The legislative session has wrapped up on Beacon Hill and Massachusetts lawmakers are now in recess.
WGBH State House reporter Mike Deehan spoke with WGBH All Things Considered anchor Barbara Howard about what got done in the session’s final hours and what did not. The following transcript has been edited for clarity.
Barbara Howard: So what was the legislature able to accomplish as those hours wound down late last night?
Mike Deehan: They got a bill further regulating how opiates are prescribed and also has a lot to do with what medications are available to prisoners in the state system. That's something that was a big accomplishment that the governor wanted them to push. They also got a big $1.2 billion economic development bill that's going to hopefully spur the economies of cities and towns around the state.
Howard: Anything else that comes to mind that's a biggie that got done last night?
Deehan: Last night, a lot of the things that were in negotiations simply didn't come to fruition by midnight.
Howard: What was left undone?
Deehan: An awful lot - there was a plan to really stabilize the health care market and community hospitals. The Senate and the House did not agree - that died at midnight. Education funding - this is the formula the state uses to reimburse schools, how much they pay, which has been underfunded for years. That is something the House and Senate could not agree to. That died at midnight. The housing bill the governor had been pushing for months really didn't even get considered by the legislature. They said there was too much opposition to it and they just couldn't get to it. The list goes on and on. There was a conversion therapy bill that would have banned a therapy that tries to make a gay person straight. That passed both chambers, but they could not get it done at the final hour. The logjam was just too great and certain bills couldn’t get done.
Howard: Will the legislature be taking up any of this unfinished business when they come back into session?
Deehan: They actually do come back into session informally and for emergencies on Thursday. That is something they might have to look at - the horse racing ban that they just inadvertently passed. And then everything else is going to have to wait until January, when the new legislature comes in for the new session.
Howard: Thanks, Mike.
Deehan: Thank you, Barbara.
Howard: That’s WGBH State House Reporter Mike Deehan, giving us an update on what did and did not get done as the state legislature wrapped up its session in the wee hours of this morning. This is All Things Considered.
