Top Ten State House Stories of 2023

Advocates rally on the State House steps on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023 calling for the state to abide by its right to shelter law for migrant families and for lawmakers to approve additional money for the emergency shelter system.

Sam Doran|SHNS

My how things have changed in just one year's time.

The last page on the calendar always signals a time of reflection and recollection and that's especially true for a year like 2023, which saw massive changes in the executive branch and revealed new challenges for state government. Just consider what the reporters of the State House Press Association identified as some of the top stories of 2022 just one year ago: the top story was Gov. Maura Healey cruising into office as only the second Democrat elected to the corner office in three decades, followed by the perennial mess at the MBTA and then the fact that Massachusetts had such a large surplus that the state had to give $3 billion back to taxpayers.

This year's list from the State House press corps doesn't get to the historic inauguration of Healey until number 7, a sign of some of the seriously pressing matters that attracted the governor's attention in 2023 and therefore catapulted themselves towards the top of this year's list. And while the MBTA's disarray still ranks near the top, that agency has gotten a facelift under Healey and is under new management. And one year after legislative leaders were caught off guard by historic tax rebates, they are this year fretting over whether the state will bring in enough revenue to support the spending splurge they have been on in recent years.

What will 2024 bring? Well, some of the stories that rose to the top in 2023 are likely to persist into the new year. But like every year, there are certain to be a few surprises in store, enough to keep things interesting and busy for the State House Press Association.

Here's the full list of the top 10 stories of 2023, as chosen by a vote of the State House Press Association:

1) Emergency Shelter Crisis: A humanitarian crisis that seemed to sneak up on Beacon Hill leadership captured the most ink and airtime this year. Late last December SHNS ran a story: "Administration Warns of Impending Emergency Shelter Funding Shortfall," wherein legislative leaders said they were concerned, but took no action, about the rising caseload in family shelters. The influx of shelter-seekers is largely driven by immigrants fleeing humanitarian crises in other countries who are legally in the U.S., but unable to work to provide for themselves and their families under federal immigration laws. Months after Gov. Charlie Baker predicted the state's emergency assistance shelter system would run out of money, Gov. Maura Healey headed to the Legislature to ask for a funding injection, as dozens of new entrants every day strained the state's family shelters. Since, lawmakers and the governor have steered $335 million this calendar year in previously unplanned dollars towards the system -- which Healey declared to be in a state of emergency in August. The last $250 million injection revealed intraparty tensions among leading Democrats and gave Republicans a level of power that is rare for the Grand Old Party on Beacon Hill. Meanwhile, shelters continue to fill. Since Healey took office in January, the number of families in the system has more than doubled. The governor essentially ended the state's right-to-shelter policy in all but name this fall, capping the system at 7,500 families. The number of families added to a waitlist to stand by for a place to stay continues to grow, and new projections show emergency shelter costs will approach $1 billion in both fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2025. - Sam Drysdale

2) MBTA Dysfunction, Phil Eng's Arrival: A year ago, MBTA dysfunction ranked second on the press corps's list of top stories of the year. Here we are again, following a year in which missing or incomplete inspection paperwork catapulted the term "slow zone" into the regional lexicon, the revelation that nearly brand-new Green Line Extension tracks are too narrow dragged travel to a crawl, and federal regulators warned the MBTA multiple times about "near miss" incidents putting employees at risk of injury or death. But even though riding the T these days can feel like reenacting "Groundhog Day," there are signs of improvement on the horizon, or at least a newfound willingness to acknowledge that change is necessary. Gov. Healey brought in veteran transportation and transit industry executive Phil Eng as the T's new general manager, overhauled the MBTA's management board and reshaped safety oversight for the agency. There's now a plan in place to fix all of the track problems behind the patchwork of slow zones by the end of 2024, even if riders will need to swallow a bevy of closures and disruptions between now and then. And the tenor has changed, too -- after years of former Gov. Charlie Baker and his deputies insisting they were spending record money on the system despite its many obvious flaws, the Healey and Eng team has taken to highlighting "years of underinvestment" against which they now work. - Chris Lisinski

3) O'Brien vs. Goldberg: This treasurer versus treasurer tale started at a simmer this summer, but has been on a path to a roaring boil ever since. It all started when Shannon O'Brien, once the state treasurer and Democratic Party nominee for governor who had just recently made her full-time return to state government as chairwoman of the Cannabis Control Commission (appointed by Treasurer Deborah Goldberg), declared seemingly out of nowhere that the agency was "in crisis" because its executive director was going to take paternity leave and then resign. The blowback was swift, including from fellow commissioners. But only after Goldberg suspended former treasurer O'Brien (and got sued for it) did the backstory come to light: O'Brien's lawsuit paints the picture of an agency rife with dysfunction, where some top staff members allegedly filed human resources complaints vindictively and resisted agency reform efforts. Goldberg meanwhile has pointed to a racially insensitive remark O'Brien is alleged to have made as well as her treatment of Executive Director Shawn Collins, a former Goldberg lieutenant who eventually did take paternity leave and resign from the CCC, as the justifications for O'Brien's suspension and her potential firing. All the while, it brought back to mind Acting Gov. Jane Swift's unsuccessful attempt to fire Jordan Levy and Christy Mihos from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority board, which played out in late 2001 and early 2002. This one is in the court's hands now. Depending how it goes, it could wind up on next year's list too. - Colin A. Young

4) Rachael Rollins Resigns: U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins announced her plan to resign in May shortly before federal investigators released reports outlining the reasons why. Investigators detailed an "abuse of power" on her part -- the region's top federal prosecutor improperly attempted to influence the election to fill her former office by damaging the reputation of the candidate she opposed, failed to follow ethics guidance about attending a political fundraiser, and broke from official Department of Justice regulations on several other occasions. Rollins burst onto the political scene in the 2018 race for Suffolk County district attorney, and endeared progressives and others by being unabashed as a candidate and officeholder about pressing forward with a "bold and different" alternative approach to criminal justice. As DA, things were going so well for the Boston Democrat that President Joe Biden in July of 2021 nominated her to serve as U.S. attorney. The nomination divided Washington on partisan lines and sparked national debate over her tactics. Ultimately, the Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked on her nomination in September and Vice President Kamala Harris had to step in and break a tie vote to confirm her in December 2021. The 2022 race for her old job that immediately followed contributed to her exit from the Department of Justice's Boston office. The primary pit Kevin Hayden against City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo. Federal investigators determined, among other things, that Rollins falsely testified under oath "when she denied that she was the federal law enforcement source that provided nonpublic, sensitive DOJ information" to a Boston Herald reporter about a possible criminal investigation into Hayden. - Michael P. Norton

5) Dem Disagreements/Gun Reforms Drama: Intraparty dysfunction among Massachusetts Democrats is nothing new -- in fact, it was probably a driving force in multiple past iterations of this list -- but it's more often limited to the final stretches of lawmaking sessions when deadlines are approaching or already past. But when it came to the latest push for gun reform, legislative leaders began jabbing at one another before a single major bill had even reached the floor of either chamber. House Speaker Ron Mariano wanted to press forward with a sweeping, controversial omnibus package authored by his hand-picked deputy, Judiciary Committee Co-chair Rep. Michael Day, and senators replied by insisting that the legislation undergo review by the Public Safety Committee instead. After punting the timeline from summer to fall amid concerns from representatives, Mariano eventually pressed forward without any Senate involvement altogether, subjecting Day's redrafted bill to a single representatives-only hearing before muscling it through the House over opposition from Republicans and a dozen Democrats. Senate President Karen Spilka and her deputies are working on their own gun legislation with plans to bring it forward in the new year. Now that the procedural fight is in the rearview mirror, the big question will be whether Democrats can get on the same page policy-wise and ship something to Gov. Healey as leaders in both branches have pledged to do. - Chris Lisinski

6) Tax Relief Finally Done: About 20 months after it was originally proposed, Gov. Healey got to scratch her name below a relief package that she campaigned on as her number one promise to taxpayers. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker started the tax cut debate in January 2022, and it took a new governor and months of negotiations for top Democrats to agree on a roughly $1 billion package that earned both praise and criticism from the public. Healey has continuously pointed to the tax cuts, which she says are the first of their kind in more than 20 years, when asked about her first year in office. The biggest single piece of the law is an overhauled child and dependent tax credit, which provides parents and caregivers with $310 per dependent this year and $440 per dependent next year and beyond. Changes to the senior circuit breaker tax credit could save some taxpayers up to $1,200 per year, while renters are in line for an extra $50 annually thanks to an increase to the maximum rent deduction. Business leaders celebrated reforms to the short-term capital gains tax rate, the estate tax threshold and the process for calculating taxes owed by multistate companies, after arguing for years that Massachusetts needed to update those levies to better compete with other states. Progressives, meanwhile, criticized the "tax cuts for the rich" shortly after Massachusetts voters chose to levy additional income taxes on the state's wealthiest residents. The package also expanded tax credits and incentives available to housing developers, seeking to spur additional development that could address the state's shortage of affordable units. - Sam Drysdale

7) Healey Takes Office: Wearing a white suit reminiscent of the women's suffrage movement, Gov. Healey was sworn into office on Jan. 5 and pledged to pursue a litany of policies that have defined the start of her four-year term, including making community college free for residents ages 25 and older, creating a housing secretariat as the state grapples with a housing shortage, and jockeying for competitive federal dollars. But Healey's commitment to appoint an MBTA safety chief within 60 days fell flat; Patrick Lavin wasn't announced until her 110th day. Her and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll's basketball-themed inauguration bash, featuring performances from Grammy winner Brandi Carlile who married her wife in Massachusetts, later that day underscored the historic gravity of the all-female executive duo and Healey becoming the country's first openly lesbian governor. Focusing her first full day in office on issuing an executive order to establish the country's first Cabinet-level climate chief, the former attorney general had yet to reckon with some of the toughest challenges she'd soon face in the corner office, including a surge of new arrivals that would strain the state's emergency shelter system. - Alison Kuznitz

8) Offshore Wind Off Track: As 2023 dawned, state utility regulators determined that the contracts for Commonwealth Wind and SouthCoast Wind were "in the public interest" and approved them. But by October, the DPU had allowed both projects to pay penalties and back out of the contracts they agreed to, and Massachusetts shed three-quarters of the offshore wind capacity once in its pipeline. That left Vineyard Wind 1 as the only project in Massachusetts's portfolio seven and a half years after a clean energy law made offshore wind the focus of the state's clean energy transition. That project has lost its claim to be the nation's first utility-scale offshore wind farm, though it is still supposed to begin delivering power to the grid -- enough to power about 30,000 Massachusetts homes initially -- by the end of 2023 after bumping back a previous target of mid-October. Picking back up from near square one, the Healey administration is preparing to accept bids for the next round of projects by the end of January. The two projects that terminated their contracts are expected to be rebid in the next round, but they are almost certain to cost electric customers more than what had originally been agreed to. Still, Energy and Environment Secretary Rebecca Tepper said this month the administrations still sees "a lot of reasons to be very hopeful" about offshore wind's role in the Massachusetts's clean energy future. - Colin A. Young

9) Closeout Budget Delay, Renewed MassGOP Relevance: House and Senate Democrats in November drew some unwanted attention to the Legislature with their latest bout of procrastination. And in doing so they offered Republicans a stage to highlight poor session management. Each fall, the state must pass a "closeout" spending bill tying up loose ends for the previous fiscal year. And there's a state law that requires the comptroller to file a detailed annual financial report by Oct. 31. Yet somehow, under House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka, these annual duties seem to come as a surprise each year. The House didn't initiate action on its more-than-$3 billion closeout budget until just before formal sessions ended for the year and it wasn't that surprising that Democrats could not reach a deal during their last marathon sessions of the year on Nov. 15. Kicking talks into informal sessions enabled Republicans to hold up the bill and bring attention to out-of-control spending, with no off-ramp for the state, on the emergency shelter system. Democrats finally showed up for work with a quorum and were able to pass the overdue bill, reminding Republicans of their super-minority status on Beacon Hill. But on the heels of former Rep. Peter Durant flipping a Senate seat in a special election, Republicans here think the shelter woes and immigration landscape may fuel election wins in 2024. - Michael P. Norton

10) DiZoglio Audit Push: Auditor Diana DiZoglio made the idea of auditing the Legislature a central pitch of her campaign, and her first year in the office transformed it from a fascinating hypothetical into a very real political fight that might wind up decided by voters. DiZoglio, a Democrat who ruffled feathers during her previous tenures in both the House and Senate, quickly met resistance from legislative leaders, who argued her office does not have the legal authority to audit their branch of government. She turned to a fellow first-year constitutional officer, Attorney General Andrea Campbell, in a bid to force compliance through court action, but that, too, proved unsuccessful when Campbell sided with lawmakers. And now, DiZoglio and her allies across the political spectrum are lined up behind their last, best option: going to the ballot box in 2024 and asking voters to give the auditor's office the explicit authority to probe the Legislature. If the campaign manages to clear the remaining hurdles, it could be a fascinating battle over transparency in which legislative leaders -- who are already notorious for their top-down, shrouded-in-secrecy approach to lawmaking -- will somehow need to convince voters that their work should not be exposed to greater scrutiny from another part of government. - Chris Lisinski

Honorable Mentions: Also receiving votes among members of the press corps this year were: this summer's flooding disasters, including July rains that wiped away acres and acres of crops in Western Mass. and late summer flooding in Southeastern Mass. and the Merrimack Valley; the electrical fire that forced the evacuation and closure of the State House on a hot July day, reminding some of the time in 1994 when a fire was sparked under Senate President William Bulger's Christmas tree; Democrats controlled every step of the lawmaking process again for the first time in eight years, but Gov. Healey, Mariano's House and Spilka's Senate got off to a slow start in 2023 with almost nothing coming easily. It wasn't just that the major bills were difficult to get done, the Legislature had one of its least productive years in memory; and giving new meaning to "moonbats," a group of thong-wearing climate activists intent on stopping fossil fuel infrastructure disrupted tax relief debate by going "butts out for climate" and mooning senators before being arrested and escorted out of the Senate Gallery.

Press Secretary of the Year: Reporters of the fourth floor were split this year between reigning winner Deb O'Malley of Secretary of State William Galvin's office and newly-installed Executive Office of Housing flak Kevin Connor. O'Malley gets high marks for being responsive and routinely explaining some of the complex or arcane functions of the secretary's office. And Connor, a former top aide to Senate President Harriette Chandler, has navigated the comms rapids that are still splashing around the emergency shelter crisis and the state's chronic housing production woes since he returned to Beacon Hill working for another Worcester pol, Secretary Ed Augustus.