| | | | |  | | By Kelly Garrity | PROGRAMMING NOTE: Massachusetts Playbook will be off this Thursday and Friday for the Fourth of July but will be back in your inbox Monday. A FISCAL NEW YEARS TRADITION — Massachusetts is a state of “firsts,” the state’s top politicians often remind us. Just don’t put passing an annual budget on the list. Massachusetts is ringing in the new fiscal year today without a full budget in place, keeping up a 14-year streak of blowing past the July 1 deadline without a spending plan set. Pennsylvania is the only other state arriving at a deadline that has yet to reach an agreement on their FY25 spending plan, per a tracker from the National Conference of State Legislatures (not every state shares the same July 1 fiscal year state date). Lawmakers there broke for the weekend with no budget, but sounded optimistic they would wrap up their closed-door negotiations quickly, according to the Associated Press. Three other states — Delaware, Michigan and South Carolina — are awaiting sign off from their governors. There’s a chance budget negotiators here could strike an accord this week, but the nearly $7 billion interim budget Gov. Maura Healey signed Friday gives them some breathing room if they can’t make it happen during the abbreviated holiday week. Once they do settle on the roughly $58 billion spending plan, Healey will still have more than a week to sign it. While Beacon Hill's habit of letting negotiations bleed deeper into July isn’t ideal, it’s not cause for panic, Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Doug Howgate told Playbook. “Would we like to have a budget done on July 1? Yes, we absolutely would. That's not the only thing that I think matters from a fiscal or policy standpoint,” Howgate said, noting as House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz did last week that the delay doesn’t mean the government shuts down. “Would I rather them have a budget done on July 10 that is balanced and minimizes future fiscal exposures, or a budget that’s done on June 29 that's way out of balance? I'd rather the former,” Howgate said. That’s what budget negotiators often say they’re working toward when asked about the hold up. “We’ve been working really hard, in regular communications. But the important thing is, is we’re going to get it done right, and it’s going to be a good budget that everyone can be proud of,” Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues told the Boston Herald late last week. GOOD MONDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. The Olympics might not be coming to Massachusetts this year, but Massachusetts is headed to the Olympics. TODAY — Gov. Maura Healey has no public events. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll speaks at a Boston Caribbean American Association breakfast at 9 a.m. at the State House. Tips? Scoops? Birthdays? End-of-quarter fundraising numbers? Email me: kgarrity@politico.com.
| | | | THE GOLD STANDARD OF POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries—finance, defense, technology, healthcare, energy—equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists.
Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced, and better sourced than any other—with teams embedded in the world’s most active legislative and regulatory power centers. From Brussels to Washington, New York to London, Sacramento to Paris, we bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY. | | | | | |  | DATELINE BEACON HILL | | — “Gov. Healey’s southern border trip cost taxpayers $6,800, according to new data,” by Chris Van Buskirk, Boston Herald: “A spokesperson for the governor said Friday the group spent a total of $6,804 on the four-day trip this week, including $2,028 on hotels, $3,903 on flights, and $872 on ground transportation.” POD SAVE MASSACHUSETTS — Gov. Maura Healey took the stage at the Wilbur Theatre Friday night sporting a blue “Vote!” t-shirt and bearing gifts: Dunkin' iced coffee/donut combos for “Pod Save America” hosts and Obama administration alums Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor. Favreau and Vietor had just finished a conversation with fellow podcast hosts Dan Pfeiffer and Jon Lovett and former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan exploring the logistics of replacing Joe Biden with another Democratic presidential candidate. Healey stuck with a similar line she used earlier in the day when asked to weigh in: “It was a big fail. I mean, that was horrible. It was tough to watch.” But Donald Trump repeatedly lied, she said, and what Trump had to say was “downright scary.” The conversation with the Pod Save hosts spanned a wide range of topics, from Healey’s pledge not to enforce a hypothetical national abortion ban (which got a standing ovation from the crowd) to ranking Celtics greats Larry Bird, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Paul Pierce and Bill Russell (“Bill Russell, iconic,” she said; she sidestepped the Jaylen/Jayson debate). Watch the full show here.
| | FROM THE HUB | | — “Boston reparations task force hearing spotlights tension, hiccups in path towards repair,” by Tiana Woodard, The Boston Globe: “For four hours Thursday afternoon, Boston’s reparations task force, and the public officials overseeing it, fielded questions from a panel of concerned city councilors amid growing pressure from some residents who say there has been a lack of progress and transparency from the appointed body that one participant called ‘a national joke.’ … The task force’s first public appearance as a group in three months laid bare what many describe as a chaotic process. During that time, tensions between the Michelle Wu administration and the group have grown over how the work should continue, as city councilors worry the task force has strayed away from the original legislation. It’s also tested the waning patience of residents who hope for reparations in the near future.”
| | | MIGRANTS IN MASSACHUSETTS | | | DEPARTURE GATES — Migrant and homeless families who have resorted to sleeping in Logan Airport after arriving in Massachusetts will soon be banned from staying there, the governor announced Friday — the latest move by the Healey’s office to stem the flow of families into the state’s already maxed-out emergency shelter system. The ban, set to take effect July 9, was announced days after Healey revealed she had sent a team to the southern border to spread the message that Massachusetts shelters are full (plus rent is expensive and weather is meh). Families at Logan who are on the shelter waitlist will be offered shelter through the state’s safety-net system, which requires families to get monthly approval to stay. Others who are eligible “will continue to be placed in other safety-net and shelter sites as units become available,” according to the administration. Healey didn’t share details about how the state planned to enforce the ban when asked about it Friday. “We're not going to get to that. I mean — we're gonna take it as it comes,” Healey told reporters when asked if police would arrest those in violation of the ban. “My hope is through the work that we're doing and the extensive communication that we're doing right now … that we're going to get people relocated and also be clear to people who might think about coming here that this really isn't an option.” One budding sign of relief for the state: Biden’s executive order limiting asylum seems to be working. Massachusetts has “seen a reduction in the number of families coming through, including since the time of President Biden's executive order,” Healey said Friday. More from NBC10 Boston. RELATED — “A Massachusetts town is divided after a closed state prison reopened as an emergency shelter for migrant families,” by Madison Hahamy and Shannon Larson, The Boston Globe.
| | YAHD SIGNS AND BUMPAH STICKAHS | | YEAH, IT WAS BAD ... BUT — Massachusetts Democratic leaders aren’t sugarcoating it: President Joe Biden’s performance at the debate was hard to watch. That’s Healey told reporters Friday, a sentiment Attorney General Andrea Campbell echoed during an interview on WCVB’s “On the Record,” that aired Sunday. Still, both painted Biden in comparison to former President Donald Trump, who they described as a far greater threat in the White House. "I saw [Trump] bragged about overturning Roe, once again, and taking away care for women. I also heard him talk about his refusal to talk about the results of the last election and refusal to commit to accepting results of the next election and refusal to denounce the insurrection. So, you know, it's more of the same from Donald Trump, and the stakes couldn't be higher," Healey said. Not everyone in Massachusetts is ready to soldier on to November with Biden as their party’s standard bearer. In a thread on X Friday, state Sen. Jason Lewis called for an open convention to decide who will top the Democratic ticket. During an interview on GBH News’ “Boston Public Radio” Friday, Lewis doubled down — and pointed to a handful of “experienced, talented young leaders” who could fill the role: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Vice President Kamala Harris … and: “Hey, how about Maura Healey?” Lewis said. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — The Massachusetts Nurses Association is endorsing Milton Select Board member and state Senate hopeful Erin Bradley in her bid for the open Norfolk, Plymouth, and Bristol seat.
| | MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS | | — “Who are you calling rudderless? Massachusetts cannabis regulator defends work on $7B industry,” by Matthew Medsger, Boston Herald.
| | | | Understand 2024’s big impacts with Pro’s extensive Campaign Races Dashboard, exclusive insights, and key coverage of federal- and state-level debates. Focus on policy. Learn more. | | | | | | | BALLOT BATTLES | | RAISING THE QUESTION — With the push to make app-based drivers independent contractors officially out, all eyes will turn to state Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s ballot question that would allow her office to audit the Legislature. The measure is expected to make it onto November's ballot — and Secretary of State Bill Gavin said Sunday, he expects it will pass. “I’m assuming that it will pass,” Galvin said during an interview on WBZ’s “Keller @ Large” that aired Sunday. “It seems very popular.” But enforcement could raise constitutional questions. “I think the bigger question that she is going to confront — and I’ve discussed this with the auditor — is the constitutional restrictions on the various… branches of our government," Gavin said. — “Ballot question fundraising and spending largely hidden from public view,” by Gintautas Dumcius, CommonWealth Beacon: “Voters will weigh in on a slew of ballot questions this November, with the competing sides raising and spending millions of dollars trying to convince them which way to vote on everything from whether to get rid of the MCAS graduation requirement to whether to legalize psychedelic mushrooms. But who is behind the barrage of spending aimed at persuading voters will be largely a mystery until weeks before the election.”
| | THE LOCAL ANGLE | | — “Homelessness in Worcester County increases for third straight year,” by Sam Turken, GBH News: “The population of unhoused people in Worcester County grew nearly 20% from 2023 to 2024, exacerbating housing advocates’ fears that it could be a while before homelessness in the region declines. The nonprofit Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance recently released data it gathered in January as part of the U.S. Department of Urban and Development’s annual nationwide point-in-time tallying of sheltered and unsheltered homeless people. The overall homeless population in Worcester County has now risen each of the last three years.”
| | WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD BE READING | | — “In setback, Steward and Optum walk away from deal for physician network,” by Deborah Becker, Priyanka Dayal McCluskey and Elisabeth Harrison, WBUR: “The proposed sale of struggling Steward Health Care's physician network, Stewardship Health, to a sister company of the insurer United HealthCare is off, raising still more questions about the company's efforts to bring its finances under control through bankruptcy. OptumCare, a national for-profit owner of tens of thousands of physician groups, and Steward told state regulators they have decided not to move forward with a deal. Steward cited a ‘challenging’ review process at the federal Department of Justice but said it continues to seek other buyers.” — “Mass. allowed undocumented immigrants to apply for driver’s licenses. Here’s what happened,” by Hadley Barndollar, MassLive.
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