Weekly Roundup – The People’s House, Not the People’s Republic

A Recap and Analysis of the Past Week in Massachusetts State Government

Outside the State House, dozens gathered on the front steps in the cold, draped in the Ukrainian flag to show their support for a country under siege by Russian forces.

Inside the building, Gov. Charlie Baker was balancing news of the unfolding war in eastern Europe with the weather forecasts for New England, predicting heavy morning snow on Friday that would lead him to cancel in-person work for state employees for the final day of school vacation week.

When Baker stepped before the cameras on Thursday night, he did so to comment on both fronts.

“History is littered with tyrants and despots who choose similar evil paths of destruction and each time, thankfully, there are powerful forces unwilling to stand by and do nothing,” Baker said. “There is no question that America, NATO and every nation that purports to value their sovereignty and the safety of their people must respond to this evil act, and they are and they will.”

While demonstrations in front of the state capitol are nothing new, for the first time in two years, anyone looking to make their voices heard by the powers that be could bring that message indoors directly to their representatives in government – if they could find them.

Protesters gather Thursday on the front steps of the State House to show their support for Ukraine after Russia invaded the eastern European country earlier in the day. [Sam Doran/SHNS]

The State House reopened on Tuesday to the public for the first time since March 2020 under strict COVID-19 safety protocols, with visitors required to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative test and to wear masks inside at all times.

Some travelers, and a few lobbyists, took advantage of the historic building once again welcoming sightseers to its marble halls. For all the animosity directed at legislative leaders for keeping the doors locked for so long, and the hand-wringing by those same leaders over when the right time might be to reopen, the building was about as quiet as it’s been every other week since COVID-19 arrived.

Surely, school vacation had a lot to do with that.

But had anyone wanted to come inside and see the government in action, they would have found Gov. Baker himself seated before the Joint Committee on Revenue on Tuesday trying to sell Democrats on a $700 million package of tax cuts.

Baker has proposed to increase tax breaks for renters, seniors and families with children and to raise the income level at which low-income residents must start paying income tax. He is also looking to lower the short-term capital gains tax from 12 percent to 5 percent, and to increase the estate tax trigger from $1 million to $2 million.

It’s those last two, politically at least, that may prove to be the toughest sell and come with the biggest price tag.

Baker insisted the state has the money to pay for his tax reform package, and told lawmakers that thousands of middle-income families get hit with capital gains taxes, not just the wealthy. And if Sen. Julian Cyr’s ears were burning, it was because Baker used the liberal Cape Cod Democrat as a talisman for his estate tax plan. If Cyr supports it (which he does), it must be more than just a tax break for the rich, right?

Of course, one need not be a homeowner or looking to buy in the current market to know that it doesn’t take much in Massachusetts anymore to inch toward that million-dollar range for property, which tends to be a person’s largest asset.

But still.

“What people in my district are talking about is how Wall Street is going through the roof and breaking records. And yet our food bank lines are going around the block, and so there’s a real disconnect in who benefits in the economy right now. And this is the timing for making sure our wealthiest have a bigger tax break?” asked Sen. Adam Hinds, the chair of the committee who also happens to be running for lieutenant governor.

While candidates seeking the governor’s office bickered this week about how they would parcel out local aid, the Great Resignation continued in state government. This week’s announced departures didn’t come from the Legislature, though.

Early Education and Care Commissioner Samantha Aigner-Treworgy said she would be stepping down on March 8 after just more than two years on the job, and a challenging two years at that.

Aigner-Treworgy (or Commissioner Sam, as the governor still calls her) was challenged by having to lead an already-underfunded and understaffed sector, critical to working parents, through a global health pandemic serving clients that still aren’t eligible to be vaccinated. It wouldn’t be surprising if she was just burnt out.

But her announcement was followed by a report that Inspector General Glen Cunha was investigating the commissioner over her role in the awarding of an agency contract. Cunha’s office did not respond to a request for comment or more detail, and Baker said the administration was cooperating, but that the investigation had nothing to do with her decision to leave the department.

Lottery Director Mike Sweeney hasn’t had it quite as bad over his seven years, but Sweeney said Friday he would be leaving for a private sector job at a moment when the Lottery is on pace to set records in fiscal 2022 for sales and possibly for profits, which now exceed $1 billion annually.

Despite the Lottery’s steady growth trajectory, sales of Lottery tickets were actually down in January compared to last year after a major snowstorm, the omicron surge and the lack of a mega-jackpot to drive sales conspired to decrease sales and profits by $84.3 million and $44.2 million, respectively.

Still, the $3.59 billion in Lottery sales through the first seven months of the fiscal year are up $122 million, or 3.5 percent, over this time last year, and profits of $696 million are up a smidge. That will give whoever the next governor is a nice jumping-off point for determining local aid levels in their first budget.

Tax rates aren’t the only thing the Baker team is looking to drive down before the governor leaves office.

The Department of Environmental Protection, after a review applying new research methodologies, is looking to reduce the baseline carbon emission estimates for the year 1990, which would make it an even greater challenge for the state moving forward to meet its legal emission reduction requirements.

The state uses 1990 emission levels as the benchmark against which all reductions are measured. By lowering those levels, the state would essentially be saying it needs to remove an additional 13,049 cars from the road or the carbon emitted from 10,899 Massachusetts homes by 2050.

One thing that could help is if more people start to use public transit, and MTBA General Manager Steve Poftak said beginning March 21, the long-awaited Green Line extension to Union Square in Somerville will be ready for passengers.

The timeline for the Medford branch of the Green Line expansion is a little muddier, but some never thought the state would get this far.

The MBTA also reported the pilot program eliminating fare on the route 28 bus has succeeded so far in elevating ridership, but the $500,000 experiment only helped about one-third of riders save money, because the rest of those using the bus were already buying passes to access other parts of the transit system.

Time will tell how this impacts the two-year, $8 million fare-free pilot started by Mayor Michelle Wu on the 23, 28, and 29 buses.