legislature

Despite the defeat of the state's gas tax indexing, SouthCoast Rail could still live on.

Massachusetts' groundfish industry would get a boost under a seafood marketing program included in a jobs bill passed during the Legislature's final day of its formal session. The goal of the seafood marketing program is to increase the public's knowledge about the health benefits of eating seafood and the economic importance of the state's fishing industry...

State lawmakers have given final approval to a Technology Bond bill that includes $38-million for technology upgrades in Bay State schools. Rep. Antonio Cabral of New Bedford added the school funding provision to the bill.... The money will be distributed in a grant program that will include additional funding by the Federal government...

A group pushing for an increase in the state's minimum wage is ending its bid to put a question on the November state ballot. Raise Up Massachusetts said Monday the ballot question is no longer necessary since the Legislature has approved a bill that would raise the $8-per-hour minimum wage to $11 by 2017...

A number of New Bedford's headliner projects would see improvements under a $1.6 billion Environmental Bond bill just passed in a house committee. Representative Antonio Cabral, Chairman of the Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets, says the bill now goes from his committee to the house Ways and Means Committee, with $78...

Massachusetts' all-Democratic U.S. House delegation is calling on Republican Speaker John Boehner to allow a vote on a resolution to end the government shutdown.

State lawmakers will have plenty on their plates when they ramp up activity after Labor Day. The House and Senate have not met formally since the end of July. Among the high-profile issues the Legislature is likely to grapple with in the fall are gun control, welfare reform and proposals to increase the minimum wage...

Gov. Deval Patrick has ordered spending cuts across state government in response to slower-than-expected growth in state tax collections.       Patrick said Tuesday that his administration is revising its revenue estimate downward by $540 million for the fiscal year that started on July 1...

Massachusetts Republicans are heavily outnumbered in both houses of the Legislature and face an uphill fight adding to their ranks in the coming election.