The Senate's $150 million outlay, according to a spokesperson for Senate President Karen Spilka, includes dollars for the municipal pavement program, focused on state-numbered routes owned by municipalities; the municipal small bridge program; complete streets funding program, aimed at expanding options for pedestrians, cyclists and public transit as well as vehicles; municipal bus enhancement program; mass transit access grant program, which provides grants for improvements to commuter rail stations and other mass transit stations; and the municipal RTA/EV grant program, providing grants to Regional Transit Authorities and municipalities for electric vehicles and charging equipment.
Read MoreSenate President Karen Spilka congratulated Hopkinton on its 100th year of hosting the start of the Boston Marathon during a reception Thursday night at the Hopkinton Center for the Arts.
Read MoreSenate President Spilka sits down with Peter and Jimmy from the HopTake, a local news podcast in Hopkinton, to talk about early childhood education, the immigration, and memories of the Boston Marathon.
Read MoreThe Senate last Thursday passed a “compromise” version of legislation affecting debt collection practices in Massachusetts, and according to its sponsor, the bill has a shot at final passage thanks to industry representatives collaborating on the rewrite.
Read MoreA decade after two firefighters died when they became trapped in a brownstone in Boston’s historic Back Bay neighborhood by a fire caused by sparks from welders working next door, the Massachusetts Senate passed a bill Thursday aimed at toughening oversight of so-called “hot work."
Read MoreA Massachusetts bill that bars someone from sharing explicit images or videos without consent was approved unanimously Thursday by the Massachusetts Senate.
Read MoreSenate President Spilka joins Governor Healey as she announces pardons for misdemeanor marijuana convictions.
Read MoreIt’s well past time to argue the merits and necessity of a robust early education and care infrastructure in Massachusetts and get to work on implementing a solution. That’s why this week the Senate is taking up the EARLY ED Act, comprehensive early education and care reform that will help teach our youngest learners and stabilize this crucial sector of our economy.
Read MoreSenate President Karen E. Spilka put out a statewide call for nominations; the winning trailblazer will join a lineup of currently all-male busts in the Senate Chamber.
Read MoreLittle feet and little hands tried their hardest to stay still as state senators read to children in Head Start classrooms in Malden on Thursday. They were there to introduce a bill they said would make child care programs like this largely more accessible for families, realistic for providers and sustainable for teachers.
Read More“Today, I could not be more excited to have Abigail join our space here in the Senate and I look forward to knowing that thousands of women are going to walk down the hall full of men, walk into our lobby, and be greeted by a woman– Abigail Adams,” Spilka said.
Read MoreSenate President Spilka addresses members and community leaders before the Senate unveiled a bust of Frederick Douglass in the Senate Chamber.
Read MoreHonoring Frederick Douglass, the bust was unveiled in the recently renovated Senate chamber in a well-attended ceremony held on the abolitionist, orator and newspaper owner's birthday nearly 130 years after he addressed state lawmakers himself.
Read MoreWe ask the Massachusetts Senate President about the gun reform bill she’s pushing, a plan to make community college free for everyone, and the secretive nature of lawmaking in Beacon Hill.
Read MoreThe SAFER Act would crack down on privately assembled and untraceable "ghost guns," prohibit guns from being carried in certain government buildings, and ban devices like Glock switches that allow semiautomatic weapons to fire more quickly.
Read MoreThe effort to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 18 to 20 in Massachusetts got a big boost Wednesday from a star of the Boston Celtics… "Society continues to evolve. I think the system that serves it should evolve as well," he said. Brown joined lawmakers making the push to keep young people ages 18 to 20 in the juvenile system. "It makes all the sense in the world. I think all of us in this room, including myself, were one decision away from, you know, being in a different situation," Brown said.
Read MoreThe Massachusetts Senate last week unanimously passed the bill, which would remove outdated laws against "sodomy," "night walking" and "unnatural acts." … "We need to take off the books archaic laws that, in theory, could become enforceable if the Supreme Court moves further right," says Sen. William Brownsberger, who sponsored this bill with Sen. Julian Cyr.
Read MoreSenators moved as a unit on Thursday, unanimously passing a trio of bills early in the busy seven-month stretch at the end of the legislative session. The Senate unanimously approved bills to prohibit inhumane cat declawing (S 2552), require real estate appraisers licensed (S 2550), and remove so-called “archaic laws” from state statute (S 2551).
Read MoreMassachusetts senators unanimously passed a bill (S 2552) Thursday that would make the state the third in the country to outlaw surgeries that declaw cats. … "Declawing is an abhorrent practice that most veterinarians view as inhumane," Sen. Mark Montigny, the lead sponsor of the bill, said.
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