Recently, former President Barack Obama wrote a Twitter thread praising the political situation in Minnesota, where the 2022 elections left Democrats in control of the House, the Senate, and the governorship. They responded with an incredibly aggressive lawmaking push: among other things, they restored voting rights for the formerly incarcerated, made school lunches free for all students, and made tuition at public colleges free for families that make less than eighty thousand dollars.
Whether that’s cause for celebration depends on your politics. But whatever your point of view, one thing is clear: here in Massachusetts, where the 2022 elections also left Democrats in complete control, there’s no comparable sense of urgency on Beacon Hill. In fact, according to the Boston Globe, the Massachusetts Legislature is off to its slowest start in at least four decades, with just twelve bills total passed into law so far this year. Why is the Legislature moving so slowly? And what isn’t getting addressed as a result? Adam Reilly discusses with the Boston Globe’s Matt Stout and GBH News State House reporter Katie Lannan.
What are your thoughts on the Legislature’s slow pace? Send us an email with your thoughts at TalkingPolitics@wgbh.org, or share them via the Talking Politics page.
You can watch the discussion below right now, or catch the full show at 7 p.m. on GBH 2. Subscribe to the GBH News’ YouTube channel to get alerted to future episodes.
