New England Public Radio

The Week Ahead On Beacon Hill

Eight days to go before Election Day — but already hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents have cast ballots during the state’s first-ever early voting period. And Monday marks a key deadline for political campaigns to file reports with the state about their contributions and expenses.

Click the audio player above to hear NEPR’s Carrie Healy speak with Matt Murphy of the State House News Service. Carrie asked Matt whether those campaign finance reports will be a good predictor of the results on November 8th.

The Week Ahead On Beacon Hill

This Wednesday is the deadline to register to vote in the November election in Massachusetts. Residents can sign-up online, by mail or in person. For more on the registration deadline and the state’s new early voting process, we spoke with reporter Matt Murphy of the State House News Service.  He says close to 4.4 million residents were registered to vote just after the September primaries, according to Secretary of State Bill Galvin.

Also this week:

  • A legislative committee hears a proposal by House Speaker Robert DeLeo to review the state’s ethics, campaign finance and lobbying laws.
  • The state’s Health Policy Commission holds its annual conference on the trends in health care costs. Those costs have been steadily rising.

Click the audio player above to hear New England Public Radio’s Henry Epp speak with Matt Murphy of the State House News Service.

Mass. Legislature Wraps Up Late Night With Last-Minute Measures

Members of the Massachusetts legislature worked late into the night on Sunday, up against a midnight deadline to end their two-year formal session. With just a few hours left, four major bills remained unfinished: an economic development package, a measure to bring more renewable energy into the state, a bill to regulate non-compete agreements between employers and workers, and the state’s first regulations on ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft.

For a closer look at what got done and what was left behind, we called up State House News Service reporter Matt Murphy. He says three of those four bills got finished.

Click the audio player above for Henry Epp’s interview with Matt Murphy of the State House News Service.

 

Deadline For Pipeline Comments Extended

A deadline for public comments on a proposed natural gas pipeline in New York, Massachusetts and New Hampshire will be extended. That’s the word from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the agency that will decide the fate of the pipeline. The deadline was previously set for Monday, but the agency is extending it to accommodate a yet-to-be-scheduled final public hearing in Cheshire County, New Hampshire. Even after that hearing, FERC spokesperson Tamara Young-Allen says regulators will still accept comments.

“Any comments submitted after that announced date will be accepted and reviewed by FERC staff. It won’t be deemed late or given a diminished review just because it was filed late,” Young-Allen says. “It’s not like school or some other federal agencies.”

Pipeline company Kinder Morgan plans to formally submit its application to FERC later this fall.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said FERC would “likely” extend the deadline. But by the time the story was posted on our website and aired on the radio, the deadline had already been extended.