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Presented by the American Heart Association
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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. TGIF!
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Massachusetts Playbook will not publish on Monday, Oct. 14. I'll be back in your inbox on Tuesday morning. Enjoy the long weekend!
PRESSLEY MOVES TO PROTECT BORROWERS — Rep. Ayanna Pressley is rolling out a new bill to protect consumers from abusive debt collection practices today. "Aggressive debt collection" by loan collectors can exacerbate feelings of hopelessness, shame and despair for people who are in debt, Pressley's office says.
Pressley's bill would require the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to regulate the debt collection industry by prohibiting the CFPB from issuing any rule that allows debt collectors to send unlimited emails and text messages to consumers. It would also require the agency to issue a quarterly report on debt-collection related complaints and enforcement actions taken against debt collectors in the last 12 months.
"My mother took pride in paying her bills on time, but after several life disrupting events, there came a point where she no longer could afford it," Pressley said in a statement about her her bill, the Monitoring and Curbing Abusive Debt Collection Practices Act.
"No matter how hard she worked, we owed everybody — the utility company, the landlord, the bank, the car company — and we were frequently harassed by debt collectors. Our story is the story of millions of families, who go through life with feelings of fear, vulnerability, judgement, and shame thanks to abusive debt collectors," Pressley continued.
More than 62,000 people have submitted unfair debt collection complaints to the CFPB since President Donald Trump took office, according to Pressley's office. The Boston lawmaker has been working on protecting people who are in debt for months — she sent a letter to the CFPB director criticizing the bureau's decision to roll back protections against debt collectors last month, and introduced the Student Borrower Credit Improvement Act in July.
Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: smurray@politico.com.
TODAY — Boston Mayor Marty Walsh attends the C40 World Mayors Summit, in Copenhagen, Denmark. State Sen. Eric Lesser is a guest on Sen. Lesser discusses sports betting legislation on Boston 25. Rep. Ayanna Pressley holds a housing visit in Brighton. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock speaks at Tufts University.
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A message from the American Heart Association:
Sugary drinks are a major contributor to the increasing rates of diabetes and heart disease. And with our country already spending $190 billion per year treating these preventable diseases, we need to address the problem. Healthy drinks should be priced at an equal or lower cost than less healthy options. Learn more here. |
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INTRODUCING POLITICO's ENERGY PODCAST sponsored by Chevron: Your daily, five-minute update on the latest in energy and environmental politics and policy from POLITICO's expert ten-person team. Ways to listen: Via your email - click the link in the POLITICO Morning Energy newsletter, or subscribe for free - click here and follow the link for your podcast player.
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 | THE VAPING SALES BAN |
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- "Gov. Charlie Baker defends vape ban, hopes Massachusetts can develop regulatory framework and halt e-cigarette injuries," by Jim Kinney, Springfield Republican: "Gov. Charlie Baker defended Thursday the state's four-month ban on sales of vaping products in the face of a federal lawsuit and backlash from vape users and retailers who fear being put out of business. "We didn't enter this one easily," Baker, a Republican, told reporters following an unrelated event on a scenic country road in Blandford. "We appreciated the destruction it was going to create, and people certainly have access to the courts." Baker said physicians and biologists informed the administration that the danger is not vaping tobacco versus marijuana products."
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| DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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- "STATE STILL IN HUNT FOR PERMANENT RATING BOARD CHIEF," by Chris Lisinski, State House News Service: "The temporary leader of a Registry of Motor Vehicles department at the center of a record-keeping scandal will remain in place for at least another month, where he will be tasked with further cutting down a backlog as a board searches for a permanent replacement. With Paolo Franzese's temporary appointment set to expire in about two weeks, the Merit Rating Board — a previously inactive three-member panel with the same name as the RMV department it manages — voted Thursday to extend Franzese another 30 days."
- "DPU INVESTIGATING NATIONAL GRID'S MANAGEMENT," by Matt Murphy, State House News Service: "State utility regulators have ordered a broad investigation into the management of National Grid in a rare move born of concerns that one of the state's largest electricity providers failed to communicate about the potential for severe delays in solar power installations. The Department of Public Utilities is also questioning National Grid's management of its electric vehicles program and whether the company's cybersecurity plan adequately takes into account benefits for customers who are paying for the technology upgrades."
- "Bill would ensure treatment for mysterious pediatric disease," by Mary Markos, Boston Herald: "Children in agony from severe mental health issues associated with common illnesses like strep throat aren't always able to get insurance coverage for treatment. A bill being considered on Beacon Hill could change that. Crowley and her husband have three children with Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections (PANDAS); 13-year-old Will, 11-year-old Sam and 5-year-old Annie. Each child with PANDAS has one thing in common — a strep infection. The infection triggers behaviors like OCD, aggression, tics, anxiety and suicidal thoughts that can materialize in children overnight."
- "Bill pushes breast pumps for preemie moms," by Noor Adatia, Daily Hampshire Gazette: "Mothers unable to provide milk to their premature newborns may be able to do so if a bill is passed that would make insurance providers cover the cost of more durable breast pumps. Rep. Dan Carey, D-Easthampton, said he has been listening to nurses in health centers located throughout western Massachusetts to develop legislation that would allow low-income mothers rent such hospital grade pumps to use at home."
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| FROM THE HUB |
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- "Doctors, hospitals criticize new regulations for surgeries and other practices," by Jonathan Saltzman, Boston Globe: "Three months after the state medical board voted to tighten regulations on how doctors practice medicine, the rules are facing stiff resistance from Massachusetts hospitals and physicians, and it's unclear to what extent they are being obeyed. The regulations, which medical experts describe as among the most-far reaching in the country, require doctors to provide more information to patients who are considering surgery and to document each time a lead surgeon enters and leaves the operating room. They also take a hard line on doctors who come to work impaired by alcohol or drugs and who delegate duties to unlicensed practitioners."
- "Boston Is Using A Chemical Warfare Device To Help Fight Fentanyl," by Martha Bebinger, WBUR: "Sarah Mackin runs a Q-tip-type swab around the inside of a tiny plastic baggie that appears to be empty. She spreads whatever the swab picked up onto a test strip that resembles a Band-Aid. Mackin slides the test strip into a buzzing machine about the size of a boxed take-home pie. Meet the MX908. This mass spectrometer -- initially marketed to the military and hazmat crews fighting bioterrorism or explosions — may help in the fight against one of Boston's top killers: fentanyl."
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| PRIMARY SOURCES |
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- "Cicilline Says Joe Kennedy 'Would Be A Great Senator,' But Stops Short Of Endorsement," by Ian Donnis, The Public's Radio: "U.S. Rep. David Cicilline said Thursday that U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy "would be a great United States senator," but he stopped short of formally endorsing Kennedy in his high-profile run against U.S. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts. "Joe Kennedy is a great friend of mine. He has been a great member of the House," Cicilline said Thursday during an interview at The Public's Radio. "He would be a great United States senator. If I do an endorsement, I would make sure that you know it here." Kennedy and Cicilline have worked together on some issues, such as calling for a heightened emphasis on manufacturing in the U.S. They represent contiguous congressional districts."
- "Cha-ching! Shannon Liss-Riordan has loaned Senate campaign $3 million since May," by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: "Shannon Liss-Riordan, a Brookline labor attorney running in the closely watched Senate primary, gave her campaign another $2 million last month, pumping up her war chest against Senator Edward J. Markey and Representative Joseph P. Kennedy III. The sum pushes to $3 million the amount she has loaned her campaign since launching it in May. Combined with $220,000 she's raised from donors, Liss-Riordan ended September with more than $2.8 million on hand, according to preliminary fund-raising records provided by her campaign Thursday."
- "Steve Grossman Endorses Ed Markey," from the Markey campaign: "Former Massachusetts Treasurer and CEO of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City Steve Grossman endorsed U.S. Senator Ed Markey in his bid for re-election. "Ed Markey knows that today's economy isn't just about startups and the new economy," said Grossman. "He knows that in older cities and gateway communities, people are struggling."
- "Warren endorses Trahan in re-election bid," by Dan Phelps, The Lowell Sun: "U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan on Thursday received the endorsement of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren in her re-election campaign to the Third Congressional District. In a 41-second video released Thursday, Warren, a Democratic front-runner for president, says of the Westford Democrat: 'I'm very glad to endorse my friend and colleague, Lori Trahan, for re-election to Congress. As the daughter of an iron worker, Lori knows why we need to fight for working people.'"
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| ALL ABOARD |
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- "Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone calls for 'radical' changes to the MBTA," by Nik DeCosta-Klipa, Boston.com: "Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone says the MBTA's woes hit his city particularly hard. Despite the fact that it is the most densely populated community in New England, pass-through traffic makes up 83 percent of cars on the road in Somerville, according to Curtatone. That means the city depends on public transit — from the Orange Line that runs through Assembly Square to the Red Line station in Davis Square to all the bus routes in between — to move around local residents and workers as efficiently as possible."
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| DAY IN COURT |
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- "Mountain of outstanding warrants piling up," by Christian M. Wade, The Salem News: "Nearly 400,000 people are wanted by Massachusetts courts for offenses dating back half a century, as the state's backlog of outstanding arrest warrants continues to grow. There were 390,383 outstanding warrants last year, some originally issued by state courts as far back as 1970, according to data obtained from the state Executive Office of the Trial Court. That's roughly one warrant for every 18 Massachusetts residents. More than half of those, or 209,217, are "default" warrants which can be for minor offenses such as a failure to show up for a court arraignment or to respond to a summons for jury duty, or a probation violation."
- "Dorchester nonprofit files discrimination complaint against Greenway," by Brian MacQuarrie, Boston Globe: "The Dorchester nonprofit that lost its contract after maintaining the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway for 10 years filed a state complaint Thursday alleging that the Greenway and its executive director discriminated against the nonprofit and its disabled workers. James Cassetta, president of WORK Inc., told the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination that the Greenway Conservancy, which supervises the downtown Boston park, 'unlawfully severed its longstanding relationship with WORK Inc. on the basis of WORK Inc.'s association with and support of disabled persons and workers."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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- "LBGTQ forum highlights Biden and Warren's contrasting styles," by Nolan D. McCaskill, POLITICO: "The two leading contenders in the Democratic presidential primary were among nine top candidates who took questions from voters at an LGBTQ town hall in Los Angeles on Thursday hosted by CNN and the Human Rights Campaign. But while there is little separation between Biden and Warren in recent national polling and their positions on LGBTQ issues, Thursday's event provided a clear contrast between their approaches to a key campaign issue and voting bloc."
- "Elizabeth Warren picks her battles as attacks against her pick up," by Jess Bidgood, Boston Globe: "Her dismissal from a job 48 years ago had been catapulted into the news by a conservative media outlet, and she herself had just ignited a fresh round of hand-wringing about her willingness to court big donors for the Democratic Party if she is the presidential nominee. So as Senator Elizabeth Warren faced a knot of reporters after a walking tour of an environmentally degraded neighborhood here on Wednesday, she had to work to keep the focus on the matter at hand."
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| MOULTON MATTERS |
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- "Congressman and Veteran Seth Moulton on Mental Health In the Military," by Seth Moulton, Thriving Mind: "War was a whole series of contradictions. There's laughter in one moment and blood everywhere the next; the closest brotherhood and moments of abject loneliness; moments when you'd rather be anywhere else in the world and moments when you're exactly where you want to be. Death and life, sitting right next to each other. The worst days of my life were in Iraq, but some of the best were there too. Finding purpose in your work, having a daily impact on the lives of others, and doing it with some of the closest friends you'll ever know — even in the midst of a war many of us disagreed with — is an incredible life experience."
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| DATELINE D.C. |
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- "Congressional oversight committee to subpoena ICE, USCIS directors over efforts to deport sick children undergoing treatment at U.S. hospitals," by Steph Solis, MassLive.com: "A congressional committee plans to subpoena immigration officials to determine why the federal government tried to order foreigners undergoing medical treatment for severe, complex illnesses to leave the country, Rep. Elijah Cummings wrote in a memo Thursday. Cummings, a Maryland Democrat and chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, issued the memo announcing he will subpoena Ken Cuccinelli, acting director for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Matthew T. Albence, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement."
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| MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS |
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- "State marijuana commission warns of scams that target small businesses," by Jessica Bartlett, Boston Business Journal: "The Cannabis Control Commission is advising marijuana entrepreneurs to be on the lookout for scams that target small businesses in need of capital. The commission will put out a pamphlet geared to economic empowerment and social equity applicants, groups that are from areas disproportionately harmed over the past few decades by the war on drugs. Such groups have historically had less access to funding, and faced more hurdles navigating the local approval processes to get licenses."
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "'A' IS FOR ADDICT," — Globe: "Doctors, hospitals push back on new rules," "Criminal charges for 2 with ties to Giuliani," "Turning the crimson tide." |
| THE LOCAL ANGLE |
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- "Correia staves off council bid to remove him from office," by Amanda Burke and Jo C Goode, The Herald News: "Jasiel Correia II will continue to serve as Fall River's mayor. Correia, who is facing a 24-count federal indictment and a steep uphill re-election battle, won a small reprieve Thursday when a Superior Court judge ruled against the City Council's bid to temporarily remove him from office. "I'm glad to see the judge and court ruled in my favor," Correia told The Herald News Thursday afternoon. The mayor said the City Council had competent legal advice from Corporation Counsel Joseph Macy saying it could not remove Correia from office before it took the matter to court at the expense of taxpayers ."
- "Holy Cross dean relinquishes duties while handling of harassment allegation is probed," by Scott O'Connell, Telegram & Gazette: "A week after an alumna said she told Holy Cross Provost and Dean of the College Margaret Freije about a professor's harassment 22 years ago, Freije has stepped down from her role as overseer of the college's deans while the school investigates the allegation, according to a letter from the Holy Cross president, the Rev. Philip L. Boroughs. In the message, which he sent to the campus on Tuesday, Boroughs said Freije 'has asked that someone else be charged with day-to-day oversight of the work of the deans as this investigation proceeds so that the academic work of the college may continue without distraction.'"
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| MEDIA MATTERS |
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- "A Local News Experiment In Haverhill May Fall Victim To Economic Woes," by Dan Kennedy, WGBH News: "At a time when local news is in danger of being snuffed out by corporate chain ownership, WHAV Radio in Haverhill has established itself as a worthy alternative. Built by a journalist and advertising executive named Tim Coco, the independent nonprofit provides news and community information over the air and online. Now, though, the station is in crisis. Annual costs have risen to about $300,000, considerably more than the $200,000 Coco — who runs the station without a salary — has been able to generate in revenue."
REMEMBERING BILL MCGONAGLE ... from the Boston Globe: "Mr. McGonagle, who had faced down violence while at the forefront of the agency's efforts to desegregate housing projects, died Wednesday, little more than a week after learning he had pancreatic cancer. He was 67 and had lived in South Boston all his life." Link.
TRANSITIONS - Cristina Aguilera, former campaign manager for Rep. Nika Elugardo, joins Sen. Ed Markey's reelection campaign. Link.
HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY - to Laurence Tribe , the Carl M. Loeb professor at Harvard Law School, who turned 78 yesterday.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to Boston City Council at-large candidate David Halbert, and Conor Yunits.
HAPPY BIRTHWEEKEND - to Julia Leja, associate director of major giving at Boston College; Coleen Elstermeyer, deputy executive director of the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission, David Oleksak of Rep. Bill Keating's office; Meghan Aldridge, and Bethann Steiner, chief of staff to state Sen. Adam Hinds (h/t Christian Kelly).
DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? Yes and no! The Patriots beat the Giants 35-14. The Avalanche beat the Bruins 4-2.
Want to make an impact? POLITICO Massachusetts has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Bay State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you're promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness among this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com.
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A message from the American Heart Association:
Consuming sugary drinks, such as fruit drinks with added sugar, sports drinks, and soda, poses a real health risk to kids. Sugary drinks are a major contributor to the increasing rates of diabetes and heart disease. And with our country already spending $190 billion per year treating these preventable diseases, we need to address the problem. Every child deserves to grow up at a healthy weight, which means promoting healthy beverage options - like water and milk. Healthy drinks should be priced at an equal or lower cost than less healthy options. Learn more here. |
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FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE: Health care is deeply personal for most Americans and is the number one issue for many voters heading into 2020. We will bring a special edition of the POLITICO Pulse newsletter to the Milken Institute Future of Health Summit where more than 125 speakers will discuss trends in biomedical innovation, aging and longevity, health financing, philanthropy, mental health, addiction and stigma, drug pricing, food and sustainability, health data, neuroscience, and technology. Dan Diamond will take you inside this highly influential gathering and keep you apprised of the key takeaways from these important conversations. Sign up today to receive exclusive coverage of the Summit in Washington, D.C. from October 28 - 30.
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