A fairly timely budget and very untimely sewer line break as ‘scorchah’ weather arrives

Healthcare workers continue to suffer assaults and other incidents of workplace violence. The Massachusetts Nurses Association, the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association, the Massachusetts Division of 1199SEIU, the Massachusetts Emergency Nursing Association and the Massachusetts College of Emergency Physicians have come together to support meaningful, measurable and enforceable legislation addressing workplace violence in our healthcare facilities. Pass H.4767.

Before drones blink in the sky to the tune of "1812 Overture" on Saturday, Beacon Hill had to at least sort of start getting its act together.

It would have been very un-revolutionary of lawmakers to still be negotiating a budget by the Fourth of July, when they'd rather be literally anywhere else, be that a beach in Provincetown, the Berkshires, or a boat off the coast of either cape.

They could even have their pick of most North Shore beaches, now that millions of gallons of untreated wastewater have stopped flowing into the Merrimack River. Torrential rain last Friday busted a sewer main, prompting the wastewater gush and no-swim warnings at beaches as the state braced for a major heat wave.

"I do not want another weekend impacted by this," Gov. Maura Healey said emphatically at a press conference Tuesday, in the midst of telling people that beaches were still open... just not for swimming. She called the incident "a reminder that aging water infrastructure is under increasing stress from more frequent extreme weather."

But it's not a news flash that Haverhill's pipes need some work, according to Boston Globe reporting, which found that officials signed a consent decree with the feds a decade ago, agreeing to take steps to prevent further pollution of the Merrimack River, and to update its sewer system and treatment plant. Right there in the reporting? A quote from then-Attorney General Healey touting the agreement.

Crews finally installed a temporary bypass in Haverhill on Wednesday to stop the flow, and the Healey administration said that state beaches were safe for swimming. Plum Island beaches were still labeled "closed" as of Thursday morning.

As Healey brushed off that crisis, she received a slightly larger task. Lawmakers sent a $63.4 billion compromise fiscal 2027 budget to her desk Wednesday evening, giving her until July 11 to sign it, and send back vetoes or amendments. The budget deal spends 3.9% more than the budget Healey signed last year.

It also provides answers, unless the governor intervenes, to a slew of topics Bay Staters have been eyeballing. It revives a Foundation Budget Review Commission to examine the state's K-12 funding formula, and boosts Unrestricted General Government Aid by $40 million, distributing that new money on a per capita basis. Tack onto those a policy that removes candidates' home street addresses from publicly available election materials, a MassHealth adult dental cap of $1,750, and new criminal protections shielding 16- and 17-year-olds from sexual relationships with adults responsible for their care. The compromise also includes wrong-way driving prevention measures, as well as a dip in Department of Transitional Assistance caseworker funding, which the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center said would translate into 150 caseworkers being laid off — a cut that would come as the agency is already struggling and the sector is desperate for more funding and bodies.

Along with shuffling the budget to Healey, the Senate on Wednesday used the heat wave to promote its energy bill, which passed late that night and will likely soon head to conference with its House counterpart. That policy is on Healey's by-July-31 wish list, part of an election-year focus on lowering costs. But how quick can negotiations possibly be on two bills that contrast so starkly?

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The list of bills headed in the direction of conference talks is increasing, with the addition of a ballot question finance reform bill that made its way through the House on Wednesday and the Senate in January. Healey's environmental bond bill is now one step closer to its first official conference meeting, with Reps. Mike Finn, Christine Barber and Ken Sweezey and Sens. Julian Cyr, Becca Rausch and Peter Durant at the helm. And those working out a compromise on a data privacy bill are meeting for the first time next week.

Social media legislation is also newly on the move, after the Senate announced Thursday that it'll take up a bill (S 3164) requiring all social media platforms to adopt "default" settings for minors that limit addictive features like "autoplay" and "infinite scroll," turn off notifications between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m., and disable "algorithmic feeds."

Social media companies would have to use "age assurance" methods identified by the attorney general to determine how old a user is and if they're a minor. The proposal adds to an ongoing conversation that began in Massachusetts after the House passed an all-out ban on social media for kids under the age of 14 as part of regulations, and Healey proposed her own approach shortly after. Digital and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups had some harsh words for the House, and the industry continues to challenge social media regulatory laws.

The House attached its social media language to a bill banning student cellphone use in schools, which is currently in conference with a Senate bill that only touches cellphone policy. Not even bill architect Sen. Cindy Creem knows how, exactly, lawmakers are going to untangle, or possibly connect, all of that legislation.

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But once bills are in conference, new rules dictate that the historic pressure of July 31 is off. It's up to lawmakers — or the few who control the strings — to determine whether branches attempt to push these bills through conference ahead of the heat of their reelection campaigns or let them sit through the fall.

It's time to go big or go home, right? The Founding Fathers must have said that once or twice 250 years ago, perhaps sitting around a table at what we now call the Bell in Hand.

That's where the remaining soccer fans might be headed, after Boston's FIFA FanFest closed ahead of the World Cup's final games. There's still one game left in Foxborough next Thursday, and this is the last month for Bay Staters and visitors to enjoy public consumption zones and last call extensions. Cue a riot from Bostonians who have been having a grand time with the temporary regulations.

Boston didn't riot, but shed a few tears Wednesday when news broke that Jaylen Brown is headed to the Philadelphia 76ers after 10 seasons with the Celtics. But at least the Department of Revenue doesn't have much to worry about — his replacement, Paul George, makes just about as much money. So they'll get their millionaire's tax payment almost like Brown never left.

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