BOSTON — Outside of the House chamber after leaving a meeting with top Democrats on Monday, two top GOP lawmakers noted it’s been “a while” since the last meetup and since they were included.
There has not been public notice of a once common meeting between legislative and executive branch leaders since late November. The meetings, which usually are followed by press availabilities, have dwindled under the Healey administration and Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano.
“I would say it’s unfortunate that we’ve had this gap, because today was a lot of sort of 30,000-foot conversations about things that were more generalized because we haven’t had the more specific conversations,” Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr said. “I hope today is a pivot point, and that’s going to change, and we’re going to get back to one of the most important things I think happens in the State House.”
Tarr noted concerns in January that the minority party is not always invited to meetings between the governor and top legislative Democrats, and that the Republican perspective is not always included in policy discussions.
Asked why she and legislative leaders decided to meet, Healey, without elaborating, said, “We meet and talk regularly. So.”
While neither Republican knew why they were convened Monday of all days, House Minority Leader Brad Jones suggested it might be because they’re “kicking off the fact that we’re getting down” to the last few months of scheduled formal legislative sessions.
“You’ve got April, May, June, July. And then, under the new rules, a very kind of discrete, finite number of things that can’t come up in formal sessions after the fact,” Jones said. “It’s time to start having that conversation about, ‘What does the agenda look like?’ So maybe that’s the reason for the meetings, to kind of have those conversations or renew those relationships.”
Tarr said there were “basic issues” addressed during the meeting, including “where revenue is, what the state of the MBTA is, the possibility of getting a basketball team.”
Interests in Massachusetts made a push to pull the Connecticut Sun to Boston, but over the weekend it was widely reported that the team is being sold and planning to relocate to Houston. It wasn’t anything “too deep,” Jones said, mentioning feedback on travel to and from the World Cup friendly game last week, and what Tall Ships coming to Boston this summer means for tourism and transportation.
“Bruce and I talk all the time,” Jones said. “But having everybody at the table, I think, facilitates conversations and facilitates the ability to have conversations other than at the meeting. You know, you establish a relationship or rapport, and then you feel like, ‘I’m gonna call and ask him this, because it didn’t come up,’ or, ‘I wanted more information on that.’ More conversations are never a bad thing.”