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CLT UPDATE
Sunday, August 9, 2020
Conference Committees
Suspense Continues
Jump directly
to CLT's Commentary on the News
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Most Relevant News Excerpts
(Full news reports follow
Commentary)
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As the summer
heated up and infection rates went down, Massachusetts got
footloose before it was COVID free. And now the state could
be on the verge of paying for it.
Gov. Charlie
Baker, in his most scolding tone yet, rolled back
outdoor gathering size limits from 100 people to 50, and
said he was giving state and local police the authority
to enforce those limits on public and private property.
Indoors limits will remain at 25....
The
Legislature has employed a hybrid model of in-person and
remote participation during the pandemic, but in what
was supposed to be the first full week of a five-month
recess there wasn't much of either going on.
Last week, the
House and Senate made sure to give their negotiators
every second available before the faux midnight deadline
to strike a deal on police reform, transportation
spending, telehealth or economic development. They did
this knowing they had already extended the session,
giving themselves ample more time.
Seven days
later and the Legislature is in the same place it was
last Friday night - waiting.
"We will let
the conferees do their magic and hopefully get something
done and pass it," Senate President Karen Spilka said at
the start of the week. "If it's done next week, two
weeks, that's when we will come back to do it."
Instead of
shrinking, the number of conference committees actually
grew with a fifth piece of legislation dealing with
climate change moving into talks between the branches.
Sen. Michael
Barrett and Rep. Thomas Golden, the co-chair of the
Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy,
are leading those talks, with support from Senate
Majority Leader Cynthia Creem, Speaker Pro Tempore
Patricia Haddad, House Minority Leader Brad Jones and
Sen. Patrick O'Connor....
Baker finally
put his signature on a three-month, $16.5 billion
interim budget that leaders say will carry state
government through October, but the governor rejected an
Oct. 31 sunset on the authorization, and said the
Legislature's attempts to impose minimum spending
thresholds stepped on his toes at a time when he needed
flexibility to manage through a pandemic and fiscal
crisis.
The bill
sought to restrict Baker from spending less on any line
item than either the fiscal 2020 budget or what the
governor proposed in January in his House 2 budget.
Leaders,
however, have been silent since Baker sent that proposal
back with an amendment in which he pledged to report to
them if he finds ways to accomplish the same goals while
spending less.
State House
News Service
Friday, August 7, 2020
Weekly Roundup - A Fork In the Road
By Matt Murphy
The calendar in an
election year said August, but for the first time in 25
years legislators did not know if or when they might be
called back to Beacon Hill to vote on highly sensitive and
important bills dealing with everything from police reform
and climate change to how to spend billions of tax dollars
on transportation in the coming years.
Those with
re-election challenges returned to the trail knowing
that the record voters will judge them on later this
summer and fall is not complete, and those negotiating
legislation on behalf of their House and Senate
colleagues no longer have a looming deadline, giving
them more flexibility, but also less of an incentive to
compromise quickly.
Essentially,
what the next five months will look like is anybody's
guess....
The House and
Senate jointly agreed last week to extend formal
sessions through the remainder of the year, plunging
Beacon Hill into something of a blackout period, with no
more public hearings on the schedule and conference
committee negotiations playing out behind closed doors
where the potential for leadership to cut deals or bring
new issues to the table for votes remains unchecked.
The audible by
Democratic leadership into a more open-ended work
schedule may have given some advocates new hope that the
clock hadn't run out on their issue after all, but
Spilka was clear early Saturday morning that her
chamber's agenda won't necessarily grow to fill the
extra time lawmakers have afforded themselves.
The issues
Spilka said she's most interested in moving forward are
all the ones you would expect: the overdue fiscal 2021
budget, responding to the fluid situation around the
COVID-19 pandemic, and getting bills in (or soon to be
in) conference committees -- policing reform, health
care, economic development and housing, transportation
spending and climate policy -- to the governor's desk.
That means
other issues with strong support, like legalizing
driver's licenses for immigrants without proper
documentation or expanding abortion rights, might not
get the attention some are hoping they will during this
extended period of formal sessions.
There's also
the questions of how the House will approach these
extended sessions, which carry with them the possibility
of the same type of lame-duck session in November that
prompted the Legislature in 1995 to enact the rule they
followed until this year to wrap up formal lawmaking on
July 31.
State House
News Service
Monday, August 3, 2020
Beacon Hill Awaits “Magic” From Conference Committees
Big Bills Under Negotiation During Campaign Season
The lawmakers
named to hammer out a compromise climate policy bill for
the House and Senate will likely have their hands full.
Both chambers passed legislation to put Massachusetts on
a path towards net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, but
negotiators will have a wide array of other issues to
reconcile as advocates and business groups lobby for
their priorities.
The Senate
overwhelmingly passed a package of climate bills in
January that called for net-zero carbon emissions by
2050, and set deadlines for the state to impose
carbon-pricing mechanisms for transportation, commercial
buildings and homes. The House, which had earlier passed
a $1.3 billion climate adaptation bill, on Friday night
passed its response to the main Senate proposal,
addressing the 2050 emissions reduction roadmap, solar
energy net metering, grid modernization, workforce
development, energy efficiency, and municipal electric
and light plant clean energy targets.
Now, it will
be up to six lawmakers-to-be-named-later to work through
the differences between the House and Senate bills and
to come up with a compromise version that can pass both
chambers.
State House
News Service
Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Conferees to Outline Path to Snuff Out Carbon Emissions
Lawmakers Need 30-Year Plan to Hit 2050 Goal
Last week, the
state House of Representatives approved a sweeping
climate change bill that puts Massachusetts on a path
toward net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and sets
targets for solar energy expansion, power grid
modernization and energy efficiency.
The Senate
approved an even more aggressive bill in January, before
the coronavirus outbreak, also calling for net-zero
carbon emissions by 2050 and deadlines for the state to
impose carbon-pricing plans for the transportation
sector, commercial buildings and homes.
Differences
between the bills must still be worked out by a
six-member conference committee, and advocates on both
sides are gearing up for a behind-the-scenes fight.
Critics of the
plans say they will raise energy prices and create other
costs for businesses and consumers by limiting the kinds
of appliances they can buy.
"Businesses
are struggling to keep their doors open at this point,"
said Chris Carlozzi, state director for the National
Federation of Independent Businesses. "Tacking on any
additional costs would be very problematic."
He said
environmental and energy policies that drive up costs
will hold back the economy....
Gov. Charlie
Baker and legislative leaders agreed to push for a
"net-zero" carbon economy by 2050, where emissions from
gas-guzzling cars and home heating oil are substantially
replaced by electric vehicles and by energy from wind,
solar and other renewable sources.
To help
accomplish that, the House and Senate proposals would
authorize a carbon-pricing system, such as the regional
Transportation and Climate Initiative the Baker
administration has championed.
Baker has
scoffed at the idea of increasing taxes amid the
pandemic, but he still supports the regional initiative
that would be funded, in part, by increasing gas taxes.
The
conservative Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance said plans
being negotiated by lawmakers would be a "back door" to
climate tax proposals that will drive up costs.
"The sheer
amount of new and higher taxes, along with the increased
layers of regulations, will position Massachusetts as
the most expensive and highly taxed state in the
country," said MassFiscal spokesman Paul Craney.
The Salem
News
Friday, August 7, 2020
Critics warn of cost of climate change bills
The House and
Senate on Thursday established a fifth major conference
committee to develop consensus legislation addressing
carbon emissions and renewable energy and positioning
the state to better adapt to climate change.
The new
conference panel will be chaired by Telecommunications,
Utilities and Energy Committee Co-chairs Rep. Thomas
Golden of Lowell and Sen. Michael Barrett of Lexington.
They will be joined by Sens. Cindy Creem and Patrick
O'Connor, and Reps. Patricia Haddad and Brad Jones.
The
Legislature failed this year to complete work ahead of a
July 31 deadline on four other priority bills addressing
health care, economic development and housing,
transportation spending, and policing accountability.
But instead of
letting those bills die, as lawmakers do every two years
with major proposals that don't clear the branches by
July 31, the House and Senate last week voted to extend
formal sessions for the rest of 2020....
The unusual
situation, which comes amid an intensifying election
year, means Democratic legislative leaders expect to
call lawmakers back into formal sessions to consider
conference committee compromises if and when agreements
emerge from the six-member panels. The panels operate in
complete secrecy, with members often unwilling to even
outline differences in their bills, much less the status
of negotiations or hangups.
Joint
legislative rules require all conference committee
meetings to be open to the public unless members vote to
close meetings. In recent years, with few exceptions,
legislators have quickly closed their meetings....
The conference
panels hold tremendous power in part because of a rule
that states their reports, if agreed to by a majority of
House and Senate conference members, "may be either
accepted or rejected, but no other action shall be had,
except through a new committee of conference." In
practice, Joint Rule 11 means the House and Senate face
a single up-or-down vote on conference reports, which
are routinely adopted.
State House
News Service
Thursday, August 6, 2020
SHNS Conference Committee Scorecard
Five Major Panels Under Pressure to Produce Big
Agreements
As the
coronavirus hammers the economy, Beacon Hill leaders are
trying to keep the state government afloat with a series
of interim budgets pending a possible federal bailout.
The latest is
a three-month, $16.5 billion spending package awaiting
approval by Gov. Charlie Baker that maintains funding
for the state through Oct. 31.
Baker has
signed two other short-term spending bills since late
June, when lawmakers missed the deadline to approve a
fiscal year 2021 state budget.
Beacon Hill
fiscal watchers say the state has little choice but to
enact interim budgets.
"There's so
much up in the air right now," said Eileen McAnneny,
president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.
"This will provide some stability for the state and
local governments while they wait for details of a
federal aid package."
The state is
also waiting to see how much it collects in income taxes
following the July 15 filing deadline, which was
extended by 90 days....
House and
Senate leaders have agreed to continue work on the
budget and other major bills past a July 31 deadline to
recess from formal sessions.
Without
federal relief, observers say the state faces a gaping
revenue shortfall that could prompt deep spending cuts
and tax increases.
The Taxpayers
Foundation predicts Massachusetts will see a $6 billion
drop in tax revenues in the current fiscal year, which
could sink further depending on how long people are out
of work or if a second wave of infections prompts the
state to rollback its reopening plans.
The Salem
News
Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Short-term budgets keep state afloat
Gov. Charlie
Baker signed a $16.53 billion interim budget on Tuesday
that will keep state government operating through at
least the end of October, but he rejected a firm
deadline of Oct. 31 for the funding to expire and said
the Legislature's attempt to impose minimum spending
requirements would "unduly" limit his authority to
manage state spending over the next three months.
The governor's
signature on the bulk of the spending bill ensures that
the Legislature will not have to return until at least
the fall to either debate and pass a fiscal 2021
spending bill, or approve another extension that would
push decisions on new taxes, spending cuts or the use of
reserves until after the elections....
The governor
in July filed a second one-month budget to cover
payroll, local aid and other government services through
August, but instead of going month-to-month the House
and Senate last week passed a spending bill with enough
money to cover three months of spending.
State House
News Service
Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Baker Rejects Spending Orders, Signs Interim Budget
Three-Month Bill Covers Spending 'til Election Time
Massachusetts
recorded $4.456 billion in tax collections in July, with
just more than half of that money being counted towards
the budget year that ended June 30 about $3 billion
short of expectations.
The Department
of Revenue said approximately $2.293 billion or roughly
51 percent of July's collections came from income tax
payments and refunds originally due in fiscal year 2020
but received in the first month of fiscal year 2021
because the Legislature and governor extended filing
deadlines due to the pandemic.
About $2.163
billion in July revenue will be counted towards fiscal
2021, including an estimated $50 million in corporate
and business taxes that were deferred from the spring
when state waived penalties for late filing and payment,
DOR said. Once the numbers are adjusted for tax
deferrals, tax collections last month were about $88
million or 4.3 percent higher than the equivalent tax
collections in July 2019, DOR said.
"July total
collections were also boosted by corporate and business
tax payments attributable to returns due in April, which
will be recorded as FY21 revenue, following the waiver
of late filing and payment penalties in connection with
such returns," Revenue Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder
said. "Sales and use tax revenue also increased as
compared to the same period in 2019, despite the
deferral of certain regular sales, meals, and room tax
payments from FY2020 to FY2021, which are due in
September."
In late July,
revenue officials said incomplete revenue collections
for the fiscal year that ended June 30 totaled $27.276
billion, which was $3.014 billion or 9.9 percent below
what budget managers were expecting when they crafted
the $43.3 billion state budget in early 2019. The $2.293
billion of fiscal year 2020 revenue that DOR collected
in July will help plug some of that gap.
The state also
has $3.5 billion stashed away in its rainy day fund that
could be used to address budget shortfalls in fiscal
year 2020 and beyond.
State House
News Service
Thursday, August 6, 2020
July Tax Haul Plugs Some of Fiscal 2020 Deficit
Adjusted Numbers Show 4.3 Percent Growth from July 2019
Gov. Charlie
Baker on Friday issued a slew of new enforcement
measures — including the creation of a “COVID
Enforcement and Intervention Team.”
The
multi-agency squad is expected to help increase
enforcement of public health rules statewide and
coordinate local interventions in communities labeled as
“higher-risk” due to their numbers of new cases and
percentages of positive tests.
The Executive
Office and Public Safety and Security and the
Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency will
coordinate the effort....
The team will
also augment the ABCC’s existing ability to levy fines,
and suspend or revoke liquor licenses of establishments
that don’t comply with safety measures.
The Boston
Herald
Friday, August 7, 2020
Massachusetts now has a ‘COVID Enforcement and
Intervention Team’
Gov. Charlie
Baker is indefinitely postponing the second step of
Phase 3 of his coronavirus reopening plan, limiting the
size of outdoor gatherings and stepping up police
enforcement of public health orders as the state works
to regain control over the deadly virus.
“The notable
decline in COVID in Massachusetts, especially in
comparison to many other states, has caused some
residents to feel a bit too relaxed about the
seriousness of this virus,” Baker said in a press
conference Friday, adding that the state is entering a
“new phase in our battle against COVID-19.”
Delaying step
two of Phase 3 pushes off indoor shows at performance
venues and further postpones activities like laser tag
and roller skating.
Outdoor
gathering sizes will be rolled back to 50 people from
100, while indoor gathering sizes remain capped at 25
people. Face coverings are required when more than 10
people from different households will be in the same
place. The rules apply on both public and private
property.
Restaurant
guidelines are also being updated to make it clear that
alcoholic beverages can only be served with food
prepared on-site — not bags of chips — and that “bars
masquerading as restaurants also need to be closed,”
Baker said.
State and
local police will now be enforcing public health orders
alongside local inspectors and boards of health.
“Event hosts
who violate the orders will be subject to fines” of up
to $500 per violation, according to Baker’s new rules
that go into effect Tuesday.
Baker also
said he expects there to be a “far more coordinated and
significant presence between our colleagues in law
enforcement” and the Alcoholic Beverages Control
Commission, “which has the authority to take licenses
away from people and issue much bigger fines.”
The Boston
Herald
Friday, August 7, 2020
Charlie Baker indefinitely postpones second step of
Phase 3 in Massachusetts,
ramps up coronavirus enforcement as cases climb
Gov. Charlie
Baker, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and all the rest of
these hack Northeastern governors and mayors closing
down their borders don’t seem to grasp their real
problem going forward.
Comrades, it’s
not people trying to sneak into your economically
devastated, fun-phobic police states that you have to
worry about.
Your dilemma
going forward will be trying to prevent your oppressed,
unemployed subjects from fleeing in ever-greater numbers
from the ruination your crackpot policies have visited
upon them.
Let me put it
another way: did the Communists build the Berlin Wall to
keep people from coming into East Germany, or escaping
from it?
Is the
population of Venezuela going up, or down?
When Charlie
Parker finally sets up his first Checkpoint Charlie at
Logan Airport, the only business will be at the gates
for the outgoing flights....
Right now,
Bill de Blasio has put forth the nuttiest plan. Like,
who do you know who was planning to visit New York City
anyway? You don’t have to go to the Big Apple to get
shot — you can get murdered in any blue city in America,
and you don’t have to wait out a 14-day quarantine.
De Blasio, of
course, went to high school in Cambridge, just as
Charlie Parker and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy went to
high school in Needham. Why are the worst people in
politics so often from Massachusetts?
These de
Blasio orders are so catastrophic that even that
monumental dunce, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has
figured out that the “Empire State” is circling the
drain. He’s publicly begging rich people not to flee.
He’ll buy ’em a drink, he’ll cook dinner for ’em.
The Boston
Herald
Friday, August 7, 2020
Region’s governors, mayors have gone over the edge
By Howie Carr
American
employers added nearly 1.8 million jobs in July while
the unemployment rate declined to 10.2 percent,
restoring another chunk of the jobs lost during the
pandemic but at a slower pace than in recent months.
The 1.76
million positions added are more than three times the
gains as any pre-pandemic month since 2000, but the
boost also lags behind the 2.7 million jobs added in May
and the 4.8 million added in June, according to federal
data published Friday.
Altogether,
the three continuous months of rising employment have
clawed back less than half of the historic 21.3 million
jobs cut in April, when many businesses were ordered to
close physical operations to slow the spread of
COVID-19....
Officials will
publish July employment numbers and unemployment rates
for all 50 states on Aug. 21. In June, Massachusetts had
the highest unemployment rate in the nation at 17.4
percent, even though the state's businesses added a
record 83,700 jobs.
State House
News Service
Friday, August 7, 2020
National Job Growth Continues, But at Slower Pace
U.S. Unemployment Rate Dropped to 10.2 Percent in July
If
Massachusetts were a diner, it’s motto would be “Home of
the World’s Most Expensive ‘Free Lunch.’”
Massachusetts
liberals love giving money away and leaving
Massachusetts taxpayers holding the tab. But thanks to
the COVID-19 crisis, they’ve found a way to game the
system and leave the free-lunch check on someone else’s
table:
New Hampshire.
Turns out that
since March, Charlie Baker and Co. have been collecting
their 5% “commuter tax” from New Hampshire workers who
haven’t crossed the state line in months. Baker ordered
Granite Staters to stay home, then announced the state’s
going to tax them as though they are working here,
anyway.
Imagine
opening your mail and finding a meals-tax bill from
Boston based on how often you used to eat out before
Mayor Marty shut down your favorite restaurant, and
you’ve got the picture.
According to
the Department of Revenue’s edict, and I quote:
“For the
duration of the Massachusetts COVID-19 state of
emergency, all compensation received for personal
services performed by a non-resident who, immediately
prior to the state of emergency, was an employee engaged
in performing such services in Massachusetts … will
continue to be treated as Massachusetts source income
subject to personal income tax.” ...
This isn’t the
first time Massachusetts has messed with New Hampshire.
Remember when Gov. Deval Patrick tried to pursue taxes
on out-of-state purchases by Massachusetts residents in
the Town Fair Tire case? (The Massachusetts courts shot
him down.)
And I love the
stories of Gov. Meldrim Thomson threatening to sic New
Hampshire staties on Massachusetts revenuers spying on
Bay Staters crossing the border for cheaper booze back
in the ’70s.
Not
surprisingly, New Hampshire doesn’t like it any more
this time around. Republican Gov. Chris Sununu announced
his Department of Justice is going to review the MA
DOR’s actions to see if they’re “engaging in improper
taxation of our citizens.” ...
Massachusetts
doesn’t have to. Even the liberal city of Philadelphia,
with the highest wage tax in the country (about 3.5% for
commuters), is letting suburbanites forced to work from
home request a rebate for their time locked out of the
city.
Not
Massachusetts. Instead, Charlie Baker embraces the
Big-Lie approach: Working from home in Nashua? That
counts as Massachusetts, so pay up. Who you gonna
believe — me, or your lyin’ GPS?
What makes
this move by money-grubbing Massachusetts liberals so
perfect is that everybody knows they’re lying. That
these workers aren’t actually commuters, that they don’t
owe the money Massachusetts is taking from them.
Right now
there’s some low-wage single mom in Salem, N.H., trying
to do her job on the family laptop she’s forced to share
with her “remote-learning” kids, and the Baker
administration is re-inventing reality just to shake her
down for Happy Meal money.
All in the
name of progressive liberalism, of course.
You can’t make
this stuff up, folks. Well, except in Massachusetts,
where they make stuff up all the time.
The Boston
Herald
Thursday, August 6, 2020
Bay State border-jumping tax grab way out of bounds
By Michael Graham
Before the
coronavirus kept us all housebound, thousands of New
Hampshire commuters streamed south each morning to work
at Massachusetts businesses — and paid the income tax to
prove it.
But now a
border war is brewing over that lucrative prize.
Since the
COVID-19 pandemic started, Governor Charlie Baker’s
administration has made it clear it will continue to tax
out-of-state residents who normally go to work in
Massachusetts each morning, even if they’re stuck at
home.
That didn’t
cause much of a stir back in the spring, when it seemed
like the coronavirus would be gone by Labor Day. But it
is causing a stir now.
Baker’s
Department of Revenue said on July 21 that it wants to
keep collecting these income taxes, probably until the
end of the year. Before COVID hit, New Hampshire
residents who worked for a Massachusetts employer could
adjust their income tax liability downward to reflect
any days they spent working from home (and perhaps avoid
the state tax entirely). The Baker administration’s
approach essentially treats these new at-home days as
in-office days, if people are home specifically because
of the pandemic.
That isn’t
sitting well with politicians in New Hampshire. They
argue these constituents should benefit from their
state’s longstanding tradition of not imposing a
broad-based income tax, now that they are not schlepping
into Massachusetts every weekday.
Governor Chris
Sununu this week directed the New Hampshire attorney
general to review the taxation rules issued by
neighboring states to ensure New Hampshire residents
aren’t being improperly taxed, and to determine the
legality of these border-state rules. The Republican
governor’s brief statement on the matter didn’t mention
Massachusetts by name. But it didn’t need to: An
estimated 84,000 New Hampshire residents regularly
commuted to Massachusetts in normal times, roughly four
times the total of commuters to all other states.
Sununu’s
action followed a story last weekend in the Union
Leader, the state’s largest newspaper, about the Baker
administration’s approach to collecting income taxes
from New Hampshire residents.
Meanwhile, the
two top Democrats on the New Hampshire Senate’s ways and
means and finance committees fired off a brief letter to
Geoffrey Snyder, Baker’s revenue commissioner, on
Wednesday. The letter slammed the Baker administration’s
plans to collect income taxes from New Hampshire
residents who are working remotely because of the
pandemic through the end of the year, or 90 days after
Baker ends the state of emergency, whichever comes
first. Snyder’s agency plans to hold a virtual public
hearing to discuss the issue on Aug. 27.
In an
interview, Senator Dan Feltes said he and Senator Lou
D’Allesandro wrote to Snyder because of the upcoming
hearing, and because the Baker administration’s approach
to taxing telecommuters is getting more serious now.
“The notion
that New Hampshire residents who are, in many cases,
doing the safe thing [and staying home] and are getting
penalized for doing that, is anti-worker and anti-public
health,” said Feltes, who is hoping to challenge Sununu
in the fall for the governor’s seat. “It seems like a
prelude to a long-term rule that hurts New Hampshire
workers.”
A spokeswoman
for Baker’s Department of Revenue didn’t have much to
say about the criticism, other than to note that the
agency’s approach is intended to minimize disruption for
employers and employees during the pandemic.
The Boston
Globe
Friday, August 7, 2020
Massachusetts wants to keep taxing telecommuters from
N.H., stirring up a new kind of border war
Mass. Department of Revenue faces criticism for
collecting income tax on out-of-state workers stuck at
home.
But it's a broader issue for remote work.
|
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
What's wrong with the
Legislature's massive must-pass bills? They have such
specific titles, but it's what's hidden within them,
stealthily buried among multitudes of pages, that jumps out
— upon close scrutiny.
How did a sneak attack on Proposition 2½
get secreted into the Senate Transportation Bond bill (S-2813,
Section 5)?
How did a stealth
gas tax get inserted into the House Climate Change mitigation
bill (H-4912,
Section 4)? This gives the Governor (at this time that would
be Charlie Baker, lead advocate of the Transportation Climate
Initiative — (TCI) — and its gas and diesel fuel tax hikes)
unilateral power through his secretary to impose those taxes.
According to the referenced
Mass. General Laws Chapter 21N in the bill, under "Definitions"
it states: ''Secretary'', the secretary of energy and
environmental affairs. Today that would be Baker appointee
Secretary Kathleen Theoharides. This new power will pass on to
the next governor, and the next governor's secretary.
Both are now in
joint House-Senate conference committees where whether the proposals
remain or not will be determined.
Conference
committees are the most secretive, unaccountable and undemocratic
processes in state government. (And that's saying a lot!)
The State House
News Service report on Thursday ("SHNS Conference Committee
Scorecard") noted:
. . . The
unusual situation, which comes amid an intensifying election
year, means Democratic legislative leaders expect to call
lawmakers back into formal sessions to consider conference
committee compromises if and when agreements emerge from the
six-member panels. The panels operate in complete secrecy,
with members often unwilling to even outline differences in
their bills, much less the status of negotiations or hangups.
Joint
legislative rules require all conference committee meetings
to be open to the public unless members vote to close
meetings. In recent years, with few exceptions,
legislators have quickly closed their meetings.
Rules also
state that "matters on which there exists no disagreement
between the branches shall not be disturbed by the committee on
conference," and further require that "no report from a
committee of conference shall be considered or acted upon by
either branch until the calendar day following the day on which
said report shall have been available to the public and to the
members of the General Court."
The rules
require that conferences file their reports no later than 8 p.m.
on the day preceding its consideration and that the Legislature
not consider reports before 1 p.m. on the following day, a rule
that has often been suspended.
The conference
panels hold tremendous power in part because of a rule that
states their reports, if agreed to by a majority of House and
Senate conference members, "may be either accepted or rejected,
but no other action shall be had, except through a new committee
of conference." In practice, Joint Rule 11 means the House
and Senate face a single up-or-down vote on conference reports,
which are routinely adopted.
What a conference
committee serves up is literally assured to be quickly
rubber-stamped, immediately passed by the House and Senate then will
become law — within a day or two of its release.
There are only
six Transportation Bond Bill conference committee members, and now
only they can prevent the stealth assault on Proposition 2½.
They and they alone hold its fate in their hands:
You might
want to contact each of them and plead for consideration,
and mercy.
What's with these "30-year
plans"?
The Climate Change mitigation plan is
supposed to reach zero-emissions within 30 years.
The new Proposition 2½
end-run — "Local and Regional Transportation Initiatives" — would
allow municipalities to raise the property, auto excise, sales, or
room occupancy tax to fund "transportation-related" projects on a
single vote by residents to bypass Prop 2½
for up to 30 years. (In three decades how many will remember
that their property tax used to pay for the town highway
department?)
Despite
the Wuhan Chinese Pandemic, Gov. Baker's 5-month lockdown,
and the highest unemployment of any state in the nation,
though $3 Billion short of "expectation" somehow
Massachusetts revenue is still coming in over and beyond
what came in by this time last year (July 2019), according
to the state Department of Revenue. On Thursday
the State House News Service reported ("July Tax Haul Plugs
Some of Fiscal 2020 Deficit; Adjusted Numbers Show 4.3
Percent Growth from July 2019"):
Massachusetts recorded $4.456 billion in tax collections
in July, with just more than half of that money being
counted towards the budget year that ended June 30 about
$3 billion short of expectations. . . . Once the
numbers are adjusted for tax deferrals, tax collections
last month were about $88 million or 4.3 percent higher
than the equivalent tax collections in July 2019,
[Department of Revenue] said.
State House reporter Christian
Wade of The Salem News reported on Friday ("Critics warn of
cost of climate change bills"):
Last week, the state House of Representatives approved a
sweeping climate change bill that puts Massachusetts on a path
toward net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and sets targets for
solar energy expansion, power grid modernization and energy
efficiency.
The Senate approved an even more aggressive bill in January,
before the coronavirus outbreak, also calling for net-zero
carbon emissions by 2050 and deadlines for the state to impose
carbon-pricing plans for the transportation sector, commercial
buildings and homes.
Differences between the bills must still be worked out by a
six-member conference committee, and advocates on both sides are
gearing up for a behind-the-scenes fight.
Critics of the plans say they will raise energy prices and
create other costs for businesses and consumers by limiting the
kinds of appliances they can buy.
"Businesses are struggling to keep their doors open at this
point," said Chris Carlozzi, state director for the National
Federation of Independent Businesses. "Tacking on any
additional costs would be very problematic."
He said environmental and energy policies that drive up costs
will hold back the economy....
Baker has scoffed at the idea of increasing taxes amid the
pandemic, but he still supports the regional initiative that
would be funded, in part, by increasing gas taxes.
The conservative Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance said plans being
negotiated by lawmakers would be a "back door" to climate tax
proposals that will drive up costs.
"The sheer amount of new and higher taxes, along with the
increased layers of regulations, will position Massachusetts as
the most expensive and highly taxed state in the country," said
MassFiscal spokesman Paul Craney.
Here are the six members of the Climate
Change Conference Committee who are deciding your fate and future:
The imperious Gov. Charlie
Baker has issued a new royal edict and is sending forth
swarms of his agents to enforce it. The Boston Herald
reported on Friday ("Charlie Baker indefinitely postpones
second step of Phase 3 in Massachusetts, ramps up
coronavirus enforcement as cases climb"):
Gov. Charlie Baker is indefinitely
postponing the second step of Phase 3 of his coronavirus
reopening plan, limiting the size of outdoor gatherings
and stepping up police enforcement of public health
orders as the state works to regain control over the
deadly virus. . . .
State and local police will now be
enforcing public health orders alongside local
inspectors and boards of health.
“Event hosts who violate the orders
will be subject to fines” of up to $500 per violation,
according to Baker’s new rules that go into effect
Tuesday.
Baker also said he expects there to
be a “far more coordinated and significant presence
between our colleagues in law enforcement” and the
Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, “which has the
authority to take licenses away from people and issue
much bigger fines.”
The State House News
Service reported on Friday ("National Job Growth Continues, But at
Slower Pace - U.S. Unemployment Rate Dropped to 10.2 Percent in
July"):
Officials will publish July employment numbers and unemployment
rates for all 50 states on Aug. 21. In June, Massachusetts had
the highest unemployment rate in the nation at 17.4 percent,
even though the state's businesses added a record 83,700 jobs.
It's unfortunate His Royal Majesty the
Governor cannot connect dots.
But while Baker and his minions
can't squeeze blood out of his subjects in Massachusetts
that isn't slowing him from squeezing it from others
— or at least trying to.
The Boston Globe reported on Friday ("Massachusetts wants to
keep taxing telecommuters from N.H., stirring up a new kind
of border war"):
Before the coronavirus kept us all housebound, thousands of New
Hampshire commuters streamed south each morning to work at
Massachusetts businesses — and paid the income tax to prove it.
But now a border war is brewing over that lucrative prize.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, Governor Charlie Baker’s
administration has made it clear it will continue to tax
out-of-state residents who normally go to work in Massachusetts
each morning, even if they’re stuck at home.
That didn’t cause much of a stir back in the spring, when it
seemed like the coronavirus would be gone by Labor Day.
But it is causing a stir now.
Baker’s Department of Revenue said on July 21 that it wants to
keep collecting these income taxes, probably until the end of
the year. Before COVID hit, New Hampshire residents who
worked for a Massachusetts employer could adjust their income
tax liability downward to reflect any days they spent working
from home (and perhaps avoid the state tax entirely). The
Baker administration’s approach essentially treats these new
at-home days as in-office days, if people are home specifically
because of the pandemic.
That isn’t sitting well with politicians in New Hampshire.
They argue these constituents should benefit from their state’s
longstanding tradition of not imposing a broad-based income tax,
now that they are not schlepping into Massachusetts every
weekday.
Governor Chris Sununu this week directed the New Hampshire
attorney general to review the taxation rules issued by
neighboring states to ensure New Hampshire residents aren’t
being improperly taxed, and to determine the legality of these
border-state rules. The Republican governor’s brief
statement on the matter didn’t mention Massachusetts by name.
But it didn’t need to: An estimated 84,000 New Hampshire
residents regularly commuted to Massachusetts in normal times,
roughly four times the total of commuters to all other states. .
. .
A
spokeswoman for Baker’s Department of Revenue didn’t have much
to say about the criticism, other than to note that the agency’s
approach is intended to minimize disruption for employers and
employees during the pandemic.
In his Thursday column for The Boston
Herald Michael Graham summed up this cynical money grab perfectly:
("Bay State border-jumping tax grab way out of bounds"):
If
Massachusetts were a diner, it’s motto would be “Home of the
World’s Most Expensive ‘Free Lunch.’”
Massachusetts
liberals love giving money away and leaving Massachusetts
taxpayers holding the tab. But thanks to the COVID-19
crisis, they’ve found a way to game the system and leave the
free-lunch check on someone else’s table:
New Hampshire.
Turns out that
since March, Charlie Baker and Co. have been collecting their 5%
“commuter tax” from New Hampshire workers who haven’t crossed
the state line in months. Baker ordered Granite
Staters to stay home, then announced the state’s going to tax
them as though they are working here, anyway.
Imagine
opening your mail and finding a meals-tax bill from Boston based
on how often you used to eat out before Mayor Marty shut down
your favorite restaurant, and you’ve got the picture. . . .
Even the liberal city of Philadelphia, with the highest wage tax
in the country (about 3.5% for commuters), is letting
suburbanites forced to work from home request a rebate for their
time locked out of the city.
Not Massachusetts. Instead, Charlie Baker embraces the
Big-Lie approach: Working from home in Nashua? That
counts as Massachusetts, so pay up. Who you gonna believe
— me, or your lyin’ GPS?
What makes this move by money-grubbing Massachusetts liberals so
perfect is that everybody knows they’re lying. That these
workers aren’t actually commuters, that they don’t owe the money
Massachusetts is taking from them.
Right now there’s some low-wage single mom in Salem, N.H.,
trying to do her job on the family laptop she’s forced to share
with her “remote-learning” kids, and the Baker administration is
re-inventing reality just to shake her down for Happy Meal
money.
All in the name of progressive liberalism, of course.
You can’t make this stuff up, folks. Well, except in
Massachusetts, where they make stuff up all the time.
Boston Herald columnist and WRKO radio
talk show host Howie Carr pointed out one of the reasons why
power-crazed liberal blue states need to grub for all the cash they
can confiscate in his Friday column ("Region’s governors, mayors
have gone over the edge"):
Gov. Charlie Baker, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and all the
rest of these hack Northeastern governors and mayors closing
down their borders don’t seem to grasp their real problem going
forward.
Comrades, it’s not people trying to sneak into your economically
devastated, fun-phobic police states that you have to worry
about.
Your dilemma going forward will be trying to prevent your
oppressed, unemployed subjects from fleeing in ever-greater
numbers from the ruination your crackpot policies have visited
upon them.
Let me put it another way: did the Communists build the
Berlin Wall to keep people from coming into East Germany, or
escaping from it?
Is the population of Venezuela going up, or down?
When Charlie Parker finally sets up his first Checkpoint Charlie
at Logan Airport, the only business will be at the gates for the
outgoing flights....
Right now, Bill de Blasio has put forth the nuttiest plan.
Like, who do you know who was planning to visit New York City
anyway? You don’t have to go to the Big Apple to get shot
— you can get murdered in any blue city in America, and you
don’t have to wait out a 14-day quarantine.
De Blasio, of course, went to high school in Cambridge, just as
Charlie Parker and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy went to high
school in Needham. Why are the worst people in politics so
often from Massachusetts?
These de Blasio orders are so catastrophic that even that
monumental dunce, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has figured out
that the “Empire State” is circling the drain. He’s
publicly begging rich people not to flee. He’ll buy ’em a
drink, he’ll cook dinner for ’em.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has gotten
so desperate he's pleading with wealthy New York City taxpayers
who've fled to come back. The Daily Caller reported on
Wednesday ("‘I’ll
Buy You A Drink’: Gov. Andrew Cuomo Begs Rich New Yorkers To Return
Amid Budget Shortfall"):
Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo
said he was pleading for wealthy New York City residents to
return to the city after an exodus following the coronavirus
pandemic during a press conference Monday.
“I literally talk to people all day long
who are now in their Hamptons house who also lived here, or in
their Hudson Valley house, or in their Connecticut weekend
house, and I say, ‘You got to come back!'” Cuomo told reporters.
“‘We’ll go to dinner! I’ll buy you a drink! Come
over, I’ll cook!'”
Democratic New
York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he was pleading for wealthy New York
City residents to return to the city after an exodus following
the coronavirus pandemic during a press conference Monday.
At least
420,000 of New York City’s wealthiest residents are believed to
have left as the city emerged as the epicenter of the
coronavirus pandemic in the United States, The Daily Mail
reported. The city has reported 223,000 cases and nearly
19,000 confirmed deaths, according to local data.
Nationwide
protests and riots over the death of George Floyd also
correlated with a significant increase in violent crime.
The New York Police Department reported a 130% increase in
shootings, 118% increase in robberies and 30% increase in
murders during the month of June.
State
Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said state tax receipts in June fell by
$1.5 billion, or 17.3%, compared to last year in a financial
report published in July. Consumption tax revenues dropped
$1.1 billion and business tax revenues declined by $700 million
compared to last year, the New York Post reported. . . .
“They’re not
coming back right now. And you know what else they’re
thinking? ‘If I stay there, I’ll pay a lower income tax,’
because they don’t pay the New York City surcharge,” he told
reporters.
Free people can still vote with their
feet, for now, as Democrat Gov. Cuomo has come to realize. I
did. How long will it take before RINO Baker wakes up to the
reality?
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Chip Ford
Executive Director |
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Full News Reports Follow
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State House News
Service
Friday, August 7, 2020
Weekly Roundup - A Fork In the Road
Recap and analysis of the week in state government
By Matt Murphy
As the summer heated up and infection rates went down,
Massachusetts got footloose before it was COVID free. And now
the state could be on the verge of paying for it.
Gov. Charlie Baker, in his most scolding tone yet, rolled back
outdoor gathering size limits from 100 people to 50, and said he
was giving state and local police the authority to enforce those
limits on public and private property. Indoors limits will
remain at 25.
"Hugs, handshakes, high-fives, dancing, who knows?" Baker said
about what's been going on at these backyard parties and events
that the governor blames for an uptick in COVID-19 cases and a
rise in the state's positive test rate to 2.1 percent.
The virus might not be out of the barn yet, but it's getting
close to the door. And Baker said people have no one to blame
but themselves for getting lax about the distancing and
mask-wearing precautions they took seriously for months in order
to be able to leave their homes this summer.
"The biggest issue we have is people who are familiar with
people being familiar with them, in big groups," Baker said.
That's not the only problem though. The governor said he's not
ready, as some have suggested he should be, to step back a phase
in the reopening schedule. But he said bars "masquerading" as
restaurants by selling potato chips and pretzels in order to
open need to stop what they're doing.
The state getting serious about enforcement is all so
Massachusetts can avoid a repeat of this spring and becoming the
next kid in the New England neighborhood to not get invited to
the pool party. That distinction went this week to Rhode Island,
where Gov. Gina Raimondo is battling her state's own resurgence
because of too much partying.
The Ocean State found itself added to the quarantine lists of
not just Massachusetts, but also states like New York and New
Jersey who want Rhode Islanders to quarantine if they leave
their waterfront enclave.
This precursor to a fall resurgence couldn't come at a worse
time as schools are finalizing their plans to bring students
back to classrooms and campuses around the state, or not.
Business confidence also slipped in July, according to
Associated Industries of Massachusetts, and enhanced
unemployment benefits from the federal government have expired,
eliminating a safety net as the recovery appears to be slowing.
UMass Amherst reversed its plans to welcome students back to
campus this month even if all their classes were going to be
taught online, and some districts like Somerville are ignoring
the administration's pleas to at least give in-person learning a
chance.
The Legislature has employed a hybrid model of in-person and
remote participation during the pandemic, but in what was
supposed to be the first full week of a five-month recess there
wasn't much of either going on.
Last week, the House and Senate made sure to give their
negotiators every second available before the faux midnight
deadline to strike a deal on police reform, transportation
spending, telehealth or economic development. They did this
knowing they had already extended the session, giving themselves
ample more time.
Seven days later and the Legislature is in the same place it was
last Friday night - waiting.
"We will let the conferees do their magic and hopefully get
something done and pass it," Senate President Karen Spilka said
at the start of the week. "If it's done next week, two weeks,
that's when we will come back to do it."
Instead of shrinking, the number of conference committees
actually grew with a fifth piece of legislation dealing with
climate change moving into talks between the branches.
Sen. Michael Barrett and Rep. Thomas Golden, the co-chair of the
Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, are
leading those talks, with support from Senate Majority Leader
Cynthia Creem, Speaker Pro Tempore Patricia Haddad, House
Minority Leader Brad Jones and Sen. Patrick O'Connor.
It's the same group that negotiated a significant renewable
energy bill two years ago, minus Sen. Marc Pacheco, who still
chairs the Senate's Global Warming Committee, but has fallen out
of the new leadership hierarchy and was replaced by Creem.
Instead, Pacheco was relegated last week to cheering the House
on from the sidelines of Twitter as that branch worked through
and passed its version of the net-zero emissions bill that is
now in final negotiations.
The administration this week also did its part for global
warming by rolling out a new clean peak standard that aims to
encourage a reliance on renewable power sources to meet energy
demand during peak hours, instead of falling back on dirtier
fossil fuels like oil.
Even though negotiations this week didn't yield any deals, those
talks have to be going better than the discussions between
Congressional Democrats and the White House over a new COVID-19
relief package.
For starters, they're still going on, which can no longer be
assured in Washington. But Democrats and Republicans can't get
on the same page for an extension of enhanced unemployment
benefits or the $500 billion in unrestricted relief money
governors are requesting.
The House passed a total package of $3 trillion already, while
Republican leaders would reportedly like to get that down to $1
trillion. With the state budget's outlook riding in part on
relief funds, the impasse makes Beacon Hill look somewhat
prescient in pushing off its budgeting decisions for longer than
just August.
Baker finally put his signature on a three-month, $16.5 billion
interim budget that leaders say will carry state government
through October, but the governor rejected an Oct. 31 sunset on
the authorization, and said the Legislature's attempts to impose
minimum spending thresholds stepped on his toes at a time when
he needed flexibility to manage through a pandemic and fiscal
crisis.
The bill sought to restrict Baker from spending less on any line
item than either the fiscal 2020 budget or what the governor
proposed in January in his House 2 budget.
Leaders, however, have been silent since Baker sent that
proposal back with an amendment in which he pledged to report to
them if he finds ways to accomplish the same goals while
spending less.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Testing the limits of reopening
State House News
Service
Monday, August 3, 2020
Beacon Hill Awaits “Magic” From Conference Committees
Big Bills Under Negotiation During Campaign Season
By Matt Murphy and Colin A. Young
The Legislature entered uncharted waters on Monday, sailing into
territory not seen by Speaker Robert DeLeo since his early days
in the House and never experienced before by Senate President
Karen Spilka.
The calendar in an election year said August, but for the first
time in 25 years legislators did not know if or when they might
be called back to Beacon Hill to vote on highly sensitive and
important bills dealing with everything from police reform and
climate change to how to spend billions of tax dollars on
transportation in the coming years.
Those with re-election challenges returned to the trail knowing
that the record voters will judge them on later this summer and
fall is not complete, and those negotiating legislation on
behalf of their House and Senate colleagues no longer have a
looming deadline, giving them more flexibility, but also less of
an incentive to compromise quickly.
Essentially, what the next five months will look like is
anybody's guess.
"Clearly, right now our priorities are looking and working on
budget, getting that information from the federal government,
getting our tax returns, finding out what's happening with COVID
-- as you all know, it's beginning to uptick a little bit. We
need to follow that -- as well as the economy and what's
happening with that to hopefully keep that moving upward and
onward, so that's really important," Senate President Karen
Spilka said in the early morning hours of Aug. 1, after the
Senate had adjourned what typically would have been the final
formal session for the year.
Spilka added, "We need to focus on those -- the conference
committees, COVID-related and anything budget-related. At this
point, those are our priorities."
The House and Senate jointly agreed last week to extend formal
sessions through the remainder of the year, plunging Beacon Hill
into something of a blackout period, with no more public
hearings on the schedule and conference committee negotiations
playing out behind closed doors where the potential for
leadership to cut deals or bring new issues to the table for
votes remains unchecked.
The audible by Democratic leadership into a more open-ended work
schedule may have given some advocates new hope that the clock
hadn't run out on their issue after all, but Spilka was clear
early Saturday morning that her chamber's agenda won't
necessarily grow to fill the extra time lawmakers have afforded
themselves.
The issues Spilka said she's most interested in moving forward
are all the ones you would expect: the overdue fiscal 2021
budget, responding to the fluid situation around the COVID-19
pandemic, and getting bills in (or soon to be in) conference
committees -- policing reform, health care, economic development
and housing, transportation spending and climate policy -- to
the governor's desk.
That means other issues with strong support, like legalizing
driver's licenses for immigrants without proper documentation or
expanding abortion rights, might not get the attention some are
hoping they will during this extended period of formal sessions.
There's also the questions of how the House will approach these
extended sessions, which carry with them the possibility of the
same type of lame-duck session in November that prompted the
Legislature in 1995 to enact the rule they followed until this
year to wrap up formal lawmaking on July 31.
House lawmakers voted to include legal sports betting in its
economic development bill, but the Senate did not and appears
far less interested in the idea than the House as that moves
into conference committee talks. Senate leaders omitted the
legalization of sport wagering from its version of the jobs
bill, and suggested they thought it would be more appropriately
dealt with on its own.
Asked early Saturday morning if sports betting could see new
life before the end of the year, Spilka said, "We'll have to
see."
State House News
Service
Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Conferees to Outline Path to Snuff Out Carbon Emissions
Lawmakers Need 30-Year Plan to Hit 2050 Goal
By Colin A. Young
The lawmakers named to hammer out a compromise climate policy
bill for the House and Senate will likely have their hands full.
Both chambers passed legislation to put Massachusetts on a path
towards net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, but negotiators will
have a wide array of other issues to reconcile as advocates and
business groups lobby for their priorities.
The Senate overwhelmingly passed a package of climate bills in
January that called for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, and
set deadlines for the state to impose carbon-pricing mechanisms
for transportation, commercial buildings and homes. The House,
which had earlier passed a $1.3 billion climate adaptation bill,
on Friday night passed its response to the main Senate proposal,
addressing the 2050 emissions reduction roadmap, solar energy
net metering, grid modernization, workforce development, energy
efficiency, and municipal electric and light plant clean energy
targets.
Now, it will be up to six lawmakers-to-be-named-later to work
through the differences between the House and Senate bills and
to come up with a compromise version that can pass both
chambers. Meanwhile, a slew of environmental advocacy
organizations, business groups and activists -- many of whom put
pressure on lawmakers to get climate policy bills done -- have
given some indication of what they like and don't like about the
House and Senate bills.
Once the House passed its bill on Friday night and it was clear
the issue was headed for a conference committee, the most direct
overture to the negotiators came from the Northeast Clean Energy
Council (NECEC), which generally liked both the House and Senate
bills.
"The House took a big step forward on climate policy today in
passing this bill. Advancements in environmental justice,
offshore wind and appliance standards are to be commended,"
Jeremy McDiarmid, NECEC's vice president for policy and
government affairs, said. "There were some setbacks on solar tax
policy that we expect the conference committee will resolve."
The House and Senate are likely to name climate bill negotiators
during sessions on Thursday. Rep. Tom Golden and Sen. Michael
Barrett -- co-chairs of the Committee on Telecommunications,
Utilities and Energy -- will probably be tapped to lead the
conference committee talks for their chambers.
The Sierra Club applauded much of the House bill but said the
legislation "fails to include a commitment to reach 100%
renewable energy in a reasonable timeline," citing a change
related to the state's renewable portfolio standard which the
organization said will put 100 percent renewable power off until
2090.
"This bill is a small step in the right direction. We applaud
House leadership for creating additional opportunities for low
income residents to benefit from the renewable energy revolution
and for providing long overdue protections for environmental
justice communities. However, it is critical that the state
takes immediate action to lower our emissions now," Jacob Stern,
Deputy Director of the Massachusetts chapter of the Sierra Club,
said. "As a millennial, I find it unacceptable that
Massachusetts will reach 100% renewable electricity the same
year I turn 100 years old."
The group was similarly disappointed after the Senate passed its
climate bills in January.
Ceres, a national non-profit that works with investors and
companies on sustainability efforts, said the House bill is an
important step towards Massachusetts' climate goals but echoed
the sentiment that there is more to do still.
"We hope it will spur the legislature to adopt more policies to
decarbonize the transportation and building sectors, and further
accelerate the transition to a carbon free electricity sector,"
Alli Gold Roberts, director of state policy at Ceres, said.
Environment Massachusetts said the House legislation is "an
ultimately flawed bill," though the organization was pleased
with provisions related to offshore wind power procurement,
environmental justice, and more.
"While these are good steps, it's important to be clear about
what this bill does not do. It does not end the use of dirty,
polluting oil and gas. Rather, it allows the burning of fossil
fuels to continue for decades, and it postpones necessary action
in favor of studies and 'roadmaps,'" Ben Hellerstein, state
director for Environment Massachusetts, said. "This 'roadmap'
doesn't take us where we need to go. It puts us on a road that
still ends with the use of fossil fuels."
When the Senate passed its climate bills in January, Environment
Mass. issued a press release focused almost exclusively on a
bill (S 2478) dealing with energy standards for appliances,
which it said would "reduce Massachusetts' annual carbon
emissions by 271,000 metric tons by 2035, equivalent to taking
57,000 cars off the road, and cut water consumption by 9.8
billion gallons per year."
Language very similar to that Senate bill was adopted into the
House climate bill as an amendment offered by Duxbury Rep. Josh
Cutler, who got a shout-out from Environment Mass. in its
statement on the House bill late last week.
Though many of the climate advocacy groups that weighed in on
the House and/or Senate bills said they wanted to see the
Legislature go further and faster, the Environmental League of
Massachusetts -- at least in its statements -- seemed content
with both bills.
"This legislation positions the Commonwealth on a strategic and
tactical path toward carbon neutrality by 2050. In order to meet
our ambitious long-term goals, we need the interim targets,
data-driven plan, and accountability mechanisms that this bill
provides," the group said in a statement after the House passed
its climate bill Friday. The group said the amendments the House
adopted made the bill better, "yielding a comprehensive
environmental bill that will empower our communities, protect
our natural resources, and promote renewable energy, including
game-changing offshore wind power, for our Commonwealth."
ELM was similarly pleased with the gist of the Senate's
emissions reduction bill when it was released in January.
"We thank the Senate for releasing an energy bill that sets us
on a course to more boldly address climate change -- the most
critical issue of our time," ELM President Elizabeth Henry said
in a statement released by the Senate president's office. "By
setting interim GHG reduction targets and echoing the Governor's
call for net zero emissions by 2050, the Senate acknowledges how
much work is left to do."
The
Salem News
Friday, August 7, 2020
Critics warn of cost of climate change bills
By Christian M. Wade, Statehouse Reporter
Lawmakers will huddle to work out differences between plans to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but critics worry that any
proposal will drive up consumer costs and slow recovery of the
state's pandemic-battered economy.
Last week, the state House of Representatives approved a
sweeping climate change bill that puts Massachusetts on a path
toward net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and sets targets for
solar energy expansion, power grid modernization and energy
efficiency.
The Senate approved an even more aggressive bill in January,
before the coronavirus outbreak, also calling for net-zero
carbon emissions by 2050 and deadlines for the state to impose
carbon-pricing plans for the transportation sector, commercial
buildings and homes.
Differences between the bills must still be worked out by a
six-member conference committee, and advocates on both sides are
gearing up for a behind-the-scenes fight.
Critics of the plans say they will raise energy prices and
create other costs for businesses and consumers by limiting the
kinds of appliances they can buy.
"Businesses are struggling to keep their doors open at this
point," said Chris Carlozzi, state director for the National
Federation of Independent Businesses. "Tacking on any additional
costs would be very problematic."
He said environmental and energy policies that drive up costs
will hold back the economy.
"We don't know how long recovery will take, so lawmakers should
think very carefully about approving anything that increases
costs," Carlozzi said.
Meanwhile, environmentalists are pushing for tougher rules to
move the state away from its reliance on fossil fuels for heat
and electricity.
"There's no doubt it's going to require a significant investment
to achieve 100% renewable energy," said Ben Hellerstein, of
Environment Massachusetts. "But the longer we delay making this
transition, the more costly and difficult it will become."
The state's 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act sets a goal of
reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by
the year 2050.
Gov. Charlie Baker and legislative leaders agreed to push for a
"net-zero" carbon economy by 2050, where emissions from
gas-guzzling cars and home heating oil are substantially
replaced by electric vehicles and by energy from wind, solar and
other renewable sources.
To help accomplish that, the House and Senate proposals would
authorize a carbon-pricing system, such as the regional
Transportation and Climate Initiative the Baker administration
has championed.
Baker has scoffed at the idea of increasing taxes amid the
pandemic, but he still supports the regional initiative that
would be funded, in part, by increasing gas taxes.
The conservative Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance said plans being
negotiated by lawmakers would be a "back door" to climate tax
proposals that will drive up costs.
"The sheer amount of new and higher taxes, along with the
increased layers of regulations, will position Massachusetts as
the most expensive and highly taxed state in the country," said
MassFiscal spokesman Paul Craney.
— Christian M. Wade covers the
Massachusetts Statehouse for The Salem News and its sister
newspapers and websites.
State House News
Service
Thursday, August 6, 2020
SHNS Conference Committee Scorecard
Five Major Panels Under Pressure to Produce Big Agreements
By Michael P. Norton
The House and Senate on Thursday established a fifth major
conference committee to develop consensus legislation addressing
carbon emissions and renewable energy and positioning the state
to better adapt to climate change.
The new conference panel will be chaired by Telecommunications,
Utilities and Energy Committee Co-chairs Rep. Thomas Golden of
Lowell and Sen. Michael Barrett of Lexington. They will be
joined by Sens. Cindy Creem and Patrick O'Connor, and Reps.
Patricia Haddad and Brad Jones.
The Legislature failed this year to complete work ahead of a
July 31 deadline on four other priority bills addressing health
care, economic development and housing, transportation spending,
and policing accountability.
But instead of letting those bills die, as lawmakers do every
two years with major proposals that don't clear the branches by
July 31, the House and Senate last week voted to extend formal
sessions for the rest of 2020.
Legislators cited the disruption in legislative activities
forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the unprecedented
introduction of sessions where representatives and senators can
debate and vote remotely. The extension was also required to
enable the Legislature to tackle the annual state budget, which
was due July 1 but has yet to move through either branch as
legislators have elected to delay major decisions until they are
in receipt of additional budgetary information. The state is
operating on an interim three-month budget.
The unusual situation, which comes amid an intensifying election
year, means Democratic legislative leaders expect to call
lawmakers back into formal sessions to consider conference
committee compromises if and when agreements emerge from the
six-member panels. The panels operate in complete secrecy, with
members often unwilling to even outline differences in their
bills, much less the status of negotiations or hangups.
Joint legislative rules require all conference committee
meetings to be open to the public unless members vote to close
meetings. In recent years, with few exceptions, legislators have
quickly closed their meetings.
Rules also state that "matters on which there exists no
disagreement between the branches shall not be disturbed by the
committee on conference," and further require that "no report
from a committee of conference shall be considered or acted upon
by either branch until the calendar day following the day on
which said report shall have been available to the public and to
the members of the General Court."
The rules require that conferences file their reports no later
than 8 p.m. on the day preceding its consideration and that the
Legislature not consider reports before 1 p.m. on the following
day, a rule that has often been suspended.
The conference panels hold tremendous power in part because of a
rule that states their reports, if agreed to by a majority of
House and Senate conference members, "may be either accepted or
rejected, but no other action shall be had, except through a new
committee of conference." In practice, Joint Rule 11 means the
House and Senate face a single up-or-down vote on conference
reports, which are routinely adopted.
Here's a rundown of the five conference committees in place with
five months left in the session:
POLICING REFORM
BILLS: S 2820 and H 4886
HOUSE VOTE: July 24, 93-66
SENATE VOTE: July 14, 30-7
HOUSE CONFEREES: Claire Cronin, Carlos Gonzalez, Tim Whelan
SENATE CONFEREES: Will Brownsberger, Sonia Chang-Diaz, Bruce
Tarr
DATE SENT TO CONFERENCE: July 27, 2020
DAYS IN CONFERENCE: 11
HEALTH CARE
BILLS: S 2796 and H 4916
HOUSE VOTE: July 29, 158-0
SENATE VOTE: June 25, 38-0
HOUSE CONFEREES: Ron Mariano, Dan Cullinane, Randy Hunt
SENATE CONFEREES: Cindy Friedman, Julian Cyr, Dean Tran
DATE SENT TO CONFERENCE: July 31, 2020
DAYS IN CONFERENCE: 7
TRANSPORTATION BOND
BILLS: H 4547 and S 2836
HOUSE VOTE: March 5, 150-1
SENATE VOTE: July 16, 36-4
HOUSE CONFEREES: William Straus, Mark Cusack, Norman Orrall
SENATE CONFEREES: Joseph Boncore, Michael Rodrigues, Dean Tran
DATE SENT TO CONFERENCE: July 23, 2020
DAYS IN CONFERENCE: 15
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
BILLS: S 2874 and H 4887
HOUSE VOTE: July 28, 156-3
SENATE VOTE: June 29, 40-0
HOUSE CONFEREES: Aaron Michlewitz, Ann-Margaret Ferrante, Donald
Wong
SENATE CONFEREES: Eric Lesser, Michael Rodrigues, Patrick
O'Connor
DATE SENT TO CONFERENCE: July 30, 2020
DAYS IN CONFERENCE: 8
CLIMATE CHANGE
BILLS: S 2500 and H 4933
HOUSE VOTE: July 31, 142-17
SENATE VOTE: Jan. 30, 36-2
HOUSE CONFEREES: Thomas Golden, Patricia Haddad, Brad Jones
SENATE CONFEREES: Michael Barrett, Cindy Creem, Patrick O'Connor
DATE SENT TO CONFERENCE: Aug. 6, 2020
DAYS IN CONFERENCE: 1
The
Salem News
Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Short-term budgets keep state afloat
By Christian M. Wade, Statehouse Reporter
As the coronavirus hammers the economy, Beacon Hill leaders are
trying to keep the state government afloat with a series of
interim budgets pending a possible federal bailout.
The latest is a three-month, $16.5 billion spending package
awaiting approval by Gov. Charlie Baker that maintains funding
for the state through Oct. 31.
Baker has signed two other short-term spending bills since late
June, when lawmakers missed the deadline to approve a fiscal
year 2021 state budget.
Beacon Hill fiscal watchers say the state has little choice but
to enact interim budgets.
"There's so much up in the air right now," said Eileen McAnneny,
president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "This will
provide some stability for the state and local governments while
they wait for details of a federal aid package."
The state is also waiting to see how much it collects in income
taxes following the July 15 filing deadline, which was extended
by 90 days.
"We are committed to finalizing a full-year budget that is
fiscally responsible and responsive to the needs of our state,
but key to developing that budget is further clarity around
potential federal action, our economic recovery and continued
trajectory of COVID-19," Sen. Michael Rodrigues, D-Westport, and
Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, D-Boston, co-chairs of the Legislature's
Joint Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement to fellow
lawmakers.
House and Senate leaders have agreed to continue work on the
budget and other major bills past a July 31 deadline to recess
from formal sessions.
Without federal relief, observers say the state faces a gaping
revenue shortfall that could prompt deep spending cuts and tax
increases.
The Taxpayers Foundation predicts Massachusetts will see a $6
billion drop in tax revenues in the current fiscal year, which
could sink further depending on how long people are out of work
or if a second wave of infections prompts the state to rollback
its reopening plans.
Lawmakers are seeking to prevent deep cuts during the interim
budget process by setting a minimum requirement for the Baker
administration to provide level funding for state government.
Baker vetoed a similar provision in a previous interim budget,
but Democratic lawmakers overrode it.
Baker and legislative leaders have agreed to maintain level
spending for local aid and Chapter 70 funding this fiscal year,
but that doesn't protect against cuts to other agencies and
programs.
"If there are cuts to public programs it would be the worst
thing for deepening our recession, because this is money that
wouldn't be spent in state," said Phineas Baxandall, a senior
policy analyst with the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.
"We need commitments to protect those programs."
In Washington, relief for state and local governments is tied up
in partisan fighting over the next stimulus package.
The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed a
$3 trillion coronavirus aid package that included funding for
state and local governments to use for operating expenses not
tied to the COVID-19 outbreak. But the GOP-controlled Senate
didn't include state bailout money in its relief plan.
Congress has passed at least four massive relief packages since
the outbreak began in March, which has raised concerns about
overspending.
— Christian M. Wade covers the
Massachusetts Statehouse for The Salem News and its sister
newspapers and websites.
State House News
Service
Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Baker Rejects Spending Orders, Signs Interim Budget
Three-Month Bill Covers Spending 'til Election Time
By Matt Murphy
Gov. Charlie Baker signed a $16.53 billion interim budget on
Tuesday that will keep state government operating through at
least the end of October, but he rejected a firm deadline of
Oct. 31 for the funding to expire and said the Legislature's
attempt to impose minimum spending requirements would "unduly"
limit his authority to manage state spending over the next three
months.
The governor's signature on the bulk of the spending bill
ensures that the Legislature will not have to return until at
least the fall to either debate and pass a fiscal 2021 spending
bill, or approve another extension that would push decisions on
new taxes, spending cuts or the use of reserves until after the
elections.
The Legislature has yet to even propose a budget for fiscal 2021
as it waits to better understand the fiscal impacts of the
pandemic and learn if Congress will send additional aid to help
bail states out of massive budget holes. While some states have
passed budgets and plan to return to make adjustments, Beacon
Hill has elected to wait until as much as a third of the fiscal
year is over before committing to spending levels.
Leaders did reach an agreement with the administration last week
to promise level funding for local aid and schools to cities and
towns for the year, which will eat up at least $6.41 billion of
an eventual annual budget and shrink the size of the pie that
will remain for legislators to find savings or make cuts.
The governor in July filed a second one-month budget to cover
payroll, local aid and other government services through August,
but instead of going month-to-month the House and Senate last
week passed a spending bill with enough money to cover three
months of spending.
Baker took his time reviewing the three-page bill, but made
clear that he intended to sign it, calling it last week "the
only choice I've got at this point."
"I think the bottom line is the Legislature really wants to see
what is going to happen in Washington before they sort of put
the final ink on what they would like to see as their FY '21
budget and I am sympathetic to that and I think that's probably
at this point of time the best we can do if we want to do
something that's reasonably accurate," Baker said.
The governor on Tuesday did return multiple sections of the
bill, proposing amendments to eliminate the sunset date and
guarantee that his administration has the ability to pursue
opportunities for savings as they arise.
"While I appreciate the desire for stability in a complicated
time, as I indicated in my letter dated July 24, the executive
branch must retain the discretion to not spend money
unnecessarily, where a lesser amount does not compromise the
achievement of underlying legislative purposes and goals," Baker
wrote in a letter to the Legislature, accompanying his
amendments.
Baker rejected a similar clause in July that the Legislature
added to a more than $1 billion COVID-19 supplemental spending
bill to impose minimum spending requirements, saying it
"impinges on executive discretion."
This three-month budget would have restricted Baker from
spending less on any program or agency than the lower of either
the fiscal 2020 general appropriations act, or what was proposed
in Baker's budget from January.
"This discretion would be proper at any time; in a period of
fiscal stress, it is imperative that the executive be allowed
the latitude to execute on legislative purposes in an efficient
manner," Baker wrote.
By returning the spending floor language with an amendment,
Baker raised the specter that he may reduce or slow state
spending down to levels below fiscal 2020 levels.
Baker, however, said he agreed with the Legislature that his
administration should have to report regularly to House and
Senate leadership on how it is managing state spending.
The administration proposed to report to the Legislature at
least monthly if any savings have been achieved, or if federal
funding comes through that can supplant state tax dollars for
any programs. He said the reporting requirements put in the bill
by the Legislature were not workable from a timeline standpoint.
Baker also he said he didn't understand why the Legislature had
sought to put an expiration date on this interim spending
authorization when it had not included any sunset clauses in any
previous interim budgets, including the one he signed to cover
the month of July.
"As a matter of course, interim budgets such as this do not
contain a sunset date, and there is no reason to include one
here," Baker wrote.
He called it "unconventional and unnecessary" to sunset the
authorization, and said it could cause "disruptions" with other
sections of the bill that can and should remain in place for the
full fiscal year.
Neither the House Ways and Means Committee nor the Senate Ways
and Means Committee responded to questions about the spending
floor or the reason the Legislature put a sunset date on this
appropriations bill.
Senate Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues said last week
that he anticipates having enough information by the end of
October with regard to federal relief funding and the trajectory
of coronavirus infection rates and the state's economic recovery
to act on a budget for fiscal 2021.
State House News
Service
Thursday, August 6, 2020
July Tax Haul Plugs Some of Fiscal 2020 Deficit
Adjusted Numbers Show 4.3 Percent Growth from July 2019
By Colin A. Young
Massachusetts recorded $4.456 billion in tax collections in
July, with just more than half of that money being counted
towards the budget year that ended June 30 about $3 billion
short of expectations.
The Department of Revenue said approximately $2.293 billion or
roughly 51 percent of July's collections came from income tax
payments and refunds originally due in fiscal year 2020 but
received in the first month of fiscal year 2021 because the
Legislature and governor extended filing deadlines due to the
pandemic.
About $2.163 billion in July revenue will be counted towards
fiscal 2021, including an estimated $50 million in corporate and
business taxes that were deferred from the spring when state
waived penalties for late filing and payment, DOR said. Once the
numbers are adjusted for tax deferrals, tax collections last
month were about $88 million or 4.3 percent higher than the
equivalent tax collections in July 2019, DOR said.
"July total collections were also boosted by corporate and
business tax payments attributable to returns due in April,
which will be recorded as FY21 revenue, following the waiver of
late filing and payment penalties in connection with such
returns," Revenue Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder said. "Sales and
use tax revenue also increased as compared to the same period in
2019, despite the deferral of certain regular sales, meals, and
room tax payments from FY2020 to FY2021, which are due in
September."
In late July, revenue officials said incomplete revenue
collections for the fiscal year that ended June 30 totaled
$27.276 billion, which was $3.014 billion or 9.9 percent below
what budget managers were expecting when they crafted the $43.3
billion state budget in early 2019. The $2.293 billion of fiscal
year 2020 revenue that DOR collected in July will help plug some
of that gap.
The state also has $3.5 billion stashed away in its rainy day
fund that could be used to address budget shortfalls in fiscal
year 2020 and beyond.
Since the sudden evaporation of tax receipts began this spring
as the state forced businesses to close, consumer spending
habits changed dramatically and unemployment skyrocketed, the
Baker administration did not revise revenue expectations for
fiscal year 2020 -- which could have triggered the governor's
authority to make unilateral spending reductions known as 9C
cuts -- or announce other specific budget-balancing plans.
Massachusetts is also without a plan for the fiscal year 2021
budget, which typically would be in place by now. Instead, the
state is running on a $16.53 billion interim budget that will
keep state government operating through at least the end of
October. Lawmakers and administration budget officials have said
they need to know what, if any, relief the federal government is
going to provide to states before they can craft a budget for
the rest of fiscal year 2021.
The Boston
Herald
Friday, August 7, 2020
Massachusetts now has a ‘COVID Enforcement and Intervention
Team’
By Lisa Kashinsky
Gov. Charlie Baker on Friday issued a slew of new enforcement
measures — including the creation of a “COVID Enforcement and
Intervention Team.”
The multi-agency squad is expected to help increase enforcement
of public health rules statewide and coordinate local
interventions in communities labeled as “higher-risk” due to
their numbers of new cases and percentages of positive tests.
The Executive Office and Public Safety and Security and the
Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency will coordinate the
effort.
It will involve the state’s coronavirus command center, the
Massachusetts State Police, Department of Labor Standards,
Division of Professional Licensure, Department of Public Health,
Division of Local Services, the Alcoholic Beverages Control
Commission and the Executive Office of Technology Services and
Security.
High-risk communities will see targeted inspections that include
fines of up to $500 per violation of new rules starting Tuesday
that limit outdoor gatherings to 50 people and require face
coverings for gatherings of more than 10. Outdoor gatherings for
political or religious purposes are exempt, as are businesses
adhering to rules under the first three reopening phases.
The team will also augment the ABCC’s existing ability to levy
fines, and suspend or revoke liquor licenses of establishments
that don’t comply with safety measures.
The Boston
Herald
Friday, August 7, 2020
Charlie Baker indefinitely postpones second step of Phase 3 in
Massachusetts,
ramps up coronavirus enforcement as cases climb
By Lisa Kashinsky
Gov. Charlie Baker is indefinitely postponing the second step of
Phase 3 of his coronavirus reopening plan, limiting the size of
outdoor gatherings and stepping up police enforcement of public
health orders as the state works to regain control over the
deadly virus.
“The notable decline in COVID in Massachusetts, especially in
comparison to many other states, has caused some residents to
feel a bit too relaxed about the seriousness of this virus,”
Baker said in a press conference Friday, adding that the state
is entering a “new phase in our battle against COVID-19.”
Delaying step two of Phase 3 pushes off indoor shows at
performance venues and further postpones activities like laser
tag and roller skating.
Outdoor gathering sizes will be rolled back to 50 people from
100, while indoor gathering sizes remain capped at 25 people.
Face coverings are required when more than 10 people from
different households will be in the same place. The rules apply
on both public and private property.
Restaurant guidelines are also being updated to make it clear
that alcoholic beverages can only be served with food prepared
on-site — not bags of chips — and that “bars masquerading as
restaurants also need to be closed,” Baker said.
State and local police will now be enforcing public health
orders alongside local inspectors and boards of health.
“Event hosts who violate the orders will be subject to fines” of
up to $500 per violation, according to Baker’s new rules that go
into effect Tuesday.
Baker also said he expects there to be a “far more coordinated
and significant presence between our colleagues in law
enforcement” and the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission,
“which has the authority to take licenses away from people and
issue much bigger fines.”
A new, multi-agency “COVID Enforcement and Intervention Team”
will help ramp up enforcement and coordinate local intervention
in communities classified as “high-risk” due to their number of
new cases and positive test rates.
Health officials are also extending the “Stop the Spread”
testing program through Sept. 12. There are currently 17 cities
and towns offering free coronavirus testing through the program,
with more to come. The state plans to release more data on
community-level spread next week.
The ratcheting up of restrictions comes as the state’s seven-day
average positive test rate ticked up to 2.2% this week from a
low of 1.7% in mid-July. It was 1.9% Friday.
It also follows continued reports of large parties where people
are flaunting masks and social distancing rules. A 300-person
wedding at a Gardner hotel is the latest gathering under
investigation, Baker said, adding that violations of $300 each
could add up to be “significantly into the thousands of
dollars.”
Fines of $500 per day remain in place for those who violate
rules that have been in effect since Aug. 1 that require
travelers and Massachusetts residents to fill out a travel form
and quarantine for 14 days unless they’re coming from a low-risk
state or can produce a negative test result. Rhode Island was
removed from the “low-risk” list beginning Friday.
The Boston
Herald
Friday, August 7, 2020
Region’s governors, mayors have gone over the edge
By Howie Carr
Gov. Charlie Baker, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and all the
rest of these hack Northeastern governors and mayors closing
down their borders don’t seem to grasp their real problem going
forward.
Comrades, it’s not people trying to sneak into your economically
devastated, fun-phobic police states that you have to worry
about.
Your dilemma going forward will be trying to prevent your
oppressed, unemployed subjects from fleeing in ever-greater
numbers from the ruination your crackpot policies have visited
upon them.
Let me put it another way: did the Communists build the Berlin
Wall to keep people from coming into East Germany, or escaping
from it?
Is the population of Venezuela going up, or down?
When Charlie Parker finally sets up his first Checkpoint Charlie
at Logan Airport, the only business will be at the gates for the
outgoing flights.
We already know that these smug, sanctimonious petty tyrants
aren’t very good at statistics. For instance, “confirmed” deaths
in Massachusetts on Wednesday were, drum roll please, two. And
in Rhode Island … one fatality.
Yet the governors of both those states, Charlie Parker and Gina
Raimondo, grow ever more tyrannical and imperious in their
public harangues.
The fewer the deaths, the more draconian the lockdowns.
Raimondo is so panicked, in fact, that she’s imposing an 11 p.m.
last call on all bars in Rhode Island, but not until next week.
(This virus is such a deadly problem that every lockdown is
announced days if not weeks in advance. Right now you can order
a drink at midnight in Providence in complete safety. Next week,
the virus will strike you down if attempt to grab one for the
road at 11:01.)
Raimondo’s crackdown made her the coolest kid in the COVID Cult,
but not for long. Yesterday, the Democrat governor of Kentucky
raised Raimondo and called her — he wants to impose a 10 p.m.
last call for his bars.
This is the problem with police states. One diktat is too many,
and a thousand are not enough. It’s all become a game for these
self-important tools. This is their moment of glory and they’re
never going to willingly let go of the whip.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills just imposed her fifth state of emergency
– with 124 fatalities. She issued hers five days after New
Hampshire extended its lockdown. They have 418 deaths.
It’s monkey-see, monkey-do. As early as March, the payroll
patriots were trying to one-up each other. Remember Mayor Marty
Walsh cutting barrooms in Boston back to 50% capacity?
The next day Gov. Charlie Parker shut down the bars, period. And
the day after that, having no bars to shut down, Somerville
Mayor Joe Curtatone closed the playgrounds – the monkey bars,
you might say.
This is the spiral these fools now find themselves in. Once
you’ve put everybody out of business, who do you go after next?
In Somerville, at least, the answer is, you go after Santa
Claus. Mayor Curtatone has already abolished Christmas. He’s got
an all-points-bulletin out for Jolly Old St. Nick. BOLO for
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
The Grinch has got nothing on Mayor Curtatone.
And now we have this latest spectacle of these bust-out
politicians, faced with the specter (as they see it) of
declining death tolls. So they double down and impose
preposterous self-quarantines, social-distancing and cops
asking, Stasi-style, for your papers.
Unless, of course, you’re an illegal alien or looter, in which
case, nothing to see here folks, move along.
Right now, Bill de Blasio has put forth the nuttiest plan. Like,
who do you know who was planning to visit New York City anyway?
You don’t have to go to the Big Apple to get shot — you can get
murdered in any blue city in America, and you don’t have to wait
out a 14-day quarantine.
De Blasio, of course, went to high school in Cambridge, just as
Charlie Parker and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy went to high
school in Needham. Why are the worst people in politics so often
from Massachusetts?
These de Blasio orders are so catastrophic that even that
monumental dunce, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has figured out
that the “Empire State” is circling the drain. He’s publicly
begging rich people not to flee. He’ll buy ’em a drink, he’ll
cook dinner for ’em.
Too late. When the phone don’t ring, Gov. Cuomo, you’ll know
it’s all those billionaires who used to live on the Upper East
Side.
The first governor to order police to stop visitors at the
border was none other than R.I. Gov. Raimondo, back in March.
She’s now whining about the … unfairness of it all. She ordered
the cops to stop all cars with New York license plates — total
violation of the Constitution, Article 4, Section 2:
“The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges
and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.”
Tough luck, Gina. What goes around, comes around. As all of you
power-crazed hacks are going to discover, sooner or later.
State House News
Service
Friday, August 7, 2020
National Job Growth Continues, But at Slower Pace
U.S. Unemployment Rate Dropped to 10.2 Percent in July
By Chris Lisinski
American employers added nearly 1.8 million jobs in July while
the unemployment rate declined to 10.2 percent, restoring
another chunk of the jobs lost during the pandemic but at a
slower pace than in recent months.
The 1.76 million positions added are more than three times the
gains as any pre-pandemic month since 2000, but the boost also
lags behind the 2.7 million jobs added in May and the 4.8
million added in June, according to federal data published
Friday.
Altogether, the three continuous months of rising employment
have clawed back less than half of the historic 21.3 million
jobs cut in April, when many businesses were ordered to close
physical operations to slow the spread of COVID-19.
"The economy fell off a cliff at the end of the first quarter of
2020 and we have been slowly climbing back ever since, thanks in
large part to government support," Citizens Bank Head of Global
Markets Tony Bedikian said in a statement. "We have seen a very
troubling increase in COVID-19 cases in many states that had
reopened for business, but we continue to be cautiously
optimistic that the overall U.S. economy has turned a corner,
and that the solid job gains announced today will be sustained."
Job gains came in most industries tracked by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, with leisure and hospitality and food services and
drinking places -- two of the categories most sharply affected
by mandatory shutdowns -- together accounting for nearly 1.1
million of the new positions.
Retail trade added another 258,000 jobs in July, while health
care employment increased 126,000.
Total jobs in the public sector rose by 301,000 in July, federal
officials said, countering a traditional trend of declining in
July before seasonal adjustment is applied.
"Employment declines occurred earlier than usual this year due
to the pandemic, resulting in unusually large July increases in
local government education (+215,000) and state government
education (+30,000) after seasonal adjustment," BLS wrote in its
report. "A July job gain in federal government (+27,000)
reflected the hiring of temporary workers for the 2020 Census."
Economists have warned that major cuts to government services
could be on the horizon if Congress and President Donald Trump
do not agree on an aid package that will help close massive
state and local budget gaps opened by the pandemic. Negotiations
in Washington are ongoing, with no compromise appearing imminent
Friday morning.
Officials also announced that the national unemployment rate --
determined through a different survey than total employment --
declined to 10.2 percent in July, a 0.9 percentage point drop
from June.
That, too, reflects the volatility of the current economic
reality. Dropping almost a full percentage point from the
unemployment rate -- particularly after hitting a high of 14.7
percent in April -- is itself an almost unprecedented
improvement, but the pace is again slower than in May or June.
Even after declining, the July national unemployment rate was
still at a level not observed since April 1983.
BLS said in its release that the share of responses that had
been misclassified was significantly lower in June and July than
earlier months during the pandemic, when the surveys were
hampered by the pandemic's impact.
"For March through June, BLS published an estimate of what the
unemployment rate would have been had misclassified workers been
included," the bureau wrote. "Repeating this same approach, the
overall July unemployment rate would have been about 1
percentage point higher than reported. However, this represents
the upper bound of our estimate of misclassification and
probably overstates the size of the misclassification error."
Many states in recent months have eased the initial restrictions
they placed on business and public activity earlier in the
pandemic, though surging case numbers have prompted several
governors to pump the brakes on their reopening plans, which
could create an uneven recovery process.
Officials will publish July employment numbers and unemployment
rates for all 50 states on Aug. 21. In June, Massachusetts had
the highest unemployment rate in the nation at 17.4 percent,
even though the state's businesses added a record 83,700 jobs.
The Boston
Herald
Thursday, August 6, 2020
Bay State border-jumping tax grab way out of bounds
By Michael Graham
If Massachusetts were a diner, it’s motto would be “Home of the
World’s Most Expensive ‘Free Lunch.’”
Massachusetts liberals love giving money away and leaving
Massachusetts taxpayers holding the tab. But thanks to the
COVID-19 crisis, they’ve found a way to game the system and
leave the free-lunch check on someone else’s table:
New Hampshire.
Turns out that since March, Charlie Baker and Co. have been
collecting their 5% “commuter tax” from New Hampshire workers
who haven’t crossed the state line in months. Baker ordered
Granite Staters to stay home, then announced the state’s going
to tax them as though they are working here, anyway.
Imagine opening your mail and finding a meals-tax bill from
Boston based on how often you used to eat out before Mayor Marty
shut down your favorite restaurant, and you’ve got the picture.
According to the Department of Revenue’s edict, and I quote:
“For the duration of the Massachusetts COVID-19 state of
emergency, all compensation received for personal services
performed by a non-resident who, immediately prior to the state
of emergency, was an employee engaged in performing such
services in Massachusetts … will continue to be treated as
Massachusetts source income subject to personal income tax.”
I just love that phrase “will continue to be treated as.” It’s
like your girlfriend throwing you out of the apartment, then
announcing that, for the purposes of the rent payment, you will
“continue to be treated as” her roommate.
Except for the, you know, roommating part.
This isn’t the first time Massachusetts has messed with New
Hampshire. Remember when Gov. Deval Patrick tried to pursue
taxes on out-of-state purchases by Massachusetts residents in
the Town Fair Tire case? (The Massachusetts courts shot him
down.)
And I love the stories of Gov. Meldrim Thomson threatening to
sic New Hampshire staties on Massachusetts revenuers spying on
Bay Staters crossing the border for cheaper booze back in the
’70s.
Not surprisingly, New Hampshire doesn’t like it any more this
time around. Republican Gov. Chris Sununu announced his
Department of Justice is going to review the MA DOR’s actions to
see if they’re “engaging in improper taxation of our citizens.”
Even liberal Democrats are dunking on “Taxachusetts” over this.
State Sen. Dan Feltes, who’s running in the Dem primary for
governor, called Massachusetts’ commuter-tax scam “unfair,
anti-worker (and) anti-public health.”
“We cannot stand idly by as Massachusetts now tries to tax New
Hampshire residents who are working remotely, acting as if they
were still working full-time in Massachusetts proper,” Feltes
wrote the MA DOR yesterday.
That part about “public health” is important. Massachusetts said
staying home was a vital public health decision. So why are they
taxing people for doing what they were told? Why punish the good
guys?
Massachusetts doesn’t have to. Even the liberal city of
Philadelphia, with the highest wage tax in the country (about
3.5% for commuters), is letting suburbanites forced to work from
home request a rebate for their time locked out of the city.
Not Massachusetts. Instead, Charlie Baker embraces the Big-Lie
approach: Working from home in Nashua? That counts as
Massachusetts, so pay up. Who you gonna believe — me, or your
lyin’ GPS?
What makes this move by money-grubbing Massachusetts liberals so
perfect is that everybody knows they’re lying. That these
workers aren’t actually commuters, that they don’t owe the money
Massachusetts is taking from them.
Right now there’s some low-wage single mom in Salem, N.H.,
trying to do her job on the family laptop she’s forced to share
with her “remote-learning” kids, and the Baker administration is
re-inventing reality just to shake her down for Happy Meal
money.
All in the name of progressive liberalism, of course.
You can’t make this stuff up, folks. Well, except in
Massachusetts, where they make stuff up all the time.
The Boston
Globe
Friday, August 7, 2020
Massachusetts wants to keep taxing telecommuters from N.H.,
stirring up a new kind of border war
Mass. Department of Revenue faces criticism for collecting
income tax on out-of-state workers stuck at home.
But it's a broader issue for remote work.
By Jon Chesto
Before the coronavirus kept us all housebound, thousands of New
Hampshire commuters streamed south each morning to work at
Massachusetts businesses — and paid the income tax to prove it.
But now a border war is brewing over that lucrative prize.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, Governor Charlie Baker’s
administration has made it clear it will continue to tax
out-of-state residents who normally go to work in Massachusetts
each morning, even if they’re stuck at home.
That didn’t cause much of a stir back in the spring, when it
seemed like the coronavirus would be gone by Labor Day. But it
is causing a stir now.
Baker’s Department of Revenue said on July 21 that it wants to
keep collecting these income taxes, probably until the end of
the year. Before COVID hit, New Hampshire residents who worked
for a Massachusetts employer could adjust their income tax
liability downward to reflect any days they spent working from
home (and perhaps avoid the state tax entirely). The Baker
administration’s approach essentially treats these new at-home
days as in-office days, if people are home specifically because
of the pandemic.
That isn’t sitting well with politicians in New Hampshire. They
argue these constituents should benefit from their state’s
longstanding tradition of not imposing a broad-based income tax,
now that they are not schlepping into Massachusetts every
weekday.
Governor Chris Sununu this week directed the New Hampshire
attorney general to review the taxation rules issued by
neighboring states to ensure New Hampshire residents aren’t
being improperly taxed, and to determine the legality of these
border-state rules. The Republican governor’s brief statement on
the matter didn’t mention Massachusetts by name. But it didn’t
need to: An estimated 84,000 New Hampshire residents regularly
commuted to Massachusetts in normal times, roughly four times
the total of commuters to all other states.
Sununu’s action followed a story last weekend in the Union
Leader, the state’s largest newspaper, about the Baker
administration’s approach to collecting income taxes from New
Hampshire residents.
Meanwhile, the two top Democrats on the New Hampshire Senate’s
ways and means and finance committees fired off a brief letter
to Geoffrey Snyder, Baker’s revenue commissioner, on Wednesday.
The letter slammed the Baker administration’s plans to collect
income taxes from New Hampshire residents who are working
remotely because of the pandemic through the end of the year, or
90 days after Baker ends the state of emergency, whichever comes
first. Snyder’s agency plans to hold a virtual public hearing to
discuss the issue on Aug. 27.
In an interview, Senator Dan Feltes said he and Senator Lou
D’Allesandro wrote to Snyder because of the upcoming hearing,
and because the Baker administration’s approach to taxing
telecommuters is getting more serious now.
“The notion that New Hampshire residents who are, in many cases,
doing the safe thing [and staying home] and are getting
penalized for doing that, is anti-worker and anti-public
health,” said Feltes, who is hoping to challenge Sununu in the
fall for the governor’s seat. “It seems like a prelude to a
long-term rule that hurts New Hampshire workers.”
A spokeswoman for Baker’s Department of Revenue didn’t have much
to say about the criticism, other than to note that the agency’s
approach is intended to minimize disruption for employers and
employees during the pandemic.
The revenue department initially indicated it would collect
income taxes in this manner from out-of-state residents until
Baker lifted the state of emergency, according to Eileen
McAnneny, president of the business-backed Massachusetts
Taxpayers Foundation. She said her group suggested to the state
agency that employers would need more advance notice, and
advocated for a definitive conclusion for that reason — a
suggestion reflected in the updated guidance issued by the
department in July.
Amy Pitter, head of the Massachusetts Society of CPAs, said
Baker’s approach is a sensible response to a temporary emergency
situation, rather than forcing employers to change their payroll
processes. During the time period covered by the agency’s
directive, she said, the workers will be treated, for tax
purposes, exactly the same as before the pandemic.
And Andrew Botti, a litigation attorney with the McLane
Middleton law firm, said these workers are often logging into
computer servers in Massachusetts, one of several factors that
give the state enough jurisdiction to impose the tax. Besides,
he said, it’s not as if New Hampshire is losing income tax
revenue to its neighbor.
But some tax experts say Baker’s legal ground gets shakier the
longer this pandemic drags on.
“Everybody thought this would be over in eight weeks,” said
Jeffrey Levine, an accountant based in Newton. “These people
aren’t in Massachusetts. They shouldn’t be paying Massachusetts
taxes.”
How much tax money are we talking about? The DOR declined to
say.
But the border fight underscores a bigger question that state
bean counters may need to confront. Once the pandemic finally
ends, many employers say they’ll be more lenient about
telecommuting. That trend could take a bite out of Massachusetts
finances, if many New Hampshire residents never resume their
daily commutes south across state lines, or drive into
Massachusetts infrequently.
“I’m sure there are economists right now thinking about if
telecommuting becomes the norm in the future, what does that
mean for economies of high-cost states?” Pitter said.
Steve Gallant, tax partner at accounting firm LGA in Woburn,
said if challenged, he expects the Mass. Department of Revenue
will be willing to take this fight to court to protect this
important revenue stream. Meanwhile, Gallant said, he’s not
quite sure what he’ll tell his colleagues at LGA who live in New
Hampshire and commuted to the Woburn office prior to the
COVID-19 shutdown. Maybe, he said, it will get resolved in time
for the next tax season.
“I’m sure it’s going to the courts,” Gallant said. “Hopefully by
the time we have to deal with it, we’ll have a clearer
understanding.” |
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interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes
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Citizens for Limited Taxation ▪
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