#2022-5 February 18, 2022

Senate Dems Change Leadership of Six Committees; Feeney to Lead Financial Services

On Thursday, following a private caucus, Senate President Karen Spilka (D-Ashland) announced a reorganized roster of committee chairmanships.  Most importantly, Senator Brendan Crighton (D-Lynn), who served as Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Financial Services, is moving to the chairmanship of the Joint Committee on Transportation.

Replacing Senator Crighton for the remainder of the session will be Senator Paul Feeney (D-Foxborough), who had previously served as the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets; and serves as the Senate Vice Chair of the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure.  Senator Feeney was first elected to the Senate in 2017 to represent the Bristol and Norfolk District, which includes Foxborough, Medfield, Mansfield, Norton, Rehoboth, Seekonk and Walpole and portions of Attleboro and Sharon.

In addition to the change at Financial Services, Senator Nick Collins (D-Boston) will replace Senator Feeney at the Bonding Committee, Senator Michael Rush will now lead the Senate Committee on Personnel and Administration, while Senator John Keenan (D-Quincy) will become chair of the Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs.  With the passage of the Joint Rule 10 deadline on February 2, it is unclear exactly how much input the new committee chairs will have this session given that public hearing season is over, and most committees have addressed the bills before them or sought extensions.

Pension Fund to Vote Against Corporate Directors on Climate Change Grounds

The Pension Reserve Investment Management (PRIM) Board this week voted unanimously to support Treasurer Deb Goldberg’s proposal to engage in “shareholder activism” to fight climate change.  Under the new policy, PRIM, which manages the state’s $104 billion state pension fund, will no longer support corporate directors at companies that have failed to align their business plans with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.

The vote was the conclusion of a process initiated last year by Treasure Goldberg to attempt to use the size of the state’s pension fund as a weapon against climate change by building pressure from within companies to become greener, rather than withholding investments.  The new policy directs pension fund managers to use PRIM’s proxy shareholder voting rights to oppose directors at companies that have “failed to align their business plans with the goals of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as set forth in the Paris Climate Agreement, and/or that have failed to establish a plan to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.”

Treasury officials did note that any divestment from unaligned funds have been effectively tabled until at least next year as all divestment-aimed legislation was referred to further study by their respective committees.

Division of Banks to Hold Virtual Hearing on Licensing of Mortgage Lenders and Brokers

The Division of Banks announced that it will hold a virtual public hearing on Wednesday, March 16, 2022 at 10:00 AM relative to the amendments to 209 CMR 42.00: The Licensing of Mortgage Lenders and Mortgage Brokers.  

The purpose of the proposed amendments to 209 CMR 42.00 is as follows: (1) to update the definition of “mortgage broker” to provide clarity regarding which activities by entities that provide information regarding prospective borrowers, known as lead generators, would require licensure; (2) to add a new section regarding licensure exemptions; and (3) to add two definitions to the regulation that were added to G.L. c. 255E pursuant to Chapter 228 of the Acts of 2018.  These two definitions added a new mortgage licensing exemption for bona fide nonprofit affordable homeownership organizations and clarified the existing mortgage licensing exemption for instrumentalities of the United States or any state.  There are other technical updates to both regulations as well.

Written comments may be submitted to the Division on the proposed amendments until Wednesday, March 23, 2022 at 5:00 PM.

To review the public hearing notice and proposed amendments please click here.