Safety trumps transparency in gun bill talks

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NOT INSIDE THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS — Just when Beacon Hill seemed poised for a moment of uncharacteristic transparency, lawmakers retreated back into the shade.

The six legislators tasked with hashing out the differences between House and Senate versions of long-awaited gun-control legislation had pledged during their first meeting last week to conduct their negotiations in public view — offering the press and the public a rare glimpse into how the Beacon Hill sausage gets made.

Their vow didn’t last long. As soon as lawmakers settled in for their second session — and before any bargaining could begin — state Rep. Carlos González made a motion to move the talks out of the prying eyes of the public and press.

State Sen. Joan Lovely seconded it, citing threats she and her daughter received from a man in her district several years ago that included references to “high-powered firearms.” The man was later arrested, has since been released and lives in another state, Lovely said. But the incidents prompted the Salem Democrat to get a license to carry, so she could “purchase a firearm to protect my family” if needed.

Conferees have also received “hundreds of emails from folks who are opposed” to tightening the state’s gun laws, some of which have “pretty highly charged language,” Lovely said.

“I’m very much in favor of conducting this conference committee in public,” Lovely said. But, she added, “I just think it’s safer” to move the talks behind closed doors.

Senate Majority Leader Cynthia Stone Creem offered another reason to shroud the committee’s talks in secrecy — the potential that something lawmakers would say on the thorny topic could be used in a lawsuit down the line.

Republicans pushed back on the idea that closed-door dealing would protect lawmakers from either of those threats. “I personally do not believe that … statements would be made here that would necessarily expose us either to legal jeopardy or threats to our personal safety,” Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr said. “In fact, it seems to me that by closing the process to public scrutiny, we increase the possibility of increasing distrust, and that distrust can easily be turned into contempt.”

But Tarr and state Rep. Joe McKenna were overruled by the Democrats, 4-2.

The conference committee skirmish marked the latest clash in the ongoing war over transparency — or lack thereof — that’s being waged in the state’s halls of power. In the past week alone, Gov. Maura Healey reversed course on disclosing details about her personal travel that she had withheld to maintain her and her family’s privacy. And Auditor Diana DiZoglio has gone toe-to-toe with her former colleagues over whether she should be able to audit the chambers in which she long served.

But some of these situations point to something darker — the increasingly dangerous political climate that public officials find themselves navigating. Healey stopped sharing in advance when she was leaving the state due to unspecified “security concerns” — an announcement that came not long after members of the neo-Nazi group NSC-131 protested outside her Arlington home. They returned in February. On Wednesday, Lovely cited the “heavily charged atmosphere of not just these two bills that we’re conferencing, but the world in general.”

She’s not wrong. Massachusetts logged the fifth-highest level of white supremacist propaganda activity of any state last year, according to new data from the Anti-Defamation League. And the state was again one of the most active for the Texas-based white-supremacist group Patriot Front.

And so, in the case of the gun bills, lawmakers returned to what they normally do — negotiating in private. The conferees had “a broad discussion” of the pieces of the bills where both chambers are already in close alignment, state Rep. Mike Day told reporters after the closed-door talks. But that was about it.

GOOD THURSDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. March Madness arrives in Boston today with former Gov. Charlie Baker in tow. More on that below.

TODAY — Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and Rep. Lori Trahan mark a Lowell economic development project milestone at 11 a.m. at University Crossing. Healey and Driscoll also visit Nuvera Fuel Cells at 12:15 p.m. in Billerica. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu joins Rep. Ayanna Pressley for a roundtable and press conference on federal aid for homeless families at 11:30 a.m. at Horizons for Homeless Children. Rep. Richard Neal celebrates the reopening of North Adams Regional Hospital at 4 p.m.

Tips? Scoops? Spotteds? Email us: [email protected] and [email protected].

CHARLIE ON THE NCAA

BAKER’S BET — As governor, Charlie Baker spent years pushing to legalize sports betting in the state. As NCAA president, he’s looking to reign in the industry across the country.

Baker is urging states to bar prop betting on college athletes, saying in a statement that the NCAA is “drawing the line on sports betting to protect student-athletes and to protect the integrity of the game — issues across the country these last several days show there is more work to be done.”

Massachusetts already prohibits prop betting (gambling on elements of a specific player’s performance) on college athletes. And the Boston Herald reports that at least some college coaches are already on board with Baker’s effort.

But some states still allow it. The NCAA will be “contacting officials across the country in states that still allow these bets and ask them to join … many others and remove college prop bets from all betting markets,” Baker said in the statement.

Baker is set to make another announcement today alongside Attorney General Andrea Campbell on “a new public-private partnership that will seek to address the harms associated with youth gambling on sports,” according to Campbell’s office.

HEALEY HIGHLIGHTS

SWISH SWISH — Healey delivered a new dig at Donald Trump (for hawking Bibles) and fawned over California Gov. Gavin Newsom (“He’s got great teeth.”) during a talk with tech journalist and podcaster Kara Swisher on Wednesday in Cambridge that covered AI, TikTok and elements of Swisher’s new book, “Burn Book.”

“‘Make America pray again,’ is that what he’s doing?” Healey said of Trump’s latest sales pitch. “He’s on a book tour, too,” she joked.

DATELINE BEACON HILL

— “Healey has shelter funding backup plan if Legislature is slow to find deal on spending bill,” by Chris Van Buskirk, Boston Herald: “A spokesperson for the office said [Gov. Maura] Healey has access to $707 million this fiscal year that she can spend on the broader humanitarian response to an influx of migrants from other countries. … A backup plan could see the administration use dollars intended for school reimbursements to pay for the emergency assistance shelter program.”

RELATED — “Protesters rally at State House in opposition to emergency shelter spending,” by Chris Van Buskirk, Boston Herald.

— “Chairs of divided energy committee call a truce,” by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Beacon: “The House and Senate chairs of the Legislature’s energy committee, once so divided that they split the panel in two and held hearings separately, have worked out a truce in a bid to pass climate change and energy legislation this session.”

ROE FALLOUT

IN THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT — Healey hopped on MSNBC on Wednesday to call on other states to follow her lead in stockpiling the abortion drug mifepristone as the U.S. Supreme Court mulls whether to curtail access to the pill. While Healey has largely shied away from the national spotlight since becoming governor, reproductive rights remains one area in which she continues to establish herself as a national leader and voice for her party. Case in point: her MSNBC hit was quickly circulated by the Democratic Governors Association.

FROM THE HUB

— “Boston city councilors clash over push to expand free museum program,” by Niki Griswold, The Boston Globe: “Tensions rose at the Boston City Council’s meeting Wednesday, as [Councilors Erin Murphy and Ed Flynn] expressed frustration that a hearing to explore expanding Mayor Michelle Wu’s free museum pilot program has not been immediately rescheduled. … Mayor Michelle Wu and other councilors have previously said they need to analyze the data after the completion of the pilot before considering whether to expand it in the future, and if so, how.”

— “In a win for Wu, city council approves a new planning department for Boston,” by Simón Rios, WBUR: “The Boston City Council passed a measure Wednesday to shift planning authority away from the Boston Planning and Development Agency, a body that’s reshaped much of the city in the 20th century and has faced criticism for the power it wields over building and urban renewal. The newly minted Boston Planning Department will assume many of the responsibilities, property and staff currently under the old agency, which will retain oversight of large developments.”

— “Boston School Committee approves $1.5 billion spending plan and staff reductions,” by James Vaznis, The Boston Globe.

BALLOT BATTLES

CLAPBACK — The Massachusetts Teachers Association is firing back after Healey came out against the ballot question the union is pushing to replace MCAS as a high school graduation requirement. MTA President Max Page accused opponents of “mischaracterizing the relationship” between the test and the state’s overall academic standards and said the ballot question “will create a much more accurate structure to measure” student achievement.

FROM THE DELEGATION

— “Mass. lawmakers call on Biden to speed up visas for Haitians fleeing violence at home,” by John L. Micek, MassLive: “‘The situation in Haiti demands urgent, creative solutions to ensure that, at a minimum, relatives of U.S. persons can be quickly processed and reunited with their families in the United States,’ the lawmakers, led by U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-7th District, and Democratic U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, wrote in a Tuesday letter.”

IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN

— “4 developers submit offshore wind bids in multistate procurement,” by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Beacon: “Four developers submitted bids to build wind farms off the coast of southern New England, releasing statements promising completion dates as early as 2029 along with modest onshore economic benefits in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Pricing information was not released.”

FROM THE 413

— “Candidates for the 3rd Berkshire District seat made their pitch to ‘pivotal’ Dalton voters Tuesday night,” by Matt Martinez, The Berkshire Eagle: “Dalton has the second-largest population in the 3rd Berkshire District, behind Great Barrington, and is distinct from the other South County towns represented by the seat.”

THE LOCAL ANGLE

— “Money flowing into jails for opioid treatment,” by Christian M. Wade, The Eagle-Tribune: “A first-of-its-kind report on funding for the 14 sheriffs’ offices across the state shows that a sizable chunk of more than $23.5 million in state and federal grants they received last year was earmarked for jail-based, medication-assisted treatment programs.”

MEANWHILE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

GRANITE STATE SHOCKER — Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster will not run for reelection in NH-02, a surprising decision that set off a scramble for her once competitive but now bluish seat.

Five Republicans had already filed to run in the district that Kuster carried by nearly 12 points in 2022 and that President Joe Biden won by 9 points in 2020, including a man who served jail time for his role in the U.S. Capitol riot. The Union Leader and the Granite Post have lists of potential Democratic contenders. Among them: former Executive Councilor Colin Van Ostern, who was quick to publicly congratulate Kuster on her pending retirement from Congress.

Kuster, who chairs the influential centrist New Democrat coalition, told our colleagues simply that “it’s time. I always said I wasn’t going to be [in Congress] forever.” House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, Kuster’s roommate in D.C., praised her as a “model of kind, devoted, results-first public service” in a statement. “I will miss Annie dearly.”

SUNUNU WATCH — A presidential run is “not in the cards” for outgoing New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, he said during a business event in Concord earlier this week. It’s hard to believe that means never, though.

HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH

SPOTTED — Sen. Elizabeth Warren in London, per an eagle-eyed Playbook reader. Pic.

HAPPY BELATED — to Laura Driscoll, Liz Johnson and Mike Carraggi, who celebrated Wednesday.

NEW HORSE RACE ALERT: VALLEY GOALS — Host Jennifer Smith talks economic development in the Pioneer Valley with MassINC’s Ben Forman. Hosts Steve Koczela and Lisa Kashinsky dig into polling slants and MassGOP schisms, respectively. Subscribe and listen on iTunes and Sound Cloud.

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