Rep. Kate Hogan of Stow speaks during MMA Legislative Breakfast in Hudson.
State spending, housing and zoning, and recreational marijuana were among the top subjects discussed when legislators and local officials from around the Commonwealth came together for this spring’s MMA Legislative Breakfast Meetings.
The meetings, held each spring and fall, provide an opportunity for local officials to have informal discussions with legislators, fellow local officials, and MMA staff.
While six communities were scheduled to host the breakfasts, power outages from the second March nor’easter forced the cancellation of the March 9 meeting in Newburyport. The breakfast meetings were held as scheduled in Fairhaven and Palmer on March 2, Hudson on March 9, and Gardner and Pittsfield on March 16.
The program began with a legislative update from the MMA focused on Gov. Charlie Baker’s fiscal 2018 supplemental budget proposals and fiscal 2019 state budget. Other issues included zoning and housing production, recreational marijuana, Chapter 90 local road funds, regional transportation, the so-called millionaire’s tax, and education funding.
The Hudson meeting was attended by Sen. Jamie Eldridge and Reps. Carmine Gentile, Kate Hogan, and David Muradian. Local officials and legislators discussed the pros and cons of the governor’s proposed Housing Choice Initiative. Officials also discussed the municipal implications of recently released regulations governing the adult use of marijuana.
Additional legislators who attended the meetings include Sens. Anne Gobi and Adam Hinds and Reps. John Barrett, Tricia Farley-Bouvier, Solomon Goldstein-Rose, Natalie Higgins, Paul Mark, Paul Schmid, Todd Smola, and Jonathan Zlotnik.
To date, the MMA has hosted 193 breakfast meetings in 167 communities since 2007, with a goal of hosting a meeting in each of the state’s 351 cities and towns. If your community has not hosted a Legislative Breakfast and would like to, please contact Alandra Champion at achampion@mma.org or (617) 426-7272, ext. 121.
