With three state-funded youth mental health programs at risk of closing, lawmakers and providers ramped up their opposition this week to Gov. Healey’s proposed budget cuts.
State Government
Posted inMarijuana
Legislators consider 8 bills to increase cap on cannabis dispensary ownership
Eight bills in this legislative session seek to increase the number of dispensaries or cannabis establishments that any one business can own, but nearly 60 cannabis industry leaders and business owners have come together to oppose the push to increase the cap.
Posted inState House News Service
Former Baker deputy Mike Kennealy launches campaign for governor
A former private equity manager, who spent four years as state housing and economic development secretary under Gov. Charlie Baker, declared his candidacy for governor.
Posted inThe Codcast
Sec. Santiago on improving veterans services
CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith is joined by Jon Santiago, Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Veterans Services, to discuss how the now two-year-old office is progressing, advances at the Commonwealth’s Veterans Homes, how it is responding to threats from Washington, and what work he’s excited about for the future.
Posted inState House News Service
Gov. Healey seeks $756 million for ‘time-sensitive deficiencies’
Healey’s office pitched the $190 million the bill includes for a child care financial assistance program as a way to “support Massachusetts residents at a time of rising costs.”
Posted inThe Codcast
Primary care physicians organizing union at Mass General Brigham
This week on The Codcast, John McDonough of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute talk to Michael Barnett, who is both a primary care physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a professor of health policy at the T.H. Chan School, about the ongoing effort to unionize PCPs across the Mass General Brigham system.
Posted inMarijuana
Mass. inspector general calls on cannabis regulators to conduct an audit over $550,000 in uncollected fees
MASSACHUSETTS INSPECTOR GENERAL Jeffrey Shapiro called on the Cannabis Control Commission to conduct an audit following the commission’s failure to collect approximately $550,000 in licensing fees since August 2022. In a letter to Travis Ahern, the newly appointed executive director, and Bruce Stebbins, the acting commission chair, Shapiro wrote that the agency’s failure to collect […]
Posted inState Government
Mass. exploring possible third state-run veterans’ home
Talks are underway within state government about establishing a third long-term care home for veterans, Veterans Services Secretary Jon Santiago said Tuesday.
Posted inThe Codcast
Sec. Augustus on housing policy base hits
CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith sits down with Ed Augustus, Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, to discuss how federal policy changes threaten state housing goals, the Commonwealth’s response, the tools it is using to meet those goals, and much more.
Posted inState Government
Health care cash rained on Mass. lobbying world in 2024
At a time when lawmakers are wrestling with cost, access and regulatory questions, health care industry power players continued to dominate the Beacon Hill lobbying world last year, spending the most on employing influential insiders who sway development of public policy.