Beacon Hill Updates: MA Senate & House differ on reproductive legislation; MA House declines to lower threshold for tax rebate

"The Massachusetts Senate on Wednesday followed the House in passing a wide-ranging abortion rights bill in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. 

But Democratic leaders must now wrestle with thorny differences, particularly in what circumstances to allow later-term abortions, a disagreement that could complicate the late-session scramble to expand the state’s already extensive reproductive rights law. 

Both chambers have now embraced language that would help shield providers from out-of-state prosecution for procedures that are legal here and would make emergency contraception more readily accessible, among other changes responding to last month’s ruling that allowed states to outright prohibit abortion for the first time in 49 years."

Continue reading the article in the Boston Globe (subscription may be required) ->  https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/07/13/metro/mass-house-senate-odds-over-later-term-abortion-law/

"Members of the Massachusetts House Wednesday rejected an effort to include the state’s lowest-income taxpayers as part of a stimulus proposal aimed at soothing the sting of record-breaking inflation by giving out one-time $250 payments. 

The amendment, filed by progressive Representatives Tami L. Gouveia and Mike Connolly, would have lifted an income requirement for a piece of the chamber’s sweeping economic development bill. Among its many provisions, the bill would give potentially millions of middle income taxpayers a one-time stimulus check of $250 or $500 for joint filers, but only for those who reported at least $38,000 in 2021 income, a caveat that has drawn scrutiny and became central to Wednesday’s debate over the $3.8 billion proposal."

Continue reading the article in the Boston Globe (subscription may be required) ->  https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/07/13/metro/house-rejects-rebates-lowest-income-earners-sweeping-economic-development-package/