Transportation

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Still One of the Most Popular Governors in America

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Governor Charlie Baker is “pissed off” about how the state’s vaccine rollout is going. And he’s taking a lot of heat for it — apparently enough to set his hair aflame. But not enough, evidently, to burn his bridges as his approval rating remains amongst the highest in the nation for a sitting governor. 

In his defense, the governor says the job is a lot harder than he thought it would be. No one (except Bill Gates, apparently) was expecting a global pandemic would knock us on our collective aft. On the other hand, you would think that with his executive experience in healthcare operations we’d be in ship-shape by now. 

Anyway, the point is that even in this ship storm, the Unsinkable Charlie Baker — now being called “Teflon Charlie” by some — seems to be coming out of the storm relatively unscathed. 

But why does Massachusetts still love Teflon Charlie? All aboard for this story and more fascinating facts in this week’s news. 

Politics

“Teflon Charlie” Still Unsinkable

“My hair’s on fire about the whole thing. I can’t begin to tell you how pissed off I am.” So said Mass. Gov. Charlie in an interview with GBH about his frustration with the state’s swamped Covid-19 vaccination website. The Thursday morning shipwreck of vaxfinder.mass.gov lasted hours as disappointed residents piled onto the site. (To make matters worse, the state’s senior hotline was also down.)

The state’s slow and confusing vaccination rollout has the governor under fire from lawmakers, business owners, and residents alike.  Business leaders are angry over closures for non-essential businesses. And conservatives are still protesting the mask mandate. And progressives say he was too slow to offer testing in Black and brown communities. State leaders have even called for an inquiry into the vaccination rollout.

Baker’s thoughts on the heat he’s been taking:

“I think sometimes in the swordplay of politics, what’s really going on with regular people kind of gets lost. I have a job that’s way more complicated than I thought it was going to be. People have all sorts of thoughts on how well I’m doing or how well I’m not doing. That is nothing compared to people who’ve lost everything just because they were on the wrong side of the COVID arc. It’s important for us in public life to remember that.”

Indeed, Baker has been facing the perfect storm since taking office. 

Despite the controversy, Baker, a Republican, remains well-liked amongst voters in this mostly blue state. A poll published this week (but conducted last month) indicated a 74% approval rating and a 20% disapproval rating. However, MPG President Steve Koczela wrote that voters seemed largely unaware that at one point Massachusetts was lagging behind most of the country in vaccine distribution. (We has since closed the gap somewhat.) 

Baker is also widely favored to win reelection if he chooses to run for a third term in 2022. And none of the state’s most popular Democrats has shown any interest in challenging Baker.

Baker’s approval ratings have been floating around the 70% mark for his entire term. And some polls have shown Baker to be the country's most popular governor. In fact, 89% of likely Democratic primary voters approved of Baker’s performance.

All things considered, Baker has a lot going in his favor. Despite the pandemic, the state’s economy remains strong. Moreover, Baker has maintained a solidly progressive stance on issues such as gay and transgender rights, abortion rights, and cannabis policy reform. 

Another reason most would like to see Baker remain in office is that the liberal legislature and conservative executive branch bring balance to the state’s political agendas. Many state lawmakers feel that Baker has been fair. Speaker of the House, Ronald Mariano, says Baker has “probably worked with the Legislature better than any governor.” 

According to a report by WBUR, Baker has “mastered being the non-political politician.” Baker, writes the author, “exudes moderation and borderline nerdiness, while his lack of conservative ardor angers many rank-and-file of his own party.”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. 

Check out the links below for more on this topic. 

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Business

Black and Latino Business Left Behind

Ethnic diversity has been increasing in Massachusetts for quite some time. But the number of black and brown business owners has not. According to a report by WGBH:

“Black and Latino people now make up more than a fifth of the state's population but own just over 3% of businesses with employees — less than half the national rate of Black and Latino business ownership, according to a U.S. Census survey of entrepreneurs released in 2018… even worse in the construction and design industries… The reports commissioned by DCAMM found a significant disparity between minority firms available to do the work and the percentages actually receiving contracts from state agencies, according to the report.”

Malia Lazu, a lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management told GBH: 

“We're an exceptional state. We're a wealthy state. Our numbers should look better than they do. Mayors and the governor really need to incentivize how to hold people accountable. You have to feed the supply side of creating businesses.”

Accessing capital appears to be the biggest barrier facing Black and Latino small businesses. “However,” says GBH, “many Black and Latino-led companies are reticent to apply for loans — and when they do, they experience much higher rates of rejection than white male applicants, according to recent studies by the Federal Reserve.”

Read this eye-opening and informative report in its entirety at WGBH.org.

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Energy

MOR-EV Program Offering up to $90,000 Rebates on Purchase of Electric Trucks

Truckers, trucking companies, and truck lovers everywhere, if you’re interested in going electric, listen up. 

Massachusetts and 14 other states made a pact last year to slash greenhouse gas emissions from trucks. As a result, beginning next week, buyers of private, commercial, and government fleet vehicles will be eligible for rebates ranging from $7,500 for pickup trucks up to $90,000 for tractor-trailer trucks. The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources has allocated $10 million for the program. 

The MOR-EV program which began offering EV rebates in 2014 ran out of funding in 2019. However, in 2020 and 2021, the Baker administration pumped $54 million into the program. The goal of the program is to have 30% percent of new truck and bus sales to be zero-emission by 2030, and 100% by 2050.

Don’t lollygag. Rebate amounts will decrease over time. 

Learn more at MORev.org.

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Transportation

Gov Baker Signs $16 billion Transportation Bond Bill…Again

The ink is probably by now dry on the $16-billion transportation bond legislation signed by Gov. Baker. The massive package supports the efforts of MassDOT and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) to modernize the state’s transportation systems.

Although the bill passed in mid-Jan., kickoff took place after a ceremonial virtual signing program. 

Here’s what Baker had to say:

“The Transportation Bond Bill builds upon our administration’s ongoing commitment to create a 21st-Century mobility infrastructure that will prepare the commonwealth to capitalize on emerging changes in transportation technology and behavior,. MassDOT and the MBTA have continued to implement widespread improvements throughout the transportation system and this new bond authorization will further support capital investment planning to rebuild, modernize, and expand the capacity of the commonwealth’s transportation infrastructure.

Here are some of the main bullets in the package:

  • $5.1 billion to continue modernizing the MBTA

  • $100 million to improve the pavement condition on state-numbered municipal roads 

  • $50 million to help municipalities encourage the public to travel more on foot and by bicycle via the Complete Streets program

  • $70 million for the Municipal Small Bridge Program

  • $4.4 billion for use as funding for Highway federal aid projects

  • $1.25 billion in Non-Federal Aid for use as funding in Highways projects that are not eligible for federal funding

  • $1.25 billion for the new Next Generation Bridge program

  • $50 million for the popular 

  • $20 million for ‘public realm’ COVID-related Shared Streets and Spaces program

  • $100 million in four new programs to provide financial assistance for municipalities seeking to improve infrastructure

  • $350 million for the Cape Cod Bridges approaches project

  • $825 million for South Coast Rail

  • $595 million for Green Line Extension

  • $89 million for Aeronautics Division

  • $760 million to support the Regional Transit Authorities and Rail & Transit’s Mobility Assistance Program and Rail improvements

MassTransitMag.com has more on this story. 

More Transportation News

Real Estate

Workers May Work from Home but Still Move Out of State

Between 25% and 30% of people will work from home two or more days per week by the end of 2021. That is according to estimates by San Diego-based consulting company, Global Workplace Analytics. Prior to the pandemic, that number stood at a mere 3.6%. While that’s great news for stakeholders in work-at-home enterprises, it’s not so great news for Massachusetts.

While white-collar workers who no longer have to commute to work are fleeing the big city and the state's high-income tax rates, employers in the Bay State are looking at cutting down their office space footprint. 

According to a report at Patch.com, a recent Massachusetts Competitive Partnership survey showed 28 percent of the state's companies were considering moving jobs out of state, while another showed 38 percent of companies considering selling off real estate in Massachusetts.

Among the report's other findings:

  • The percentage of companies with 40 percent of their workforce working remotely has grown to 34% from just a few percent prior to the pandemic.

  • 74 percent plan to move at least five percent of their workforce to full-time remote work. And nearly a quarter say at least 20 percent of their workforce will be remote.

Read the full Pioneer Institute report.

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Cannabis

William “Beau” Wrigley Jr. Taking Cannabis Company Public

SPACs are all the rage. By merging with a publicly held acquisition corporation, companies can avoid an IPO and come charging out of the gate. 

That’s exactly how Parallel, a company that owns several dispensaries in Mass., will merge with Ceres Acquisition Corp. Ceres is already trading on the Canadian Stock Exchange and has a $1.8 billion valuation. The merger will give the company $430 million in cash to play with. Also, investors, led by Ceres and Parallel, have committed to a $225 million private placement at closing. Parallel will own 81% of the newly formed company’s equity.

Fourth-generation Chewing gum magnate Beau Wrigley is chairman and CEO of Parallel. “I think this can be bigger than the Wrigley company,” he told Forbes during an interview last month. “At Wrigley, we brought joy to people’s lives. This is much bigger than that.” 

Parallel currently operates 42 dispensaries in Mass. Nevada, and Florida. with sights on doubling that number and opening pot shops in eight states including Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and New Jersey, and Georgia by the end of 2022. Moreover, Parallel is in talks to acquire a dispensary chain in Chicago and considering future expansion into California, Michigan, and New York.

Apparently, Wrigley is not a pot smoker, himself. His delivery method of choice is edibles. However, his company sells flower, mints, gummies, and vape pens and is working on a cannabis-infused seltzer.

The deal is expected to close this summer.

More details on the merger are available at Forbes.com.

More Cannabis News

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Looking Toward the Future of Massachusetts

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We’re not going to talk about COVID-19 this week -- the saturation coverage of the vaccine roll out is probably enough for you -- but cases are trending in a positive direction. With infection rates steadily decreasing, communities in the high-risk category dropped by 153 from early February. 

For those who need more on COVID-19, WCVB has some really nice graphics of COVID-19 data.

This week we’re looking into the Reimagining Massachusetts Committee proposed by Senate President Karen Spilka. We’re also wrestling with the fact that manufacturers are struggling to find workers at the same time unemployment is high in the Bay State. 

And did you know that the air in Boston’s subways is massively polluted and might actually shorten the lifespan of riders and workers alike? Sad but true.

All this and more in this week’s episode.

Politics

Senate Forms Committee For Post-COVID Policy

What will become of Massachusetts after the COVID-19 emergency has run its course? In an effort to answer that question, Senate President Karen Spilka has announced the formation of the Senate Special Committee on Reimagining Massachusetts: Post-Pandemic Resiliency. 

The purpose of the committee, according to MassLive.com, is “to act a clearinghouse of policies, practices, and ideas that could prepare Massachusetts for whatever waits on the other side of the pandemic,” and will be tasked with “examining the short- and long-term challenges that could follow the pandemic response.” 

Spilka said the committee could serve as a “funnel” for the issues and proposals that will require attention post-COVID. 

Speaking to the State House News Service on Thursday morning, Spilka had this to say:

“We know that the COVID-19 pandemic has totally upended all of our assumptions about the way we live, we work, travel, play, spend time, [and] it’s also, as we acknowledge, laid bare the longstanding inequities in aspects of our economy and communities. So I really believe that as we look to the future and as we recover from this pandemic, we have a rare opportunity as well as a responsibility to question the status quo and reimagine the path towards continued vibrancy for our commonwealth.”

The committee expects to hold “virtual listening sessions” and to solicit testimony from residents and industry-specific stakeholders. 

One of the specific missions mentioned by Spilka is coming up with ways to keep downtowns across Massachusetts vibrant as fewer people travel to them for work. The panel, which has yet to be named, will also examine the shifts that remote work might have on the state’s housing market.

Also, mentioned in the MassLive.com report, Spilka and House Speaker Ronald Mariano plan to create three additional committees aimed at providing ‘sustained attention and policy expertise’ in the areas of COVID-19 oversight and emergency management, racial equity, and cybersecurity.” These include:

  • The Joint Committees on Advanced Information Technology, the Internet and Cybersecurity

  • COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management

  • Racial Equity, Civil Rights and Inclusion 

“While the joint COVID-19 committee that the House and Senate are creating is focused on today and the pandemic response, the Senate Special Committee on Reimagining Massachusetts is focused on tomorrow and the next day, and the next day, and so forth,” Spilka said.

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Business

Massachusetts Businesses Struggle To Fill Job Openings. Really.

Although restaurant owners are grateful for increased capacity limits on Valentine's Day Weekend, local business owners still struggle to get customers in their door. More importantly, however, many manufacturing businesses in the state are having a hard time getting employees in the door over the course of the pandemic. 

That might sound strange considering massive unemployment in the Bay State. By June, the Mass. unemployment rate had skyrocketed to 17.7% — the highest since the Great Depression, according to a report at MassLive.com. 

Responses to employment ads placed by staffing firm United Personnel have fallen by 90% since the emergency measures were first implemented last March. As of late December, United Personnel had 200 job listings running. The company was also forced to lay off some of its own office staff and shorten the workweek early on.

The fact that employers are struggling to find candidates might be attributed to extended unemployment benefits and two rounds of federal stimulus checks that have been buoying many Mass. residents during the pandemic. Another major contributing factor, however, is that many parents are doing everything they can to stay at home and watch their kids as well as for fear of bringing the virus home. 

While the state unemployment rate is still relatively high, it has gone down ten points since June. 

MassLive.com has an extensive report on hiring challenges.

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Energy

Deadline Coming Up Fast For Submitting Comments on DOER Clean Peak Energy Certificate Program 

The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (“DOER”) recently released a proposed procurement process for clean peak energy certificates. This was back in late January. According to a recent report by JD Supra, the objective of the program is to “spur new and incremental clean peak resource development, provide revenue certainty for clean peak resources to enable financing, and provide cost-effective clean peak energy credit supply (CPEC).” 

The deadline for submitting comments on the proposed procurement process is Friday, February 19, 2021.

Here are some more details directly from the JS Supra report:

  • DOER proposes that EDCs issue requests for proposals (“RFP”) twice-per-year to select winning bids from resources that produce CPECs. Awarded bids will be enrolled in a tariff for payment. That tariff will provide $/CPEC as awarded for a 6-year term. DOER intends to exclude new projects receiving SMART incentives, 83C contracted offshore wind resources, new energy storage projects receiving a SMART adder incentive for energy storage, and connected solutions Energy Storage Systems (“ESS”) because these projects already receive long-term revenue from other state programs. DOER proposes that, initially, only 30% of the EDCs’ procurement target will be met through the RFP and tariff process. DOER plans to count CPECs from EDC owned CPS resources, SMART Solar Tariff Generation Units, and Section 83C offshore wind towards the remaining procurement requirements but will not include these resources in the procurement or compensate them through the tariff.

DOER is authorized to adjust the tariff size up or down depending on market conditions. 

DOER hopes to have the EDCs file its tariffs and draft the initial RFPs, in consultation with DOER, this spring and release the first RFPs by the end of 2021.

JD Supra also has detailed information on clean peak standard final regulations and implementation. And a DOER summarized Questions and Answers document is available here.

More Energy News

Transportation

Toxic Pollutants in Subways More Than Eight Times Higher Than Outdoor Air Quality

A recent study from New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine has found that subway air in Boston is gross and is exposing both transit workers and riders to high concentrations of toxic pollutants. The polluted air makes Boston’s subterranean travelers more susceptible to long-term illnesses such as asthma, lung cancer, and heart disease.

Researchers took more than 300 air samples during rush hour at nearly 70 stations across the country and found at least twice as many airborne toxins in subway air as in fresh air. That is according to a recent report in the Washington Post. 

The air in Boston’s subway stations measured up to 140 micrograms per cubic meter. By comparison, aboveground air averaged 16 micrograms of pollutants per cubic meter — or less than 1/8 that of above-ground air. According to the story, iron and organic carbon made up three-fourths of the pollutants found. 

Lisa Battiston, spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said in a statement: “The health and safety of riders and the workforce is a top priority for the MBTA, including issues that involve ventilation and air quality within its stations and on platform areas.”

Major ventilation improvements are underway at Back Bay Station in Boston. However, the study shows that Boston needs to put far more effort into reducing pollutants in underground public transit systems. 

Read all about it at The Washington Post.

More Transportation News

Real Estate

Court Sides With Tenant In First-Of-Its-Kind “Frustration of Purpose” Case

Superior Court Judge Kenneth W. Salinger ruled last week that Caffé Nero did not have to pay rent to Newbury LLC (dba UrbanMeritage, one of the Back Bay’s bigger commercial landlords) for the nearly three months that the diner was prevented from serving customers indoors. Moreover, the eviction and default notices served during the time frame were invalid according to the ruling.

According to Salinger a legal doctrine known as "frustration of purpose," says that rent payments are to be excused when "performance becomes impossible through no fault of either party." The case is believed to be one of the first of its kind. 

In a note to clients, attorneys at Prince Lobel said the ruling might be overturned on appeal but that frustration of purpose provisions are found in most "well-drafted" commercial real estate leases. Given that fact, the ruling could give leverage to other small businesses trying to negotiate rent reductions with their landlords. 

Having closed its doors in October, the Downtown location in question was the only one of 30 Caffé Nero locations to shut down as a result of the pandemic. Back in June, of 2020, UrbanMeritage sued Caffé Nero for more than $300,000 in back rent, damages, and legal fees. (Caffé Nero's monthly rent was about $13,000 per month.)

Patch.com has more on this story.

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Cannabis

New York and Connecticut Both Gunning For Share of Legal Pot Markets

Any discussion of the future of the cannabis industry in Massachusetts must also include discussions of neighboring states such as Vermont and New Hampshire and in particular upcoming policy reforms in New York and Connecticut where markets could be much more robust. 

Legalization in New York and Connecticut, in particular, might affect cannabis operations in more ways than one. For starters, a good chunk of the business being done at Massachusetts dispensaries is made up of out-of-state buyers. Moreover, depending on how the markets are structured, legalization in border states could mean additional opportunities for Mass.-based companies. 

During his budget address on Feb. 10, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont tabled a 163-page legislative proposal for a comprehensive framework for the cultivation, manufacture, sale, possession, use, and taxation of recreational cannabis. Under the proposal, sales would begin in May 2022. 

Lamont said in his address: 

“Massachusetts dispensaries are advertising extensively here in Connecticut. And rather than surrender this market to out-of-staters, or worse, to the unregulated underground market, our budget provides for the legalization of recreational marijuana.”

Lamont’s cannabis legislation package is titled “An Act Responsibly and Equitably Regulating Adult-Use Cannabis,” 

Under the proposed legislation, adults 21 and older would be allowed to possess 1.5 ounces of marijuana or equivalent amounts of other cannabis products. Home growing would be prohibited.

According to a report by Cannabis Dispensary, recreational marijuana tax revenue would generate roughly $100 million by fiscal 2026. More information on Gov. Lamont’s legalization proposal can be found here. And for more information on proposals being considered in New York, check out this article at PIX11.com.

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Better Days Might Be Ahead

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Things are looking up here in Massachusetts. Sort of. 

While the COVID-19 curve has been bending in an encouraging direction (the seven-day positive test rate rolling average dropped below 3 percent Sunday), the rise of the more ominous U.K. strain has just begun. There have now been at least 7 confirmed cases of the variant here in the Bay State. Across the Northeast, there have been 17 cases reported in Connecticut, 42 in New York, 12 in Pennsylvania, and 11 in New Jersey. 

With infection rates dropping, foodies and gym rats rejoice as state-imposed business capacity limits have increased for the second time in as many weeks. Moreover, tax collections of almost half a billion dollars in January “obliterated the Baker administration’s expectations.” 

But the big news this week again centers around the game of vetoball on Beacon Hill. While Governor Baker has volleyed the resubmitted energy bill back to the legislature, lawmakers prepare to serve a reinflated transportation bond bill back into his court.

Here’s what we’ve got this week:

Politics

Candidates Begin Lining Up For 2022 Gubernatorial Race

Candidates have begun gathering to determine pole position in the 2022 Mass. governor’s race. The first to the line is former state senator Ben Downing (D) who represented Pittsfield and surrounding communities for a ten-year stretch from 2007 to 2017. During his ten-year tenure, Downing filled the chair of the Senate utilities and energy committee. 

Downing’s experience with clean energy policy was put to good use when he landed an executive position at solar energy startup Nexamp. Today, Downing is well-regarded by renewable clean energy advocates.  

In an interview with GBH News Downing stated that the essence of his campaign will be to instill a "sense of urgency" in Massachusetts politics and government.

Downing had this to say:

"Massachusetts has all of the tools, all of the potential to solve the big problems that we're facing. Economic injustice, racial injustice, climate change, and all of the related issues. What we don't have is the sense of urgency that allows us to make the progress we need to make on them.”

Having already served three consecutive four-year terms, Gov. Charlie Baker (R) has not yet announced whether he will be in the race in 2020. However, Harvard political science professor Danielle Allen and Quincy Democrat Scott Khourie have both stated that they are considering entering the race.

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Business

COVID-19-Related Restrictions Eased For Second Time In 10 Days

Good news for Mass. foodies, bargoers, and gym rats. With hospitalizations now down 33 percent since their peak in January, restaurants and other businesses that have been kept warm at 25 percent capacity are now simmering at 40 percent capacity as of Monday. (Just in time for Valentine’s Day.)

Gov. Baker credited the second major easing of restrictions in ten days to the fact that the seven day rolling average of COVID-19 cases dropped by more than 50 percent since its peak. On January 25, the governor lifted a stay-at-home order and 9:30 pm business curfew.

In a statement on the matter, Gov. Baker remarked:

"We know that these restrictions have been and continue to be enormously difficult for large and small businesses, their employees and individuals everywhere, but we're making progress in this battle against COVID, and everyone's hard work and preparation is now making it possible for us to continue to step back to what we might call a new normal.”

Restaurants still have a 6-person cap per table with a 90-minute time limit and indoor and outdoor gatherings are still limited to 10 and 25 people respectively.

Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Polito announced updates to the state’s COVID-19 relief fund. This week more than 4,000 businesses received grant money, including 1,300 restaurants, bars, caterers, and food trucks.

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Energy

Baker Volleys Energy Bill Back to Legislature

Gov. Charlie Baker has once again volleyed the climate bill back to the legislature, this time with a laundry list of proposed amendments. The landmark climate bill calls for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and sets stricter appliance energy efficiency standards, among other matters. Baker has said he supports the overall goals of the bill but has problems with some of the details of the legislation.

In his statement to lawmakers, Baker wrote:

"The science is clear — the Commonwealth, the nation and the world must achieve net zero emissions by 2050 if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. In 2020, my Administration adopted net zero as a legally binding limit for 2050 emissions ... This legislation enshrines net zero emissions in statute, further binding the Commonwealth to this important goal."

Baker’s proposed amendments include the creation of an opt-in municipal stretch energy code, a 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target, and sector-specific emission reductions.

Now there are two possible outcomes: either the legislature folds the governor’s suggestions into the bill, otherwise, the votes are there to simply override the veto. 

Changes might also be made to the bill in the future. Sen. Michael Barrett, one of the chief sponsors of the climate bill, has suggested that the Legislature might be willing to negotiate on the 2030 emissions target.

WBUR has more details on this story.

More Energy News

Transportation

Lawmakers To Reinflate Transportation Bond Bill 

In addition to testing the state legislature’s patience on the climate bill, Baker also vetoed portions of a $16.5 billion transportation bond bill last month. Although Baker approved most of the details, he nixed, among other ideas, what he feels are excessive fees on ride-hailing services.

As with the climate bill, the transportation bond bill went over the net at the very end of the previous legislative session eliminating the ability to override the veto. However, whereas the climate bill was quickly volleyed back to the Governor, the fate of the transportation bill is less clear.

One of the lead negotiators on the bill, Transportation Committee Co-chair Sen. Joseph Boncore, said this:

“What we’ve agreed on and what there’s consensus on between the House and Senate, something like TNC fees and data collection, is something that we don’t have to do a lot of planning around. That’s ready, so I’m hoping that in the short term, we can take action on those items quickly.”

In response, Stacy Thompson, executive director of the LivableStreets Alliance, said this:

“For a governor who really prides himself on his business chops, he’s not making good short-term or long-term decisions for the state in terms of dollars and cents. Those solutions require policy changes, they require spending money, they require changing the way we proverbially do business in the state. I see a lot of lip service, I see a lot of commissions, I see a lot of reports. I don’t see a lot of action.”

MBTA and Department of Transportation board member Monica Tibbits-Nutt, called Baker’s veto “heart-breaking” in a lengthy Twitter thread.

MassLive.com has a full report.

More Transportation News

Real Estate

Home Prices Are Up But Rents Are Down

While home and condo prices have been on the rise for the past year, the median rental price for a one-bedroom apartment has fallen sharply in some Mass. communities. In Everett, for example, rents dropped more than 22 percent from January 2019 to January 2020. That is according to a report by Zumper.

Other communities also saw big drops: 

  • Boston: -19.2%

  • Cambridge: -15.1%

  • Waltham: -14.9%

  • Brookline: -14.8%

  • Revere: -14.8%

The median rent in January for a one-bedroom apartment was just over $1,700.

Meanwhile, according to the report, the most expensive communities for renters last month were Cambridge, Brookline, and Boston (no surprise there). And the least expensive communities for Mass. renters were Brockton, Worcester, and Lowell.

A complete running list of year-over-year rents for more than two dozen Mass. communities can be found here.

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Cannabis

Cambridge Joins Somerville in Decriminalization of Psychedelics

Let’s not talk about pot this week. Let’s instead talk about psychedelics. Should entheogenic plants and fungi like ayahuasca, ibogaine, and psilocybin mushrooms be decriminalized in Mass.? The Cambridge City Council thinks so. 

Cambridge is now the second city in Mass. to decriminalize psychedelics and call on police to stop arresting people for drug possession. The Somerville City Council did the same last month. Cambridge City Councilors voted 8-1 in favor of the idea that criminalizing drugs is neither just nor effective.

The text of the ordinance states:

“Drug policy in the United States and the so-called ‘War on Drugs’ has historically led to unnecessary penalization, arrest, and incarceration of vulnerable people, particularly people of color and of limited financial means, instead of prioritizing harm-reduction policies that treat drug abuse as an issue of public health.”

According to the measure, “the arrest of adult persons for using or possessing controlled substances shall be amongst the lowest law enforcement priority for the City of Cambridge.” 

A growing number of cities across the U.S. have enacted psychedelics decriminalization beginning with Washington, D.C. Also, Oakland, Santa Cruz, and Ann Arbor have decriminalized possession of plant-and fungi-based psychedelics. And in Oregon, voters passed an initiative to legalize psilocybin mushrooms for therapeutic purposes as well as decriminalized possession of all drugs. Lawmakers in California, New York, Virginia, Washington, and other states are also considering similar reforms.

The moves in Somerville and Cambridge might be just the beginning of a larger trend here in the Bay State, but it’s important to point out, however, that it’s unlikely the state will create a retail market for psychedelics as it has for marijuana. 

Marijuana Moment has more on this story.

More Cannabis News

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One Year Later...

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We’ve had one heck of a lap around the sun since the first confirmed coronavirus infections in Massachusetts on the first of February, 2020. Things didn’t get real for residents, however, until March 15 when Gov. Charlie Baker ordered all Massachusetts schools to close. Restaurants were limited to take-out and delivery service, and gatherings of groups larger than 25 were prohibited. At this point, there were still fewer than 200 confirmed cases in the state. Today there are more than 20 times as many cases reported on a daily basis.

The emergency rules were initially set to end on April 7. However, just a little over a week later, with the number of coronavirus cases in the state having more than tripled, all non-essential businesses were ordered to close and Bay State residents were asked to shelter at home. After a brief bending of the curve over the summer, COVID came roaring back post-holiday season. 

Since the beginning, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, about half a million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Massachusetts. More than 14,000 people have died. Now, according to the DPH interactive coronavirus dashboard, having peaked in the second week of January, the curve is again bending downward. The number of estimated active cases dropped from about 81,000 last Wednesday to 78,000 on Thursday, and the percentage of positive coronavirus tests decreased to 4.44% from 4.67%.

But the Bay State isn’t out of the woods yet. Last week, for the first time, a more contagious COVID-19 variant from the United Kingdom was reported in Massachusetts.

In other news, Governor Baker delivered his annual State of the Commonwealth Address; the state legislature re-passed the vetoed climate bill; Mass. transportation got another shot in the arm; and Mass. General said it’s setting aside $2 billion for expansion. 

Meanwhile in Washington, newly anointed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is talking about shuffling together numerous marijuana bills into one big one in order to make some major headway on ending the federal prohibition of cannabis and finally putting Reefer Madness behind us. 

Politics

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker delivered his State of the Commonwealth address last week, and in light of the pandemic, the address was streamed live from his office at the State House. In his remarks, the governor reminded us that “2020 was a year like no other… It came with economic calamity. Severe job loss. Business closures. Anxiety. Fear. Civil unrest. Riots. Racial injustice. Isolation. Death. And Loss.” 

Pointing out that the state is in much better shape economically now than it was last spring, Baker made the caveat that “far too many people still can’t find a job. Our downtowns are hurting. And many of our small businesses have been crushed by the pandemic.”

One of the centerpieces of the governor’s presentation was the state’s Small Business Relief Program which Baker boasted was “the largest of its kind in the country.”  The program draws from a fund of over $700 million to assist thousands of struggling small companies across the state.

Also highlighted were major advances in transportation infrastructure:

“On transportation, the new law accelerates bridge reconstruction, so we can move faster to modernize every bridge that needs major repairs. It also provides the funding we need to complete the South Coast Rail expansion. Fall River and New Bedford have been waiting for over 30 years for this to get done. Now it will be available in 2023. This law also funds the final piece of the long-promised Green Line Extension into Somerville. These are big promises made and kept.”

And clean, renewable energy:

“On climate change, Massachusetts continues to be a national leader. “In the last several weeks alone, we put forth a science based roadmap to reach net zero emissions by 2050. And we’ve spearheaded a first of its kind, multi-state program to reduce carbon emissions in the transportation sector. We’ve invested over $935 million in climate change mitigation and adaptation since we took office. And we’re on track to meet our commitment to invest $1 billion in climate action by 2022. Partnering with the Legislature, we secured historic clean energy procurements at the lowest price for rate payers. This set the table for an explosion in offshore wind development up and down the East Coast of this country.”

A complete transcript of the governor’s 2021 State of the State address can be found here: Governor Baker Delivers 2021 State of the Commonwealth Address

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Business

As Gov. Baker pointed out in his State Of the State address, Massachusetts’ Covid relief program for small businesses is the largest program of its kind in the U.S. It’s a good thing the state is leading in economic relief, as the Bay State is lagging behind the country in vaccinations. 

The program provides financial relief for businesses hit hard by emergency restrictions and shutdowns, particularly in the hospitality and entertainment sectors. Since the emergency cash began flowing in December, $277 million in grants have been awarded from a $688 million relief fund and a separate $50.8 million economic recovery package. 

Baker said. “This is a $720 million program, so we obviously have a long way to go and a lot of opportunity to continue to support small businesses as they work their way through the second surge.”

According to Baker, additional grant announcements will continue “pretty much every week.” Unfortunately, so will the hanging of “out of business” signs. 

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Energy

Over the last few weeks, we have reported on Gov. Baker's unexpected veto of the state’s sweeping climate bill and the new legislature’s mission to quickly send the measures back to Baker’s desk — which is exactly what they’ve done.

In scenes from last week’s episode, because the previous legislative session ran out the clock, Baker vetoed the bill too late for lawmakers to override or amend it. Nonetheless, Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ronald Mariano brought the monstrous bill back to life shortly into the new legislative session. The measure was quickly re-approved in both chambers and sent back to Gov. Charlie Baker.

The legislation outlines steps to reaching the state’s goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Baker supports most of the bill but worries that as written it could possibly prevent the construction of affordable housing.

Baker is expected to again send the measure back to the legislature with recommended changes. However, the bill was passed by a veto-killing margin in both chambers and is but guaranteed to become the law of the land.

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Transportation

At the recent Massachusetts Municipal Association’s Annual Meeting, the Baker administration announced that it has filed “An Act Financing Improvements to Municipal Roads and Bridges,” in an effort to raise $200 million in funding to help all 351 cities and towns in that state improve transportation infrastructure. The funds will add to the $39.5 million increase in local aid already included in the Administration’s proposed Fiscal Year 2022 budget.

Governor Baker’s statement included this: 

“Investing in local roads and bridges helps connect residents with jobs and opportunities across the Commonwealth, and promotes economic growth and development. We are pleased to continue providing support and resources to cities and towns throughout Massachusetts and ensuring municipalities have the flexibility and resources to address their unique needs.”

The municipal funds are made available under the “Chapter 90” program administered by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. If approved by the legislature, it will bring the total funds released since Baker took office in 2015 to a healthy $1.56 billion.

Massachusetts governor files for $200M in Chapter 90 funding for transportation

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Real Estate

Massachusetts’s largest hospital owner, Mass General Brigham, has announced that the company will move forward on planned $2 billion in construction projects. That is according to the Boston Business Journal which claims:

“Based on public filings with the state Department of Public Health, the planned developments will include a $1 billion building at Massachusetts General Hospital in the West End, a $400 million project to open four outpatient sites in communities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and a $250 million addition at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital. The total projects’ cost could be closer to $2 billion when including ancillary expenses… The projects are part of $6.1 billion in work that Mass General Brigham, formerly known as Partners HealthCare, has planned in capital spending over the next five years. The pandemic delayed half of the planned spending in fiscal 2020, however, sidelining $550 million of work in the face of hundreds of millions of dollars in expected revenue shortfalls.”

Anne Klibanski, president and CEO of Mass General Brigham, was quoted in the report: 

“These projects will enable us to meet the needs of our patients by bringing lower-cost care options to their home and community, making community-hospital investments to accommodate more routine care, and improving access for the most complex cases at one of our flagship hospitals. While the pandemic temporarily postponed our long-standing plans, it also reinforced the need to provide more health care options for our patients.”

Read all about it at Boston Real Estate Times.

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Cannabis

According to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), lawmakers are working to merge various pieces of marijuana legislation into one bill to be debated in the early days of the 117th Congress. 

During an interview with former NBA player Al Harrington, Schumer talked about his plan to deschedule marijuana, reinvest tax revenue into communities impacted by the drug war, and to fund efforts to expunge prior cannabis records. (Harrington markets a line of cannabis products under the name Viola Brands.)

Schumer filed legislation in both of the two previous congressional sessions including the Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act. Also on the table is the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act which passed the House last year but was not taken up by the Republican-controlled Senate.

In another interview with Rachel Madow, Schumer stated:

“I’m a big fighter for racial justice, and the marijuana laws have been one of the biggest examples of racial injustice, and so to change them makes sense. And that fits in with all of the movement now to bring equality in the policing, in economics and in everything else. Our bill is, in a certain sense, at the nexus of racial justice, individual freedom and states’ rights.”

Prior to Democrats reclaiming the Senate majority, Schumer pledged that he would “put his cannabis legislation on the floor” should he become Senate majority leader.

Now with Democrats in control, advocates and lawmakers are expecting a tsunami of federal cannabis policy reforms. However, the extent to which marijuana will be un-prohibited remains to be seen as President Biden’s support for legalization is seedy. Although Biden backs the idea of modest reforms, he’s not in favor of full legalization. That doesn’t mean that he’ll veto sweeping marijuana legislation — but it doesn’t mean he won’t, either.

Already in 2021, two congressional marijuana bills have been filed. One proposal seeks to prevent the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs from denying veterans benefits because they use medical marijuana. The other would move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act — a move which many advocates and stakeholders fear will cause more problems than it solves. If marijuana remains a controlled substance, the Food and Drug Administration would be able to impose federal regulations on state cannabis markets.

Marijuana Moment has more on this story.

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COVID Restrictions Loosened but Contagiousness Increases

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The good news is that Gov. Baker is easing emergency restrictions and lifting a stay-at-home advisory and 9:30 pm curfew.. This comes as experts at Massachusetts General Hospital say they expect to see a decrease in hospital admissions over the next few weeks. 

The bad news is that this comes as a second case of a new COVID-19 variant was confirmed in Massachusetts. The nasty bug was brought home by a Boston woman who had recently traveled to the U.K. where cases of this new, more contagious strain have been escalating swiftly (the woman had tested negative before boarding her flight). 

Models suggest that the new strain could be dominant in the U.S. by springtime. That is according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Friday. 

Aside from that, the big story in Massachusetts politics this week is a continuation of the flurry of figures with Boston ties heading to Washington to be part of the Biden/Harris Administration. 

All this plus the latest in business, energy, transportation, real estate, and cannabis news coming right up... 

Politics

Romney Says Second Trump Impeachment Trial Completely Justified

On the most recent episode of “Fox News Sunday,” Mass. Sen. Mitt Romney, one of the few voices of reason on the Republican bench, stepped up the plate to take a swing at former President Donald Trump and insisted that the second impeachment trial (which is being shrugged off by the Republican party at large) is completely justified.

Pointing to Trump’s call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Romney also called out the former president’s efforts “to corrupt the election of the United States.” (On that call, Trump blatantly pressured state officials to find him 11,000 votes.)

When pressed by anchor Chris Wallace on how the GOP might find a balance between the “traditional Republicans and the Trump Republicans,” Romney cited the importance of having “new faces” in changing the tenor of the GOP, specifically mentioning Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker as one of the next prominent leaders for the party.

Romney had this to say: 

“There are going to be new faces that are going to be the spokespeople for our party and their own vision. That can be Larry Hogan, it can be Charlie Baker, it could be Marco Rubio … or Ben Sasse. So there will be some new faces. President Trump of course will continue to have influence. But I think our party is going to return to some of our more fundamental principles — which is fiscal responsibility, believing in the importance of character, standing with our allies, and pushing back against people like Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin.”

Romney also said that it’s critical for the GOP to communicate more effectively that its policies are designed to help working men and women “and to give them and their families a better future.”

The question is, of which Republican party does Romney speak? Over the past four years of Republican rule and massive corporate tax cuts, American’s have seen an accelerated rise in wealth inequality — even before the pandemic. 

Watch the video of Romney’s interview with Fox.

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Business

Healthcare and Tech Are Big Business in Massachusetts — and Getting Bigger

While unemployment spiked in Massachusetts over the past last year, the state’s biotech and technology companies have been on a growth spurt and accompanying hiring spree. According to a report in the Boston Globe, the pandemic hasn't slowed hiring at Mass. biotech and tech companies. 

Here are some specific highlights from the report:

  • Amazon added about 700 white-collar jobs with more than 400 openings still posted in the Boston area. 

  • The Mass. Amazon hub ended 2020 with about 3,700 employees.

  • At Amazon, engineers can be offered a starting salary of $160,000 to $300,000.

  • CarGuru hired about 90 people from August to the end of the year and is expected to grow by about 75 to 80 employees this year. 

  • EQRx, which aims to develop and license more affordable drugs for a range of diseases, hired about 112 people in 2020, and plans to add 130 more this year.

  • Forma Therapeutics hired about 40 people in 2020 and plans to hire another 40 to 50 employees in 2021.

According to recruiter Beverly Kahn: 

“This has been a tough time… It’s not at all like previous recessions. There isn’t this negativity. I think people have acclimated to what’s going on, they’ve acclimated to remote work and remote hiring...”

Khan, who started her firm in 1979 and who has lived through several recessions, remembers stretches when Massachusetts tech companies like Data General and Wang Laboratories were cutting jobs by the thousands.

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Energy

The big news in the energy department last week was Gov. Baker’s veto of the state’s omnibus climate bill. The bill, which called for Massachusetts to become carbon neutral by 2050, is one of the most ambitious timelines for carbon emission reductions in the country. It cleared both branches last session by veto-proof votes of 145-9 in the House 38-2 in the Senate. 

Because the legislative session in which the bill was passed disbanded just days after it was signed, lawmakers in the Bay State were not able to override the veto. If the refiled bill is vetoed again, the legislature will have the opportunity to override it this time. However, Baker can also now return the re-filed legislation with proposed amendments. 

In a joint statement, Senate President Karen Spilka's Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano called the bipartisan legislation an "ambitious and groundbreaking climate bill." The statement goes on to say:

"Months of work was exhaustively studied by members of the conference committee, and the result was a bill that rejects the false choice between economic growth and addressing climate change. We must combat climate change while also maintaining a thriving economy and expanding the housing stock that will ensure future, sustainable growth. The legislation sent to the Governor showed how it can be done. We are confident that members of the House and Senate will again act with urgency by swiftly sending this bill back to Governor Baker’s desk." 

Although Baker supports the 2050 net-zero goal, he has expressed concerns — one of which is that the bill, as written, could slow housing production. 

Although Baker hopes to persuade lawmakers to consider amendments to the bill, his administration has not yet made specific proposals. 

Read all about it at WBUR.org. 

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Transportation

Among other Mass. officials heading for Washington, six-year Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack has been tapped by the Biden-Harris administration to serve as Deputy Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration. 

In a statement regarding the move, Gov. Baker said:

“Stephanie has led MassDOT through many difficult challenges over the past six years; from the historic blizzards that exposed the problems of the MBTA, through saving the GLX project, instituting a data-driven Capital Improvement Plan, and guiding the RMV through a crisis last summer. She has provided MassDOT with stability and leadership through the last six years, serving longer than her three predecessors combined. She has allowed the agency to focus on long term efforts developing the FMCB and upgrading the MBTA’s infrastructure, service and customer relations and much more.”

And in her official statement, Pollack said this:

“It has been a privilege to lead MassDOT’s exceptional team these last six years and to work with the MBTA’s senior leadership and the Fiscal and Management Control Board. Massachusetts has become a leader in delivering a transportation system that puts people first and provides them with safer and better choices for walking, biking, using transit, or driving and I am confident that Jamey will be able to continue that good work.”

Jamey Tesler will replace her as acting secretary. Tesler assumed the role of acting Registrar of Motor Vehicles during the height of the agency's records scandal in June, 2019.

Governor Signs $16.5B Transportation Bond Bill

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker has signed a $16.5 billion — with a B — transportation bond bill to raise funding for rail, bus, and roadway improvements across the state.

According to a report in Railway Age, “Gov. Baker approved most details in the bill but vetoed others, such as requiring the 15 regional transit authorities to study ‘means-tested fares’ and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) to offer a low-income fare program...”

In a response to legislators, Gov. Baker wrote: 

“‘More study is needed to understand how transit authorities can implement fare systems that depend on gathering information about riders’ incomes and to understand what the revenue loss would be and how that revenue would be replaced. No means-tested fares can be implemented until the MBTA and RTAs have a financially sustainable plan in place to replace the lost revenue.”

Bill H-5248, an Act Authorizing and Accelerating Transportation Investment, provides funds for upgrading the South Coast Rail, a Green Line Extension, East-West rail projects, MBTA bus and Green Line upgrades, electrification of sections of the Fairmount and Stoughton commuter rail lines, and extending the Blue Line to the Charles/MGH Station on the Red Line.

Railway Age has more on this story.

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Real Estate

Amid Pandemic Home Sales in Massachusetts Hit 16-Year High 

Pandemic notwithstanding, Mass. home sales are on fire and have reached a 16-year high. According to The Warren Group, more than 61,000 single-family homes were sold in 2020 at a median sale price of $445,500, 11.4% higher than the year prior. In December alone, a record 6,410 single-family homes were sold in the Bay State — a 28.6% increase from December 2019. It was the sixth consecutive month with median sale prices greater than $450,000.

According to Warren Group, the shift towards remote work during the pandemic has spurred a migration away from cities boosting home sales in areas such as Cape Cod and the Berkshires, typically known to be vacation destinations.

On a Warren Group's podcast, Tim Warren, CEO of the Warren Group says he did not see this coming and hopes it won’t lead to a real estate bubble in the region:

"In the wake of the first COVID-19 lockdown way back in March, single-family home sales took a nosedive for the entire second quarter. If you told me back then that by the end of the year that the total number of sales would surpass 2019, there's no way I would have believed you ... yet here we are. Another record-setting year in the books for Massachusetts real estate… The hot market has continued right into December, four straight months of sales gains of 25 percent or more… The more time they spend at home, the more they think about the home and some ask what they want to change… The one thing I worry about is the rapidly-rising median price across the state. For six straight years, we saw a very good market but with restrained growth in price -- just two to five percent. The tail end of 2020 saw huge changes and prices rose by 14 percent or more for five straight months. For the year as a whole, prices rose 11.4 percent. I consider that to be unsustainable. I hope we see the market cool and consolidate its gains before we create a bubble in prices as we did in 2005. The collapse of the market in 2006 and beyond was very painful."

Warren expects the trend to continue well into 2021.

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Cannabis

Commonwealth Dispensary Association Sues CCC… Then Doesn’t

All in one week, the Commonwealth Dispensary Association filed suit against the Mass. Cannabis Control Commission in an attempt to block new delivery rules and then dropped the suit in an effort to prevent a mass exodus of members. 

At question was a new type of delivery license that would allow operators to sidestep the storefront and instead sell out of a warehouse. The rule is intended to increase the number of local and minority-owned cannabis businesses in the state. Making matters worse, for the first three years, the license will only be available only to applicants in social equity programs locking out existing dispensaries until 2024. However, this doesn’t seem to be a problem for many dispensary owners.

The CDA argued that the rules, as written might backfire and lead to the “possibility of an ‘Amazon’ scale operation undermining both brick and mortar retail and smaller delivery operators.”

In the days after the suit was filed, at least ten prominent CDA members including New England Treatment Access (the largest marijuana operator in Massachusetts), Garden Remedies, and In Good Health, announced they were quitting the group claiming the action conflicted with their commitment to social equity in the Mass. cannabis industry.

A statement from Garden Remedies reads: 

“Decades of the ‘war on drugs’ and the disproportionate harm such policies caused to members of specific communities cannot simply be erased by ignoring the past or leveling the playing field ‘from now on. Specific, targeted and aggressive action must be taken to acknowledge the issues and create a roadmap to a better, more inclusive industry.”

The CDA had this to say about that:

“The CDA has determined it is in the best interest of the industry and our members to drop the lawsuit against the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC). We all need to be working together on achieving our many shared objectives, including increasing the participation of a diverse set of entrepreneurs in the industry… [The CDA is] confident that our membership fully supports the goal of increasing diversity of ownership and wealth generation opportunities in the Massachusetts cannabis industry… The past several days have motivated our organization to look inwards, and outwards, to work together to create real positive change.

Boston.com has a thorough report on this story.

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Major Bills Pass but Baker Vetoes Climate Change Legislation

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The most notable news narratives in Massachusetts politics this week are Gov. Charlie Baker’s signing of a major economic development bill and his veto of far reaching climate change legislation. Although Baker has been a cheerleader for the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, he found some sticking points in the energy bill that will have to be cleaned up by the newly sworn-in legislature. Find more on both of theses stories below.

And, of course, the pandemic still looms large and long here in Massachusetts. Rather than getting into the particulars (since we’ve all been bombarded with them on a daily basis for the past 10 months) here are some of the Covid-related challenges residents and businesses are currently facing here in the Bay State:

With that out of the way, let’s go over this week’s top news in Massachusetts politics, business, energy, transportation, and real estate. We’ll also touch on some big changes coming to the Mass. Cannabis Control Commission board and what they mean to the Massachusetts cannabis industry. 

Politics

Boston Mayor’s Race Shaping Up 

As we mentioned last week, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh will be leaving City Hall bound for Washington D.C. Meanwhile, being only the second vacant Mayor’s office seat in 28 years, the race to replace Walsh is quickly shaping up to be an exciting one. 

  • So far, two entrants, Boston City Councilors Michelle Wu and Andrea Campbell, have gotten a head start. 

  • The may have stiff competition in Boston Police Commissioner William Gross who is strongly considering a run. 

  • City Council President Kim Janey (who will soon become acting mayor when Walsh takes his cabinet seat) is a probable candidate. 

  • Two other City Councilors Annissa Essaibi-George and Michael Flaherty are also likely to take a crack at it. 

  • State Sen. Nick Collins could enter the race. 

  • Boston economic development chief John Barros might run.

  • Boston’s chief of Health and Human Services Marty Martinez is considering mounting a campaign. 

  • State Rep. Jon Santiago has said that he might run.

Two other potential candidates, State Rep. Aaron Michlewitz and Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins have officially opted out of the race.

With so many candidates in the race, it won’t take a majority of voters for candidates to advance to the general election. Back in 2013’s preliminary election, with 12 candidates in the race and a turnout of just 31%, 113,300 ballots were cast. Walsh and John Connolly each received less than one-fifth of the vote. Walsh received a mere 20,800 primary votes. However, Walsh won the general election with just over half of the vote (51.5%).

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Business

$78.5 Million in Covid Relief Grants Given to Small Businesses

The Baker Administration recently announced that just under 1,600 Mass. businesses have been awarded a total of $78.5 million in small business grants to help them weather the pandemic storm. The state has now awarded $195 million to more than 4,100 businesses since December through Mass Growth Capital Corporation. Governor Baker hopes the money will help more Mass. businesses — “especially those in the hospitality and entertainment business” — to survive the winter. 

Under this program businesses in specific sectors of the economy (such as restaurants, bars, caterers, food trucks, gyms, indoor recreation businesses, event photographers and other event companies, nail salons, barbershops, independent pharmacies and independent retailers) will receive grants of up to $75,000 or three months of operating expenses.

With another $473 million remaining to be passed out, officials are expected to announce more grants in February. (However, the deadline to apply fot grant money has passed.)

Watch: Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker to discuss small business grants in Boston’s North End

Additionally, another $8.6 million in grants were awarded to cities, towns and nonprofit organizations under the Community Transit Grant program. The annual program, which is administered by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), awards money earmarked for transit operating costs, mobility management, or new capital investments.

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Energy

Even bigger news than Baker’s shuffle off to Washington this week is his pocket veto of landmark climate legislation passed by lawmakers last week. Baker claimed that, among other concerns, the measure would slow housing production goals outlined in his “housing choice” proposal which is written into the economic development bill Baker signed into law Thursday. 

In a letter to lawmakers, Baker wrote:

“While my administration wholeheartedly supports the environmental justice goals of this bill, intent without the tools to address those issues are empty promises. The bill does not have language or funding to address the ongoing impacts of climate change faced by those communities.”

The Next Generation Roadmap is the most comprehensive climate legislation to be passed in more than a decade with an ambitious net-zero emissions goal by 2050. The legislation also calls for interim emissions reduction targets of 50% by 2030 and 75% by 2040, as well as requiring 40% of the state’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2030. 

Alli Gold Roberts, director or state policy at the sustainability nonprofit Ceres called the development, “extremely disappointing and a step in the wrong direction,” adding:

“From a rise in floods to worsening air pollution, this last decade made it abundantly clear that the severity of the climate crisis requires immediate action,” Roberts added. “Massachusetts legislators understood the need for this urgency as they pushed forward comprehensive, bold climate policy in the midst of dealing with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. The resulting legislation that was sent to Gov. Baker included input from the business community, the clean energy industry, community organizers, environmental justice advocates and the public health community. The collaboration among lawmakers and numerous stakeholders helped produce a bill that would have led to climate action, new clean energy job growth and the necessary transition away from fossil fuels to power and heat our homes and buildings, at a time when we need it most. We call on legislators to reintroduce the legislation immediately and send it back to the governor for consideration as soon as possible. Businesses are already making strides toward meeting their own net-zero goals and the Commonwealth cannot afford to delay the transition to a net-zero emissions future that is already underway.” 

It’s not that the Governor is against the proposed legislation altogether. As we reported last week, prior to passage of the bill, the Baker administration had released two reports detailing his plans to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Baker was also instrumental in launching the regional Transportation and Climate Initiative, a plan to decarbonize the transportation sector. However, Baker did not have time to propose amendments to the bill because it passed one day before the end of a  two-year legislative session. 

More details are available at MassLive.com.

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Transportation

USDOT Grants $344 Million In Federal Aid to Transit Authorities 

The MBTA and 15 Reginional Transit Authorities are soon to receive roughly $344 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation to help Massachusetts avoid public transportation service cuts or fare increases.

MBTA General Manager Steve Pollack said Monday that he believes that the agency will receive between $250 million and $300 million of the total funds. However, Pollak also says that despite the injection of federal funding the agnecy plants to keep most of the T’s planned service cuts in place for at least the rest of the winter.

There has been a lot of criticism over the MBTA's push to cut services. Advocates claim that the current plan focuses too much on professionals and office workers, many of whom have some flexibility, at the expense of essential employees and lower-income residents.

At a Regional Transit Authority Council meeting, Pollack stated:

"I don't think 2021 is going to look like 2019, and I'm not sure on the transportation side it's ever going to look like 2019. Things have happened in the past year that will linger, even after the pandemic is over, so part of our job and our challenge is to understand what's changed, what is changing, and how we can continue to provide the service our customers need."

Read all about it at Railway Age. 

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Real Estate

Baker Signs Major Economic Development Bill

In recent years, Massachusetts has been a laggart in the development of new housing. To help remedy the issue, Gov. Baker has (mostly) signed legislation allocating $626 million over the next five years to programs designed to make it easier to build new housing in the Bay State. Baked called the measure “the first significant zoning reform in decades.” 

One of the key pieces of the legislation encourages multifamily zoning in MBTA communities. The bill also sets aside $40 million to revitalize underutilized properties.

Although Baker signed 100 of the bill’s most important sections, he vetoed 11. Among the measures vetoed were three that would have required at least 10 percent affordable units housing for development projects that benefit from a housing development incentive program tax credit. The requirement would have made projects more difficult to finance, Baker said. 

Another line item vetoed by the governor was a proposed rural jobs tax credit that baker claims is more likely to benefit corporate investors than the rural communities it is supposed to help. 

In a statement the governor had this to say:

“This legislation will drive economic growth and improve housing stability, neighborhood stabilization and transit oriented development. Combined with our $668 million small business relief grant program that is supporting local businesses impacted by COVID-19, this legislation will support future growth and expand opportunity for people across Massachusetts, and we appreciate the work of our legislative colleagues throughout this process.”

Because the Legislature that passed the bill has expired and a new Legislature has been sworn in, the governor’s vetoes cannot be overturned. 

WWLP.com has more on this story. 

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Cannabis

Third New Member Named to Cannabis Control Commission

Ava Callender Concepcion has been chosen by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey to fill the Mass. Cannabis Control Commission’s public safety position. The seat was recently vacated by Britte McBride.

In recent years, Concepcion has filled a variety of roles in public safety and previously served as the director of governmental affairs and external partnerships for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office.

Mass. AG Healey said in a statement:

“Ava brings a strong background in public safety and experience working with a range of stakeholders including law enforcement, advocacy organizations, and constituents on important policy matters.  As a lifelong resident of Boston, Ava has dedicated her career to social justice and her perspective will be extremely valuable to the Commission in promoting safety, equity, and opportunity.”

In here acceptance statement, Concepcion said:

“I am honored and humbled by this appointment and want to thank Attorney General Healey for the opportunity to continue serving the Commonwealth. I look forward to working with my fellow commissioners to implement regulations that foster thoughtfulness, transparency, and equity.”

With Concepcion’s appointment, three of five members are new to the CCC. At the end of December, Nurys Z. Camargo and Bruce Stebbins were appointed to replace Shaleen Title and Kay Doyle.

Check out this piece at the Boston Business Journal to see where the CCC is expected to go from here.

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More of the Latest Massachusetts News

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Democracy Threatened and Restored Again

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Of course, the big news — historic news — this week is the ransacking of the Nation’s Capital by an angry mob of Trump followers. Prior to the incident, the malignant mass of protesters-turned-rioters was assured by Trump that the 2020 election was a sham and the win was stolen. They were then encouraged to march to the Capitol Building where the electoral college votes were being counted and told essentially to demand justice. 

This is all despite the fact that there’s zero evidence that the election was stolen and dozens of losses in state and federal court cases attempting to overturn results in swing states. 

It’s not at all clear what the congregation expected to accomplish. Ironically, their actions could very likely get their beloved leader impeached and removed from office, and possibly even blocked from running for any federal office in the future. Having floated the idea of running again in 2024, it now seems highly improbably that Trump will ever see a second term. In fact, he might not even make it to the end of this first term as the bipartisan call for his removal from office grows in volume. 

In addition to doing Trump no favors, many of those involved in the kerfuffle have potentially earned themselves some pretty stiff prison sentences. (For example, the man in the iconic photo sitting at Nancy Pelosi’s ransacked office with his feet up on her desk has been apprehended by the FBI.) Why these thugs weren’t rounded up and arrested on the spot by Capital Police is still a mystery. Now it’s up to the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to hunt them all down and hold them accountable. 

All the hubbub, however, overshadowed a pivotal moment in Massachusetts politics as POTUS-elect Joe Biden announced that Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is his pick for U.S. Labor Secretary. The announcement opens up an exciting race for Mayor in 2021. 

Let’s look into this and other Massachusetts political news stories for this first week of 2021. 

Politics

Biden Names Boston Mayor Walsh U.S. Labor Secretary

In what will amount to a seismic shift in Boston politics POTUS-elect Joe Biden has named Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as his pick for labor secretary. Walsh’s departure leaves City Councilors Michelle Wu and Andrea Campbell in the race for Mayor. If either Campbell or Wu is elected, they will be the first female mayor of Boston.

However, there is still plenty of time for more challengers to enter the ring. Among those rumored to be eyeing the Mayor’s seat is City Council President Kim Janey, who will be sworn in as mayor if Walsh goes to Washington at which point she will be Boston’s first Black Mayor.

Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo will also presumably be heading to Washington as Biden’s commerce secretary. 

New 2021-2022 Legislative Session Underway

Meanwhile, a new legislative session is underway in Massachusetts. In one of their first official acts of the new session, House members elected Democratic Rep. Ron Mariano as the new House speaker. Mariano replaces former Democratic Speaker Robert DeLeo who resigned last month. Democratic Sen. Karen Spilka was reelected Senate president.

Priorities for the new session listed by Mariano include monitoring vaccine distribution, supporting small businesses, bolstering remote learning, and addressing housing troubles brought on by emergency measures.

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Business

Statewide Restrictions Extended, Relief Increased for Small Businesses

Statewide restrictions have been extended by Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker until at least January 24 as Mass. hit a record-high for single-day Covid-19 cases last Thursday. The capacity limit for outdoor gatherings remains at 25 people, 

“Cases are growing, and hospitalizations continue to climb,” said Baker. “We know that extending those restrictions for any businesses, especially small businesses, is a lot to ask, but we need to stay in this game a little longer.”

While most small businesses in Mass. are suffering as a result of emergency restrictions, restaurant owners are finding it particularly challenging to accommodate comfortable outdoor dining in the face of freezing winter temperatures. 

However, as we mentioned last week, businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic might breathe a small sigh of relief in light of Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker’s $668 million financial assistance program. The new program offers grants up to $75,000 to be used for employee wages and benefits, operational costs, and debt payments.

The online application portal for the new program will close on Friday, Jan. 15 and the state could start releasing millions in new funding to restaurants and other small businesses in the state as soon as next week.

Details on the program including how to apply are available at www.empoweringsmallbusiness.org.

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Energy

Mass. Lawmakers Sign Sweeping Climate Bill

After months of negotiations, Massachusetts lawmakers have signed off on “An Act Creating a Next-generation Roadmap For Massachusetts Climate Policy.” The sweeping legislation is intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, create renewable energy jobs, and protect poorer communities that can be at higher risk from pollution. Passage of the bill was near-unanimous in both the House and Senate. 

The centerpiece of the legislation is the state’s goal of hitting net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The measure also increases requirements for offshore wind energy, improves gas pipeline safety, and increase support for renewable energy workforce development programs.

The law stipulates: that the state must reduce emissions by 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 and by 75 percent below 1990 levels by 2040. The legislation also ups the state’s renewable portfolio standard to 40 percent by 2030 and increases its offshore wind targets from 3.2 gigawatts to 5.6 gigawatts.

Last week by Gov. Charlie Baker pushed the Massachusetts 2050 Decarbonization Roadmap Report and an interim 2030 Clean Energy and Climate Plan. The proposal would require all new cars sold in the state to be electric by 2035 and also calls for converting 1 million homes from fossil fuel to electric heating.

The climate bill approved by lawmakers on Monday prioritizes access to the state’s solar programs by low-income communities and creates a pathway into the clean energy industry for minority-owned and women-owned businesses.

In addition to the above points, Bill, S. 2995 also calls for:

  • Setting new energy efficiency standards for 17 common appliances

  • Adopting measures to improve gas pipeline safety, including increased fines for safety violations;

  • Increasing the state's RPS by 3% annually from 2025 to 2029

  • Establishing $12 million in annual funding for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, earmarked for assisting minority-owned and women-owned businesses in the clean energy industry

  • Setting benchmarks for the adoption of electric vehicles, charging stations, solar technology, energy storage, and heat pumps

  • Providing solar incentives for businesses by exempting them from the state's net metering cap.

The bill now awaits the governor’s signature which is all but guaranteed. 

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Transportation

Massachusetts May Require All New Cars To Be Electric by 2035

In support of the net-zero carbon footprint goals outlined in the new climate legislation mentioned above, a new proposal calls for the sale of gas-powered vehicles in the state to end by 2035. It also seeks to have 30 percent of all trucks and busses purchased in the Bay State to be electric by 2030 and 50 percent by 2050. 

Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Kathleen Theoharides released the plan last week. The report reads in part:

"For the Commonwealth to achieve Net Zero, fossil fuel use must be all but completely eliminated in on-road vehicles by 2050. Given the cost and scarcity of low- or zero-carbon drop-in replacement fuels and the current market and growing availability of high-efficiency battery-electric and other zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) alternatives, this likely means reaching near complete electrification of the light-duty fleet."

The move follows California’s lead as Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed an executive order outlining very similar goals. 

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Real Estate

Massachusetts Makes Top 10 List of Out-of-State Moves

Moving enterprise United Van Lines says Massachusetts is one of the top 10 states in the country losing residents since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mass. ranked 8th with New Jersey, New York, Illinois, Connecticut, and California at the top of the list. 

United tracked 3,355 moves in and out of Massachusetts in 2020. According to the company’s report, 56.6 percent of those moves were customers leaving the state. Of those, a little over one-third said it was because of work. About one-quarter said they were leaving to retire or for family. And about one-fifth said they left for a change in lifestyle. 

In a statement released by the company, Michael Stoll, an economist and University of California, Los Angeles professor had this to say:

“United Van Lines’ data makes it clear that migration to western and southern states, a prevalent pattern for the past several years, persisted in 2020. However, we’re seeing that the COVID-19 pandemic has without a doubt accelerated broader moving trends, including retirement driving top inbound regions as the Baby Boomer generation continues to reach that next phase of life.” 

Elsewhere in New England, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire all saw more people moving into the state than out. Topping the survey for inbound moves was Idaho, followed by South Carolina, Oregon, South Dakota, and Arizona. However, the survey only represents United’s clientele and doesn’t necessarily reflect overall trends.

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Cannabis

Curaleaf Announces $216 Million Stock Offering

In a bid to raise more than $216 million dollars, Multistate cannabis operator Curaleaf Holdings announced a new stock offering after the closing of markets on Wednesday. The company is offering 16.5 million subordinate voting shares priced at CA$16.70 per share. Curaleaf management says the funds will be used “for working capital and general corporate purposes.”

In a news release, Curaleaf Executive Chair Boris Jordan said the company anticipates “the acceleration of legalization at the federal level.” Jordan is referring to the U.S. Senate runoff elections in Georgia in which Democrats won control of the Senate.

Jordan goes on to say:

“With the recent adult-use cannabis deregulation initiatives in New Jersey and Arizona, and New York announcing its proposal to legalize and create a comprehensive system to oversee and regulate cannabis as part of the 2021 State of the State, now is a pivotal time to raise additional capital to support our growth initiatives as we continue to build out our capabilities in these new markets.” 

Curaleaf trades on the Canadian stock exchange under the ticker symbol CURA and on the U.S. over-the-counter markets as CURLF. The company reported record revenues of $182.4 million for its quarter ended September 30., with a net loss of $9.3 million.

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A New End

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While last year saw record numbers of hurricanes, wildfires, recessions, roller-coaster stock markets, and a defeat of a sitting president — all of which are huge stories in any given year — the coronavirus pandemic has overshadowed everything on earth for the past ten months.

By Mid-December, Massachusetts had blown past the 100,000 COVID-19 cases mark with 10% of those were confirmed just over the Christmas holiday weekend. There have been more than 11,500 confirmed fatalities in Mass since the start of the pandemic.

In an effort to ward off a public health crisis of biblical proportions, Gov. Charlie Baker has given the tourniquet another turn and asked businesses to reduce capacity to 25% and to limit public and private gatherings to 10 people indoors and 25 outdoors for the next two weeks. 

The good news is that vaccinations are underway for the front lines and the most vulnerable. More than 146,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine recently arrived in the state. Another 60,000 or so Pfizer vaccines have also been distributed. So far, more than 35,000 Massachusetts residents have been vaccinated. Although it doesn’t yet toll the death knell for the pandemic, vaccination has brought with it much needed hope. 

In other news...

Politics

GOP Gives Lyons Another Term

Jim Lyons was reelected Sunday to a second term as the state Republican Party’s chairman by a narrow margin of 39-36, against challenger Shawn Dooley. In his pitch prior to the vote (which took place in a parking lot) before the vote. His opponents, Lyons had this to say:

“I should continue to bring conservative and pro-life voices into our party, to give conservatives a seat at the table for which too often in Massachusetts Republican politics [they] have been excluded in the past.”

Lyons, a vociferous Trump supporter, vowed to “make the Massachusetts Republican Party great again.” This might be a bit challenging considering the GOP lost five seats in the Legislature in November. Republicans now hold just three seats in the 40-member Senate and zero in the house.

That being said, Lyons victory is expected to complicate a potential reelection bid by Gov. Charlie Baker who has burned some bridges with pro-Trump forces. Trump recently attacked Baker as a “RINO” (Republican in name only).

Interestingly, to facilitate social distancing, the vote was held in a parking lot in an industrial park in Littleton. Committee members tuned in a live radio broadcast to hear the candidates’ pitches. After the vote was tallied, Lyons supporters honked their horns in lieu of applause. 

The Boston Globe has a more in-depth report on Lyons’ win.

Landmark Police Bill Gets a Touchup

Facing the threat of Gov. Charlie Baker's veto, the Massachusetts Senate did some remodeling on a comprehensive policing bill. The Massachusetts House on Tuesday approved the revisions.

Should it pass, the revamped legislation would create a system for certifying police officers in Massachusetts. It also creates a new civilian-led panel that can revoke badges for misconduct. One of the main sticking points in the bill was the proposed restriction of the use of facial recognition technology by police.

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Business

More Stimulus Money on the Way

Gov. Charlie Baker last week unveiled an additional $668 million stimulus package aimed at small businesses in the Bay State. The money can be used to curtail layoffs, as well as to pay utility bills, rent, and other operational costs. 

Eligible industries include restaurants and bars, caterers, indoor recreation and entertainment establishments, fitness centers, personal services, retailers, and event-support professionals such as photographers and videographers.

More than 10,000 applicants applied for grants from the COVID-19 Small Business Program since it was launched this past fall. State officials will continue to award grants to eligible businesses who already applied but did not receive funding.

Businesses will have a two-week window to apply for grants through an online portal scheduled to come online before the new year and grants will be awarded starting in February.

More information is available at EmpoweringSmallBusinesses.org. 

On a side note, although funding for the state’s stimulus package is not dependent on federal stimulus money, the bill, which was reluctantly signed by Trump, gives the state more flexibility in dealing with the pandemic.

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Energy

In early August, three senators and three representatives were appointed to reconcile differences between climate bills passed by the Mass. Senate and House. However, with the current two-year legislative session coming to an end on Jan. 5, no compromise has been reached. 

Now, in an effort to assure prompt action, climate policy advocates are mounting an “all-out offensive" to keep the pressure on lawmakers.

If the conference committee doesn't produce a compromise bill this session, it will mean a slippery slope for the measures. In order to avoid backsliding, climate advocacy group 350Mass called on its supporters to unleash an “all-out offensive via phone, email, and Twitter, to ensure Massachusetts advances this crucial climate legislation." 

Both climate bills put forth last January call for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The bills also set deadlines for the state to impose carbon-pricing mechanisms for transportation, commercial buildings, and homes. 

The Baker administration is planning to release its 2050 Decarbonization Roadmap and the 2030 Clean Energy and Climate Plan by the end of this month.

Read all about it at NBCBoston.com.

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Transportation

Replacement of the 85-year-old Bourne and Sagamore bridges is among 65 transportation projects included in an omnibus package passed along with the $900 billion federal stimulus bill. The 5,000-plus-page bundle includes funding for bridge repairs and replacements as well as other transportation projects. In fact, transportation projects account for about $45 billion of the total relief bill.

The Cape Cod Times has more on this story.

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Real Estate

Since the eviction moratorium expired in Massachusetts, renters across the state are now finding eviction notices taped to their doors and tenant advocates fear a rise in homelessness and a continued spike in COVID-19 cases across the state. 

However, in the days before the moratorium expired, Gov. Charlie Baker announced $171 million earmarked for rental assistance and rapid rehousing programs. Baker also recently signed a budget that includes added funding for housing-related programs.

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Cannabis

Although the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission has taken steps to ensure equitable opportunities within the cannabis industry for minorities, according to a report by Commonwealth Magazine, “one segment of the industry remains controlled – largely by design – by big companies, including some multi-state operators: medical marijuana.”

One reason for the lack of diversity in the medical market, says the report, is the requirement that medical marijuana dispensaries grow and manufacture all of the cannabis products they sell. This vertical integration requirement means it costs a lot more to enter the medical marijuana market than it does to break into the recreational market which has no such requirement.

Mass. CCC chairman Steven Hoffman said a reevaluation of vertical integration requirements will be a priority going forward. “We’ve made a commitment to look into that, to give it the time and study it deserves,” Hoffman said.

Read the full report at Commonwealth Magazine

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