In this week’s top story, today marks the beginning of the end of emergency restrictions put in place to combat the spread of COVID-19 here in Massachusetts. The fourth and final stage of the state’s reopening plan is officially underway.

While several parts of the country are starting to see another spike in covid cases, things seem to be going a little more smoothly here in Massachusetts. So far three million vaccine doses have arrived in the Bay State and nearly 1 million Massachusetts residents have been fully vaccinated.

Under Phase 4 rules, outdoor stadiums such as TD Garden and Fenway Park as well as convention halls can reopen under a 12 percent capacity limit. The limits will be eased over time if all goes as planned. (Nightclubs and amusement parks must remain closed.)

Not everyone is excited about the move. The Massachusetts Public Health Association unsuccessfully urged the governor to delay changes affecting indoor public venues. In a letter to Baker, MPHA Executive Director Carlene Pavlos called Baker’s decision “premature and reckless.” The letter pointed to the rise of more contagious variants of COVID-19, as well as the fact that the vaccination rate among people of color in Massachusetts has lagged disproportionately.

The other big news stories here in Massachusetts this week include the mail-in voting extension, the wrapup of the climate bill, another look at MBTA cuts, and ongoing investments by Google and cannabis conglomerate Cresco Labs into the Mass. economy. Let’s do this.

Politics

Mail-in Voting Extended Through June 30

The right to vote has been getting tossed around like a rag doll lately. Lawmakers in several red states are working to make it harder to vote while the U.S. House works on a new voting rights bill to counter the trend. Now Gov. Charlie Baker, a red governor in a blue state, is one of the first governors in the U.S. to sign a bill (post election) aimed at making voting more accessible. The bill calls for an extension of mail-in-voting through June 30 among other measures.

The legislation calls on local election officials to accommodate voters with disabilities “every way possible, to every extent possible.”

MassLive.com has more on the story.

More Politics

Business

Tax Relief For Pandemic Assistance Imminent

Both the House and Senate have now passed legislation to forgo taxes technically due on pandemic relief money. Under current state law, companies such as LLCs, partnerships, independent contractors, sole proprietors and those who are self-employed would pay state income tax of 5% on any debts that are forgiven. If relief grants are considered to be “forgiven debts,” then the taxes due on loans totalling $6.5 billion would be around $325 million.

The good news: The bill helps thousands of businesses avert “potentially insurmountable” tax bills.

The bad news: NBC10 “crunched the numbers” and found about 70,000 of the roughly 118,000 businesses in Massachusetts that received PPP loans last year might still potentially be responsible to pay the 5% tax.

Lawmakers are expected to reconcile differences between the House and Senate bills this week. The governor is expected to sign the final version.

Check out the report at NBC Boston for more details.

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Energy

Climate Bill Makes Its Way Back To Governor’s Desk

Hopefully this is the second to last time we talk about negotiations on the climate bill. If all goes well, next week’s report will cover Gov. Baker’s signing of the bill. After passing both the House and Senate now, the landmark climate legislation has been volleyed back to the governor’s desk with the majority of his suggested revisions in place.

One of the requests — a requirement that emissions in 2030 be at least 50% lower than 1990 levels to a 45% target — was left out of the revised bill as was a proposed amendment that would strip some language from a new municipal building code that promotes "net-zero" construction.

Sen. Michael Barrett of Lexington commented:

"If you compare Massachusetts and its emissions with emissions across the world or even across the United States, it's the differences that pop out in you… Transportation are 42% of the Massachusetts problem compared to 29% in the U.S. Buildings are 27% of our issue, compared to about 12% in the U.S. ... It's pretty clear why we put a special emphasis on lower emissions in this bill from transportation and buildings."

Unless you’ve been hiding under a manhole cover, you know the bill calls for Massachusetts to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Solar Power World has a more detailed report on this story.

More Energy News

Transportation

Lawmakers Demand MBTA Make a U-Turn on Service Cuts

In previous newsletters, we’ve talked about how a drop in T ridership during the pandemic was causing a ballooning budget deficit that could hit $1.8 billion by 2026, and how the MBTA had begun implementing sweeping services cuts as a result. Now state and federal lawmakers are demanding that the MBTA make a U-turn on those measures citing the $1 billion in federal stimulus funds coming down the track.

After working to pass a $1.9 trillion federal relief package meant to deal with all aspects of the crisis — including public transportation — the entire Massachusetts congressional delegation sent a letter to MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak asking him to either re-justify the cuts or reverse them. Among those signing on to the letter were U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark and State Sen. Joseph Boncore.

Consumer advocates are also joining in on the chorus. Olivia Nichols, Transit Justice Organizer from GreenRoots had this to say:

"These cuts are completely unnecessary. The MBTA is receiving billions in funds from the federal government. Our Governor and the (Fiscal Management Control Board) should focus on using that money to reverse the cuts and to make the MBTA more affordable and accessible, instead of making it more difficult for our community members to get around."

The federal package promises an influx of $1 billion, while the planned service cuts would only save the T about $21 million this fiscal year.

Mass Transit has more on this story.

More Transportation News

Real Estate

Google has announced plans to invest more than $7 billion and create at least 10,000 new full-time Google jobs across the United States this year, says Boston Real Estate Times. According to the report Google has extensive expansion plans here in the Bay State:

“Google has more than 1,900 employees in Massachusetts, and will continue to invest in its long-term presence in Cambridge. The company’s 3 Cambridge Center office (325 Main Street) under construction in Kendall Square will be opening next year, where Google will be occupying 14 floors in the ground up building being redeveloped by Boston Properties.

In Cambridge, Google has employees working in sales, advertising, Android, YouTube, networking infrastructure, and Google Play.

Since 2011 Google has donated $56M to nonprofits and schools in Massachusetts.

More Real Estate

Cannabis

Cresco Labs To Acquire Cultivate In $158 Million Deal

The buzz this week in Massachusetts cannabis news is Cresco Labs’ acquisition of Cultivate. The deal, valued at $90 million, plus a potential earn out of up to $68 million, puts Cresco into a Top 3 position in the race to dominate the Mass cannabis industry.

With the acquisition of Cultivate, Cresco will receive approximately 42,000 sq. ft. of flowering canopy. The company also has plans for a 20,000 sq. ft. expansion. Cultivate also operates two dispensaries with a third under development.

Charles Bachtell, CEO of Cresco Labs had this to say about the deal:

“At the precipice of a transformational moment in U.S. cannabis, now is the time to further our leadership in the country’s largest and most important markets. Through this acquisition, Cresco Labs will immediately vault to a top 3 share position in Massachusetts, the third $1B+ cannabis market where we’ve achieved this status.”

Bachtell told Benzinga that no outside financial advisors were used for the transaction:

"We’ve spent a lot of time developing our internal M&A and integration teams, and part of the reason is we wanted to be able to source deals and vet them ourselves so should we move forward we already have a deep understanding of the company and what it takes to integrate in to our existing model.”

Massachusetts did nearly $1B in total retail sales in 2020 with a whopping $83.4M in adult use sales for the 4 weeks ending 3/7/21.

Cresco has a footprint in five other states as well – Arizona, Illinois, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The Cultivate deal isn’t expected to close until the fourth quarter of 2021.

Read all about it at MJ Business Daily.

The Beginning of the End