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CLT UPDATE
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Busy on Beacon Hill
Gas tax, Common Core, immigration, RMV waste
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A coalition of transportation advocates is pushing for
legislation that would let cities and towns ask voters to approve
new taxes for specific transportation projects.
"The needs of the Berkshires and the needs of Western
Massachusetts are going to be different than the needs in the
Greater Boston area, but voters and citizens in each of those
regions ought to have control over what we spend on and what we
invest in," said State Sen. Ben Downing, D-Pittsfield, a sponsor of
the legislation.
The Massachusetts bills, S.1474, sponsored by Downing, and
H.2698, sponsored by State Rep. Chris Walsh, D-Framingham, would let
municipalities put questions on their ballots to raise revenue for
local and regional transportation projects. The communities would
determine what type of tax they want to raise a common one
nationally is adding a penny or another small amount to the sales
tax and what specific projects they want to fund. If voters agree
to raise the tax, the money from that tax would be kept in a
separate account to ensure that it can only be spent on those
specific projects. Voters would cap the amount of money that can be
raised and set a time frame for how long the tax increase would
last....
Tim Brennan, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Planning
Commission, who supports the bills, said the idea is to ask voters
whether they are willing to invest in specific projects in their
region. "The beauty of it is voters get to decide," Brennan said.
"Money for transportation projects has gotten more and more austere.
This is a way of advancing projects in a specific region." ...
Citizens for Limited Taxation, an anti-tax group, opposes
the measure. Spokesman Chip Faulkner said Massachusetts is
already a highly taxed state. "The last thing we need is more
taxes," Faulkner said.
Faulkner cited statistics showing that the cost of building
highways in Massachusetts is more expensive than in other states. He
said the state has money to spend on transportation, if it can lower
its costs. "This is just spending way too much money on projects you
can spend less on," Faulkner said.
The Springfield Republican
Friday, March 4, 2016
Bills would let Massachusetts cities ask voters to levy new taxes
for local transportation
The town apparently has a long road to hoe convincing the state
Legislature that Lee should have a local gasoline tax to help pay
for millions of dollars in repairs and maintenance to its bridges
and roadways.
Both the municipality's home-rule petition and a proposed
statewide local gas tax face an uphill battle, according to state
Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli, D-Lenox.
"The language is exactly the same in both, but the Legislature is
not going to do one without the other," he said. "I'm not sure
either will pass."
Pignatelli noted lawmakers usually aren't keen on passing
legislation that raises fees and taxes during an election year
even bills targeting a specific community.
"The fear is if we allow for one, we'll have to let them all in,"
he said....
Pignatelli formally defended the local revenue stream option,
noting that Gov. Charlie Baker's proposed $200 million in Chapter 90
funds municipal highway aid falls short of the estimated $600
million needed just to properly maintain local roads and bridges,
according to the Massachusetts Municipal Association.
However, Marblehead-based Citizens for Limited Taxation
has told Pignatelli that voters in the November 2014 statewide
election feared a gas tax increase related to the Consumer Price
Index.
"He would have discovered that Question 1, which tied gas tax
increases to the CPI, was defeated 53 percent to 47 percent," the
lobby group stated in a
press release. "We know the representative is tone-deaf when it
comes to the taxpayers ... however we at least thought he would
accept the results of a statewide ballot."
The Berkshire Eagle
Monday, March 7, 2016
Proposed Lee gas tax faces uncertain future in Statehouse
Backers of a ballot question that would repeal Common Core in
Massachusetts blasted the learning standards as "sinister" on Monday
while opponents of the measure pushed back with the argument that
the repeal effort is rooted in confusion over the standards.
An initiative campaign driven by a citizens group seeks to roll
back the 2010 incorporation of the Common Core standards into the
state's curriculum frameworks and revert Massachusetts to its
previous standards.
The group's chairwoman, Worcester School Committee member Donna
Colorio, told the Joint Committee on Education Monday that the newer
standards represent an "educational death spiral," reading figures
showing that National Assessment of Educational Progress reading and
math test scores of Massachusetts fourth and eighth graders dropped
between 0.72 and 2.83 points since the state incorporated Common
Core.
"The common theme here is that our state is doing worse, not
better, since our state implemented Common Core," Colorio said
during a hearing on the legislative version of her petition (H
3929). "Common Core has not improved education for our kids. They
deserve better." ...
Petition supporters countered with their own financial arguments.
Chip Faulkner of Citizens for Limited Taxation said
his group "is particularly concerned because the Education Reform
Act of 1993 resulted in the spending of hundreds of millions of
taxpayer dollars over and above the normal levels of educational
expenditures."
"Yet the lower federal education standards implemented by Common
Core would negate the gains achieved since 1993 - a waste of
taxpayer dollars," Faulkner said, adding that the vote to
incorporate Common Core was made by "unelected bureaucrats."
State House News Service
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Massachusetts voters may decide on future of Common Core
Opponents of Common Core say earlier state standards were tougher
Immigrants and asylum seekers shared stories of challenges
they've faced in caring for relatives and meeting professional
obligations without a driver's license, pressing lawmakers Tuesday
to support a bill that would allow Massachusetts residents to obtain
licenses regardless of their immigration status.
"Not having a license has really affected me," Sonia Terbullino,
a Lawrence resident and store owner who came to America from Peru 12
years ago, said through an interpreter during a hearing of the Joint
Committee on Transportation. "In the last 12 years, I have spent
over $120,000 in taxis. In May 2009, I lost a van that had $12,000
in merchandise in it because I didn't have a license and I couldn't
get it registered."
The committee is weighing a bill filed by Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier
of Pittsfield and Sen. Patricia Jehlen of Somerville, both
Democrats, that would allow driver's licenses to be issued to state
residents ineligible for Social Security numbers or who do not
provide proof of immigration status....
Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson said that if legislators
want to ensure safety, they should "deal with the root cause of the
problem" by supporting immigration reform and efforts to secure the
country's borders.
"Laws are created for the purpose of maintaining order and
civility in a democracy and this can only be accomplished through
strict enforcement of those laws," Hodgson said. "If we start
creating laws that protect lawbreakers we will undermine the trust
of our citizens and legal residents and destroy the principles that
preserve our democracy." ...
Other immigrant parents told of facing fears of deportation,
while driving without a driver's license or legal immigration
status, in order to bring sick children to the doctor. Boston
Children's Hospital pediatrician Dr. Julia Koehler, who chairs the
immigrant health committee at the Massachusetts chapter of the
American Academy of Pediatrics, said that is a "very common
situation" among her patients....
Fifty other lawmakers have signed onto Farley-Bouvier's bill.
Similar legislation has been proposed repeatedly in the past.
Last session, the Transportation Committee ordered further study on
the bill.
State House News Service
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
License bill pivots on safety, immigration considerations
There is a new way of doing business at the Registry of Motor
Vehicles and it is coming to light after 5 Investigates revealed the
agency wasted tens of thousands of dollars.
Job openings for six customer service reps for RMV offices across
the state appeared online Friday, just days after Registrar Erin
Deveney faced tough questions from 5 Investigates about not hiring
people....
The costs uncovered by 5 Investigates added up to nearly $120,000
since 2013. This included flights, ferries, taxis and lodging.
Additional money was spent reimbursing employees for meals and other
out-of-pocket transportation costs.
"They justify it because 'we're the Registry of Motor Vehicles
and we can do what we want,'" said Chip Faulkner of
Citizens for Limited Taxation.
WCVB TV5 Investigates
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
RMV posts jobs days after 5 Investigates exposes waste
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Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
CLT communications director Chip Faulkner
has been busy over the past couple of weeks, whether
testifying before legislative committees on Beacon Hill of
being interviewed by the media on CLT's positions on pending
issues. And Beacon Hill has been busy with legislation
that can affect taxpayers in the wallet, like a proposed
local-option gas tax.
CLT of course opposes a local-option gas tax.
More of our money for government at any level to spend
even for some popular and theoretical
"dedicated" purpose is simply more money
to waste for government at any level. And it's more money for
government at all levels to spend on its favorite special interests,
like public employees' salaries and benefits.
Roads and bridges are deteriorating
but whose fault is that? Roads and
bridges are always deteriorating, in much part by intent.
The state rakes in hundreds of millions from the
existing gas tax, hundreds of millions more from never-ending Registry
of Motor Vehicle fee increases
ten times the cost to run the agency
from commercial user fees, from the sales tax on autos, from
federal grants, etc. Municipalities receive a large chunk of cash
through
Chapter 90 funds from state taxpayers every year for road and bridge
maintenance, along with the proceeds from the
annual auto excise we each pay on every vehicle we have on the road.
Nevertheless, road and bridge maintenance is underfunded, infrastructure
is allowed to deteriorate. It's always being held hostage to
inevitably be used as a cudgel over the taxpayer's head whenever more
taxes are desired. Even the graduated income tax advocates are
(unconstitutionally) using this ploy to trick voters into adopting its
proposed constitutional amendment to repeal our state's flat tax.
A bill to provide
driver's licenses for illegal aliens is back. One of the
bill's sponsors, again Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier (D-Pittsfield),
justified it by stating: "The current policy of linking eligibility of
driving with immigrant status means that we have tens of thousands of
drivers currently out on our roads who are not trained, who are not
licensed, and who are not insured."
Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson gets it:
"Laws are created for the purpose of maintaining order and civility in a
democracy and this can only be accomplished through strict enforcement
of those laws. If we start creating laws that protect lawbreakers we
will undermine the trust of our citizens and legal residents and destroy
the principles that preserve our democracy."
When this bill was last introduced, two years ago,
Sheriff Hodgson testified: We are a country of laws. If we begin
to tell people that well make exceptions for any group, then we have to
honestly ask ourselves, do the laws really matter?
Laws are applied and seem only to matter to the
lawful. Criminals need not obey and
don't, usually with little if any consequence.
We keep asking "What part of illegal in 'illegal
alien' can't the open-borders crowd comprehend?"
Chip Faulkner testified before the Joint Committee on
Education on March 7th, presenting CLT's support for repealing the
state's Common Core curriculum. Along with wresting control of education
back from the federal government and returning it to local control, he
noted that state taxpayers have spent additional hundreds of millions on
"Education Reform" since 1993. After acknowledge success, to throw
it all away is a travesty, on top of a blatant insult to taxpayers.
WCVB TV5 Investigates followed up on its March 3rd
report of Registry of Motor Vehicles waste and abuse ("Mass.
Registry of Motor Vehicles flies employees to work") when it found
the RMV had subsequent to its initial report suddenly advertised for a
number of new Registry workers. Again, Chip Faulkner had an
observation to add, one we've all become all too aware of.
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Chip Ford
Executive Director |
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The Springfield Republican
Friday, March 4, 2016
Bills would let Massachusetts cities ask voters to levy new
taxes for local transportation
By Shira Schoenberg
A coalition of transportation advocates is pushing for
legislation that would let cities and towns ask voters to
approve new taxes for specific transportation projects.
"The needs of the Berkshires and the needs of Western
Massachusetts are going to be different than the needs in
the Greater Boston area, but voters and citizens in each of
those regions ought to have control over what we spend on
and what we invest in," said State Sen. Ben Downing,
D-Pittsfield, a sponsor of the legislation.
The Massachusetts bills, S.1474, sponsored by Downing, and
H.2698, sponsored by State Rep. Chris Walsh, D-Framingham,
would let municipalities put questions on their ballots to
raise revenue for local and regional transportation
projects. The communities would determine what type of tax
they want to raise a common one nationally is adding a
penny or another small amount to the sales tax and what
specific projects they want to fund. If voters agree to
raise the tax, the money from that tax would be kept in a
separate account to ensure that it can only be spent on
those specific projects. Voters would cap the amount of
money that can be raised and set a time frame for how long
the tax increase would last.
At least 10 other states have similar laws. According to the
transportation policy group the Center for Transportation
Excellence, 470 ballot initiatives were voted on nationwide
between 2000 and 2013, and 72 percent of them passed.
Downing argues that a regional ballot system would restore
trust in the state's transportation system, by giving voters
the choice of which projects to raise and spend money for.
Downing said today, when most transportation projects are
funded by the state, regions are pitted against each other
for one pot of funding. Downing said his constituents in the
Berkshires care about roads, culverts, bridges and expanded
public transportation, while Boston area residents care most
about the MBTA and "couldn't care less about potholes or
bridges in Western Massachusetts." He said existing state
funding is inadequate to meet the state's transportation
needs.
"This is a way for each region to control their destiny,"
Downing said.
Tim Brennan, executive director of the Pioneer Valley
Planning Commission, who supports the bills, said the idea
is to ask voters whether they are willing to invest in
specific projects in their region. "The beauty of it is
voters get to decide," Brennan said. "Money for
transportation projects has gotten more and more austere.
This is a way of advancing projects in a specific region."
In the Pioneer Valley, Brennan said there is a $1.5 billion
pipeline of projects that cities and towns want to get done.
"You can't possibly keep up with the number of projects with
the amount of resources," Brennan said.
Brennan said he could envision new tax revenue being sought
in the Pioneer Valley for a mix of highway and bridge
projects, transit projects, and bikeway and pedestrian
paths.
Steve Koczela, president of MassINC Polling Group, said in
several polls conducted over the past four years, more than
70 percent of voters support the idea of being allowed to
vote on tax proposals for specific projects. "It's not
necessarily people saying they would vote in favor of a
specific proposal, but people are in favor of the idea they
should be allowed to vote on proposals within a region,"
Koczela said.
A coalition of bill supporters held a briefing at the
Statehouse on Thursday. Former Indianapolis Mayor Greg
Ballard, who convinced lawmakers in Indiana to give
municipalities the ability to raise taxes for transportation
through ballot initiatives, said the tool helps cities and
towns improve their infrastructure to attract new residents.
"This is about attracting talent and capital into your
city," Ballard said.
Citizens for Limited Taxation, an anti-tax group,
opposes the measure. Spokesman Chip Faulkner said
Massachusetts is already a highly taxed state. "The last
thing we need is more taxes," Faulkner said.
Faulkner cited statistics showing that the cost of building
highways in Massachusetts is more expensive than in other
states. He said the state has money to spend on
transportation, if it can lower its costs. "This is just
spending way too much money on projects you can spend less
on," Faulkner said.
The Berkshire Eagle
Monday, March 7, 2016
Proposed Lee gas tax faces uncertain future in Statehouse
By Dick Lindsay
LEE The town apparently has a long road to hoe convincing the state
Legislature that Lee should have a local gasoline tax to help pay for
millions of dollars in repairs and maintenance to its bridges and
roadways.
Both the municipality's home-rule petition and a proposed statewide
local gas tax face an uphill battle, according to state Rep. William "Smitty"
Pignatelli, D-Lenox.
"The language is exactly the same in both, but the Legislature is not
going to do one without the other," he said. "I'm not sure either will
pass."
Pignatelli noted lawmakers usually aren't keen on passing legislation
that raises fees and taxes during an election year even bills
targeting a specific community.
"The fear is if we allow for one, we'll have to let them all in," he
said.
Last fall, Pignatelli filed the home-rule petition on Beacon Hill that
would allow Lee to charge up to an additional 3 cents per gallon of
gasoline sold in town. In a parallel move, he proposed a municipal gas
tax bill that would allow all 351 cities and towns across the
commonwealth the option of enacting their own gas tax, forgoing the need
for special legislation.
Unlike the rooms and meal tax, state law doesn't permit a municipality
to enact a gasoline tax on its own.
In Lee, local gas tax revenue generated by the eight gas stations in
town including two on the Massachusetts Turnpike would be put toward
the nearly $40 million it could take within a 15-year period to overhaul
the town's entire road and bridge infrastructure, according to local
officials. The statewide legislation also requires all local gas tax
revenue be spent only on roads and bridges.
If the home-rule petition is approved by the House and Senate, Lee
voters would have the final say at the ballot box. Annual town meeting
voters in May 2015 authorized the Board of Selectmen to seek legislative
backing for the gas tax.
"I understand people might be upset by another tax," said Lee Selectmen
Chairwoman Patricia Carlino, "but the roads and bridges and their
problems won't go away and we have nine bridges we are responsible for."
According to local officials, Lee would have to spend $1.8 million for
each of the next 15 years to complete all necessary road repairs and
repaving a $27 million price tag. In addition, Lee has four bridges in
need of a serious upgrade or replacement at an estimated cost of $11.8
million.
Pignatelli formally defended the local revenue stream option, noting
that Gov. Charlie Baker's proposed $200 million in Chapter 90 funds
municipal highway aid falls short of the estimated $600 million needed
just to properly maintain local roads and bridges, according to the
Massachusetts Municipal Association.
However, Marblehead-based Citizens for Limited Taxation has told
Pignatelli that voters in the November 2014 statewide election feared a
gas tax increase related to the Consumer Price Index.
"He would have discovered that Question 1, which tied gas tax increases
to the CPI, was defeated 53 percent to 47 percent," the lobby group
stated in a
press release. "We know the representative is tone-deaf when it
comes to the taxpayers ... however we at least thought he would accept
the results of a statewide ballot."
However, Berkshire state Sen. Benjamin B. Downing says cities and towns
have too much catching-up to do from years of deferred road and bridge
work.
"One way or the other we have got to break out of a 20-year drought of
under investing in our infrastructure," he said. "We've put off on the
road work long enough."
Downing and Pignatelli realize the gas tax option isn't for every
community, but with Mass Turnpike gas stations within their borders,
Lee, along with Charlton also filing a home-rule petition, couldn't
resist tapping into those cash-cows.
Charlton Town Administrator Robin Craver views the local gasoline tax as
a supplement to not in lieu of Chapter 90 money.
"[The local gas tax] would help offset new EPA mandates for storm water
management as well as help road and bridge repairs," Craver said in an
email to The Eagle. "The local option gas tax will help put resources
back into the budget for deferred maintenance."
State House News Service
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Massachusetts voters may decide on future of Common Core
Opponents of Common Core say earlier state standards were tougher
By Kate Lannan
Backers of a ballot question that would repeal Common Core in
Massachusetts blasted the learning standards as "sinister" on Monday
while opponents of the measure pushed back with the argument that the
repeal effort is rooted in confusion over the standards.
An initiative campaign driven by a citizens group seeks to roll back the
2010 incorporation of the Common Core standards into the state's
curriculum frameworks and revert Massachusetts to its previous
standards.
The group's chairwoman, Worcester School Committee member Donna Colorio,
told the Joint Committee on Education Monday that the newer standards
represent an "educational death spiral," reading figures showing that
National Assessment of Educational Progress reading and math test scores
of Massachusetts fourth and eighth graders dropped between 0.72 and 2.83
points since the state incorporated Common Core.
"The common theme here is that our state is doing worse, not better,
since our state implemented Common Core," Colorio said during a hearing
on the legislative version of her petition (H 3929). "Common Core has
not improved education for our kids. They deserve better."
School superintendents Roy Belson of Medford and John Retchless of
Rockland were among those who spoke against the petition. Retchless said
he "would not call precipitous" the two-point drop on the NAEP test when
the average score for Massachusetts fourth-graders was 235 on their
reading test.
"Let's tell the public that the Common Core is not a retreat from
quality, and I ask that you not be swayed by those that would want to go
backwards," Belson said. "The Common Core standards are an important
response to the new realities of our economy, and our attempt to promote
full responsibility of enlightened citizenship."
In July 2010, the state's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education
voted to incorporate the Common Core State Standards into the
Massachusetts curriculum frameworks, "contingent on augmenting and
customizing the standards as to strengthen them as appropriate,"
Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester told the committee. The vote,
Chester said, came after review by the board, a public comment period,
review by local educators and a review commissioned by the Massachusetts
Business Alliance for Education.
The 2010 frameworks incorporated teachers' suggestions for building on
prior frameworks and responded to employer and higher education feedback
that high school graduates were lacking in math and literacy skills,
Chester said.
Common Core opponents say the pre-2010 standards were academically
superior and criticize the backing of Common Core by wealthy groups,
including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Chester said that removing Common Core -- and adhering to the petition's
other requirements, including the annual release of all standardized
test items -- would pose a high financial cost.
"Any indiscriminate, wholesale change to the 2010 frameworks would be
unnecessarily costly to our schools by necessitating a new round of
materials purchases and professional development to ensure alignment to
the pre-2010 standards," Chester said.
Petition supporters countered with their own financial arguments.
Chip Faulkner of Citizens for Limited Taxation said his group
"is particularly concerned because the Education Reform Act of 1993
resulted in the spending of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars
over and above the normal levels of educational expenditures."
"Yet the lower federal education standards implemented by Common Core
would negate the gains achieved since 1993 - a waste of taxpayer
dollars," Faulkner said, adding that the vote to incorporate Common Core
was made by "unelected bureaucrats."
Educators who support the standards say they encourage skills like
problem-solving and critical thinking.
"Much of the opposition to Common Core comes from parents and teachers
who never understood math well, so Common Core's focus on understanding
confuses them at first and seems like a waste of time," said Richard
Bisk, a retired math professor. "A house goes up faster if you skip the
foundation, but the house doesn't last long. It's the same with math,
but worse."
Those who favor repeal consider Common Core a federal overreach that
strips control from local school committees and classroom teachers.
David McGeney, who served on the Peabody School Committee for 20 years,
denounced the learning standards as "an unholy alliance between the
education industrial complex and our federal government."
"It is so perverse in its inception that one would think it sprang from
the sinister mind of Frank Underwood in a 'House of Cards' episode,"
McGeney said. "But it's much scarier than that, because it's real."
State House News Service
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
License bill pivots on safety, immigration considerations
By Katie Lannan
Immigrants and asylum seekers shared stories of challenges they've faced
in caring for relatives and meeting professional obligations without a
driver's license, pressing lawmakers Tuesday to support a bill that
would allow Massachusetts residents to obtain licenses regardless of
their immigration status.
"Not having a license has really affected me," Sonia Terbullino, a
Lawrence resident and store owner who came to America from Peru 12 years
ago, said through an interpreter during a hearing of the Joint Committee
on Transportation. "In the last 12 years, I have spent over $120,000 in
taxis. In May 2009, I lost a van that had $12,000 in merchandise in it
because I didn't have a license and I couldn't get it registered."
The committee is weighing a bill filed by Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier of
Pittsfield and Sen. Patricia Jehlen of Somerville, both Democrats, that
would allow driver's licenses to be issued to state residents ineligible
for Social Security numbers or who do not provide proof of immigration
status.
Applicants for Massachusetts driver's licenses currently must present a
Social Security number or an acceptable denial notice from the Social
Security Administration, along with records including proof of
acceptable visa status and a current foreign passport.
Speaking at the hearing, Farley-Bouvier described the bill as a matter
of safety, particularly in parts of the state like hers without public
transit.
"The current policy of linking eligibility of driving with immigrant
status means that we have tens of thousands of drivers currently out on
our roads who are not trained, who are not licensed, and who are not
insured," she said.
Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson said that if legislators want to
ensure safety, they should "deal with the root cause of the problem" by
supporting immigration reform and efforts to secure the country's
borders.
"Laws are created for the purpose of maintaining order and civility in a
democracy and this can only be accomplished through strict enforcement
of those laws," Hodgson said. "If we start creating laws that protect
lawbreakers we will undermine the trust of our citizens and legal
residents and destroy the principles that preserve our democracy."
Amy Grunder, director of legislative affairs for the Massachusetts
Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, estimated that there are
60,000 undocumented immigrants between the ages of 25 and 34 in the
state who may be driving.
Supporters of the bill said that there are several categories of
immigrants who do not qualify for Massachusetts driver's licenses
besides those who are in the country illegally, including some refugees
and asylum seekers and holders of certain visas.
Stanislav Stanskikh, who described himself as a Russian constitutional
scholar and anti-corruption activist who has applied for asylum after
leaving his hometown near Moscow, said he has not been able to obtain a
license here while his immigration status is pending.
"I need a driver's license for the same reasons that everyone does -- to
drive my child to medical appointments and to daycare," Stanskikh said.
"I also need a driver's license as an identity document to prove my age,
to travel or to open a bank account. Right now, my Russian passport is
my only form of identification. If I were to lose my passport I would
have no identification at all."
Other immigrant parents told of facing fears of deportation, while
driving without a driver's license or legal immigration status, in order
to bring sick children to the doctor. Boston Children's Hospital
pediatrician Dr. Julia Koehler, who chairs the immigrant health
committee at the Massachusetts chapter of the American Academy of
Pediatrics, said that is a "very common situation" among her patients.
"It seems to me that the choice that we're being asked to decide is
whether it would be in our interest to make our roads safer, on the one
hand, or on the other hand to make lives of people who are here
undocumented more difficult," said Rep. Ken Gordon, a Bedford Democrat
who sits on the committee. "Those seem to be the competing issues here,
and it seems to me at least personally listening to this that the choice
is different, much more stark and perhaps much more clear when you put
it that way."
Fifty other lawmakers have signed onto Farley-Bouvier's bill.
Similar legislation has been proposed repeatedly in the past. Last
session, the Transportation Committee ordered further study on the bill.
WCVB TV5 Investigates
March 9, 2016
RMV posts jobs days after 5 Investigates exposes waste
By Mike Beaudet
BOSTON There is a new way of doing business at the Registry
of Motor Vehicles and it is coming to light after 5
Investigates revealed the agency wasted tens of thousands of
dollars.
Job openings for six customer service reps for RMV offices
across the state appeared online Friday, just days after
Registrar Erin Deveney faced tough questions from 5
Investigates about not hiring people.
"Why did this go on for so long?" asked 5 Investigates' Mike Beaudet.
"There were issues with the branch," replied Deveney.
Those issues involved a lack of staffing at the Nantucket and Martha's
Vineyard registries.
To keep the offices open for business, the RMV flew employees to the
islands for more than two years, putting them up in an historic inn.
The costs uncovered by 5 Investigates added up to nearly $120,000 since
2013. This included flights, ferries, taxis and lodging. Additional
money was spent reimbursing employees for meals and other out-of-pocket
transportation costs.
"They justify it because 'we're the Registry of Motor Vehicles and we
can do what we want,'" said Chip Faulkner of Citizens for
Limited Taxation.
The island RMVs are two of the least busy in the state.
They're now fully staffed again, each with two full-time employees.
"We have two full-time staff people because on occasion Mike, our staff
might need to go to the bathroom," said Deveney.
A registry spokeswoman says the timing of the new job postings is just a
coincidence.
"Last summer, the RMV made several decisions to improve customer
service," said Jacquelyn Goddard in an emailed statement. "One decision
was to be more proactive with staffing so that branch offices would not
get short staffed."
Even though six new positions are posted, the registry says it's not
actually going to hire anyone.
Instead it's looking to identify candidates in case a job opens up.
It's a move that in theory will prevent a staffing debacle like what
happened on the islands from happening again.
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NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this
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