|
Help save yourself -- join CLT
today! |
CLT introduction and membership application |
What CLT saves you from the auto excise tax alone |
Ask your friends to join too |
CLT UPDATE
Monday, July 10, 2012
His Excellency the Governor's vetoes need overriding
|
The $32.5 billion state budget bill agreed to
Wednesday night by a conference committee attracted bipartisan
support Thursday afternoon in the House and Senate, where it was
approved on votes of 147-3 and 38-0, respectively....
Gov. Deval Patrick has 10 days to review the
budget, sign it and announce any vetoes or amendments. A $1.25
billion temporary budget is in place to cover spending since the new
fiscal year begins on Sunday, July 1....
House Minority Leader Brad Jones said the budget
had been improved by efforts of House Republicans, including passage
of electronic benefit transfer card reform, an enhancement of the
Community Preservation Act, and other initiatives derived from the
GOP jobs package....
Sen. Robert Hedlund (R-Weymouth) highlighted the
inclusion of an anti-illegal immigration measure included in the
budget requiring any person that registers a car to hold a license,
social security number, or other proof of legal residence.
“This is one of the more practical yet simple
initiatives we have passed in recent years in Beacon Hill,” Hedlund
said in a statement. “This is a concrete measure that strikes at the
heart of the support structure that allows illegal immigrants to
register and operate motor vehicles all while avoiding prosecution
for immigration violations.”
Current law only requires applicants to provide a
name, date of birth, and proof of insurance for a so-called “X”
registration.
State House News Service
Thursday, June 28, 2012
House, Senate stamp approval on $32.5 Billion state budget
Gov. Deval Patrick put his final imprint on a
$32.5 billion state budget for fiscal 2013 on Sunday, returning
several proposals with amendments to the Legislature regarding
immigration and welfare benefit reform, and rejecting efforts by
lawmakers to keep Taunton Hospital open....
While Patrick agreed to recommendations that
would increase penalties for driving without a license, forging
licenses and identification cards and employing unlicensed workers
as drivers, he rejected a new requirement that applicants for motor
vehicle registration would have to provide "proof of legal
residence," including a driver's license or social security
number....
"I will not accept any Arizona-style legislation
while I serve in this office," Patrick said, congratulating the
Legislature for coming up with "mostly reasonable" immigration
reforms, and rebuffing calls from some more conservative members for
more aggressive measures....
On welfare benefit reforms, Patrick signed
provisions that would allow the Inspector General to investigate
cases of eligibility fraud, and supported new criminal penalties for
food stamp trafficking, and the use of EBT cards for MBTA and RTA
public transit passes.
The governor, however, said he returned with
amendments sections that would have prohibited certain purchases
with EBT benefits, and called for a study of how to improve the
entire EBT benefit system, not just how to move toward a cashless
system.
"I'm not going to do anything that makes
vulnerable people beg for their benefits. This notion of humiliating
poor people has got to be separated from how we make a program, and
frankly separated and disposed of, from how we make a program work
and work well," Patrick said....
State House News Service
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Patrick amends immigration and EBT reforms
Gov. Deval Patrick’s failure to fully embrace the
Legislature’s EBT reforms has reignited the debate over the
fraud-ravaged welfare benefits card system — raising criticism he’s
leaving loopholes open to allow the purchase of controversial goods
with taxpayers’ money.
In a veto statement yesterday, Patrick slammed
his reform-intent rivals for “political grandstanding” with their
efforts to ban EBT buys of guns, porn, tattoos, jewelry and
manicures, insisting reforms were already on track without the
Legislature’s meddling. That drew return fire from irate lawmakers.
“A lot of people in the Legislature, and a lot of
taxpayers for that matter, believe there are a lot of problems with
our EBT system,” said state Sen. Robert Hedlund (R-Weymouth). “Some
of us have worked hard to try to address those problems. Some of us
actually take our jobs seriously, and to be accused of political
grandstanding, I think it’s irresponsible and immature of the
governor to speak that way.” ...
“He’s accusing us of political grandstanding,”
said House Minority Leader Brad Jones (R-N. Reading). “Well, I think
he’s pandering to a political clientele who are in support of him
and he wants to maintain that support. ... It would seem to indicate
to me this isn’t something he wants to go forward.”
State Rep. Russell Holmes (D-Roxbury), another
EBT card-reform supporter, said he’s still optimistic growing
momentum will push meaningful fixes into law despite the veto. “It
is still something that’s very much a priority for the Legislature.
Clearly we’ve gotten this far,” Russell said....
State Rep. Shaunna O’Connell (R-Taunton) said,
“These benefits are for the necessities of life. Not for jewelry,
not for manicures, not to get a makeover.”
The Boston Herald
Monday, July 9, 2012
Gov vetoes budget bill’s EBT reforms
Patrick’s move will allow buys banned by Legislature
House Speaker Robert DeLeo, fuming over a
political jibe from the corner office, vowed to fight a veto
override battle with Gov. Deval Patrick over his attempt to
derail EBT reforms, saying he’ll muster the votes to reassert
lawmakers’ welfare card bans.
“When you’re talking about saving taxpayers’
money from fraud, I don’t think that’s political grandstanding,”
DeLeo fired back yesterday in response to a phrase Patrick
leveled against welfare critics on Sunday.
EBT reform is far from dead, DeLeo insisted
yesterday. House lawmakers will begin overriding Patrick’s EBT
objections tomorrow, and the Senate could act this week as well,
in hopes of passing their original reform package before
adjourning for the year on July 31.
“Before we get out of session, I think it’s
necessary for us to take this up,” DeLeo said. “It’s one of the
important items I felt we had to take up to get done this year,
and I think we will get it done this year.”
A spokesman for Senate President Therese
Murray said only that the Senate would take up the EBT
amendments if it receives them from the House....
State Rep. Shaunna O’Connell (R-Taunton) said
she believes there’s enough bipartisan support to override
Patrick’s veto on the hot-button issue — which was brought
public by Herald articles on abuses followed by police raids and
the arrest of dozens of people on fraud charges.
“I’m glad to hear the speaker is moving
forward so aggressively on this issue,” O’Connell said. “I think
it shows the commitment of the House to reforms we’ve all agreed
to. I believe the support is still there. This legislation
passed overwhelmingly in the House budget.”
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Speaker vows welfare veto override
What planet does Deval Patrick live on?
With his budget vetoes he has made a shambles
of the Legislature’s efforts to curb abuses of EBT cards, keep
illegal immigrants from registering a car and decimated the
state’s newly reformed Probation Department.
His actions are beyond mere political
pandering; they’re just plain nuts! ...
[T]he Legislature has a lot of work ahead,
overriding Patrick’s vetoes and putting their own reform-minded
budget back together.
A Boston Herald editorial
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Overrides ahead
When a Massachusetts governor picks a fight
with Democratic state lawmakers, it usually means only one
thing: The governor is running for national office.
But this time the one provoking the fight is
a Democratic governor, Deval Patrick, and that’s what makes this
spat so fascinating to watch.
Patrick’s accusation of “political
grandstanding” by Democratic legislative leaders over EBT card
reform is the latest signal that the governor has more on his
mind than just the state budget.
There really was no good reason for Patrick
to take a cheap shot at House Speaker Robert DeLeo and other
reform-minded legislators. There is plenty of grandstanding
going on at the State House, but this was not it....
Of course, the governor may have other plans
anyway. If Obama wins re-election, it’s likely Patrick will be
considering a job in the White House, or beefing up his travel
schedule to court Democrats in places such as Iowa, Nevada and
New Hampshire.
Now that’s political grandstanding.
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Gov’s prez focus fuels DeLeo dig
By Joe Battenfeld
|
|
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
After all the work by legislators, the media, and
citizens like us, finally some real waste, fraud and abuse was
addressed by the Legislature — even
though the best was left on the cutting room floor
— Gov. Deval Patrick tossed it back in
their faces and ours.
"I'm not going to do anything that makes
vulnerable people beg for their benefits," he sniffed with a Marie
Antoinette indifference. "This notion of humiliating poor people has
got to be separated from how we make a program, and frankly
separated and disposed of, from how we make a program work and work
well," Patrick said.
But then he perhaps went too far, attacking the
Democrats and their legislative majority for their “political
grandstanding” for their efforts to ban EBT buys of guns, porn,
tattoos, jewelry and manicures. What his party's majority
accomplished by sheer strength of numbers was to defeat and water
down the bills proposed by both House and Senate Republicans
— the Dems had to do something
because if they didn't, then the voters just might hold it against
them come November.
In his Boston Herald of Apr. 27, 2012 ("Scammers
indEBTed to these pols") Howie Carr wrote:
"First of all, no one seriously believes that the
hacks, from Gov. Deval Patrick on down, are really going to end the
EBT free cash benefits to the non-working classes who keep them in
office."
In
my CLT Update commentary of Apr. 28 2012, I wrote:
"What passed in the House by a vote of 123-33
(with two not voting) was the "further amendment," which removed
many of the restrictions on cash O'Connell's amendment contained."
When the watered-down EBT card reforms went to
the state Senate, they were even further diluted.
In the CLT Update of May 26, 2012 ("Senate
Dems duck serious reform, spend more on EBT card fraud") I
wrote:
Professing “The issue that we are trying to
really go after is the issue of fraud, and in the Senate budget
we did that,” state Senator Jennifer Flanagan (D-Leominster)
celebrated the amendment which did no such thing.
But such is life on Bacon Hill where one party rules....
It was more of the same when it came to EBT card reforms: The
small band of Republicans proposing honest reforms, Democrats
(with rare exceptions) voting them down and sticking in a fig
leaf for cover — a distraction that will accomplish even less
than the watered-down reforms adopted by the Democrat majority
in the House version.
Even that watered down and further diluted nod to
hard-working taxpayers was too much for His Excellency the Governor.
He vetoed most of the little that was left of EBT card reforms,
autocratically adding:
"I'm not going to do anything that makes
vulnerable people beg for their benefits. This notion of
humiliating poor people has got to be separated from how we make
a program, and frankly separated and disposed of, from how we
make a program work and work well."
As the Boston Herald observed in its editorial:
What planet does Deval Patrick live on? ... His
actions are beyond mere political pandering; they’re just plain
nuts!
While he was at it His Excellency the Governor
also vetoed the requirement that those applying for a motor vehicle
registration must provide "proof of legal residence," including a
driver's license or social security number.
Again he sniffed and decreed: "I will not accept
any Arizona-style legislation while I serve in this office."
His Excellency the Governor is sounding more and
more like David Axelrod's finished, polished product, self-styled
Emperor of the United States of America Barack Hussein Obama.
Axelrod, the Chicago-based consultant, cut his
teeth on the first Deval Patrick election, then applied his model to
little known Illinois U.S. Senator Obama.
The Wall Street Journal wrote on Oct. 17, 2008 ("The
Axelrod Method"):
The Patrick campaign is the model for Barack
Obama's effort, down to the messages of "hope" and "change" and
the unofficial Patrick slogan of "Yes, We Can! ... More
importantly perhaps, they share an image-maker and political
guru in David Axelrod, the strategist who told the New York
Times Magazine last year that Obama presidential campaign themes
were field tested in Massachusetts....
Doug Rubin, the governor's chief of staff today and then a
Patrick campaign strategist, says Mr. Axelrod's AKP&D Message
and Media political consulting firm -- which also brought into
the Patrick team the current Obama campaign manager David
Plouffe -- got the nod because "the governor wanted to make the
case for himself . . . in a different from traditional
campaign." Massachusetts never saw anything like it. Mr. Patrick
upset the favorite in the Democratic primary and won the general
election by 21 points.
So today we find ourselves with President ME and
Governor Mini-ME, the test-tube prototype, courtesy of Chicago
political guru David Axelrod's machinations of ambiguity. "Yes We
Can!" "Hope and Change" Whatever
— fill
in the blanks yourself for whatever you want, need, or desire.
On April 25, the House passed its final, watered
down version by 123-33 (with two not voting).
On May 24, the Senate passed its more diluted
version by 34-0
The Boston Herald reported today:
EBT reform is far from dead, DeLeo insisted
yesterday. House lawmakers will begin overriding Patrick’s EBT
objections tomorrow, and the Senate could act this week as well,
in hopes of passing their original reform package before
adjourning for the year on July 31.
“Before we get out of session, I think it’s
necessary for us to take this up,” DeLeo said. “It’s one of the
important items I felt we had to take up to get done this year,
and I think we will get it done this year.”
The Herald also noted:
A spokesman for Senate President Therese
Murray said only that the Senate would take up the EBT
amendments if it receives them from the House.
The veto override is expected to come up for a
vote in the House tomorrow (Wednesday).
You might want to reinforce your state
representative's resolve with a phone call [find
him or her here], and your state senator next . . .
The Telegram & Gazette
Sunday, April 22, 2011
Editorial cartoon by David Hitch
|
 |
 |
|
Chip Ford |
|
|
|
|
State House News Service
Thursday, June 28, 2012
House, Senate stamp approval on $32.5 Billion state budget
By Michael Norton and Matt Murphy
The $32.5 billion state budget bill agreed to Wednesday night by a
conference committee attracted bipartisan support Thursday afternoon
in the House and Senate, where it was approved on votes of 147-3 and
38-0, respectively.
Many of the budget's supporters applauded its increase in local aid
to cities and towns.
The budget increases spending on the judiciary by 7.2 percent, to
$760 million, with the Trial Court receiving a 7.9 percent spending
bump. Spending on the state's environmental agencies rises $20
million under the budget, which also increases Chapter 70 school aid
to $4.2 billion, a 5.3 percent increase.
Senate budget chief Stephen Brewer said $58.7 million was added to
the budget in conference, saying the added appropriations are
affordable due to updated projections.
The budget spends $350 million from the rainy day fund, but leaves
that fund with more than $1 billion, according to Brewer.
Gov. Deval Patrick has 10 days to review the budget, sign it and
announce any vetoes or amendments. A $1.25 billion temporary budget
is in place to cover spending since the new fiscal year begins on
Sunday, July 1.
Patrick budget chief Jay Gonzalez issued a statement as the budget
was sent to the governor’s desk.
“We’re encouraged that the legislature passed the FY 2013 budget
today,” Gonzalez said. “We have just started to review it and are
encouraged that it appears the legislature is taking steps in the
direction the Governor wants on reforming community colleges. We
will continue to review the details in the coming days.”
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, who voted for the budget, said he
appreciated the commitment to spending on priorities such as local
aid, but remained concerned about growing MassHealth costs and the
continued reliance on one-time reserves to balance the budget.
House Minority Leader Brad Jones said the budget had been improved
by efforts of House Republicans, including passage of electronic
benefit transfer card reform, an enhancement of the Community
Preservation Act, and other initiatives derived from the GOP jobs
package.
“While if left to the devices of House Republicans this budget might
look different, this document demonstrates to the residents of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts that we as a governing body are
committed to jobs, government transparency and local aid,” Jones
said in a statement.
Sen. Marc Pacheco, a Taunton Democrat, urged Patrick not to veto
funding and language in the budget that would preserve 45 mental
health beds at Taunton State Hospital.
The governor, in his budget proposal, had recommended closing
Taunton Hospital in order to shift patients to a new facility in
Worcester or to community-based care settings. Pacheco said Patrick
should keep the limited number of beds in Taunton until the
completion of an independent study on the mental health needs across
Massachusetts.
Pacheco also said that while the Legislature has been debating the
future of Taunton Hospital, the Department of Mental Health has been
shifting patients to community homes. He said he learned today that
at least one of those patients had died, another might lose a leg
because of a lack of treatment, and a third patient has escaped
multiple times from the facility he had been moved to.
“This is the beginning of a new story on this journey to get to the
right place on mental health services. The independent study is what
is needed and would ask the governor to not veto this study and
leave these beds where they are until we get an independent
analysis,” Pacheco said.
Sen. Robert Hedlund (R-Weymouth) highlighted the inclusion of an
anti-illegal immigration measure included in the budget requiring
any person that registers a car to hold a license, social security
number, or other proof of legal residence.
“This is one of the more practical yet simple initiatives we have
passed in recent years in Beacon Hill,” Hedlund said in a statement.
“This is a concrete measure that strikes at the heart of the support
structure that allows illegal immigrants to register and operate
motor vehicles all while avoiding prosecution for immigration
violations.”
Current law only requires applicants to provide a name, date of
birth, and proof of insurance for a so-called “X” registration.
One item not include in the compromise budget was a proposed ban on
shock therapy for disabled people in Massachusetts.
“It’s despicable. We’re harming innocent children,” said Sen. Brian
Joyce (D-Milton), who called the shock therapy a “barbaric
practice.”
The proposed legislation targeted the Judge Rotenberg Center, a
Canton-based education center, which is the only place in the
country that uses shocks to the skin as treatment for the
developmentally disabled.
Joyce said that two amendments – one that would have codified an
administrative move to stop allowing shock therapy on new students
to the Judge Rotenberg Center and another to ban the practice
outright – were left out of the final version even though they had
passed the Senate. That left Joyce searching for reasons why the
House would not go along with the ban.
“I can only suggest that the underlying motivation for an awful lot
of actions related to the [Judge Rotenberg Center] is money,” Joyce
said. “There’s an extraordinary amount of money involved. It’s
taxpayer money.”
Gregory Miller, a former teacher’s assistant at the Judge Rotenberg
Center in Canton, started an online petition at change.org,
gathering 255,000 signatures, including 10,000 from Massachusetts,
in support of banning the practice.
“Despite this setback, we will continue to push for basic human
rights of the disabled to be respected in Massachusetts,” Miller
said in a statement.
Reps. James Lyons, Paul Adams and Steven Levy, all freshman
Republicans, were the lone votes against the bill, which was
assembled by a six-member conference co-chaired by Rep. Brian
Dempsey of Haverhill and Sen. Stephen Brewer of Barre.
[Andy Metzger contributed reporting]
State House News Service
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Patrick amends immigration and EBT reforms,
says Taunton Hospital should close
By Matt Murphy
Gov. Deval Patrick put his final imprint on a $32.5 billion state
budget for fiscal 2013 on Sunday, returning several proposals with
amendments to the Legislature regarding immigration and welfare
benefit reform, and rejecting efforts by lawmakers to keep Taunton
Hospital open.
The governor also filed a roughly $64 million supplemental spending
bill to accompany the budget reallocating the $32.1 million that he
vetoed from the Legislative proposal, and directing a combination of
fiscal 2012 and anticipated fiscal 2013 surplus funds to programs
such as emergency housing, youth summer jobs, anti-gang initiatives
and a summer sales tax holiday.
"The budget I just signed is balanced, responsible and designed to
keep Massachusetts growing stronger," Patrick said, joined by his
budget secretary and Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray, after signing the bill
in his office on Sunday. The fiscal year started on July 1, and the
state has been operating on a temporary budget.
No lawmakers attended the bill-signing ceremony and press
conference, which Patrick held on a Sunday after taking the full 10
days he is allowed under law to review legislation. "I needed all 10
days," he said. The Legislature must now consider Patrick's
amendments, and whether to override any spending vetoes.
The governor touted the state's investment in local aid at $5.32
billion, a 3.7 percent increase over last year, and reforms to the
governance of the state's community college system that he said
would enabled students to more easily transfer credits between
schools, and allow colleges to close the "skills gap" and meet the
needs of regional employers.
He also approved a requirement that mutual insurance companies
provide clear disclosure to their members of compensation paid to
executive officers, and signed off on an expansion of the Community
Preservation Act, a partial repeal of the pharmaceutical gift ban to
allow "modest" spending on meals for doctors, and prescription drug
coupons.
Defending his decision to move ahead with his administration's
proposed closure of Taunton State Hospital over strong opposition in
the Legislature and nursing community, Patrick said no inpatient
beds or provider jobs would be lost as a result.
After the House and Senate agreed to a compromise that would allow
Taunton Hospital to remain open with a reduced number of 45 beds for
mental health patients, Patrick said he had decided to veto the $5.1
million that would have allowed the hospital to stay open.
"I know this is a hard decision for many people I care about and I
am moved by the support for the hospital, but mental health experts
and advocates support this decision and are as committed as we are
to moving away from institutionalized settings toward an environment
that emphasizes community support for patients," Patrick said.
In addition to a new mental health facility opening in Worcester
next month, Patrick said closing Taunton Hospital was in line with
his administration's support for treating more patients in their
homes or smaller community-based settings. The budget provides an
additional $10 million for community-based services, and the
governor agreed to an independent review of the state's mental
health system capacity needs.
Though Senate President Therese Murray and other lawmakers from
Southeastern Massachusetts have warned that the hospital's closure
would leave that region of the state without an inpatient mental
health facility, Patrick said, "This isn't about having a facility
in every region. It's about having community opportunities in every
region."
The Massachusetts Nurses Association blasted the veto, and urged the
Legislature to override the action.
"We're outraged by the decision. The Legislature acted appropriately
to save 45 beds until a study was completed. If this veto stands
emergency departments not just in southeastern Massachusetts but
across the state will continue to be overcrowded, patients will end
up on the streets, homeless or even dead. A totally irresponsible
decision by DMH and the governor," said David Schildmeier.
Karen Coughlin, a nurse for the past 28 years at Taunton Hospital,
said she was "disgusted" by the decision. "It's a sad day for the
state of Massachusetts when the governor would essentially turn his
back on the mentally ill," she said.
While Patrick agreed to recommendations that would increase
penalties for driving without a license, forging licenses and
identification cards and employing unlicensed workers as drivers, he
rejected a new requirement that applicants for motor vehicle
registration would have to provide "proof of legal residence,"
including a driver's license or social security number.
The governor returned the section, which he described as "murky" and
"overbroad," with an amendment that he said would tighten
identification requirements for vehicle registration without asking
Registry of Motor Vehicles employees to enforce federal immigration
laws.
"I will not accept any Arizona-style legislation while I serve in
this office," Patrick said, congratulating the Legislature for
coming up with "mostly reasonable" immigration reforms, and
rebuffing calls from some more conservative members for more
aggressive measures.
Patrick's amendment would require applicants for vehicle
registration to present a license, ID card, Social Security number
or other "proof of residence in the Commonwealth," and gives the
discretions to the RMV and his administration to exempt out-of-state
residents, military personnel, senior citizens, disabled persons,
and other categories of people that serve public safety goals.
On welfare benefit reforms, Patrick signed provisions that would
allow the Inspector General to investigate cases of eligibility
fraud, and supported new criminal penalties for food stamp
trafficking, and the use of EBT cards for MBTA and RTA public
transit passes.
The governor, however, said he returned with amendments sections
that would have prohibited certain purchases with EBT benefits, and
called for a study of how to improve the entire EBT benefit system,
not just how to move toward a cashless system.
"I'm not going to do anything that makes vulnerable people beg for
their benefits. This notion of humiliating poor people has got to be
separated from how we make a program, and frankly separated and
disposed of, from how we make a program work and work well," Patrick
said.
Patrick said his recommendations were more in line with those of the
EBT Commission, and would restrict the use of EBT cards for the
purchase of alcohol, tobacco and Lottery, and at liquor stores;
casinos, strip clubs, adult bookstores or adult paraphernalia shops,
firearms and ammunitions dealers, tattoo parlors, spas, bars and
drinking establishments, and cruise ships.
He dropped some items from the Legislature's list, including jewelry
and manicures, arguing it's more feasible to restrict purchases in
certain types of establishments, rather than trying to list
prohibited goods or services. The governor also vetoed $400,000 for
a new State Police benefit fraud unit, calling it "duplicative" of
other state expenditures.
House Minority Leader Brad Jones issued a statement indicating he
looked forward to reviewing the governor's vetoes, amendments and
the new spending bill filed by Patrick "just 8 days into the new
fiscal year."
"Further assessment of his amendments to EBT reform and other areas
is necessary in order to determine whether or not Governor Patrick
is making constructive recommendations or attempting to avoid
substantive changes and reforms on key issues," Jones said.
In addition to vetoing a number of earmarks baked into line-items by
lawmakers for tourism, state parks and marine fisheries to benefit
district projects, Patrick also rejected efforts to lower the
population threshold for so-called "Gateway Cities" from 35,000 to
20,000 because he said it would dilute available resources.
Patrick divided a $20 million salary reserve for human services
workers provided in the budget, recommending that $10 million be
spent instead of on bonuses to fund a reimbursement program set up
in 2008 for human service providers.
While the total amount of vetoes was small compared to the overall
budget, the spending plan relies on significant savings in heath
care, estimated at $700 million, largely through management,
procurement and contracting efforts to reduce the state's tab for
the largest expense in the state budget.
The budget supports spending with $350 million drawn from the
state's reserve account, leaving the rainy day fund with a projected
balance of $1.28 billion. Secretary of Administration and Finance
Jay Gonzalez said the state's reserve is currently larger than every
other state in the country except Alaska and Texas.
Patrick administration officials said the 4 percent budget growth
rate in fiscal 2013 is less than the assumed growth rate of state
revenues collections in fiscal 2013, which began on July 1, giving
them confidence in the level of spending despite growth in fixed
costs for health care, pensions and debt.
"This budget is not as dire as some of the others we have seen
during the global economic crisis, but that doesn't mean it funds
everything adequately," Patrick said. "There is more work to be done
in combatting youth violence and providing teens with summer jobs.
There is more work to be done to support our social safety net,
especially as demand for services continues to rise. And
transportation funding needs have been well documented."
Following a $3 billion national settlement last week with
GlaxoSmithKline over illegally promoting prescription drugs and
falsely reported drug prices, Patrick proposed in the supplemental
budget bill he filed to pay for a summer sales tax holiday on Aug.
11 and 12 with one-time settlement money in fiscal 2013.
The holiday costs the state roughly $20 million in foregone revenue,
and the state is already expected to receive $35 million from
GlaxoKlineSmith.
The supplemental budget also includes $14 million for what Patrick
jokes to be "less flashy," but important investments in information
technology, $6 million for summer jobs, $15 million for emergency
housing services, $1.5 million for Shannon Grants and $6 million for
a "Safe and Successful Youth" anti-street violence program.
The Boston Herald
Monday, July 9, 2012
Gov vetoes budget bill’s EBT reforms
Patrick’s move will allow buys banned by Legislature
By Chris Cassidy
Gov. Deval Patrick’s failure to fully embrace the Legislature’s EBT
reforms has reignited the debate over the fraud-ravaged welfare
benefits card system — raising criticism he’s leaving loopholes open
to allow the purchase of controversial goods with taxpayers’ money.
In a veto statement yesterday, Patrick slammed his reform-intent
rivals for “political grandstanding” with their efforts to ban EBT
buys of guns, porn, tattoos, jewelry and manicures, insisting
reforms were already on track without the Legislature’s meddling.
That drew return fire from irate lawmakers.
“A lot of people in the Legislature, and a lot of taxpayers for that
matter, believe there are a lot of problems with our EBT system,”
said state Sen. Robert Hedlund (R-Weymouth). “Some of us have worked
hard to try to address those problems. Some of us actually take our
jobs seriously, and to be accused of political grandstanding, I
think it’s irresponsible and immature of the governor to speak that
way.”
While signing the state’s $32.5 billion budget yesterday, Patrick
rejected an outside section containing the welfare benefits card
reforms that had been hammered out with bi-partisan support in the
House and Senate — an effort spearheaded by House Speaker Robert
DeLeo (D-Winthrop).
DeLeo yesterday declined to comment. But one suspicious GOP leader
accused Patrick of dragging out the process in hopes of killing
their reforms.
“He’s accusing us of political grandstanding,” said House Minority
Leader Brad Jones (R-N. Reading). “Well, I think he’s pandering to a
political clientele who are in support of him and he wants to
maintain that support. ... It would seem to indicate to me this
isn’t something he wants to go forward.”
State Rep. Russell Holmes (D-Roxbury), another EBT card-reform
supporter, said he’s still optimistic growing momentum will push
meaningful fixes into law despite the veto. “It is still something
that’s very much a priority for the Legislature. Clearly we’ve
gotten this far,” Russell said.
Patrick denied he’s opposed to EBT reforms.
“Nobody is more concerned about fraud than we are,” Patrick said at
a press conference yesterday.
His veto rejected bans on the use of EBT cards for tattoos, guns,
porn, body piercings, jewelry, fines and bail. However, he left
standing bans of the use of EBT cards in tattoo parlors, gun shops,
casinos, cruise ships, strip clubs and adult entertainment centers,
saying the independent EBT Card Commission had ruled out the idea of
banning specific products “for reasons of feasibility,
enforceability (and) cost.”
“I see no reason, other than political grandstanding, to deviate
from that basic conclusion,” Patrick wrote.
But Jones said that could create a gray area — for example, big box
stores that aren’t banned but sell items intended to be banned. He
noted Patrick had banned individual items when he signed an earlier
law specifically targeting booze, smokes and lottery tickets.
The proposed ban on EBT use in jewelry stores, nail salons and
rental centers was vetoed, however, leaving no EBT ban on their
products.
State Rep. Shaunna O’Connell (R-Taunton) said, “These benefits are
for the necessities of life. Not for jewelry, not for manicures, not
to get a makeover.”
Jordan Graham contributed to this report.
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Speaker vows welfare veto override
By Chris Cassidy
House Speaker Robert DeLeo, fuming over a political jibe from the
corner office, vowed to fight a veto override battle with Gov. Deval
Patrick over his attempt to derail EBT reforms, saying he’ll muster
the votes to reassert lawmakers’ welfare card bans.
“When you’re talking about saving taxpayers’ money from fraud, I
don’t think that’s political grandstanding,” DeLeo fired back
yesterday in response to a phrase Patrick leveled against welfare
critics on Sunday.
EBT reform is far from dead, DeLeo insisted yesterday. House
lawmakers will begin overriding Patrick’s EBT objections tomorrow,
and the Senate could act this week as well, in hopes of passing
their original reform package before adjourning for the year on July
31.
“Before we get out of session, I think it’s necessary for us to take
this up,” DeLeo said. “It’s one of the important items I felt we had
to take up to get done this year, and I think we will get it done
this year.”
A spokesman for Senate President Therese Murray said only that the
Senate would take up the EBT amendments if it receives them from the
House.
Patrick struck down several provisions Sunday, including one that
banned purchasing specific items such as jewelry, guns, tattoos and
porn with an EBT card — though he agreed to bans on sales at gun
shops, adult entertainment centers and tattoo parlors. He also
rejected language prohibiting EBT cards from being used at jewelry
stores, nail salons and rental centers. Patrick has insisted his
administration has done more than any other to root out fraud,
including setting up a program integrity unit that has helped
recover $28 million since 2008 and passing bans on EBT-funded buys
of booze, smokes and lottery tickets.
State Rep. Shaunna O’Connell (R-Taunton) said she believes there’s
enough bipartisan support to override Patrick’s veto on the
hot-button issue — which was brought public by Herald articles on
abuses followed by police raids and the arrest of dozens of people
on fraud charges.
“I’m glad to hear the speaker is moving forward so aggressively on
this issue,” O’Connell said. “I think it shows the commitment of the
House to reforms we’ve all agreed to. I believe the support is still
there. This legislation passed overwhelmingly in the House budget.”
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
A Boston Herald editorial
Overrides ahead
What planet does Deval Patrick live on?
With his budget vetoes he has made a shambles of the Legislature’s
efforts to curb abuses of EBT cards, keep illegal immigrants from
registering a car and decimated the state’s newly reformed Probation
Department.
His actions are beyond mere political pandering; they’re just plain
nuts!
“I’m not going to do anything that makes vulnerable people beg for
their benefits,” he said Sunday in announcing his vetoes of many of
the EBT card reforms. “This notion of humiliating poor people has
got to be separated from how we make a program . . . work and work
well.”
So he kept in sections prohibiting welfare recipients from using
their benefits at tattoo parlors, gun stores, strip joints, casinos
and cruise ships, but vetoed sections that would have prohibited
their use at jewelry stores, nail salons and rental centers. Because
Patrick vetoed the section outlawing the purchase of specific items,
well, if you can find, say, a gun at a Walmart, then not a problem.
And the taxpayers are going to be so pleased to pay for someone
else’s manicure or new earrings.
He also insisted that an amendment to tighten identification
requirements for those registering a vehicle were “murky” and
“overboard.”
“I will not accept any Arizona-style legislation while I serve in
this office,” Patrick said.
The provision would require applicants to present a license, ID
card, Social Security number or other “Proof of residence in the
Commonwealth.” Yes, a real radical notion that.
Then there’s the utterly bewildering $10 million hit to the
Probation Department’s budget — close to a 10 percent cut with
little more than a notation that it was intended “to bring this
account’s spending in line with realistic agency responsibilities
and caseload levels.” Really? Or is it just payback for an agency
the governor has tried repeatedly to put under his executive
control?
Meanwhile he just filed a supplementary budget with $6 million for
youth summer jobs and another $6 million for a youth anti-violence
program because there’s so much money to spare.
One of the few vetoes on which the governor’s on solid ground was
the $5.1 million the Legislature put in to keep 45 beds open at
Taunton State Psychiatric Hospital. The antiquated facility should
be shut down. This was always more about preserving public sector
union jobs than about patients.
But aside from the Taunton veto, the Legislature has a lot of work
ahead, overriding Patrick’s vetoes and putting their own
reform-minded budget back together.
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Gov’s prez focus fuels DeLeo dig
By Joe Battenfeld
When a Massachusetts governor picks a fight with Democratic state
lawmakers, it usually means only one thing: The governor is running
for national office.
But this time the one provoking the fight is a Democratic governor,
Deval Patrick, and that’s what makes this spat so fascinating to
watch.
Patrick’s accusation of “political grandstanding” by Democratic
legislative leaders over EBT card reform is the latest signal that
the governor has more on his mind than just the state budget.
There really was no good reason for Patrick to take a cheap shot at
House Speaker Robert DeLeo and other reform-minded legislators.
There is plenty of grandstanding going on at the State House, but
this was not it.
The reform Patrick sent back — banning EBT charges on items like
jewelry and porn — was backed by both Senate President Therese
Murray and DeLeo, as well as Republicans.
Patrick’s complaint about the reform amounted to nitpicking. What
the governor really was doing was helping establish his progressive
credentials for a national audience, much the same as he’s done on
the illegal immigration issue.
If it seems like you’ve seen this movie before, it’s because you
have. In 2006, then-Gov. Mitt Romney telegraphed his national
ambitions by appealing to conservatives on issues such as stem cell
research and abortion.
Now Patrick is the one making moves — only to the left. It’s
progressives and liberals who the governor’s trying to impress for a
possible run in 2016.
But Patrick may have picked the wrong fight on this one. Democrats
such as DeLeo, Murray and others won’t appreciate that the governor
is blocking a popular reform right in the middle of re-election
season. They especially won’t forget the ridiculous grandstanding
accusation, and there are still two years left on Patrick’s term.
The next time the governor heads out to Iowa to campaign for
President Obama or take a few weeks off in the Berkshires (which
should be a few weeks from now), lawmakers might not be in such a
forgiving mood when he comes back.
Of course, the governor may have other plans anyway. If Obama wins
re-election, it’s likely Patrick will be considering a job in the
White House, or beefing up his travel schedule to court Democrats in
places such as Iowa, Nevada and New Hampshire.
Now that’s political grandstanding.
|
| |
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes
only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
Citizens for Limited Taxation ▪
PO Box 1147 ▪ Marblehead, MA 01945
▪ 508-915-3665
|