggested that people just avoid the Boston region all together.

Well, the traffic apocalypse didn’t quite pan out and Wu said this week that the Orange Line shutdown actually turned out to be a valuable learning experience for her administration, the T and riders.

“The shuttle bus and all the alternatives, the diversions, have been going so well, relatively speaking,” she said Tuesday on GBH Radio.

The work seems to have been going well, too. As of Friday, the MBTA said it had completed 96% of the work that it set out to get done during the shutdown. T officials are confident the subway line will reopen by Monday as planned.

Some of the Orange Line diversion’s success can surely be attributed to the expectation-setting prowess of MassDOT and the MBTA. Remember the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge replacement project in 2017 and 2018? MassDOT carpeted Red Sox game broadcasts with info about Mass. Turnpike closures and Green Line diversions, and warnings of traffic nightmares.

The whole thing was inconvenient, but it never was as bad as it was made out to be and the Pike even fully reopened 24 hours ahead of schedule. When you’re expecting to take a haymaker to the mouth, a slap across the face doesn’t seem that bad after all.

So what can riders expect Monday morning when they get back on the Orange Line?

“When Orange Line riders return to the line on Sept. 19, they will arrive at deep-cleaned stations and experience a ride that is significantly better than the one that they left,” MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak promised when the shutdown was announced last month.

We’ll see.

STORY OF THE WEEK: National politics made two high-profile visits to Massachusetts this week, arriving by airplane in both instances. First, President Joe Biden flew into Logan on Monday to talk infrastructure and his administration’s goal to dramatically reduce cancer deaths. On Wednesday, the national debate over immigration policy landed here when about 50 Venezuelan migrants sent as part of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “relocation program to transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations” arrived in Martha’s Vineyard unexpectedly.

SONG OF THE WEEK: State government is a far cry from heaven, but millions of Bay Staters could be singing and scatting like Louis Prima when their “pennies” arrive later this fall. (Prima’s one-time drummer, Jimmy Vincent, ran copy between the State House and Newspaper Row as a messenger for the News Service in the 1930s.)

Housing, services arranged for migrants at Cape Cod military base

by

Migrants who arrived on Martha’s Vineyard this week will be able to move to Joint Base Cape Cod for temporary shelter, and Gov. Charlie Baker will activate up to 125 Massachusetts National Guard personnel to assist the effort, the administration announced Friday.

Officials said they will offer migrants “voluntary” transportation to the base Friday as part of a “comprehensive humanitarian response.” They said JBCC is better equipped to handle the roughly 50 migrants from Venezuela who were sent to Massachusetts on flights organized by Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis — a move that Democrat Senate President Karen Spilka described as “tantamount to a form of human trafficking for pure political games.”

JBCC, which has previously served as an emergency shelter for displaced individuals in situations such as the devastation after Hurricane Katrina, will provide migrants housing in dormitory-style spaces and also has the capacity to provide access to health care and legal services. Interpreters will make all services available in recipients’ native languages.

The move from the Vineyard to the base will be voluntary, and no families will be separated, the Baker administration said.

The administration’s press office said islanders “joined with local and state officials to create temporary shelter and provide necessities in a moment of urgent need” following the unexpected arrival of the migrants, but that the Vineyard is “not equipped to provide sustainable accommodation.”

“We are grateful to the providers, volunteers and local officials that stepped up on Martha’s Vineyard over the past few days to provide immediate services to these individuals,” Baker, who has not spoken directly to reporters since the situation unfolded, said in a statement. “Our Administration has been working across state government to develop a plan to ensure these individuals will have access to the services they need going forward, and Joint Base Cape Cod is well equipped to serve these needs.”

Maura Healey’s ruling derails bid to limit super PAC contributions

by

Super PACs have spent more than $4 million this cycle in support of candidates like Democratic nominee for attorney general Andrea Campbell, Democratic nominee for auditor Diana DiZoglio and Democratic lieutenant governor nominee Kim Driscoll.

Fueled by single contributions as large as $100,000 from wealthy donors like Baupost Group CEO Seth Klarman, The Kraft Group President Jonathan Kraft and Continental Cablevision founder Amos Hostetter, these independent expenditure committees are allowed to raise and spend unlimited sums of money as long as they don’t coordinate directly with any campaigns.

The spending by these super PACs has come under fire from some candidates for office who oppose the influence money has on the electoral process. But on Wednesday a bid to severely curtail the ability of super PACs to raise and spend huge sums on political campaigns was nixed by Attorney General Maura Healey’s office as “inconsistent” with constitutional rights to free speech.

While Massachusetts voters have not even decided the most recent round of initiative petitions set to appear on the ballot in November, some eager beavers have already filed proposed questions for the 2024 statewide ballot.

One petition, backed by Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig, would have limited contributions to super PACs to $5,000 in a calendar year.

In a letter dated Sept. 7, Anne Sterman, deputy chief of the attorney general’s government bureau, said the petition “is inconsistent with these rights protected by the state constitution because it would impinge on the freedom of speech” and therefore ineligible to appear on the ballot.

The attorney general’s ruling cites many of the same legal precedents referenced by the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance in a legal memo provided to Healey’s office opposing the certification of the ballot petition.

Lessig could not be reached for comment, but Paul Craney, a spokesman for the Fiscal Alliance, said he was “proud” to help prevent the question from going before voters.

“Our freedom of speech and association must be protected,” Craney said. “The Citizens United Supreme Court decision simply allows for more speech in elections while treating individuals, employers, and unions the same. The Alliance will always protect this right, and although we won, the true winners are the people of Massachusetts who will benefit the most with more voices in their election.”

While petitioners seeking to put a question on the 2024 ballot have until next August to submit language to the attorney general for review, campaign finance reformers weren’t the only ones quick to the punch. Twelve proposals were submitted for review, including three accepted that would qualify motorists for tax credits or a gas tax exemption when the price of fuel climbs to $3 per gallon or higher. Others would establish substantial rebates on the purchase of electric vehicles or amend the constitution to create a right to privacy that would limit corporations ability to collect personal data.

Maura Healey cruises in Democratic primary for Massachusetts governor, will be heavy favorite in November

by

Attorney General Maura Healey sailed to victory in the Democratic primary for governor, advancing to November’s general election where she’ll be the heavy favorite to replace outgoing Gov. Charlie Baker.

“I am so proud to be able to stand before you tonight as your Democratic nominee for governor of Massachusetts,” Healey told a pumped-up crowd of supporters at the campaign’s primary night celebration at IBEW Local 103 in Dorchester.

“I have the experience, and I have the results,” she later added. “And as your next governor, I promise you I will lead with my head and with my heart. I will work hard for all of you.”

Healey was the only remaining Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Tuesday’s primary after state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz stopped campaigning in June — but Chang-Diaz’ name was still on the ballot.

Healey will be going up against the Republican nominee in November, former state Rep. Geoff Diehl of Whitman, whom former President Donald Trump has endorsed.

The attorney general will be the prohibitive favorite in the general election.

Healey hammered both of the GOP candidates during her victory speech on Tuesday, saying they would “put us on a different path” and “bring Trumpism to Massachusetts.”

“We know that he (Diehl/Chris Doughty) will put politics over progress,” Healey said of her future Republican opponent. “We know that he’ll be someone who’s out of touch with the values we stand for. We know that he’ll oppose abortion rights.”

Baker late last year announced that he would not run for a third term as governor. Healey thanked the governor during her victory speech.

“Gov. Baker has led with respect and worked with both parties,” she said, adding that Baker has “refused to engage in the politics of division.”

The last time a Democrat worked out of the State House’s Corner Office was in 2014, when former Gov. Deval Patrick’s two terms wrapped up.

Healey has been the Bay State’s AG for eight years. She ran as a first-time candidate in 2014, and was elected the first openly gay attorney general in the country. The U.S. has never elected an out lesbian governor. Massachusetts has never elected a female governor.

As AG, she has led lawsuits against Purdue Pharma, the Sackler family, and other opioid companies, securing hundreds of millions of dollars for treatment and recovery.

Before becoming attorney general, Healey was a civil rights attorney in the AG’s office, where she challenged the Defense of Marriage Act and big banks.

Four finalists named for state’s top higher education post

by

The pool of finalists to serve as Massachusetts higher education commissioner includes two in-state applicants, and all four candidates will be interviewed at a public meeting on Thursday.

The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education Search Advisory Council on Tuesday identified the finalists to fill the job currently held by Commissioner Carlos Santiago, who said in January that he plans to step down.

The finalists are:

Marty Alvarado: Executive vice chancellor for equitable student learning, experience, and impact at the California Community College Chancellor’s Office;

Mary Churchill: Associate dean of strategic initiatives & community engagement at Boston University Wheelock College of Education and Human Development;

Lane Glenn: President of Northern Essex Community College;

Noe Ortega: Former secretary of education for the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

The next commissioner will play a leadership role as colleges face more competition for students, challenges in serving a more diverse population, a slew of online learning opportunities, and cost and inflation pressures that are squeezing campus budgets as well as the finances of the students and families trying to afford college.

A board spokesman told State House News Service that the council and its hired search firm, Academic Search of Washington, D.C., reached out to a pool of 3,000 potential candidates, had direct conversations with more than 100 people, and received full applications from 24 candidates.

The Board of Higher Education plans to interview each finalist for 75 minutes at a public meeting on Thursday, at the Parker House Hotel in Boston beginning at 8:30 a.m. Remote participation will be available.

Each finalist on Thursday will also participate in 45-minute virtual public forums with higher education and community stakeholders, according to the board, which made a link available Tuesday with information about how to submit questions for consideration at those forums.

The commissioner reports to the board and works with the governor, state education secretary and presidents of the state’s 24 public colleges and universities, the UMass system, and independent institution heads. According to the board, public colleges and universities in Massachusetts serve nearly 200,000 students, with 285,000 students receiving education at independent higher education institutions.

The board said its 23-member search council, which held its kickoff meeting in April, had conducted a national search and offered a webpage Tuesday morning that features detailed information about each finalist, the advisory council and the search process.

“We are delighted to have a strong and diverse slate of highly qualified individuals stepping forward offering to serve the Commonwealth as our next Commissioner of Higher Education. We were pleased to see that the momentum, focus and cohesion of Massachusetts education, governmental and civic leaders made this such an attractive opportunity,” board Chairman Chris Gabrieli said in a statement.

The board plans to vote on its commissioner recommendation at a meeting next Tuesday, Aug. 30. The pick will be sent for formal confirmation to Secretary of Education Jim Peyser, a Gov. Charlie Baker appointee.

In April, officials described an early October time frame for the new commissioner to start work. Santiago, who earns a $243,734 salary, said earlier this year that he intended to leave at the end of June, but Gabrieli has said Santiago is amenable to staying on the job to ensure a smooth transition to his successor.