Energy prices are feeling the heat

You might be starting to sweat next month’s electric bill after running your AC nonstop for days. And maybe, if Gov. Maura Healey gets her way, the inevitable heat waves a year or two from now won’t be quite as costly for consumers.

In a serendipitous act of legislative scheduling, lawmakers on one of the hottest days of the year will dive in this afternoon on the governor’s sweeping proposal to rein in energy prices and save ratepayers billions of dollars over the next decade.

The wide-ranging measure going before the Legislature’s Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy Committee would cap month-to-month bill increases, call on regulators to review all charges on energy bills, open the door toward new, smaller-scale nuclear energy, and more.

It could become a signature issue for Healey, who is heading into a reelection campaign next year and will want to tout success wrangling the affordability crisis that’s become top of mind for residents and businesses alike.

“Massachusetts families and businesses can’t afford big energy price spikes now, or in the future,” Healey said when she rolled out the energy reform measure.

Utility bills are almost certainly not the only pocketbook pressure Healey will hear about today. She’s set to start her day meeting with business leaders, some of whom have been agitating about unemployment insurance burdens and health insurance costs, at an event hosted by the New England Council.

Healey will also plug in for her semi-regular “Ask the Governor” appearance on GBH News, where a whole host of affordability-related questions could emerge.

She’s newly drawing criticism from the state Republican Party over the state’s labor outlook. MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale on Tuesday sought to pin blame on Healey for the latest jobs data, which estimated the statewide unemployment rate rose again to 4.8% with roughly flat job growth over the past year.

“Governor Healey inherited one of the strongest state economies in the country and has managed to reverse that progress in record time,” Carnevale said in a statement. — Chris Lisinski

Got questions you wish you could ask the governor? Get in touch: Ella.Adams@MASSterList.com.

HIRING AND RETIRING

NEW FACE FOR ECO DEV: Venture capitalist Eric Paley will serve as the state’s economic development secretary beginning in September, when existing Sec. Yvonne Hao steps down. Healey announced that she tapped Paley, who is a managing partner at Cambridge VC firm Founder Collective, on Monday. Paley was the first person Hao contacted about the opening, which he was reluctant to explore at first. — Boston Globe

UMASS MEDICAL SCHOOL CHANCELLOR IS RETIRING, BUT NOT LEAVING: Dr. Michael Collins, who has been the chancellor of UMass Medical School for 18 years, plans to step down in July 2026. But Collins plans to hang around afterward, mentoring students, and in the meantime will continue focusing on challenges such as the potential of Trump administration cuts to research funding and National Institutes of Health pressure to cap overhead costs at research facilities. — Telegram & Gazette

NEW POLICE CHIEF IN NEW BEDFORD: Jason Thody, a recently retired chief out of Hartford, Connecticut, will be the next police chief in New Bedford. Thody is the first external candidate to get the job since the 1990s, and was one of 21 applicants. He’ll take the helm at a moment when the New Bedford Police Department is facing scrutiny and allegations of misconduct over decades. — New Bedford Light

GREAT BARRINGTON POLICE CHIEF RETIRING: Great Barrington Police Chief Paul Storti announced he will retire in early 2026. Storti has been a member of the department for 30 years and chief since 2021, and is among the defendants in a lawsuit brought by a former teacher who said her civil rights were violated when police searched her middle school classroom looking for the illustrated book “Gender Queer.” — Berkshire Eagle

ON BEACON HILL

HELLO ENVIRONMENTAL BOND BILL: Gov. Healey unveiled a more than $2.9 billion borrowing bill Monday packed with policy meant to support statewide climate resilience, land conservation and clean water efforts, among other environmental initiatives. The bill includes policy reforms like those that would quicken and streamline environmental permitting, and would plug programs and projects for things like flood control, clean water infrastructure, food security and municipal preparedness. The last environmental bond bill was signed in 2018 by Gov. Charlie Baker. — State House News Service

DRIVERLESS CAR POLICY IN TRAFFIC JAM: Unions rallied Tuesday against bills they say would eliminate jobs and displace drivers by ushering in driverless vehicles to Massachusetts, while the industry told lawmakers the vehicles are safer and more efficient than traditional practices. The conflicting stances highlight a conversation about driverless cars hitting Beacon Hill. — State House News Service

OVER AT CITY HALL

EASTHAM VOTERS JUST BIT A $170 MILLION BULLET: Town Meeting delivered more than the two-thirds vote required to fund a watershed management plan expected to cost $170 million in its first phase. The plan is necessary to reduce the nitrogen levels in Salt Pond and Nauset Marsh. A state loan program will make low-cost funding available for the project. — Cape Cod Times

HAWLEY VOTERS BAIL OUT THE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT: The Hawley Highway Department was facing a budget shortfall. Voters at a Special Town Meeting approved shifting around some spending items and adding $16,000 to the highway budget from free cash. — Greenfield Recorder

WU-KRAFT COLLISION CONTINUES: Boston Mayor Michelle Wu criticized challenger Josh Kraft for remarks he made about the cost of the White Stadium rebuild. The numbers Kraft is using are inaccurate, she said. “ Honesty and integrity are really important,” Wu said. “To pull something out without context, and misuse that, and apply something that’s a completely false context, I think says a lot.” Wu said the administration is working to identify the City Hall leaker she alleges provided Kraft with a worst-case financial forecast that wasn’t supposed to be shared with the public. — WBUR

UNDER SOME HEAT

THOUGHT IT WAS HOT? CHECK OUT A SUBWAY STATION: Subway riders in Boston said they were frustrated, but not surprised, by the temperature and air quality in stations as temperatures in the city hit a record for June of 102 degrees. One passenger said he’s used subway systems around the world and Park Street Station yesterday had the worst air quality of any he’s been in. Another assessed the situation bluntly as, “frickin’ hot.” — WGBH | CBS

PROPOSAL TO BOOST PRIMARY CARE AVAILABILITY GAINING TRACTION: Massachusetts is among a number of places suffering from a shortage of primary care doctors as more doctors are retiring than entering the field, due to factors including relatively low pay and difficult hours. A plan making its way through policy groups in Massachusetts, called Primary Care for You, seeks to address the shortage. Instead of the fee-for-service model, primary care doctors would include rewards for delivering high quality preventative care. — Telegram & Gazette

HARVARD GETS ATTENTION AS MANY UNIVERSITIES SUFFER: Research funding cuts for public universities by the Trump administration could cause those public schools even more pain than similar cuts are causing for Ivy League schools — though public attention has focused mostly on the elite institutions. — GBH

Eric Convey contributed to this edition.

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