A busy spring is beginning to take shape on Beacon Hill.
Massachusetts lawmakers met Monday to outline their priorities before the calendar shifts to March. Questions quickly centered on budget talks, specifically a $700 million surplus fund to shore up the state's migrant shelter system.
"We wanted to see the numbers that came out today, see what this looks like. Keep working with the administration as they make changes with how they’re dealing with overflows and the folks coming in," said House Speaker Ron Mariano.
Also coming up during the leadership press conference was Steward Health Care's tenuous financial situation and its unwillingness to release certain numbers to the state.
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"If anyone is feeling sorry for Steward right now, they're crazy," Mariano said. "Steward has practiced a game of 'Hide the Numbers.'"
"It has put a lot of people at risk, caused a lot of understandable concern, and makes a lot of us really, really angry," said Gov. Maura Healey.
While that situation plays out, the House and Senate are working through a series of bills, including for firearm reform and an effort to update sex education classes in schools to be more inclusive.
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The "Healthy Youth Act" has passed out of the Senate during previous sessions, and is poised to do the same this week, but has struggled to make it through the House of Representatives each time.
