Governor introduces a spending bill while the T reintroduces later service

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Even if the State House's marble halls were quiet for much of the week, there was plenty of buildup and fallout to occupy anyone who was not on vacation and stayed plugged in.

Gov. Maura Healey handed lawmakers yet another spending bill, this time a $2.45 billion package loaded up with major policy ideas ranging from more offshore wind delays to vaccine authority to a key election date.

Healey's budget team expects most of that money would be reimbursed by the federal government to cover MassHealth, despite concerns about looming Medicaid cuts, leaving a net cost to the state of $947 million.

That's still a hefty chunk of possible cash out the door after months of public trepidation about the state's fiscal footing, and it would add expenses on top of other mid-year spending bills Healey already signed.

Budget-writers might feel a bit more buoyed these days now that Beacon Hill's abacus apparatus determined tax revenues were in fact pretty solid last cycle. The Department of Revenue reported late last Friday afternoon that it collected 7.1% more taxes in fiscal 2025 than in fiscal 2024.

The surtax and capital gains tax -- two sources with limitations on how the money can be deployed -- drove much of the growth, but all other streams came in just about even with the official projections. While there is accounting ahead, that may stave off an end-of-year gap like the one addressed at this time last year.

When top House and Senate Democrats get around to tackling the closeout budget bill, the bigger decisions they face might be in the policy riders.

Healey sought to use the bill as a vehicle to schedule the 2026 state primary election on Sept. 1 (the week before Labor Day), to delay by two years the state deadline to achieve an offshore wind contracting milestone, and to decouple state vaccine authority from the recommendations of a federal panel some public health experts now view as susceptible to vaccine skepticism.

Lawmakers still haven't given any indication how they'll tackle the governor's prior spending bill that featured an eye-catching proposal to temporarily expand her budget-cutting authority. They'll have their hands full whenever summer draws to a close.

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Even with much of Beacon Hill in a languid lull, the political headaches have not stopped.

The arrest a week ago of Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins on federal extortion charges remained locked in the headlines as journalists combed through his office's expenditures, fellow Democrats weighed how much to distance themselves, and Republican candidates launched broadsides against the status quo.

Tompkins resigned from his post on the Roxbury Community College board, which he chaired, on Tuesday but still has not indicated if he will remain on the job to which voters elected him for a term that runs through 2028.

Republicans jumped on the scandal, with GOP gubernatorial candidates Mike Kennealy and Brian Shortsleeve seeking to spin Tompkins's arrest as a bad reflection of Healey.

Healey herself has been pressed multiple times about whether Tompkins should resign, and it seems she is still developing an answer to that specific question.

"These are serious allegations, and to be clear, there is no room for anyone in elected office to abuse their position. Period, full stop," Healey said Tuesday. "I've also said I'm continuing to get more information about this, and then I will comment once I have all the information."

The governor cannot force Tompkins to leave. Because sheriffs are elected by voters, only the state's highest court or the electorate can remove him under a 1994 Supreme Judicial Court decision. Healey and Attorney General Andrea Campbell could file a petition seeking Tompkins's removal, but neither have indicated plans to do so.

This week Social Security turns 90. Nearly one in five Massachusetts residents - 1,324,309 people - receives Social Security payments. These payments inject $28.4 billion into the state’s economy every year. AARP will never stop fighting to protect the Social Security payments you earned. Learn More aarp.org/ma #WeEarnedIt

Healey had a transit-heavy week. First, she celebrated reopening of the Natick Center commuter rail station after a $40 million, nearly six-year project that brought major improvements.

Then, she and MBTA General Manager Phil Eng announced a new commitment to an idea the T tried and abandoned under Gov. Charlie Baker: late-night weekend service.

Subways and a handful of popular bus routes will soon start running about an hour later on Friday and Saturday nights, a change that Eng said the T can accomplish with an operating budget impact of about $2 million more per year.

After Baker and his deputies lamented the high cost and low ridership of a prior late-night pilot program, officials this time around said they have a different metric in mind.

"We're doing this to ensure that the people that need to use the system can use the system. We're a public transit agency. We do it to provide a public service," Eng said. "There's a lot of people that need to rely on the service that haven't been able to use it. That's how we're measuring success, not whether it's 10 million people using it or 50 people using it."

The mood was not as buoyant this week at another agency. Problems at the Cannabis Control Commission landed back in the headlines again when Auditor Diana DiZoglio's office published a report describing mismanagement, regulatory violations, and failure to collect fines in a timely manner and more.

Meanwhile, the CCC took another step toward one of the biggest changes to recreational marijuana use in years by preparing to publish regulations governing cannabis use in social settings, which would include but extend beyond "pot cafes."

It's been nearly a decade since voters approved making marijuana legal to use for more than just medicinal purposes. Massachusetts would become the 11th state with social consumption permitted.

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Air conditioners and fans are working hard as the hot and humid weather settles in across New England. In Massachusetts, customers use approximately 30% more electricity on average during the summer months to keep their homes and businesses cool, but heat waves and long stretches of sweltering weather can drive that number up even higher. No matter what electric rates are, when your usage increases, so does your bill — READ MORE

MEMORIAL GOLF TOURNAMENT: The annual Kamari B. Williams Memorial Golf Tournament will raise funds for a memorial scholarship. It's hosted by Rep. Bud Williams and Gloria Williams in honor of their son, who was the head basketball coach at Springfield High School of Science and Technology. The proceeds will support scholarships for student athletes at Springfield's public high schools. (9 a.m. Veteran's Memorial Golf Course, 1059 S. Branch Parkway, Springfield | More Info)

BUNKER HILL LAUNDROMAT: Related Beal hosts a ceremony for the opening of Bunker Hill Laundromat, which is Charlestown's only such business. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Sen. Lydia Edwards, Rep. Dan Ryan and Related Beal President Kim Sherman Stamler plan to attend. The laundromat stems from community conversations and is "part of Related Beal's larger investment in the neighborhood," the developer says. (10 a.m., 194 Bunker Hill St., Charlestown)

WARREN ON KELLER: U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren joins MASSterList columnist Jon Keller's weekly "Keller at Large" segment. She's expected to discuss reforms to the housing approval process under the ROAD to Housing Act, a program approved in a unanimous bipartisan vote by a Senate committee, how the cost of living helped elect President Donald Trump and whether it will help the Democrats in the midterms, and the Democrats' image as an anti-business party. (8:30 a.m., WBZ-TV)

DIDOMENICO ON NBC: Sen. Sal DiDomenico joins reporter Matt Prichard to discuss the Kraft Group’s proposed soccer stadium in Everett. DiDomenico recently joined a press conference held by Boston Mayor Wu, who criticized the Krafts over proposed mitigation. (9:30 a.m., NBC10)

TUTWILER ON OTR: Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler joins the hosts of WCVB's weekly "On the Record" political talk show. (11 a.m., WCVB)

CHESS TOURNAMENT: A free chess tournament marks the end of the "3 Days of Chess" series, funded through a grant from the Boston Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture. Last year's tournament had 75 players, with 29 in the rated section. (2 p.m., Civic Pavilion, City Hall Plaza, 5 Congress St., Boston | More Info)

Citizens Bank parent recruits former State Street exec to be its next CFO (Jon Chesto)

Woman posing as caretaker turned elderly resident’s Rutland home into erotic massage parlor, police say (Boston 25)

Homeowner’s legal move threatens access to Marblehead Beach (Daily Item)

Provincetown officials don’t know if live music in the harbor requires a license (Provincetown Independent)

No non-stop flights between Boston and Hawaii this winter (Boston.com)

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