On August 6, 2024, Governor Maura Healy signed the Affordable Homes Act (“AHA”), which includes $5.1B in authorizations and 9 new policy initiatives to address the affordability of housing in the Commonwealth. You can read the AHA here. Municipalities all need to be aware of 4 substantive changes to… READ MORE
A unanimous Supreme Court recently reaffirmed the longstanding principle that government officials who use the power of their office to punish or suppress the views of private organizations by threatening their business partners violate the First Amendment. This is true even if the official is investigating “concededly illegal” activities. This… READ MORE
Municipalities cannot rely on aircraft noise or expenditure of municipal resources to establish standing when they challenge a final order by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), according to a recent decision by the First Circuit Court of Appeals. See Town of Milton v. Federal Aviation Administration, 87 F.4th 91 (1st… READ MORE
Introduction This week, in federal court in Massachusetts, a number of out-of-state pig farmers filed a motion seeking to prevent enforcement of a Massachusetts law, originally enacted by ballot initiative, that prohibits the sale of certain agricultural products produced from animals confined in a “cruel… READ MORE
In a decision that threatens to make local politics more contentious, the SJC unanimously held that municipalities could not require speakers to be civil during public comment sessions. At issue in Barron v. Kolenda, was the Southborough Select Board’s public participation policy that required “that all remarks and dialog in… READ MORE
At a time when Towns are increasingly wary of potentially inflammatory political statements by their employees, a Massachusetts court has raised a warning flag for Towns considering discipline as a result of those statements. A Cambridge police officer filed suit against the City, alleging it had violated his constitutional free… READ MORE
On August 10, 2022, the Executive Office of Housing & Economic Development (“EOHED”) and Department of Housing and Community Development (“DHCD”) issued final guidelines for cities and towns to implement Section 3A of the Zoning Act (“Section 3A”) as required under the Governor’s Housing Choice legislation. DHCD had… READ MORE
On July 29, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld rules set by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requiring drones to have remote identification (Remote ID) technology. In Brennan v. Dickson, the D.C. Circuit rejected constitutional and procedural challenges to the Remote ID Rule… READ MORE
Under a longstanding doctrine known as legislative immunity, legislators are generally immune from liability for their official acts. A derivative doctrine, legislative privilege, creates a privilege against giving evidence on official legislative acts. Recently, in Abuzahra v. City of Cambridge, the Appeals Court formally recognized the legislative privilege in… READ MORE
Any municipality must give notice of hearings on requests for zoning relief. Defective notice, however, does not necessarily send a municipality back to the drawing board. In a recent case, Markham v. Pittsfield Cellular Telephone Company, the Appeals Court concluded that regardless of whether Pittsfield had sent abutters notice… READ MORE