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CLT UPDATE
Thursday, January 5, 2017
Enter 2017
|
For the first time in eight years,
legislators on Beacon Hill will see an increase in their
base salaries after Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday certified
a pay raise of $2,515 for the 200 members of the House and
Senate, bringing their base pay up to $62,547.
Governors are required by the constitution
every two years to consider pay increases for lawmakers
based on changes in median household income. Baker's team
determined that median household income in Massachusetts
climbed by 4.19 percent between 2013 and 2015....
Many legislators earn more than the base
salary, with extra income authorized based on leadership
duties, including committee chairmanships. Additional
stipend pay can range from $7,500 for a committee chairman
to $25,000 for the Ways and Means chairs and $35,000 for the
speaker and Senate president.
The Legislature most weeks holds one formal
session and for about seven months of the two-year session
only informal sessions are held, which most lawmakers do not
attend. Lawmakers also stay busy with committee work, their
own legislative priorities, constituent services, and
meetings in their districts.
Many lawmakers also hold outside jobs in the
private sector to supplement their incomes.
State House News Service
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Baker signs off on 4.2 percent bump in legislative base pay
But under the law, Baker and other
constitutional officers’ pay are also tied to the
adjustment, which would have meant a roughly $6,300 bump to
the Republican’s $151,000-a-year salary. His office,
however, said he won’t take one himself weeks after making
$98 million in cuts and overseeing the voluntary buyouts of
900 state workers.
“The governor and the lieutenant governor (Karyn
Polito) will not be accepting a pay increase,” spokeswoman
Lizzy Guyton said.
It’s unclear if other constitutional
officers will do the same. Aides to Attorney General Maura
Healey, state Auditor Suzanne Bump, Secretary of State
William Galvin and state Treasurer Deb Goldberg either said
their bosses weren’t available or did not immediately
respond to questions last night.
The Boston Herald
Friday, December 30, 2016
Charlie Baker gives lawmakers $2,500 pay boost
But unlike the increases proposed by the
advisory commission in 2014, those announced Thursday are
enshrined in the state Constitution and the law.
Citizens for Limited Taxation, a tax
watchdog group based in Marblehead, opposed that amendment
when it was put before voters in 1998, said Chip Faulkner,
the group’s communications director.
The constitutional amendment, he said,
allows legislators to see their pay boosted without forcing
them to cast politically challenging votes in favor of their
own compensation.
“It’s a terrible system,” Faulkner said. “If
you want a pay raise, at least have the decency and the
honesty to take a roll call vote.”
The Boston Globe
Friday, December 30, 2016
Mass. lawmakers getting 4 percent raise
This week we get a new state Legislature.
Unfortunately, the national GOP trend missed Massachusetts,
so it’s going to look a lot like the old one.
Republicans added one House member in
November, which only makes up for the loss of the Peabody
special election in 2016.
As President Donald Trump works to provide
tax relief at the federal level to grow the economy, it’s
going to be a bumpy year for us in the Bay State.
For the past several months, state revenue
has not reached the expected levels. Of course, this gives
Bacon Hill Democrats every reason to pass tax increases.
Reducing spending goes against their grain
and the special interest groups they are obligated to....
Not only will the new Legislature easily
pass the language for the 2018 ballot question to create a
graduated income tax — which voters have rejected — they
will also pass new tax increases. It’s not a matter of if.
It’s a matter of which one....
Gov. Charlie Baker cannot stop them with a
veto because they have enough votes to override. That’s why
we need more Republicans!
Our only other alternative is a ballot
question. And though Democrats think it’s clever to raise
taxes during a non-election year to avoid the wrath of
voters, it still gives us time to collect signatures for a
repeal effort.
The Boston Herald
Monday, January 2, 2017
Taxes on state menu as the House (and Senate) special
By Holly Robichaud
Senate President Stanley Rosenberg on
Wednesday embarked on his second term as the top Democrat in
the upper chamber, outlining an ambitious, if challenging,
agenda for the coming two years that could bump up against
the priorities of a more moderate and business-friendly
House and a governor focused on controlling growth in
government....
In remarks to members as the new legislative
session got underway, the 67-year-old laid out a series of
goals, many of which would require significant new spending
at a time when officials on Beacon Hill have been trying to
match soft revenue growth with persistent spending demands.
Gov. Charlie Baker recently slashed $98 million from the
budget that Democrats have threatened to restore, and
Rosenberg said "cutting is not our best strategy."...
"I believe we need to invest our way to
success," Rosenberg said.
Foreshadowing a vote required in the next
two years to put a question on the ballot to raise taxes on
household incomes over $1 million per year, Rosenberg urged
voters to pass what he called a "fair share tax" in 2018 to
generate revenue for education and transportation.
Until then, Rosenberg said the Senate will
look for new revenues "where we can find them," including
taxing new services like AirBnb and closing unspecified
"loopholes." He did not mention any broad-based tax
increases, which Gov. Baker opposes and which must originate
in the House.
State House News Service
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Rosenberg is first of "Big Three" to tip policy preferences
House Democrats on Wednesday morning
unsurprisingly selected Speaker Robert DeLeo to again lead
the House, but the party's nominating caucus also offered
clues as to which members may be in line for a promotion
into DeLeo's inner circle.
State House News Service
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Reps fete DeLeo at caucus before his reelection as speaker
Elected by his fellow Democrats to a fifth
term as speaker on Wednesday, Rep. Robert DeLeo said he
would focus on leveraging the state's strengths in the
upcoming session and predicted lawmakers would face "some
very challenging issues."
If the 66-year-old Winthrop Democrat
finishes the 2017-2018 term in his post, he will become the
longest-serving speaker under the state constitution,
surpassing former Speaker Thomas McGee's record
nine-and-a-half-year run from 1975 until 1985....
DeLeo, now in his 14th term as a
representative, was elected speaker with 120 votes, and
House members cheered as he cast his vote in his own name.
Minority Leader Brad Jones of North Reading received 35
votes from Republicans, for a total of 155 votes cast out of
the 160 members of the House.
State House News Service
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
In new term, DeLeo will focus on leveraging state's
strengths
After administering the oath of office to
the new Legislature — split
159-41 against members of the party he leads
— Gov.
Charlie Baker struck an optimistic tone Wednesday about
boosting the Republican ranks in the Legislature.
Since taking office in 2015, Baker has
worked to elect more Republicans to the House and Senate,
focusing on state elections and largely staying out of a
national fray that has carried a decidedly more combative
tone. After November's elections, the GOP started the
2017-2018 legislative session Wednesday with one more member
than it had two years ago when Baker first took office....
Democrats control the House with a 125 to 35
advantage and the Senate with 34 members to the GOP's six.
Democrats voting in unison are able to easily override
gubernatorial vetoes, as they exhibited with budget vetoes
in July....
As is often the case, taxes are percolating
as a divisive issue. In the face of opposition from
Republicans, Democrats last session advanced an amendment to
the constitution imposing a 4 percent surtax in household
incomes above $1 million, a measure that will likely appear
on the 2018 ballot. Democratic legislative leaders in recent
weeks have also refused to rule out tax increases in the
coming session. During remarks following his reelection as
House Minority Leader Wednesday, Rep. Brad Jones urged
Speaker Robert DeLeo to refrain from any broad-based
statewide tax increase.
State House News Service
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Baker sticking with recipe, but Dems have the numbers
Bay State residents earned about 75 cents on
every dollar the state gave out in tax credits to film and
Hollywood productions, according to new state data,
reigniting criticism of the controversial tax incentive.
The latest figures, covering 2014 and
released yesterday by the Department of Revenue, show the
state’s film tax credit generated $49 million in personal
income for Bay Staters that year, but only after paying out
$64.5 million in credits to companies making films, TV shows
and documentaries in the state.
“The $49 million is key. If I come to you
and say, ‘Give me a dollar and I’ll give you 75 cents back,’
do you take the deal?” said Bob Tannenwald, a former
economist at the Boston Fed who’s now at the Heller School
at Brandeis University.
“Bottom line, all effects taken into
account, the film tax credit is a bum deal for the people of
Massachusetts. It robs from Peter to pay Paul.” ...
But while lawmakers have long protected it
from reform, saying it helps support local businesses,
critics have said it’s a poor use of state money, noting
that for every job it’s created, the state has spent about
$106,000....
Gov. Charlie Baker has sought to scrap or
scale back the credit in each of his first two years in
office, only to face opposition from Democratic leadership
in the Legislature.
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Film tax credit’s bottom line: ‘A bum deal’
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Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
Welcome to the new year; 2017 has arrived with all its promise and challenges.
Nationally there's a world of change ahead. It's already begun and is
about to accelerate. There will be the same old obstructionism served up
by the status quo establishment with self-interests at stake. Those
intentions already have been vowed by the intransigent, entrenched, yet rejected
minority party in Washington. Across the nation Democrats have been turned
out, crushed. Here in
Massachusetts little if anything has changed.
The new year brought a nice pay raise for "The Best Legislature Money Can
Buy," a boost of
$2,515 per year bringing legislator's annual base salary to
$62,500.
You may recall that the Legislature put a constitutional amendment on the 1998
ballot with the claim that passage would prevent legislators from ever voting on
another pay raise for themselves. CLT opposed the ballot question, noting
that its passage would create the only constitutionally mandated pay raise for
legislators in the world. Nonetheless, a majority of our fellow citizens
voted to prevent legislators from ever voting on another pay raise for
themselves.
The following excerpt is from an
Associated Press
report on January 3, 2001:
Lawmakers received an 8 percent pay raise on
Wednesday, the first day of the 2001-2002
session.
The raise was approved by the Legislature and by
voters in 1998, in a change to the state
constitution that ties lawmakers' salaries to
state residents' income.
The base pay for a state lawmaker is now
$50,123, up from $46,410, although they earn
more for appointed leadership positions.
Lawmakers defended the pay raise and the
innovative method of calculating it, but critics
said linking the pay adjustments to the economy
unfairly takes the power of determining
lawmakers' salaries away from voters.
"We can never ever cut their pay no matter how
badly they act," said Barbara Anderson,
executive director of Citizens for Limited
Taxation. "It cuts off one more option to
control our representatives."
Repealing the provision would require
legislative approval, since any constitutional
change must be approved by two successive
legislative sessions and by voter referendum.
The lawmakers' salary provision calls for
salaries to change automatically every two
years. That means residents no longer have the
option of venting their anger by voting out
lawmakers who approve pay raises, Anderson said.
. . .
In fact, lawmakers were criticized in July for
increasing their compensation in another manner.
In the annual budget process, lawmakers raised
their office expense accounts from $3,600 to
$7,200, and doubled their per diem accounts,
which vary by lawmaker.
Anderson said the pay adjustment was just
another example of lawmakers giving themselves
special privileges that their employers the
voters are denied.
"Most of us find it humiliating to go to our
employers to ask for a pay raise," she said.
"It's just one of those things you have to do
when you're an employee."
Ah, such fun of being "The taxpayers' institutional memory"
— we never forget and are only too happy to remind
everyone!
As noted by Mark Twain, "No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the
legislature is in session," and ours is back after a five-month taxpayer-paid
hiatus. As we've warned in recent weeks, tax hike appetites have been
whetted among many on Bacon Hill. Past reluctance if not resistance by
House Speaker-for-Life Robert DeLeo seems to have waned. The pols need
more money — our money. No specific
targets have yet been designated, beyond imposing a long-desired graduated
income tax — just a growing appetite. That's
always dangerous for taxpayers.
We'll be watching, as always.
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Chip Ford
Executive Director |
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State House News Service
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Baker signs off on 4.2 percent bump in
legislative base pay
By Matt Murphy
For the first time in eight years, legislators
on Beacon Hill will see an increase in their
base salaries after Gov. Charlie Baker on
Thursday certified a pay raise of $2,515 for the
200 members of the House and Senate, bringing
their base pay up to $62,547.
Governors are required by the constitution every
two years to consider pay increases for
lawmakers based on changes in median household
income. Baker's team determined that median
household income in Massachusetts climbed by
4.19 percent between 2013 and 2015.
The governor, in a letter to Treasurer Deborah
Goldberg, indicated that he used the American
Community Survey, which is produced by the U.S.
Census Bureau, to review changes in income
across the state. Data from 2015 was the most
recent available through the ACS, officials
said.
Median household income in Massachusetts grew
from $67,789 in 2013 to $70,628 in 2015, an
increase of 4.19 percent.
Returning lawmakers getting sworn into office
for a new term next week will see their base
salaries climb from $60,032. The last time the
biennial review led to a base pay increase for
lawmakers was 2009.
Noting that lawmaker salaries had not gone up in
eight years, Sen. Harriette Chandler said
earlier this week it was "not a secret that
people are hoping" Baker would authorize raises.
"Even a small increase would be very nice," the
Worcester Democrat said Tuesday.
Earlier this month, Senate President Stanley
Rosenberg said it "would only be fair" for
lawmakers to get a raise as family median income
has risen over the past two years. Referring to
some backlash directed at House Speaker Robert
DeLeo for handing out staff pay raises before
Thanksgiving, Rosenberg said of the expected pay
raises for lawmakers he believed there would "be
an outcry about that, too."
Many legislators earn more than the base salary,
with extra income authorized based on leadership
duties, including committee chairmanships.
Additional stipend pay can range from $7,500 for
a committee chairman to $25,000 for the Ways and
Means chairs and $35,000 for the speaker and
Senate president.
The Legislature most weeks holds one formal
session and for about seven months of the
two-year session only informal sessions are
held, which most lawmakers do not attend.
Lawmakers also stay busy with committee work,
their own legislative priorities, constituent
services, and meetings in their districts.
Many lawmakers also hold outside jobs in the
private sector to supplement their incomes.
Baker had until next week to finalize any
adjustments in pay, but his team announced the
decision Thursday afternoon.
The raises come as Baker and the Legislature
grapple with continuing state budget problems.
Baker this month slashed $98 million from the
budget, drawing an outcry from lawmakers who
claim the state can afford the spending.
Rep. Paul Donato, in a brief interview upon
exiting the House Chamber after presiding over
an hours-long informal session Thursday, said
he's "very satisfied" with the governor's
decisions to bump legislators pay. Asked if it
was a fair increase, Donato said, "Don't look a
gift horse in the mouth. The governor gave us a
raise. We'll take what the governor gave us."
— Michael
Norton, Katie Lannan and Antonio Caban
contributed reporting
The Boston Herald
Friday, December 30, 2016
Charlie Baker gives lawmakers $2,500 pay boost
By Matt Stout
Fresh from making budget cuts and offering
buyouts, Gov. Charlie Baker is giving lawmakers
their first raise in eight years in the form of
a 4.2-percent bump — but he said he’ll forgo his
own pay hike.
Baker, who is constitutionally required to
adjust lawmakers’ pay every two years based on
household median income, announced the pay
raises yesterday, which will nudge their
salaries up roughly $2,500 to $62,500.
It comes after their pay was cut in 2011 and
2013, and then-Gov. Deval Patrick chose not to
change it two years ago.
Baker had to make the adjustment by next
Wednesday.
But under the law, Baker and other
constitutional officers’ pay are also tied to
the adjustment, which would have meant a roughly
$6,300 bump to the Republican’s $151,000-a-year
salary. His office, however, said he won’t take
one himself weeks after making $98 million in
cuts and overseeing the voluntary buyouts of 900
state workers.
“The governor and the lieutenant governor (Karyn
Polito) will not be accepting a pay increase,”
spokeswoman Lizzy Guyton said.
It’s unclear if other constitutional officers
will do the same. Aides to Attorney General
Maura Healey, state Auditor Suzanne Bump,
Secretary of State William Galvin and state
Treasurer Deb Goldberg either said their bosses
weren’t available or did not immediately respond
to questions last night.
Senate President Stanley C. Rosenberg and
Speaker of the House Robert A. DeLeo, who also
make $35,000 stipends on top of their base
salaries, said they will take the pay raise.
DeLeo spokesman Seth Gitell said: “The speaker
will accept the pay increase just as he
participated in the pay cut in 2011.”
The Boston Globe
Friday, December 30, 2016
Mass. lawmakers getting 4 percent raise
By Nestor Ramos and Joshua Miller
After eight years without a raise, some
Massachusetts elected officials will find a
little something extra in their paychecks come
January, thanks to a 1998 constitutional
amendment and Governor Charlie Baker.
In a Thursday letter to Treasurer Deborah B.
Goldberg, Baker ordered a 4.19 percent raise in
base pay for legislators, from $60,032 to
$62,547 — the first increase since 2009 under an
amendment that ties legislators’ salaries to
changes in the state’s median household income.
But though the raise also applies to the state’s
constitutional officers, Baker and Lieutenant
Governor Karyn Polito would not accept the
additional pay, a spokeswoman said.
Lawmakers’ salaries are reviewed every two
years, per the amendment, which leaves the
decision on how to measure the change in
household income to the governor.
In his letter to Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg,
Baker said he used median household income data
from the US Census Bureau to determine the
change.
State law ties the salaries of the governor,
lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary
of state, and auditor to the constitutional
provision for lawmakers. Spokespeople for the
remaining constitutional officers either could
not be reached or indicated that they were still
considering whether to accept the extra money.
The raise also applies only to the base pay
portion of each lawmaker’s salary, and not
stipends for leadership posts that add tens of
thousands of dollars to some high-ranking
legislators’ pay or per diem pay for travel.
At $2,515 a year for each of Massachusetts’ 200
lawmakers, and between $5,000 and $6,000 for six
statewide elected officials, the total cost to
taxpayers would be just over $535,000 if every
official accepted the pay hike — a tiny fraction
of the state’s roughly $39 billion budget.
Legislative leaders on Thursday presented the
raises — and Baker’s action — as constitutional
requirements rather than magnanimity.
“He acted in a fair and timely fashion,” Senate
President Stanley C. Rosenberg said in a
statement e-mailed to the Globe that thanked
Baker “for fulfilling his constitutional duty.”
Speaker Robert A. DeLeo described the
constitutional amendment that led to the raises
and said he was “grateful the governor performed
his constitutional duty.”
Representative Paul Heroux, a Democrat from
Attleboro, said the raise was welcome.
“I personally live paycheck to paycheck, and
I’ve got bills and mortgages and student loans
like any other person. So of course I welcome
it,” Heroux said.
Like many legislators, he works a second job to
earn extra income. He noted that the raise
amounts to about $50 a week — “It’s little bit
of extra grocery money,” he said — and still
leaves lawmakers well below the median household
income of over $70,000 to which their salaries
are tied.
“It’s nothing I was asking for,” Heroux said. “I
would continue to do the job I was doing with or
without this. But it is nice because the cost of
living is going up.”
Salaries for legislators and other top officials
in Massachusetts have been controversial in
recent years. In December 2014, just before
Baker took office, an advisory commission
recommended big bumps for the governor, attorney
general, and top lawmakers. But facing a major
budget shortfall, Baker announced that he would
likely have vetoed such a measure, and the issue
has not reemerged.
Before Governor Deval Patrick left office at the
beginning of 2015, he left legislators’ base
salaries unchanged, leaving many lawmakers
quietly fuming. In a letter sent the day before
Baker’s inauguration, Patrick wrote that he had
hoped to be able to increase salaries, but the
methodology he’d used in prior years to
determine the change in median household income
provided for no raise. In 2013 and 2011, Patrick
cut senators’ and representatives’ base pay.
Lawmakers last got a raise eight years ago, when
Patrick ordered a 5.6 percent increase. Some
lawmakers at the time — including Karyn Polito,
now Baker’s lieutenant governor — declined the
raises, citing ongoing state budget problems
where they said the money might be more useful.
The raises announced Thursday also come as the
state grapples with another budget shortfall.
Earlier this month, Baker said he planned to
slash nearly $100 million from the budget,
cutting from programs including health care for
the poor, suicide preventions, and the State
Police crime laboratory.
But unlike the increases proposed by the
advisory commission in 2014, those announced
Thursday are enshrined in the state Constitution
and the law.
Citizens for Limited Taxation, a tax
watchdog group based in Marblehead, opposed that
amendment when it was put before voters in 1998,
said Chip Faulkner, the group’s
communications director.
The constitutional amendment, he said, allows
legislators to see their pay boosted without
forcing them to cast politically challenging
votes in favor of their own compensation.
“It’s a terrible system,” Faulkner said. “If you
want a pay raise, at least have the decency and
the honesty to take a roll call vote.”
The Boston Herald
Monday, January 2, 2017
Taxes on state menu as the House (and Senate)
special
By Holly Robichaud
Here we go again.
This week we get a new state Legislature.
Unfortunately, the national GOP trend missed
Massachusetts, so it’s going to look a lot like
the old one.
Republicans added one House member in November,
which only makes up for the loss of the Peabody
special election in 2016.
As President Donald Trump works to provide tax
relief at the federal level to grow the economy,
it’s going to be a bumpy year for us in the Bay
State.
For the past several months, state revenue has
not reached the expected levels. Of course, this
gives Bacon Hill Democrats every reason to pass
tax increases.
Reducing spending goes against their grain and
the special interest groups they are obligated
to.
Why else do Democrat leaders like Pat Haddad
(D-Somerset) have so much money in their war
chest when they haven’t had an opponent in
years?
Not only will the new Legislature easily pass
the language for the 2018 ballot question to
create a graduated income tax — which voters
have rejected — they will also pass new tax
increases. It’s not a matter of if. It’s a
matter of which one.
There will be additional taxes on pot, but
that’s the least of our worries. They’ll most
likely consider new taxes on services, a mileage
tax or closing so-called tax loopholes. Knowing
them, they might do all of the above.
During the Patrick administration, the
Department of Revenue estimated $27 billion in
tax expenditures or loopholes. What’s a tax
expenditure? It’s any items or services that are
not taxed. Democrats consider that a state
expenditure for not taking more of our money.
That’s how entitled they feel to our wallets.
Their biggest loophole is the exemption on food
and clothing — which amounts to billions in
uncollected tax revenue.
You probably believe they would never tax food
because it’s essential. Never say never in
Taxachusetts.
They will disguise it as a sugar tax to help us
weak-minded people make wiser choices and our
children stop eating lollipops.
In their world, it’s for the greater good. If
they close the tax loophole on sugar, we will
eventually get a salt tax.
Gov. Charlie Baker cannot stop them with a veto
because they have enough votes to override.
That’s why we need more Republicans!
Our only other alternative is a ballot question.
And though Democrats think it’s clever to raise
taxes during a non-election year to avoid the
wrath of voters, it still gives us time to
collect signatures for a repeal effort.
State House News Service
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Rosenberg is first of "Big Three" to tip policy
preferences
By Matt Murphy
Senate President Stanley Rosenberg on Wednesday
embarked on his second term as the top Democrat
in the upper chamber, outlining an ambitious, if
challenging, agenda for the coming two years
that could bump up against the priorities of a
more moderate and business-friendly House and a
governor focused on controlling growth in
government.
Rosenberg, a liberal Amherst Democrat and the
chamber's first openly gay leader, won
re-election as Senate president and together
with House Speaker Robert DeLeo will lead the
Legislature into a two-year cycle that will
culminate in the midst of gubernatorial
election.
In remarks to members as the new legislative
session got underway, the 67-year-old laid out a
series of goals, many of which would require
significant new spending at a time when
officials on Beacon Hill have been trying to
match soft revenue growth with persistent
spending demands. Gov. Charlie Baker recently
slashed $98 million from the budget that
Democrats have threatened to restore, and
Rosenberg said "cutting is not our best
strategy."
"If we do need to trim expenses, we need to do
so not by slicing programs but by fnding real
reforms that yield real savings," he said.
Rosenberg called for a redoubling of efforts to
lower public college tuition and fees by
increasing state funding to reduce student debt,
expanding access to early education and
developing a vision for a transportation system
that can meet the needs of a modern workforce.
"I believe we need to invest our way to
success," Rosenberg said.
Foreshadowing a vote required in the next two
years to put a question on the ballot to raise
taxes on household incomes over $1 million per
year, Rosenberg urged voters to pass what he
called a "fair share tax" in 2018 to generate
revenue for education and transportation.
Until then, Rosenberg said the Senate will look
for new revenues "where we can find them,"
including taxing new services like AirBnb and
closing unspecified "loopholes." He did not
mention any broad-based tax increases, which
Gov. Baker opposes and which must originate in
the House.
The new session begins with many wondering
whether the cozy relationship between Democratic
legislative leaders and Republican Gov. Baker
will continue. Before long, Baker will begin
gearing up for a likely re-election campaign,
and some Democrats would like to see their
party's elected officials more forcefully
challenge the executive.
Rosenberg preached the continuation of
collegiality on Beacon Hill as a remedy to the
partisanship in national politics.
"We cannot afford for the country to slip into
even deeper gridlock or for us in Massachusetts
to be tempted to do so ourselves. The eyes of
the voters are upon us," Rosenberg said.
DeLeo, following his reelection to a fifth term
as speaker, renewed his commitment to protecting
all Massachusetts citizens. Without delving into
much detail, he said the state would leverage
its strengths in the new session and said House
speakers from other states "invariably" look to
him for information about "how we're able to do
things in Massachusetts that people, or other
states can't get done."
DeLeo touted the state's work on health care,
preventing gun violence, marriage equality,
education and veterans services. He called the
Massachusetts House "the greatest political body
in this country."
Though the House, Senate and governor largely
worked well together over the past two years,
there were also points of friction. The debate
over charter schools and public investment in
K-12 education that led to a stalement
highlighted those differences.
Rosenberg said that Sen. Sal DiDomenico will
"soon" release a plan born out of the Senate's
"Kids First" initiative that will include a
"bold blueprint" to make sure children from
infancy through pre-school get the access to the
educational opportunities they need to set them
up for success in school later in life. DeLeo
has also spoken about the importance of early
education, a goal that has long presented fiscal
challenges for families and state government.
Many of the other issues touched on by Rosenberg
in his speech will not come as a surprise to
watchers of Beacon Hill, who have seen the
subjects that will likely dominate debate from
now until the summer of 2018 bubbling up for
years.
Rosenberg said the Senate will work with the
Barr Foundation to develop a "multi-year 21st
Century transportation vision," and said
policymakers must continue to address climate
change and its impact on Massachusetts
communities.
"Progress in all other areas of public interest
is rendered moot if we do not successfully tame
the carbon beast that threatens humankind," he
said, calling carbon pricing a "potentially
effective" policy solution.
With final recommendations due out in January
from the Council of State Government Justice
Center on how Massachusetts could remake its
criminal justice system, Rosenberg said the
Legislature must address both recidivism and
sentencing.
"We've been tough on crime. Now we need to get
smart on crime," Rosenberg said. "We need to
scale up successful diversion and restorative
justice programs, end mandatory minimums for
non-violent drug offenses, address the needs of
those who otherwise languish in our jails
suffering from mental illness and substance
abuse."
He also foreshadowed a potential debate over the
minimum wage after the last of three increases
took effect on Jan. 1 raising the state's
minimum wage to $11 an hour. While technology
has created opportunities, Rosenberg said it has
also pushed down wages and eliminated jobs that
have been replaced by mobile apps.
"We need again to take up a family leave act to
allow people to care for their families without
losing the wages they need to put food on the
table," Rosenberg said. "And we need to continue
the movement forward to make the minimum wage a
liveable wage."
Advocates have been pushing the Legislature to
adopt a gradual increase in the minimum wage to
$15 an hour and have threatened to go to the
ballot if they are unsuccessful in moving
lawmakers. Business groups, however, have warned
that a rush to increase wages could stymie
hiring and job creation and discourage new
businesses from locating in Massachusetts.
The Legislature had to study the burgeoning new
ride-booking industry dominated by players like
Uber and Lyft so that it could be regulated, and
Rosenberg said lawmakers will "need to move
quickly and deftly" again to address
self-driving cars, the newest "disruptive"
technology in the transportation industry.
Rosenberg also said the Senate will continue
with a program launched in 2015 called
"Commonwealth Conversations" to bring senators
to communities outside of Boston and their home
districts to discuss issues directly with voters
over the course of a nine-day tour starting at
the end of the month.
Rosenberg did not touch on marijuana policy,
which is expected to demand the attention of
lawmakers over the first half 2017. Lawmakers
plan to rewrite and amend the voter-approved law
legalizing marijuana for general adult use.
— Michael Norton
contributed reporting
State House News Service
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Reps fete DeLeo at caucus before his reelection
as speaker
By Colin A. Young
House Democrats on Wednesday morning
unsurprisingly selected Speaker Robert DeLeo to
again lead the House, but the party's nominating
caucus also offered clues as to which members
may be in line for a promotion into DeLeo's
inner circle.
A string of retirements, a resignation and
electoral defeats in the last session have
opened up two positions on DeLeo's leadership
team, two committee chairmanships and seven
committee vice chairmanships in the new biennial
legislative term.
In addition to clout and greater access to the
speaker, members chosen for leadership positions
earn extra income on top of the $62,547 annual
base pay for lawmakers. Additional stipend pay
can range from $7,500 for a committee chair to
$25,000 for the Ways and Means chairs and
$35,000 for the speaker. Many lawmakers also
hold outside jobs in the private sector to
supplement their incomes.
Of the open positions, the highest atop the
House leadership totem pole is second assistant
majority leader, a position that ranks fourth in
the House leadership structure. Former Rep.
Garrett Bradley vacated the position when he
resigned from the House in July.
In what may be a clue about his future, Rep.
Joseph Wagner of Chicopee nominated DeLeo to his
fifth term as speaker and spoke of DeLeo's
leadership abilities and his evolution as
speaker since taking the gavel in 2009.
Wagner, who entered the House alongside DeLeo in
1991, has chaired a committee since 2001 and
last session led the Joint Committee on Economic
Development and Emerging Technologies.
Rep. Claire Cronin of Easton made a speech
seconding the nomination of DeLeo, in which she
refuted another rep's suggestion that DeLeo is
the coach Bill Belichick of the House by
comparing him instead to quarterback Tom Brady.
"Which chairmanship are you getting this year?"
Rep. Angelo Scaccia, the dean of the House who
presided over the caucus, asked Cronin as House
members chuckled at the comparison.
Legislative leaders almost always close their
caucus meetings, but the House traditionally
allows press to attend the speaker's nominating
caucus.
Cronin, who also spoke of getting to know DeLeo
as a man, father and grandfather, last session
was the House vice chair to the important
Judiciary Committee. DeLeo this session will
need to appoint a new chairman to that
committee, and Cronin's prominent role in the
speaker's nomination could be an indication that
the third-term Democrat is under consideration
for the post.
The other seconding speech was delivered by Rep.
Paul McMurtry, who owns a theater in Dedham and
spoke of DeLeo's understanding of small
businesses, and his work to motivate the House
to do its best work.
McMurtry is one of a handful of representatives
whom DeLeo has asked to preside over informal
sessions of the House. On Tuesday, as bills
ping-ponged between branches amid 13-hour
marathon sessions, McMurtry took shifts with the
gavel and appeared to be taking pointers from
Second Assistant Majority Leader Paul Donato.
DeLeo will also have to select a member to
replace retired Rep. Ellen Story as division
chair, a job that carries the responsibility of
providing advance notice to about a quarter of
the House on issues leadership expects to debate
and other matters of business before the House.
Though the exact makeup of House leadership and
committee assignments will not be known for a
few weeks, Wednesday's caucus also provided
signs that much of the current DeLeo leadership
team will remain in place when the work of
legislating begins in earnest again.
While others spoke about him, DeLeo stood at the
side of the room and chatted with many of his
top lieutenants. Donato, Majority Leader Ronald
Mariano and Ways and Means Chairman Brian
Dempsey surrounded DeLeo. McMurtry, Boston Rep.
Jeffrey Sanchez and West Springfield Rep.
Michael Finn hovered around the speaker in a
secondary orbit.
If Wednesday's nominating caucus could have
harmed any member's chances of being elevated
into leadership, the most afflicted would have
been Quincy Rep. Tackey Chan, whose
parliamentary blunder quickly became the butt of
jokes.
After it was clear DeLeo was the only member who
would be nominated as speaker, Scaccia opened
the floor to a procedural motion to postpone the
nomination by 10 minutes.
Chan, standing at the rear of the room,
immediately called out, "motion to postpone."
When the members standing around him elbowed him
and whispered, "no, no, no," Chan quickly
recanted, drawing loud laughter from the caucus
and a shout of "Tackey!" from the man whose
nomination Chan almost delayed.
"The smarter they get, the dumber they get,"
Scaccia said, an apparent reference to Chan's
advanced academic degrees.
State House News Service
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
In new term, DeLeo will focus on leveraging
state's strengths
By Katie Lannan
Elected by his fellow Democrats to a fifth term
as speaker on Wednesday, Rep. Robert DeLeo said
he would focus on leveraging the state's
strengths in the upcoming session and predicted
lawmakers would face "some very challenging
issues."
If the 66-year-old Winthrop Democrat finishes
the 2017-2018 term in his post, he will become
the longest-serving speaker under the state
constitution, surpassing former Speaker Thomas
McGee's record nine-and-a-half-year run from
1975 until 1985.
"To break records or terms of longest speaker is
not foremost in my mind quite frankly," DeLeo
told reporters after he was nominated in a
Democratic caucus. "Foremost in my mind is
talking about some of the issues I just spoke
about earlier and making sure that we resolve
them in the best interest of the people of
Massachusetts."
DeLeo is expected to deliver an annual [speech]
to the House in late January or early February
laying out policy focus areas for the year -- a
tradition started by former Speaker Thomas
Finneran -- but pointed on Wednesday to some
issues he anticipates the House will take on,
including education, health care costs, opiate
abuse and economic development.
The fiscal 2018 budget and regulations around
legal marijuana will be "two of the more
immediate concerns," DeLeo said, predicting an
"extremely busy session" with "a lot of
discussion on a lot of important issues."
DeLeo said he will also be keeping an eye on
President-elect Donald Trump, saying he believes
in giving the New York Republican or any new
commander-in-chief "an opportunity."
"Having said that, one of the biggest things
that I feel I have to do as speaker of the
House, especially with the new administration is
when they seem to -- when he or some of the
members of his administration seems to go
astray, shall we say, in terms of what's best
for the people of Massachusetts, then he'd
better be damn sure that he's going to hear from
me, I'm sure and a lot of other electeds from
Massachusetts, because I look at one of my
primary jobs, again, as to protect the people
from Massachusetts from any other major
difficulties that may occur in Washington."
DeLeo, now in his 14th term as a representative,
was elected speaker with 120 votes, and House
members cheered as he cast his vote in his own
name. Minority Leader Brad Jones of North
Reading received 35 votes from Republicans, for
a total of 155 votes cast out of the 160 members
of the House.
After his re-election, DeLeo thanked his fellow
representatives for "allowing me to be the
leader and the speaker of what I consider to be
the greatest political body in this country" and
said the House over the next two years will
"focus on leveraging our strengths into newfound
success."
Rep. Joseph Wagner of Chicopee nominated DeLeo
for the speakership at the Wednesday morning
caucus, with Reps. Paul McMurtry of Dedham and
Claire Cronin of Easton seconding the
nomination. No other lawmaker's name was put
forward for the post.
McMurtry said DeLeo offered a "proven track
record of success" and a "sincere belief in
consensus, compromise and collaboration." Cronin
praised his work on issues including pay equity,
ethics and campaign finance reform, domestic
violence prevention and veterans services.
"Bob DeLeo is not the same speaker that he was
in 2009," Wagner said. "I think he's evolved as
a speaker over the period of time for which he's
served, and that evolution, I think, has been
beneficial to this House of Representatives and
to the citizens of the commonwealth."
DeLeo's fifth term was made possible by a vote
of the Democratic caucus two years ago to
abolish the term limit for the speaker, a limit
DeLeo himself had originally championed.
When he rose to power under former Speaker
Salvatore DiMasi and took control of the House
after DiMasi's resignation, DeLeo pushed to
implement term limits on the House speakership
as a way to restore public trust in government.
When he asked his caucus to eliminate the limit
in 2015, DeLeo said his position over the
previous six years had "evolved" and that steady
leadership of the House was critical.
— Colin A. Young
contributed reporting
State House News Service
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Baker sticking with recipe, but Dems have the
numbers
By Colin A. Young
After administering the oath of office to the
new Legislature -- split 159-41 against members
of the party he leads -- Gov. Charlie Baker
struck an optimistic tone Wednesday about
boosting the Republican ranks in the
Legislature.
Since taking office in 2015, Baker has worked to
elect more Republicans to the House and Senate,
focusing on state elections and largely staying
out of a national fray that has carried a
decidedly more combative tone. After November's
elections, the GOP started the 2017-2018
legislative session Wednesday with one more
member than it had two years ago when Baker
first took office.
"The fact that we held serve in the Legislature
and gained a seat is the first time since 1984
that the Republican Party in Massachusetts has
actually not lost seats during a presidential
election," Baker said Wednesday outside the
House chamber. "I think that's in part because
people are pretty pleased with the work that
folks on our side of the aisle are doing in
conjunction with our colleagues on the other
side."
Democrats control the House with a 125 to 35
advantage and the Senate with 34 members to the
GOP's six. Democrats voting in unison are able
to easily override gubernatorial vetoes, as they
exhibited with budget vetoes in July.
Since arriving on Beacon Hill, Baker has
cultivated working relationships, if not
friendships, with many of the leading Democrats
in the Legislature. Baker frequently makes
reference to "disagreeing without being
disagreeable."
"I would argue that the constructive friction,
the competing ideas, which has been the way
we've chosen to work together with our
colleagues on the other side of the aisle over
the course of the past couple of years, has
served people well in Massachusetts," he said.
"I think it's reflected in the fact that when I
talk to people, generally they feel pretty good
about the focus we've brought to the work and to
governing, and to finding ways to work together
on what we can agree on. I think we're just
going to keep doing that."
Republicans nationally are trumping their
growing successes in winning seats in Congress
and state Legislatures. In 2018, when Baker's
own name could be on the ballot if he seeks
reelection as expected, Republicans will have
another shot at picking up seats. The GOP's last
veto-proof minority at the State House was in
the Senate in 1991-1992.
As is often the case, taxes are percolating as a
divisive issue. In the face of opposition from
Republicans, Democrats last session advanced an
amendment to the constitution imposing a 4
percent surtax in household incomes above $1
million, a measure that will likely appear on
the 2018 ballot. Democratic legislative leaders
in recent weeks have also refused to rule out
tax increases in the coming session. During
remarks following his reelection as House
Minority Leader Wednesday, Rep. Brad Jones urged
Speaker Robert DeLeo to refrain from any
broad-based statewide tax increase.
— Michael Norton
contributed reporting
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Film tax credit’s bottom line: ‘A bum deal’
By Matt Stout
Bay State residents earned about 75 cents on
every dollar the state gave out in tax credits
to film and Hollywood productions, according to
new state data, reigniting criticism of the
controversial tax incentive.
The latest figures, covering 2014 and released
yesterday by the Department of Revenue, show the
state’s film tax credit generated $49 million in
personal income for Bay Staters that year, but
only after paying out $64.5 million in credits
to companies making films, TV shows and
documentaries in the state.
“The $49 million is key. If I come to you and
say, ‘Give me a dollar and I’ll give you 75
cents back,’ do you take the deal?” said Bob
Tannenwald, a former economist at the Boston Fed
who’s now at the Heller School at Brandeis
University.
“Bottom line, all effects taken into account,
the film tax credit is a bum deal for the people
of Massachusetts. It robs from Peter to pay
Paul.”
In all, the tax credit generated about $254
million in new spending in 2014, but the
majority of that, roughly $138 million, went to
pay out-of-state workers and vendors, according
to the state’s 23-page report.
Direct in-state spending in 2014 ultimately was
$75.5 million, a high-water mark for the
nine-year program, but that doesn’t include
other “multiplying” factors, such as cuts made
to cover the costs of the credit.
“After taking into account the full impacts,”
the report reads, “the film incentive program
generated ... $49.0 million in personal income.”
Established in 2006 to help draw film projects,
the tax credit is a 25 percent transferable
rebate filmmakers can earn if they spend at
least $50,000 in Massachusetts. It’s helped draw
a slew of projects, including in 2015:
“Manchester by the Sea,” which got a $1.38
million credit; “Black Mass,” given $12 million;
and “Unfinished Business,” a Vince Vaughn-led
comedy, granted $5 million, according to a
separate state report.
But while lawmakers have long protected it from
reform, saying it helps support local
businesses, critics have said it’s a poor use of
state money, noting that for every job it’s
created, the state has spent about $106,000.
“It’s very costly, if that’s what we’re paying
per new net job,” said Eileen McAnneny of the
Mass. Taxpayers Foundation.
“Certainly, it will be a tight budget (this
session), so it might cause folks to look again
at it,” McAnneny said.
Gov. Charlie Baker has sought to scrap or scale
back the credit in each of his first two years
in office, only to face opposition from
Democratic leadership in the Legislature. |
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