Pols & Politics: What’s next for Beacon Hill Democrats after finishing early-term priorities

Beacon Hill Democrats largely cleared their plates this past month of major priorities that had shaped the early part of their two-year term, including a state budget crafted under the shadow of federal funding cuts and a set of internal rules hashed out amid House-Senate tensions. The open schedule likely leaves room for each branch to keep churning through House or Senate-specific priorities, like a bill reforming cannabis oversight the House passed early last month or a reproductive and transgender health proposal the Senate approved weeks ago. House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka could find common legislative ground over the health care bill, which the Senate introduced as a measure to shore up state laws in the face of alleged threats from President Donald Trump’s administration. After an unrelated meeting late last month, Mariano said the House could take up the matter sometime in early July. “We’ve been working on this. We worked on it a little bit last year, so some of it we were familiar with, and we’re anxious to see what’s new and what’s different,” the Quincy Democrat said. The bill, dubbed the “SHIELD Act” by supporters, bars state agencies and law enforcement from cooperating with other states or federal investigations into legally protected reproductive or transgender health care provided in Massachusetts. Businesses that manage electronic health information would be limited in how they share data connected to those services. The legislation also allows prescriptions to be issued with the name of a healthcare practice rather than an individual practitioner. Democrats said the proposed law is necessary in the wake of attacks on gender-affirming care for transgender people, including a U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld a Tennessee statute banning puberty blockers and hormone treatments for trans minors. Massachusetts lawmakers also pointed to efforts by states that restrict abortion medication to punish doctors elsewhere who prescribe the pills to patients living in those states — even when such prescriptions are legal in the doctor’s own state. In one case, a Texas judge in February ordered a New York doctor to pay more than $100,000 in fines for prescribing abortion pills to a woman from outside of Dallas, in violation of the Lone Star State’s laws. The same physician faces a felony charge in Louisiana for sending abortion medication through the mail to a pregnant teen in the state. In a statement last month, Spilka said the “SHIELD Act” makes it clear that the “Massachusetts Senate will not back down when it comes to protecting our residents and defending our values.” “Our residents — indeed all Americans — deserve the right to make their own health care decisions in consultation with their providers. In Massachusetts, we do not discriminate based on the type of care you seek,” she said. The Legislature could also coalesce around reforms to the Cannabis Control Commission. House lawmakers passed a bill at the start of June that overhauls oversight at the agency in part by handing the governor of Massachusetts the power to appoint all commissioners while cutting down the number from three to five. The bill cleared the chamber after several years of controversy at the commission, including the ousting of and subsequent legal battle to reinstate former Chair Shannon O’Brien, a litany of internal conflicts, and a scathing report from the Office of the Inspector General. Democrats in the House argued that the Massachusetts cannabis industry is still facing myriad challenges, from raising capital to increasing costs. Giving the governor full power over appointments would “create more accountability,” a key House lawmaker said last month. “We figured by bringing it together … under one appointing authority, reducing the number to three, makes it a more nimble body, a more nimble force,” said Rep. Daniel Donahue, a Worcester Democrat who co-chairs the Cannabis Police Committee. But it is unclear whether the bill will come up in the Senate any time soon, if at all. In an interview with the Herald last month, Spilka said she had not yet had a chance to “dive into the House bill.” “I think it’s a big bill. Certainly will meet with the Senate chair of the Cannabis Committee, Sen. (Adam) Gomez, and meet with other stakeholders to take a look at it,” the Ashland Democrat said. “We will certainly consider it in totality.” Materials from the Associated Press were used in this report.