The Landscape After months of dysfunction and deadlock, Congressional leadership reached a deal late Sunday night on an almost $1 trillion economic relief package. The bill includes stimulus checks of as much as $600 per person. The size of the benefit would follow the same guidelines from the CARES Act stimulus package and would be reduced [...]

The Landscape Members of the Electoral College will meet today at their respective state capitols to cast their votes for the next President of the United States. Massachusetts’ presidential electors meet this afternoon with Secretary of State Bill Galvin at the State House to cast the state’s electoral votes for President-elect Biden. Once the votes are [...]

The Landscape Boston Mayor Marty Walsh will host community activists and labor leaders at City Hall for a press conference this morning in opposition to proposed MBTA service cuts. Under the proposal, all ferry service, 25 bus routes, as well as weekend commuter rail service would be eliminated; weekday commuter rail service would end at 9 [...]

The Landscape Governor Baker’s request that students return to in-person instruction in January has been met with hesitation, even as participating school districts receive rapid COVID-19 test kits this week. The 15-minute antigen test produced by Abbot Pharmaceuticals will be administered to students and staff displaying symptoms of COVID-19 in order to stop the spread and [...]

The Landscape The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education will meet Tuesday to discuss, among other topics, the CDC’s removal of guidance pushing for schools to reopen. Last week, Education Commissioner Jeff Riley announced more than 130 qualified schools will participate in a rapid COVID-19 testing program. The 15-minute test was distributed to Massachusetts under a [...]

The Landscape On the heels of the House budget debate which resulted in, among other things, members of the House testing positive for COVID, the state Senate will meet in a formal session on Tuesday for the first time since July to debate its version of the COVID-delayed FY21 budget. Senate budget writers maintained a similar [...]

The Landscape An unprecedented number of women will head to Beacon Hill in January for the start of the next legislative session. Sixty-two women, including 50 Representatives and 12 Senators, will in total make up 31 percent of the Legislature’s 200 seats. Including the turnover from special elections, next year’s women lawmakers will outnumber the 2019 [...]

The Landscape  It all ends tomorrow. But will we know how? There’s a good chance we won’t. Thankfully, here in Massachusetts, Election Day should be a bit more stable. All 200 Massachusetts legislative seats are on the ballot tomorrow but only 50 of them feature contested general elections. Of the 160-seat state House of Representatives, only [...]

The Landscape With 8 days until the election is over, many elected officials are focusing on get-out-the-vote efforts in state and federal elections rather than outstanding legislative work on Beacon Hill. Across the country, early voting has been expanded because of COVID-19 and many are taking advantage of in-person early voting, with a record-breaking number showing [...]

The Landscape Frustration with the lack of action on Beacon Hill is growing. Since the end of July, advocates have called for action on racial justice, eviction moratorium and housing rights, and driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants. Additionally, five major pieces of legislation, including an economic development package, transportation bond legislation and a complicated health care [...]