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Opportunity, Transportation
July 26, 2018

A Public Transit that Neglects Its Public

Two of a community’s most important hubs are its colleges and hospitals. Higher education keeps a population vibrant and upwardly mobile, while access to health care keeps them well. Pioneer Institute’s municipal website, MassAnalysis, classifies Lowell, Lawrence and New Bedford as peers...
American Citizenship, Opportunity
July 24, 2018

Falsified Records & Shady Human Resources Policies: The Latest Scandal in the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner

The Office of the Medical Examiner for Massachusetts is a taxpayer-funded agency that employs 93 people and is responsible for investigating violent and unexplained deaths in Massachusetts. Last year, Dr. Mindy J. Hull was chosen to lead the agency as chief medical...
American Citizenship, Opportunity
May 2, 2018

How does the Commonwealth Pay for Roads?

Maintaining, safe, efficient public infrastructure challenges local, state and federal governments alike. Communities need to build new core public assets to support growing populations while maintaining those that are aging. Accomplishing those goals eats into local public works budgets. The Commonwealth provides...
American Citizenship, Opportunity, Pioneer Legal
April 4, 2018

Time to End Legislative Exemptions from Public Records & Open Meeting Laws

Under Massachusetts law, the state Legislature is not considered a “public body” in the traditional sense, and therefore enjoys exemptions from open meeting and public records laws. Pioneer Institute believes this is unconstitutional. The state constitution says the Legislature should be accountable to...
American Citizenship
May 24, 2017

MA Colleges Spend Tens of Thousands in Taxpayer Money on Celebrity Commencement Speakers

Graduation season is in full swing, and as a hotbed of higher education, Greater Boston sees hundreds of thousands of students matriculate each spring. These festivities bring visiting parents, landscaped campuses, and, of course, commencement speakers. Celebrity speakers have long been a...
American Citizenship, Opportunity
January 25, 2017

Auditing the New Transparency Law: Where are the Records Access Officers?

With the advent of the Baker administration, Massachusetts transparency advocates were optimistic that the statute governing public records requests would be among the laws targeted for overhaul.  The optimism proved somewhat warranted as the legislature and Governor Baker were able to reach...
American Citizenship
August 15, 2016

How Legislators’ Late Session Scramble affects Government Transparency

Now that there has been sufficient time for experts and the media to review the various bills that the 189th General Court passed in its “Race to Recess”, it’s time to focus on the process itself. The late session scramble to pass...
American Citizenship, Opportunity
July 5, 2016

Volatility and Expansion at the MassCEC

This blog entry was edited from its original version on July 28, 2016. In 2008, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Technology Center (MassCEC) was established by the state Legislature, and it opened its doors the following year. The center’s mission is to promote...
American Citizenship, Opportunity
July 24, 2015

An Open Request to the State Ethics Commission

When the State Ethics Commission was created in 1978 under Section 2 of Chapter 268B of Massachusetts General Laws, it aimed to establish meaningful transparency. The law required every public official and candidate for public office to submit a yearly Statement of...