State & Region Briefs Has hiring freeze thawed? Gov. Baker not saying In July, as the Legislature was gearing up to steamroll Gov. Charlie Baker by restoring almost all of the $265 million in budget vetoes he handed down, the governor’s team announced a hiring freeze across the executive branch. The goal was to hit a $100 million “efficiency savings” target in a state budget Baker had just signed, but one that he warned was vulnerable to spending pressures due to underfunded accounts. “We are implementing a hiring freeze for all Executive Branch agencies,” former chief human resources officer Paul Dietl wrote in a July 15 memo.