COVID-19 Massachusetts State House Update 5-7-20
- As of Monday night, DPH reported a total of 72,025 cases of COVID-19.
- The state has now confirmed a total of 4,420 deaths from the virus.
- DPH reported 208 new deaths attributed to COVID-19, the highest daily tally since late April and the third-largest single-day increase since the outbreak began.
- The House voted Wednesday to pass Governor Baker’s short-term borrowing bill to tide the state through pandemic-related revenue shortfalls.
- The 157-0 vote marked the first occasion in its nearly 400-year history that the House has used a roll call to pass legislation with most members participating remotely using computers and phones to monitor the proceedings and send in their votes.
- Remote participation was authorized this week in new emergency rules.
- The House meets again Thursday at 11 a.m. in an informal session
- The bill now moves to the Senate, which plans to hold a session on Thursday.
- Senate President Karen Spilka’s office said her intention is to engross the bill and adopt its own rules for remote participation so that the bill can be enacted by a roll call when it comes back from the House.
- Senators would have a couple of options to vote from outside the Senate Chamber, or from outside the State House under proposed temporary rules filed Monday.
- The rules would only apply to a final passage vote on the borrowing bill.
- This short-term, bill-specific rules package differs from the approach in the House, which developed a comprehensive emergency rules package, adopted Monday after a week of internal negotiations, applying to all future formal sessions during the state of emergency.
- The proposed Senate rules (S 2688) would allow for members either to designate another senator as a proxy to vote on their behalf or to communicate their vote directly to a court officer in the chamber. Senators using the proxy option would be able to stay home during the session, according to a Senate official.
- Members would also be allowed to enter the chamber one at a time while wearing masks to cast votes.
- Senate leadership is working on a longer-term rules package, targeted for implementation in early June, to conduct emergency-era formal sessions beyond the governor’s borrowing bill.
- The 104th Fighter Wing, the Barnstormers, a unit based at Barnes Air National Guard Base did a state flyover on Wednesday to show support for first responders.
- Both the Gaming Commission and the Cannabis Control Commission meet remotely on Thursday.
- The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce officials worked to develop a policy brief and economic reopening agenda that outlines the information employers and employees need from government.
- The chamber’s report was presented Friday to the economic reopening group led last week and is attached.
- Rep. Liz Miranda (D-Roxbury) has tested positive for COVID-19 and is recuperating at home while a number of her extended family members also deal with the virus.
- She is the second member of he House of Representatives to test positive.
- Massachusetts would offer a mail-in ballot to any voter who requests one and expand in-person early voting opportunities under a plan that Secretary of State Bill Galvin unveiled Wednesday.
- The proposed legislation for handling elections in the coronavirus era does not go as far as the universal vote-by-mail some lawmakers and election advocates have requested, but it would reshape voting this fall in an attempt to limit COVID-19 transmission risks for both constituents and poll workers.
- The proposed legislation would allow any Massachusetts voter to request, electronically or in writing, a mail-in ballot without providing the justification typically required.
- Election officials would gain permission to send out ballots as soon as they are ready.
- The plan would also expand early voting at polling locations to an 18-day period ahead of the general election, including two weekends, and a seven-day stretch ahead of the Sept. 1 primary.
- Massachusetts has never before offered early voting before the statewide primary.
- The Baker administration announced it will not make any new judicial nominations until at least June.
- The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the health care system, cut into provider revenues and could translate to longer-term shifts in care delivery, the state’s Health Policy Commission said Wednesday.
- Figures presented at a virtual HPC meeting, based on national industry reports, showed that hospital discharges, patient days, operating room minutes and emergency department visits all dropped in March 2020 compared to March 2019, resulting in a 14 percent reduction in revenue from inpatient care and a 19 percent reduction in outpatient revenue.
- Those declines could be greater for April, when stay-at-home guidance and other social distancing restrictions were in effect for the whole month.
- The advisory board figuring out how Massachusetts businesses might be able to reopen has already filed interim reports with the governor and is expected to make additional suggestions ahead of its May 18 deadline, Gov. Charlie Baker said Wednesday, though the governor also further elaborated on what conditions must be met before he will allow businesses to reopen.
- Public reports circulated late Wednesday evening that the Governor will announce the reopening of golf courses with restrictions on Thursday.
- EOPS Secretary Thomas Turco, who announced April 6 that he had tested positive for COVID-19, has recovered from the illness and has been back at work since being medically cleared in late April.
- The MWRA, the overseers of the largest water and sewer system network in eastern Massachusetts have agreed to reduce planned rate hikes and restructure loans to provide relief to customers and communities struggling with COVID-19 impacts.
- The MWRA announced Wednesday that it plans to limit its combined water and sewer rate increases to 1 percent, with rates going up slightly in July.
- The city of Boston’s ban on most kinds of construction is loosening, enabling some work to resume under new requirements that resemble rules set by the state.
- Boston Mayor Marty Walsh on Wednesday announced plans to ramp up coronavirus testing as cases across the city continue to climb with a goal to reach 1,500 a day.
