Under the Dome...

Criminal Justice Reform not quite done...

The House passed its version of criminal justice reform legislation last week, after the Senate passed a much broader bill.  Both bills seek to update mandatory minimum sentences, reduce recidivism, and better protect victims.  The bill now goes to conference committee, where six legislators will work out the differences and report out a single bill. That bill will be taken up by the full Legislature in a straight up-or-down vote before it heads to the Governor’s desk for signature.

Medical Marijuana regulations updated...

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) updated its regulations for the medical use of cannabis as it prepares to move oversight of that industry to the newly-formed Cannabis Control Commission.  Passage of the law that made adult use of cannabis legal also made changes to certain aspects of medical marijuana operations.

Under the new law, medical marijuana dispensaries can operate as for-profit organizations and the regulations needed updating to reflect that they no longer had to organize as non-profits as a condition of licensure.  Another important change is that nurse practitioners, who are able to prescribe medications in Massachusetts, can now also provide medical marijuana recommendations to patients so they can register with DPH.

Health Care changes on the horizon (?)...

The Senate passed a broad health care bill that would hold hospitals accountable for health care spending benchmarks and project whether a single-payer system would be less expensive than the current model, and potentially lay out a plan for implementation.  The House may take up the issue after formal sessions resume in January.  Of course, all of this is occurring amidst uncertainty about the federal approach to health care and the impact of those decisions on Massachusetts. Do stay tuned.

17 days to last formal session of 2017 and 57 shopping days to Christmas(!)

Meanwhile, under the Golden Dome...

The Senate just passed a massive criminal justice reform package.

Deliberating until nearly 1:30am on Thursday evening, the State Senate capped off a 14-hour day by delivering to the House a large and complex bill that aims to eliminate some fees that have a disparate impact on low-income defendants, raise the age of juvenile jurisdiction to 18 (from 17), and eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for various nonviolent drug offenses and allow certain current inmates to be eligible to earn "good time" where that was previously not permitted.  

It is, to be sure, sweeping legislation that saw over 160 amendments offered.  Successful changes include protection for LGBTQ prisoners and an update to the victim compensation statute eliminating the contributory clause for family members of homicide victims seeking reimbursement for funeral and burial costs.

The House has been working on its own legislation and has indicated that achieving meaningful criminal justice reform this session is a prority.

The Governor is holding on earmark spending for now.

Following a request from House leadership to release funding for manufacturing partnerships between UMass and industry, the Governor said he was holding off on releasing any budgetary earmarks until the state's fiscal picture clears up.  The federal government's position on cost sharing reduction payments is giving states agita as they try to predict health care costs in the coming year.

And in cannabis news - 

There is an FAA rule that may or may not permit marijuana to be transported by air to the Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.  This is important because marijuana remains a federally illegal substance and therefore transporting them by boat or air is prohibited.  That means that the islands have to grow their own marijuana, which is doable but expensive (water, real estate, and electricity tend to cost more), but prevents them from transporting marijuana for required testing, as those operations will be on the mainland.  Experts currently disagree as to whether the rule provides a solution, so stay tuned.

A new biennial session begins in Massachusetts

The new year and the new session means a flurry of legislative activity blew in during the month of January.  We saw 14 new legislators take the oath of office, and one member made the jump from the House to the Senate.

Over 5,800 pieces of legislation were filed by the January 20th deadline and co-sponsors had until Friday, the 3rd of February to decide which bills they wanted to endorse.

Firms like ours are now scouring volumes of policy proposals to see which ones may have an impact on the folks we represent, and media outlets are picking out some of the more interesting bills to highlight in their coverage.

Photo credit: Newsday - Tom Brady after the Patriots' 5th(!) SuperBowl win
This photo has nothing to do with our blog topic, but we couldn't resist.

The House and the Senate recently agreed on the rules of their respective chambers and the Joint Rules which govern how they will work collectively to make laws this session.

Leadership is now making decisions about committee assignments and chairmanships, which will be important as organizations and individuals map out their advocacy strategies.  Once committees are populated, legislative hearings will begin.