A state senator is calling for a new safety oversight authority of the MBTA days before he chairs a legislative hearing looking into whether the Department of Public Utilities should continue in that role.
“I like the model of the semi-autonomous state commission,” said Mike Barrett, Senate chair of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities & Energy. “I think of the Office of Campaign & Political Finance or the inspector general’s office or the Ethics Commission.”
“If the feds are looking for safety oversight to enjoy some separation from gubernatorial power, quasi-independent models offer a path forward,” he added.
Whether the DPU should continue to serve as the “commonwealth’s watchdog over safety on the MBTA,” as the office of Barrett and House Chair Jeff Roy put it, will be the focus of the joint committee’s hearing on Thursday morning.
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