Major bills still in flux on eve of weekend legislative sessions

By rule, the Legislature must by midnight Sunday end formal meetings for the session that began in January of previous year.

Asked by reporters recently whether legislators will have enough time to review the bills before voting on them, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, said, “All the bills we have talked about have been debated and talked about for so long a period of time I think everyone really has a strong idea in terms of what’s included, what’s excluded in terms of the differences”. House and Senate Democrats encountered little resistance last Saturday as they restored tens of millions of dollars to the roughly $39 billion state budget over the objections of Gov. Charlie Baker, who has warned that the budget he signed, produced by the Legislature, underfunds accounts by about $250 million.

The House and Senate gavelled back into session at noon Sunday with just 12 hours remaining to conclude its substantial work for the two-year session, though informal sessions where non-controversial bills stand a chance of passage will continue for the year. House and Senate negotiators were unable to reach agreement on the measure before Sunday’s midnight deadline.

Supporters have called the bill a critical step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions that are blamed for climate change, and to replacing energy that will be leaving the New England electrical grid in the coming years, including the scheduled 2019 shutdown of the Pilgrim nuclear plant in Plymouth.

Negotiations continued on the two other “big six” bills, one that would allow the state to regulate popular ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft, the other restricting non-compete clauses in private employment contracts that critics contend stifle innovation. DeLeo said the process is similar to those he has seen in past sessions.

Most bills that are not passed by the deadline would have to be re-filed for the next two-year session beginning in January.

The municipal modernization bill would eliminate what many local officials viewed as outdated state rules and provide cities and towns with more autonomy from the state. “We want to bring things up to the 21st century and reflect current practice”. A committee negotiating limits to noncompete agreements was still working on that bill. That money will be shared among the town or city where the ride originated, the state transportation department, and a fund to help the taxi industry.

Legislative leaders this week may also serve up more budget veto overrides.