It looks like Donald Trump is expected to appear for an arraignment in a New York courtroom on Tuesday. He's running again for president. And some Republicans, including former Massachusetts Republican party chair Jim Lyons, say this is a politically motivated prosecution. Chris Lisinksi of the State House News Service explains this is more or less the same response from other top Massachusetts Republicans.
Chris Lisinski, State House News Service: The new chair of the Republican Party, Amy Carnevale, who defeated Lyons to take over the party herself, said on the radio that she thinks the DA of New York is using the legal process to concoct charges that it's a politically motivated event here. So, a pretty similar message from a different range of Republican voices here in Massachusetts.
Carrie Healy, NEPM: We're still waiting to find out how Beacon Hill lawmakers will formally react to Governor Healey's tax proposals. We saw some indications of Democratic frustration at a revenue hearing and then a bit more when Speaker Ron Mariano addressed business leaders. How is this likely to shake out as the House moves ever closer to releasing its own plan?
It's interesting because you hear some frustration from rank and file Democrats and from some really influential progressive groups on the left about elements of Healey's tax plan, specifically the estate tax and the short term capital gains tax that they argue are real benefits for the wealthy.
But Speaker Ron Mariano has signaled that his tax bill is going to have some kind of estate tax reform. And even though the Legislature refused to cut the short term capital gains tax in its doomed proposal last time around, he said, this time everything is on the table, including that.
So, there does seem to be a real chance that the Legislature will at least entertain these measures of Healey's tax bill that some have criticized, but you know how it is on Beacon Hill. Nothing is definite until we see the bill hit the floor.
So it wouldn't be surprising if it didn't make it through again?
That's right.
Also in that speech Mariano gave to business leaders, he got fully behind a plan to permanently fund free school meals for all students going forward. Governor Healey supports this, too. Is Senate President Spilka likely to endorse this?
I would say she certainly appears likely to endorse it. She hasn't given the same explicit promise to fund universal school meals for all students in the upcoming budget. But then again, the Senate budget will happen a full month after the House's and back when Healey called for extending the program through the end of this year, Spilka was very quick to praise it as a really important benefit for students. So, I think if we're reading the tea leaves, it's very likely to win her support as well.
Last week, Chris, you wrote about the new housing and Economic Development Secretary, Yvonne Hao, saying that the state is not doing fine. In fact, you quoted her sharing some disturbing statistics about people leaving the state. Can you unpack what she said?
New Economic Development Secretary Yvonne Hao sat down with lawmakers for a 'get to know you session' and really talked about things that are on her mind. And like the rest of the Healey administration, competitiveness is really front and center.
She said that on average last year about 1,100 residents left Massachusetts per week to decamp to other states. We do know that immigration, specifically international immigration has helped offset some of our population losses, but that's a pretty sizable outflow. I believe that Hao's exact words were,"it's a crazy statistic." And she also noted that those people who are leaving are some retirees, but more often, are families with younger children, young graduates of college. She said, quote, "They're exactly the kind of people we need here in Massachusetts for our future. That's not a good statistic."
