Mass. Senate

The Massachusetts House has unanimously approved a bill outlawing the practice of handcuffing women prisoners to hospital beds during childbirth. The bill approved Wednesday would create a uniform ban on restraining women during pregnancy, labor and delivery in state and county correctional facilities unless they present a specific safety or flight risk...

Massachusetts lawmakers are vowing to act quickly to pass legislation outlawing the taking of photographs up the skirts of women in public.       The sense of urgency on Beacon Hill comes a day after the state's highest court ruled that a man who took cellphone photos up the skirts of women riding the Boston subway did not violate state law...

Massachusetts House and Senate lawmakers are kicking off their annual budget deliberations with a hearing on Gov. Deval Patrick’s $36.2 billion spending plan for the 2015 fiscal year. House and Senate Ways and Means committees will hear testimony from members of the Patrick administration and other top Beacon Hill officials at Tuesday’s hearing, including state Treasurer Steve Grossman and Attorne

The Massachusetts Senate has voted to increase the state's minimum wage from $8 per hour to $11 by 2016 and tie subsequent increases to inflation.       The bill, approved by a 32-7 vote, would hike the wage for the state's lowest-paid workers in increments over the next three years, with the new wage kicking in next July.  ...

The Massachusetts Senate has approved a revised casino compact between Gov. Deval Patrick and the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, which is seeking to build a resort casino in Taunton.       The agreement, reached between the tribe and the governor in March, was approved Thursday on a voice vote. The...

Gov. Deval Patrick has signed a bill repealing a less than two-month-old tax on computer and software services.       The governor's press office announced the signing in a one-sentence release Friday.       The House and Senate voted this week to repeal the 6...

The Massachusetts Legislature has repealed a new tax on computer and software services that had been in effect less than two months.         Thursday's 38-0 Senate vote came a day after the House backed the repeal by a 156-1 vote...

The Massachusetts House has approved a repeal of an unpopular new technology tax. The House backed the repeal by a 156-1 vote when it met in a formal session Wednesday. Gov. Deval Patrick has said he's open to repealing the tax, which state officials had estimated would generate $161 million in the fiscal year that began July 1...

Calls to toughen oversight of Massachusetts' welfare system are growing at the Statehouse.       A group of Beacon Hill lawmakers led by House and Senate Republicans are stepping up pressure on negotiators to include in the state budget restrictions designed to guarantee that welfare benefits are reserved for the state's neediest residents...

State Senator Mark Montigny of New Bedford belives it's time for the Legislature and Governor to take a close look at all expenses in the University of Massachusetts System.