Massachusetts Legislature

Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday apologized for problems with the Massachusetts’ COVID-19 vaccination portal but reiterated his argument that a limited supply of doses from federal authorities was to blame for a troubled vaccine rollout. Baker was asked at an appearance before the COVID-19 and Emergency Management and Preparedness Committee whether he would apologize to people who encountered issues with…

Gov. Charlie Baker was among the top officials to testify before lawmakers regarding the state’s rollout of the coronavirus vaccine.

After weeks of coronavirus vaccine sign-up website problems, lawmakers grilled Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and other officials at an oversight hearing.

When the Massachusetts Legislature’s COVID-19 and Emergency Management and Preparedness Committee holds its vaccine rollout oversight hearing on Thursday, Gov. Charlie Baker will take the floor first. The hearing’s schedule was released Wednesday, and shows that Baker will be the first to testify at 11 a.m., followed by Tiffany Tate, the executive director of company that runs PrepMod. PrepMod...

Gov. Charlie Baker is promising changes to Massachusetts’ coronavirus vaccine sign-up system, and one lawmaker is calling for an audit.

Gov. Charlie Baker is due to testify before a committee of lawmakers this week after his administration admitted the state’s vaccine booking website, which crashed last week, cost nearly a half a million dollars. Baker will go before the legislature’s COVID-19 and Emergency Management and Preparedness Committee on Thursday at an oversight hearing probing the state’s beleaguered vaccine rollout....

The new Committee on COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness is preparing to hold its first oversight hearing Thursday, where lawmakers will question Gov. Charlie Baker and his team on the state’s vaccine program.

Massachusetts lawmakers are slamming the Baker administration’s new coronavirus vaccine companion policy as “dangerous,” denouncing the measure’s failure to address the barriers facing people over the age of 75. “I think it’s terribly embarrassing. I think it shows that the current system is failing,” State Rep. Mike Connolly said of the Massachusetts vaccine rollout. Connolly, a Democrat from Cambridge,...

Massachusetts lawmakers are slamming the Baker administration’s new coronavirus vaccine companion policy as “dangerous,” denouncing the measure’s failure to address the barriers facing people over the age of 75.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker plans to give his annual State of the Commonwealth speech from the his office in 2021, delivering the policy speech on Tuesday, Jan. 26, at 7 p.m. — a day before his annual budget proposal is due to be filed with the Legislature.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday signed a revised policing reform bill that was approved by the Legislature last week. The House voted 107-51 and the Senate took a voice vote to re-enact the bill, which has drawn opposition from police but maintained the momentum that grew over the summer out of outrage over police violence toward Black Americans. “This…

Massachusetts House lawmakers elected a new speaker, Ronald Mariano, to succeed Robert DeLeo.

Abortion rights will be formally codified in Massachusetts law and access to the procedure will be expanded after the Senate on Tuesday joined the House in overriding Gov. Charlie Baker’s veto of the legislation. The bill, known as the ROE Act, expands access to abortion beyond 24 weeks in cases of fatal fetal anomalies and lower the age of consent…

Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo — the longest-serving speaker in state history — will formally step down Tuesday.

The Massachusetts Senate is slated to vote on legislation Tuesday that would establish the right to an abortion in state law and make the procedure more accessible. The bill, known as the ROE Act, would expand access to abortion beyond 24 weeks in cases of fatal fetal anomalies and lower the age of consent from 18 to 16.

Despite agreeing with key elements of the bill, Gov. Charlie Baker vetoed legislation Thursday that would codify the right to an abortion in state law and make the procedure in Massachusetts more accessible by expanding access for women after 24 weeks of pregnancy. The bill, known as the ROE Act, would also lower the age of consent for an abortion…

The Massachusetts policing reform bill that grabbed Beacon Hill’s attention midway through 2020 is back on Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk, awaiting his expected signature. The House voted 107-51 and the Senate took a voice vote to re-enact the bill, which has drawn strong opposition from police but maintained the momentum that grew over the summer out of outrage over...

Gov. Charlie Baker has one week, until Friday, Dec. 11, to decide what to do with the 129-policing accountability bill that the Massachusetts Legislature sent him Tuesday night. The bill passed without the support of a single GOP lawmaker — all 35, four in the Senate and 31 in the House, voted against it, as did unenrolled Rep. Susannah Whipps…

Sue O’Connell sat down with community organizer Chip Goines to talk about what he expects from the Biden administration and local governments as calls for police reform grow louder.

The Massachusetts House and Senate voted Tuesday to approve a compromise bill backers say would increase police accountability — including, for the first time, creating an independent, civilian-led commission to standardize the certification, training and decertification of police officers. The bill would also ban the use of chokeholds, limit the use of deadly force, and create a duty to intervene…