Charlie Baker

The House and Senate are sending Gov. Charlie Baker a bill to borrow and spend more than...

Gov. Charlie Baker agreed to a major increase in state spending Thursday, signing a $52.7 billion annual budget, vetoing less than half a million dollars of spending, and returning 41 sections to the Legislature with amendments.

As Gov. Charlie Baker signed a ban on school or athletic event discrimination based on hairstyles, Deanna Cook was taken back to the first time she got detention as a high school sophomore because her braids did not conform to her school's policy.

The final week for major action on Beacon Hill started off much the way last week ended: with lawmakers waiting, waiting and waiting some more for deals to emerge and an irate governor taking rare shots at the Legislature.

The House on Monday advanced an economic development bill that invests $350 million in hospitals, $100 million in port development, $175 million in housing development and more than $3 billion in other areas, all while rolling out a series of one-time tax rebates and permanent tax breaks.

The right to an abortion is codified into Massachusetts law, even if Roe v. Wade gets overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court later this summer.

A pair of multibillion-dollar borrowing and spending bills that feature among Gov. Charlie Baker's top priorities each cleared another legislative hurdle, though the outgoing governor is unlikely to be thrilled by the way the bills changed -- or stayed the same -- along the way.

Six years after cannabis legalization, the fledgling industry remains unequal. But two new bills aim to make good on that promise of bringing equity.

Gov. Charlie Baker on Friday vetoed a bill making immigrants without legal status eligible to seek state-issued driver's licenses, saying the Registry of Motor Vehicles, an agency that he oversees, doesn't have the ability to verify the identities of potential applicants.

A $3.5 billion economic development bill that Gov. Charlie Baker announced on Thursday looks to chart a post-pandemic pathway for Massachusetts with investments in housing, downtown revitalization and climate resilience, administration officials said.