Baker joins DeLeo, cabinet members at Boston hospital

By State House News Service | January 6, 2016, 21:33 EST

House Speaker Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop) speaks with reporters Monday at the State House (State House News Service photo by Sam Doran)

BOSTON – Boston Children’s Hospital is the place to be Thursday morning. Gov. Charlie Baker, Speaker Robert DeLeo, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, Housing and Economic Development Secretary Jay Ash, Health and Human Service Secretary Marylou Sudders and executives from the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership are all expected to turn up for the launch of a digital health care initiative.

With the exception of efforts to rein in MassHealth spending and ensure a properly functioning health care enrollment website, Baker so far into his term has been relatively quiet on new ideas to modernize health care delivery and control costs.

While details of the announcement were hush-hush, Thursday could be the former Harvard Pilgrim chief executive’s chance to break out and showcase his pedigree.

Senate President Stanley Rosenberg won’t be there because he’ll be boarding a plane solo to Puerto Rico where he plans to attend the winter 2016 “Senate President’s Forum,” a national organization for leaders of state Senate’s across the country. The conference will entail presentations on budget problems facing other states, as well as U.S. relations Cuba and the economic impacts of Puerto Rico’s debt crisis.

The Transportation Committee holds an oversight hearing in the morning on Massport’s capital plan, while the Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security will take testimony on “miscellaneous” bills, including Rep. Daniel Cullinane’s proposal (H3476) to require BB guns, air rifles, and all imitation firearms to carry distinctive markings so that law enforcement can differentiate non-lethal from lethal weapons.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has already acted on imitation firearms in Boston, but House Speaker Robert DeLeo in an interview with the Boston Globe over the weekend flagged the issue as a priority as the second year of the session gets underway.

Written by Matt Murphy