Abortion access policies become law in MA

The Boston Globe has the following on the override of Gov Baker:

"Abortion rights will be formally codified in state law, and access to the procedure will be expanded after the Senate on Tuesday joined the House in overriding Governor Charlie Baker’s veto of the legislation.

The Senate reaffirmed its support for the abortion access measures on a 32-8 vote, one day after the House’s 107-46 vote."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required) 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/12/29/metro/abortion-access-policies-become-law-massachusetts-despite-governor-bakers-veto/

CommonWealth Magazine has the following

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/state-government/legislative-countdown-abortion-bill-becomes-law

On Ma.gov, the actual legislative text  https://malegislature.gov/Bills/191/H5179

CommonWealth Magazine: Deleo stepping down, House overrides Gov Baker's abortion veto

From CommonWealth Magazine:

"DeLeo stepping down; Mariano facing no opposition"

"IN A MESSAGE read by a tearful House clerk, Speaker Robert DeLeo announced he is resigning his position on Beacon Hill at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, setting the stage for the ascension of Majority Leader Ronald Mariano of Quincy to the top position in the chamber on Wednesday.

Shortly after the announcement just before 2 p.m., the speaker’s office said DeLeo would give a farewell address Tuesday afternoon and a caucus to elect a new speaker will be held on Wednesday."

Continue reading the article online

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/politics/deleo-stepping-down-mariano-facing-no-opposition/

"House overrides Baker’s abortion veto"

"THE HOUSE ON MONDAY voted 107-46 to override Gov. Charlie Baker’s veto of legislation allowing women as young as 16 to obtain abortions without parental or judicial consent and expanding when pregnancies can be terminated after six months.

The Senate on Tuesday is expected to join the House in overriding the governor’s veto, giving the Legislature a victory on the issue of broader abortion access at a time when President Trump has added several justices perceived as anti-abortion to the US Supreme Court. It’s not clear if a Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision protecting a woman’s right to have an abortion without excessive government intervention, would have any impact in Massachusetts."

Continue reading the article online

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/health/house-overrides-bakers-abortion-veto/ 

 

"It is up to the Legislature to once again lead where Governor Baker has failed“

From CommonWealth Magazine:

"GOV. CHARLIE BAKER vetoed the Legislature’s abortion bill on Thursday, forcing lawmakers to override his veto if they want to insist on lowering from 18 to 16 the age at which a woman can obtain an abortion without the approval of a parent or judge.

Baker previously offered an amendment to the Legislature’s abortion proposal doing away with the provisions he disliked, but both branches rejected the amendment and returned the legislation to the governor as originally crafted.

After days of hemming and hawing at State House press conferences about what he intended to do with the abortion language, Baker’s office issued a statement just before 2 p.m. saying he was returning the bill unsigned, which a spokeswoman said was the equivalent of a veto."

Continue reading the article online

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/health/baker-vetoes-abortion-bill/

Police reform and abortion measures return to Gov Baker

The Boston Globe has the following:

"The Massachusetts House on Tuesday approved a revised version of a sweeping policing bill, making it all but certain the state will soon enact legislation that emerged after protests over police misconduct and the death of George Floyd gripped Massachusetts and beyond.

The legislation would create for the first time a system for certifying police officers in Massachusetts and give a new civilian-led panel the ability to revoke their licenses for a range of misconduct.

A raft of revisions sought by Governor Charlie Baker, and ultimately accepted by lawmakers in both the House and Senate, included loosening proposed limits on the use of facial recognition and eliminating language that underpinned new standards on officers’ use of force. Baker also successfully pushed to keep oversight of training under his administration and police-dominated committee."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required) https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/12/22/metro/house-accepts-revised-police-accountability-bill-putting-it-verge-becoming-law/

From CommonWealth Magazine:

THE LEGISLATURE sent bills dealing with police reform and abortion back to Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday and began work on compromise health care legislation that requires insurers to permanently reimburse for behavioral telehealth at the rates they’d pay for the same care in-person.

The House joined the Senate in passing police reform legislation that includes amendments sought by Baker on police training and the use of facial recognition software. Baker, who had threatened a veto if the Legislature declined to compromise on those two issues, has indicated he will sign the bill containing the modified language into law.

On abortion, however, both branches rejected amendments sought by the governor and sent the bill back to him as originally drafted. Baker can sign the abortion measure into law, allow it to become law without his signature, or veto the bill and challenge the Legislature to override him. An override would require a two-thirds vote, which was the margin on earlier abortion votes in the House but just barely.

Continue reading the article online  https://commonwealthmagazine.org/health-care/lawmakers-send-police-reform-abortion-measures-to-governor/

 

Boston Globe: "House rejects Baker’s changes to abortion measure"

The Boston Globe has the following:

"The Massachusetts House on Wednesday rejected Governor Charlie Baker’s amendment to their abortion measure and restored language they’d originally adopted, allowing patients as young as 16 to get abortions without parental consent.

A supermajority, 107 members, voted against the governor’s changes, while 49 voted for them.

“The House today reaffirmed its long-standing commitment to protecting reproductive rights in Massachusetts under threat by changes in the makeup of the US Supreme Court,” House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo said in a statement. ”The House acted to keep intact those provisions in Massachusetts that safeguard reproductive choices for all.”

The Democratic-led Legislature included the measure in the state’s $45.9 billion budget bill in order to guarantee abortion access in Massachusetts, in anticipation of national changes to abortion rights under a newly conservative Supreme Court. The language would codify into state law the right to an abortion, which has been guaranteed by the court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade since 1973."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/12/16/metro/house-rejects-bakers-changes-abortion-legislation/

And from CommonWealth Magazine:

THE HOUSE on Wednesday voted 107-49 to reject Gov. Charlie Baker’s amendment paring back a legislative proposal to expand access to abortion in Massachusetts.

The measure now goes to the Senate, which is likely to vote similarly, and from there back to the governor, who can veto it, sign it into law, or let it become law without his signature.

Baker refused to say what he will do on Wednesday. “We’ll see whatever happens with whatever they send back to us,” he said.

Continue reading the article online

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/health/house-rejects-bakers-abortion-amendment

CommonWealth Magazine: Gov Baker gives 'mixed messages'; "DeLeo, Spilka seek to overturn Baker abortion amendment "

From CommonWealth Magazine we share two articles of interest for Franklin

Baker’s deliberate mixed message on COVID-19 

"MIXED MESSAGES are not usually held up as a quality of good leadership, but a lot of things have been different about life amid a global pandemic.

That included Gov. Charlie Baker’s State House briefing on Tuesday where he offered a very calculated mix of hope and dire warning with Christmas approaching. Baker implored Massachusetts residents not to let their guard down — even as the first coronavirus vaccines are administered and it becomes easier to imagine an end to the viral nightmare that has upended life for the past nine months.

Baker’s plea for continued vigilance against the virus came after the state experienced a resurgence of COVID-19 cases that has been tied to informal family gatherings over Thanksgiving.

“That’s where the virus thrives,” he said of casual get-togethers. “And over Thanksgiving in Massachusetts it clearly did.”

Continue reading the article online

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/health/bakers-deliberate-mixed-message-on-covid-19/ 

 

Gov Baker's press conference on Tuesday, Dec 15, 2020 = https://youtu.be/xTphOlaHquA

New info on holiday gatherings => https://www.mass.gov/holidays

 

 

 

DeLeo, Spilka seek to overturn Baker abortion amendment

"HOUSE SPEAKER Robert DeLeo said the House plans to overturn Gov. Charlie Baker’s amendment to an abortion provision in the state budget on Wednesday, and Senate President Karen Spilka said the Senate will act promptly once the House is finished.

The announcements by the two leaders on Tuesday set the stage for a high-stakes battle between the governor and the Legislature over the issue of abortion. Legislative leaders are characterizing the language they passed as necessary at a time when the US Supreme Court appears to be controlled by opponents of abortion, while Baker suggest his amended version goes far enough.

“The proposal we made, if enacted, would give Massachusetts some of the broadest and most significant reproductive health rights in the United States,” the governor said at a State House press conference."

Continue reading the article online 

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/politics/deleo-spilka-seek-to-overturn-baker-abortion-amendment/

 

 

New info on holiday gatherings => https://www.mass.gov/holidays

CommonWealth Magazine: Baker signs FY 21 budget, refuses to sign abortion provision

 From CommonWealth Magazine we share two articles of interest for Franklin:

Baker signs FY21 budget, vetoes $156m 

"GOV. CHARLIE BAKER signed the delayed fiscal 2021 budget on Friday, vetoing $156 million in spending.

Lawmakers had postponed passing a budget for the year that began July 1 to take time to monitor the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. That left state government operating on a series of temporary budgets for the first five months of the fiscal year.

The final budget that Baker signed is $45.9 billion, representing growth of 4.5 percent over fiscal 2020.  Much of the additional spending is driven by rising MassHealth costs, with more people becoming eligible for MassHealth and a federal rule that prohibits the state from cutting anyone from MassHealth during the pandemic.

With tax collections coming in higher than expected so far this year, the administration revised upwards by $459 million the amount the state expects to collect in taxes, to $28.44 billion. That is still a $1.2 billion anticipated drop in taxes compared to fiscal 2020."

Continue reading the article online

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/state-government/baker-signs-fy21-budget-vetoes-156m/ 

Baker refuses to sign abortion provision

"GOV. CHARLIE BAKER rejected a provision in the Legislature’s budget bill lowering the age of parental consent for an abortion from 18 to 16 and tweaked other language narrowing when late-term abortions would be allowed.

Baker regards himself as a strong supporter of a woman’s access to reproductive health care, but the amendment he filed to the budget bill prompted a sharp retort from groups seeking to expand access to abortion at a time when the makeup of the US Supreme Court, which guaranteed access to abortion with its Roe v Wade decision in 1973,  has changed substantially.

A coalition of abortion rights groups, which calls itself the ROE Act Coalition and includes NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts and Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts, said in a statement that they are “deeply disappointed by Governor Baker’s failure to recognize the urgent need to improve access to care.”

“His amendment pushes abortion care out of reach for many, especially for people with low-incomes and communities of color,” the coalition said, urging lawmakers to reject Baker’s amendment. “The governor cannot have it both ways: He cannot call himself pro-choice and keep anti-choice restrictions in place.”

Continue reading the article online

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/health/baker-refuses-to-sign-abortion-provision/

and the Boston Globe has an article on the same topics (the abortion provision was included in the budget legislation)     https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/12/11/metro/baker-signs-budget-balks-provision-letting-16-17-year-olds-get-abortion-without-parental-consent/

CommonWealth Magazine: mail voting may remain; abortion access up for discussion during lame duck session

From CommonWealth Magazine we share an article of interest for Franklin:

"Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Massachusetts allowed no-excuse mail-in voting for the first time this year as well as expanded early voting – and millions of voters took advantage.

By Saturday evening, 2.28 million voters had cast their ballots, either by mail or in person – a number equivalent to more than two-thirds of all ballots cast in the 2016 election.

For Pam Wilmot, vice president of state operations for Common Cause, said that is all the proof needed to retain no-excuse mail-in voting going forward. “This process works, and we should absolutely make it permanent,” Wilmot said.

Wilmot and state Sen. Barry Finegold, an Andover Democrat who chairs the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Election Laws, joined The Codcast to talk about the changes to voting made in this year’s elections and the implications for future elections."'

Continue reading article online  https://commonwealthmagazine.org/the-download/mail-in-voting-may-be-here-to-stay-2/

 

"MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE SPEAKER Robert DeLeo and Senate President Karen Spilka announced on Monday that the two branches will take up abortion access legislation during the lame duck session that runs until the end of the year.

“We are very concerned that Massachusetts’ women’s reproductive rights are under threat at the national level,” said DeLeo and Spilka in a joint statement. “We are therefore committed to debate measures in the House and Senate this session that would remove barriers to women’s reproductive health options and protect the concepts enshrined in Roe v. Wade.”

It is not clear what removing barriers means specifically, but it’s likely the legislation would deal with at least some of the provisions in the so-called ROE Act, which would expand access to abortion, require health insurance coverage for abortions to be covered for low-income residents not eligible for MassHealth, and allow for abortions after 24 weeks in cases where the fetus has been diagnosed with a fatal birth defect. Current law only allows abortions to occur after 24 weeks when the life of the mother is at risk."

Continue reading article online  https://commonwealthmagazine.org/state-government/deleo-spilka-promise-abortion-debate-in-lame-duck-session/