 |
Post Office Box 1147
▪
Marblehead, Massachusetts 01945
▪ (781) 639-9709
“Every Tax is a Pay Cut ... A Tax Cut is a Pay Raise”
46 years as “The Voice of Massachusetts Taxpayers”
— and
their Institutional Memory — |
|
CLT UPDATE
Saturday, May 16, 2020
"Forewarned is forearmed"
Jump directly
to CLT's Commentary on the News
|
Gov. Baker announced that he is preparing to distribute up
to $502 million from the state portion of the federal
Coronavirus Relief Fund to local cities and towns for their
costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan will
allow cities and towns to apply for estimated fiscal year
2020 needs immediately and then apply for fiscal year 2021
funds at a later date....
The Baker administration said the available funds represent
approximately 25 percent of the funding the state received
from the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund ...
“The COVID-19 funding being released today is a much-needed
resource to offset the unprecedented core municipal services
costs being absorbed by all 351 cities and towns in the
commonwealth,” said Rep. Russell Holmes (D-Boston).
“The demands on our first responders, the need for personal
protection equipment in our nursing homes, IT upgrades
needed for staff to support constituents from home and much
more will be needed for the foreseeable future. This
funding will enable the mayors and city administrators to
continue to focus on constituents’ welfare and not divert
their time and energy to cuts that would have a devastating
impact on our communities.”
Not everyone agrees. “Never let a crisis go to waste,”
said Chip Ford, executive director of Citizens for
Limited Taxation (CLT). “This one has clearly
defined who the ‘essential workers’ are and [who] are not.
Municipalities and the state now have their own ‘new normal'
baselines when it’s over. Federal helicopter money
dropped over the states to assist in this crisis of course
needs to be distributed to the cities and towns as designed.
Fortunately, limited by CLT's Proposition 2½,
municipalities can't raise revenue through property tax
hikes over 2.5 percent annually, and squeezing that from the
record number of unemployed won’t be easy.”
Beacon Hill Roll Call
Volume 45 - Report No. 20
May 11-15, 2020
$502 Million for Cities and Towns for COVID-19 Costs
By Bob Katzen
From a gas tax
increase to higher fees for Uber and Lyft rides, months-old
plans on Beacon Hill to drum up revenue have been shelved by
the COVID-19 outbreak.
Before the
pandemic, the Democratic-led Legislature was advancing a
host of proposals that relied on higher taxes and fees —
such as a 5 cent per gallon gas tax hike — to funnel more
money into the state's aging infrastructure and to help
blunt the impact of climate change.
But with nearly a
quarter of the state's workforce unemployed, economists say
lawmakers shouldn't be looking to raise taxes anytime soon.
"The state's
economy is in a shambles, so the worst thing anybody in the
Legislature could do would be to impose new taxes," said
David Tuerck, president of the Beacon Hill Institute. "I
know that the state is going to be hurting for revenue, but
raising taxes would be politically disastrous."
Tuerck said the
state should cut spending and tap into its $3.5 billion
rainy day fund to keep the state government running, instead
of raising taxes.
The Salem News
Saturday, May 2, 2020
Pandemic puts tax plans on hold
By Christian M. Wade
House Democrats
and Republicans agreed Monday on compromise rules to
accommodate remote debate and voting during the coronavirus
pandemic, achieving a breakthrough in what had become tense,
partisan negotiations that will allow the House to hold its
first virtual session Wednesday to take up Gov. Charlie
Baker's short-term borrowing bill.
After a week of
private deliberations, House lawmakers agreed to an
amendment to the proposed emergency rules expanding the
ability for some members to debate. The process for debating
bills remotely had emerged as a primary concern of House
Republicans.
"The Temporary
Order passed today strikes a careful balance of safety,
security and equitable access so that Members can
meaningfully participate and perform their duty of
representing their constituents," House Speaker Robert DeLeo
said in a statement after Monday's session. "This historic
order is the result of hours of work, discussions and
research. I thank everyone involved and look forward to the
important work ahead."
DeLeo had been
threatening to call members back to the State House to vote
in person on the rules package if a compromise had not been
reached on Monday. That is no longer necessary....
The House plans to
meet at 11 a.m. Wednesday in their first remote formal
session where lawmakers can call in by phone to vote on or
debate bills. Legislators are expected to take up a
short-term borrowing bill (H 4593) to carry the state
through pandemic-related revenue shortfalls....
For the past week,
Republicans have voiced concerns over the proposed limit on
how many times a member can speak during remote debate, a 10
a.m. deadline to sign up to debate, and the inability for
members to know how long a recess, or break, might last.
House Minority Leader Brad Jones said it took numerous
conversations with his caucus and House leadership before he
could agree to a compromise.
"It's an
improvement," Jones said Monday, after the rules passed. "I
mean the fact of the matter is my caucus expressed their
disapproval in a variety ways. Obviously, we held up and we
wanted to see some changes. This is consistent with some of
the changes that we suggested to them last week. So my
caucus got to a point where they're not necessarily happy
but obviously you guys have written about the importance of
getting this [borrowing] bill done." ...
"So I think [the
compromise], in an imperfect world, preserves a level of
deliberation and debate that potentially wasn't going to be
there in the originally proposed order. And that's really
what was the back and forth," Jones said. "That said, I
think the goal for everybody should be to have these orders
for the remote session in place for as short a period of
time as possible."
State House News
Service
Monday, May 4, 2020
House Agrees to Rules for Remote Sessions
Reps Will Vote, Debate by Phone on Wednesday
State tax
collections tumbled in April by more than $2.3 billion
compared to last April, another sign of the damage inflicted
on the economy and the state's finances by forced business
shutdowns aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19.
Revenue
Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder late Tuesday announced that
collections last month totaled $1.981 billion, down 54
percent, or $2.34 billion, when compared to April 2019. Some
of the decline stems from the state's decision in late March
to push the April 15 income tax filing deadline to July 15.
April is typically
the biggest month of the year for collections. The decline
in revenue comes 10 months into fiscal 2020, a budget year
where the state had been on track to possibly produce a
surplus, before the pandemic struck.
Now, officials are
poised to embrace short-term borrowing to offset some of the
decline in receipts, with House and Senate leaders showing
more interest in passing a borrowing authorization bill
filed by Gov. Charlie Baker in late March.
With hundreds of
thousands of Massachusetts residents suddenly jobless during
the pandemic, income taxes last month were down by nearly
$2.1 billion, or 65 percent, compared to April 2019,
accounting for most of the year-over-year decline for the
month.
It's unclear how
much of the revenue plunge is attributable to the postponed
filing deadline, and how much stems from the drop in
economic activity.
State House News
Service
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
April Tax Collections Plunge by $2.3 Billion
Borrowing Eyed to Fill Growing Hole in State Budget
The state
Department of Revenue reported Tuesday that it collected
$1.98 billion in taxes last month, more than $2.1 billion
below what was projected and less than half of the $4.32
billion it collected in April 2019.
April is typically
the biggest tax month of the year, fueled by the state’s
April 15 deadline for filing tax returns. But as officials
scrambled to ease the burden on taxpayers, the state in
March announced it would shift the deadline to July 15,
potentially diverting huge chunks of revenue it would
otherwise collect to later in the year.
Geoffrey Snyder,
the state’s revenue commissioner, attributed the drop, in
part, to adjusting that and other tax deadlines and a
dramatic shortfall in non-withheld income tax. The
Department of Revenue received 24 percent fewer income tax
returns through April 30 than in the same period last year.
And sales tax
revenue dipped 23 percent below projections, reflecting a
reluctance by people worried about losing jobs — or who have
already lost them — to make purchases, as well as the
closing of thousands of retail businesses by order of
Governor Charlie Baker.
Evan Horowitz,
executive director of the nonpartisan Center for State
Policy Analysis at Tufts University, said the vast majority
of the shortfall appears tied to the deferral of tax
payments. But the drops in sales tax and withholding tax
collections, which were 3 percent below projections, are
evidence of a slowdown.
“So it begins,”
said Michael Goodman, a University of Massachusetts
Dartmouth economist. “March and April were dramatically
negative months for us. We’ve never seen anything like it,
for the nation and for the globe.” ...
And flagging
revenue could upend plans to pour new money into local
school districts. The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a
business-backed budget watchdog, suggested this week that
lawmakers consider putting off implementing a sweeping
school-funding law until fiscal year 2022.
The law, signed
with great fanfare last year, promised to pour $1.5 billion
in extra money into Massachusetts schools over seven years.
But lawmakers and Governor Charlie Baker approved it without
a dedicated funding source, meaning the state needs to carve
the extra money from its existing budget each year — a task
that’s all the more difficult when once-flush revenues are
expected to dry up.
The Taxpayers
Foundation also warned that the postponed deadline means
“some portion” of an expected $9 billion in tax revenue
could be pushed into the fiscal year starting in July,
putting policy makers into a difficult fiscal juggling
act....
“Over-reliance on
federal funds may make fiscal 2021 easier but put the
Commonwealth on course for even more painful tax hikes or
spending cuts in future fiscal years,” Eileen McAnneny, the
foundation’s president, wrote in a letter to state officials
and lawmakers....
Lawmakers had also
been tinkering with ideas about how to raise taxes to pour
hundreds of millions of dollars into repairing congested
highways, upgrading worn-out transit infrastructure, and
improving grinding commutes.
But the prospects
for a House bill to raise as much as $600 million in new tax
revenue, passed just days before Baker declared a state of
emergency, are in doubt as questions grow over whether the
state should increase taxes as residents’ paychecks
disappear.
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
April’s state tax revenue falls 50 percent from 2019,
underlining pandemic’s pull
Senators would
have a couple of options to vote from outside the Senate
Chamber -- or from outside the State House -- on the
governor's short-term borrowing bill under proposed
temporary rules filed Monday.
The rules would
only apply to a final passage vote on the borrowing bill (H
4677), which Gov. Charlie Baker filed to bridge the gap in
state revenues created by extension of the income tax filing
deadline due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This short-term,
bill-specific rules package differs from the approach in the
House, which developed a comprehensive emergency rules
package -- adopted Monday after a week of internal
negotiations -- applying to all future formal sessions
during the state of emergency....
Senate leadership
is working on a longer-term rules package, targeted for
implementation in early June, to conduct emergency-era
formal sessions beyond the governor's borrowing bill.
Monday is the
earliest that the borrowing bill could come up for final
passage in the branches. The House is slated to engross the
bill Wednesday during their first virtual formal session,
teeing it up for potential engrossment Thursday in the
Senate and for final enactment votes next week.
State House News
Service
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Senate Prepares Rules for Remote Session
The House entered
the new world of remote voting Wednesday to pass Gov.
Charlie Baker's short-term borrowing bill to tide the state
through pandemic-related revenue shortfalls. Rep. Aaron
Michlewitz (D-Boston), speaking from the floor, said the
borrowing could be in the range of $3 billion.
During two roll
call votes, the chamber resembled a call center with
division monitors holding their phones to their ears,
checking off names and tallying votes, with the sounds of
paperwork and chatter heard throughout the House. At one
point, Rep. Denise Garlick (D-Needham) spoke by phone, her
words played over the PA system in the House, in favor of
the legislation. The lower branch meets next on Thursday at
11 a.m. in an informal session.
State House News
Service
House Session Summary - Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Borrow Bill Approved on Remote Roll Call Vote
By Chris Van Buskirk
House lawmakers,
many of whom watched on computer screens miles from the
State House, took an historic and unanimous vote on
Wednesday to authorize the Treasury to borrow billions of
dollars as needed through June to meet the state's financial
obligations during the ongoing fight against the spread of
the deadly coronavirus.
House Ways and
Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz, speaking from the House
chamber with a mask covering his nose and mouth, said that
Treasurer Deb Goldberg may need to borrow as soon as this
month to balance the state's outflow of cash, which is not
being replenished as fast as it otherwise might.
State revenue
officials reported Tuesday that April tax collections had
fallen off 54 percent compared to the same month in 2019,
and missed budgeted estimates for the month by nearly $2.2
billion....
The 157-0 vote
marked the first occasion in its nearly 400-year history
that the House has used a roll call to pass legislation with
most members participating remotely using computers and
phones to monitor the proceedings and send in their votes.
Remote participation was authorized this week in new
emergency rules.
The bill now moves
to the Senate, which plans to hold a session on Thursday
when Senate President Karen Spilka's office said her
intention is to engross the bill and adopt its own rules for
remote participation so that the bill can be enacted by a
roll call when it comes back from the House....
Minority Leader
Brad Jones, however, said it was clear that some of the
kinks still need to be ironed out, particularly with remote
debating, before the House will be ready to tackle more
contentious or complicated legislation, like the annual
budget, which usually features hundreds of amendments.
State House News
Service
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
House Turns to Borrowing to Plug State Cash Gap
Michlewitz: Short-Term Loan Could Hit $3 Billion
Rep. Lindsay
Sabadosa, a Northampton Democrat, sat on her couch with her
13-year-old daughter and prepared to work although her
"office" looked a little different than usual.
For the first time
in state history, Massachusetts House lawmakers on Wednesday
participated in a remote formal session where they could
watch the session livestream as long as they had a solid
internet signal and vote from anywhere as long as their
phones could connect to their colleagues in the chamber....
Lawmakers took two
roll call votes, one to ascertain a quorum and a second
unanimous vote to pass the bill. Only one representative who
was not in the chamber offered remarks on the bill.
Several lawmakers
who spoke to the News Service said the bill, a critical
measure that did not generate any controversy, was a good
opportunity to test the remote voting procedure. Some
expressed concerns with the feasibility of the system during
consideration of contentious bills or legislation with many
amendments.
Ways and Means
Chair Aaron Michlewitz said the House needs to work out some
kinks with remote debate.
"I think we still
have to work out the people speaking remotely for debate,
because I think as we get to maybe more contentious issues,
we're going to have to have that figured out," Michlewitz,
who attended the session in person, told the News Service
afterwards. "We wanted to see how today went, you know, make
sure that we could do this process in a relatively smooth
manner. And then I think we're gonna try to decide how to
proceed." ...
For over a week,
House Republican and Democratic leaders butted heads on the
proposed rules establishing remote voting and participation.
Minority Leader Brad Jones repeatedly expressed concerns
over how debate would unfold. After Wednesday's session, the
North Reading Republican said the new debate setup will take
time to get used to especially when the House takes up more
controversial topics or stacks of amendments.
The only member
who tried to speak from outside the State House during the
session, Rep. Denise Garlick (D-Needham), appeared to
abruptly end her remarks after delayed audio feedback
interrupted her speech.
"We did an easy
bill [on Wednesday]. An easy bill highlighted some
shortcomings," Jones said. "Hopefully those shortcomings
will be addressed. But now you do a difficult bill where
there's amendments, people are trying to queue up to speak
on those, that piece of it didn't go that well." ...
At some point,
both the House and Senate will need to advance the fiscal
2021 budget, where numerous roll call votes are normally
requested throughout the process....
Rep. Kimberly
Ferguson of Holden served as one of two Republican monitors
alongside Rep. David Vieira of Falmouth. She said making
sure everyone got the right information and participated
fully was a challenge.
"The roll call
part itself went fine. I think that that went off without a
hitch from my perspective in Division 2A," she told the News
Service. "The challenge is going to be as debate progresses
along further and there are amendments and more people
wanting to speak ... some of those things I think are going
to impact us. Just in the management piece of it."
Rep. Peter Durant
(R-Spencer) was part of the division that Ferguson oversaw.
He said 20 members is a workable number for each monitor to
handle, and that he shares the concerns about debating
controversial legislation or bills with many amendments.
"Rep. Ferguson did
a good job of corralling us all in. I'm just joking. But no,
it worked out well," he said. "This format works fine for
some of these things that we have to get done that are
relatively uncontroversial where maybe you have an amendment
or two and votes are pretty much expected to be relatively
easy. We get to something like the budget, and I would tend
to believe that this kind of process is going to be
unworkable on something that large."
State House News
Service
Thursday, May 7, 2020
Reps Reflect on First Remote House Session
One Calls Process "Unworkable" for State Budget
The advisory board
figuring out how Massachusetts businesses might be able to
reopen has already filed interim reports with the governor
and is expected to make additional suggestions ahead of its
May 18 deadline, Gov. Charlie Baker said Wednesday, though
the governor also further elaborated on what conditions must
be met before he will allow businesses to reopen.
Speaking outside
Gillette Stadium after swearing in the latest class of
Massachusetts State Police recruits, Baker said "the trends
over the course of the last six to eight days have been
reasonably positive" but added that the data still does not
support a reopening of the economy.
"We're still very
much in this fight with COVID-19, but it is encouraging to
see some positive progress. As we come through the other
side of this and determine our next steps for a path
forward, we need to see those numbers continue to drop," he
said. "Our goal, starting on May 18, is to begin re-opening
certain types of businesses in a limited fashion where it
can be done more safely than under normal operations. But
this phased-in process can't begin until we see sustained
downward trends in many of the data elements that we talk
about every day."
Baker said the
reopening panel led by Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and Economic
Development Secretary Mike Kennealy has already "made
several" reports on potential strategies. "They're planning
to make what I would describe as interim reports along the
way here between now and the 18th, absolutely," he said....
"It's very risky
to make broad prognostications about what's going on, where
it's going, how it's going to get there. So much of what we
know about this virus has changed in the last 60 days. Some
people might even say that everything we know about this
virus has changed in the last 60 days. So when I say here
that we have seen encouraging trends, that's because I'm
talking about the past," he said. "I'm not going to speak to
the future. The future is going to be what it's going to
be."
State House News
Service
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Reopening Panel Has Sent Reports to Baker
Guv: "I'm Not Going to Speak to the Future"
A quarter of
Massachusetts workers have lost their jobs as the business
shutdown prompted by the coronavirus pandemic have spurred
the worse economic catastrophe since the Great Depression.
Nearly 3.2 million
laid-off Americans applied for unemployment benefits last
week including another 55,448 laid-off Bay State workers as
unemployment claims rose for a seventh straight week,
according to federal labor data.
Roughly 33.5
million people nationwide and 949,699 in Massachusetts have
filed jobless claims as the viral outbreak has forced many
companies to close, gobbling up jobs. That is the equivalent
of 1 in 5 workers on a national level, or 1 in 4 workers in
Massachusetts, where the workforce in March totaled
3,740,600 workers, according to state data....
Officials are
bracing for what’s expected to be a grim April jobs report,
which the federal government will issue Friday. It’s the
first full-month report since the coronavirus crisis began
and it’s likely to be the worst since modern record-keeping
began post-World War II.
The unemployment
rate is forecast to reach at least 16% — the highest rate
since the Great Depression. Economists estimate 21 million
jobs were lost last month, wiping out nearly all job growth
of the last 11 years since the Great Recession in a single
month.
“The feds will put
the unemployment rate at 16% on Friday, but that’s
three-and-a-half weeks delayed. The real-time unemployment
will probably be much higher,” said Greg Sullivan of the
Pioneer Institute in Boston.
That’s definitely
true in Massachusetts were as of last week, 24% of the
state’s civilian workforce had filed unemployment claims....
The record-level
of need has stretched the state’s already-skimp trust fund
used to pay out benefits. Prior to the coronavirus crisis,
the Massachusetts unemployment fund was the fifth-most
under-funded account in the nation.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, May 7, 2020
1 in 4 Massachusetts workers unemployment amid coronavirus
pandemic
There are many
possibilities for how lawmakers might tackle next year's
budget, Senate President Karen Spilka said, but the
pandemic's shocks to state revenues may mean the idea of
passing one-month budgets while a full spending plan is
developed would need to look different than it has in the
past....
The lack of
clarity around a state budget plan creates uncertainty for
anyone who relies on spending in the more than $43 billion
budget and means local aid levels, a major source of revenue
for municipal government, remain unknown for the municipal
officials who usually craft their city and town budgets in
the spring.
Spilka, who in the
past has served as chairwoman of the Senate Ways and Means
Committee and as an Ashland School Committee member, said
she spoke to the Natick and Ashland school committees and
select boards in her district this week. She said she's
"been very honest with them in saying that it may not be
pretty, but this is the situation we're in" and sharing
economic projections.
"I have shared
with them that, especially coming from a municipal school
committee background, I understand that cities and towns
need to plan their budget, they need to set their tax rates,
they need something definite at some point in the near
future, and we are sensitive to that," she said. "The Ways
and Means chairs and secretary of [Administration and
Finance] are working on this."
State House News
Service
Thursday, May 7, 2020
Spilka Warned Locals Budget “May Not Be Pretty”
Budget "In Some Form" Needed by July 1, Senate President
Says
Fiscal watchdogs
are urging city leaders in Boston — and in communities
across the state — to take a “sober look” at budget cuts to
help take the burden off taxpayers and the private sector.
The warning comes
after Boston’s public payroll was posted by the Herald
showing 8,000 employees who earned $100,000 or more last
year. While first responders are on the front lines of the
pandemic, others in Boston have not been furloughed.
“We are faced with
a crisis. By necessity, the state and City of Boston must
find places to tighten the belt. They have an obligation to
do it now,” said Greg Sullivan of the Pioneer Institute, who
once was the state inspector general.
“There’s a
national debate in Congress right now on providing a half a
trillion dollars to states and cities. That’s equivalent to
making our children and grandchildren pay off this debt,”
Sullivan added.
He added the cost
of the coronavirus pandemic breaks down to $20,000 per
household — and that’s only if the bailouts ease up....
Out of the 8,000
city employees who took home six-figure pay last year, 31
recorded gross pay of $300,000 or more and another 700
workers clocked in at $200,000 and up, records show....
“Springfield,
Worcester, New Bedford and Lawrence all look to the state as
a financial safety net, but right now the state is in a
financial crisis,” Sullivan said, adding it’s time to take
“a sober, hard look” at where to cut.
The
budget-tightening talk comes jobless numbers show one in
four in Massachusetts are unemployed.
“This is the
emergency we’ve talked about that would prod reductions,” he
added. “What Congress is looking to provide states and
cities is mind-numbing. We need to start now to get
serious.”
The Boston Herald
Friday, May 8, 2020
‘Sober look’ at public payrolls urged as coronavirus
bailouts tax system
Uncertainty
remains the only certainty during this ongoing coronavirus
pandemic.
That extends from
our personal lives to the administration of our state and
federal governments.
The loss of income
can hit a family especially hard, particularly if you’re
living paycheck to paycheck. Not knowing when or if you’ll
return to work forces difficult decisions that come with
prioritizing limited resources.
Now multiply that
unsettling situation by a few million and you’ll have some
idea of what’s facing the governor and legislative leaders
as they confront the challenges of meeting the
commonwealth’s needs with drastically reduced revenues....
That’s because tax
collections that lawmakers had hoped would fund significant
new investments in education will likely fall $4.4 billion
short of previous projections — or 14.1% below the figure
that top budget officials agreed to back in January.
The early signs of
a business slowdown first observed in March returned with a
vengeance in April. The state Department of Revenue reported
Tuesday that it collected $1.98 billion in taxes last month,
more than $2.1 billion below estimates and less than 50% of
the $4.32 billion it collected in April 2019.
Normally the most
robust revenue-producing month of the year — thanks to the
April 15 income-tax filing deadline — the decision to ease
taxpayers’ burden by extending tax submissions to July 15
accounts for a chunk of that lost income.
So, while the
balance of that tax revenue will be collected by mid-July,
other shortfalls — April sales tax receipts came in 23%
below projections — will deprive the state treasury of funds
required to fully meet its obligations....
Which means
significant cuts can’t be avoided.
Starting with
unfunded mandates makes sense, which is why the Taxpayers
Foundation recommended postponing the distribution of funds
contained in the Student Opportunity Act, which gives
schools an additional $1.5 billion over seven years starting
with fiscal year 2021.
Lawmakers expected
continued budget surpluses to provide that money, but that’s
no longer the case....
At this stage,
when we don’t even know if schools will open on time for the
next academic year, an education funding boost might take a
back seat to more pressing needs.
A Boston Herald
editorial
Friday, May 8, 2020
Revenue hit imperils increased education funding
The COVID-19
pandemic and the economic shutdowns aimed at preventing its
spread wiped out more than 20 million American jobs in
April, a historic implosion felt in virtually every corner
of the economy, federal officials said Friday.
In the first full
month of data reflecting the outbreak's impact, the national
unemployment rate jumped to 14.7 percent, a sharp increase
over the 4.4 percent rate observed in March when the
downward trend started but had not reached full force.
Experts had
projected that April's numbers would be dire, particularly
after March only captured a couple of weeks of forced
business shutdowns.
Those expectations
held true: both the 20.5 million lost jobs and the 10.3
percentage point increase in the unemployment rate were the
largest one-month changes since the Bureau of Labor
Statistics launched those data series in 1939 and 1948,
respectively....
Every single
category of employment covered in that figure except the
federal government experienced losses in April, according to
Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The deepest cuts came in
the leisure and hospitality sector, where 7.65 million jobs
-- almost 47 percent of the entire industry -- evaporated
last month....
An updated
unemployment rate for Massachusetts will be released on May
22, but signs ahead of that indicate the state's outlook
will be similarly grim -- if not more so -- compared to
national trends.
New unemployment
insurance claims filed between March 15 and May 2 reflect
about 20.5 percent of the United States labor force and
about 20.9 percent of the Massachusetts labor force.
Adding applicants
for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program who do not
qualify for traditional unemployment benefits, Pioneer
Institute Research Director Greg Sullivan estimated Friday
that the state has been hit even harder, with 25.8 percent
of the workforce seeking aid compared to 21.4 percent
nationally.
State House News
Service
Friday, May 8, 2020
U.S. Jobless Rate Shoots Up to 14.7 Percent
Pandemic, Shutdowns Trigger Record Job Losses
Gov. Charlie Baker
is asking the Legislature to authorize $1 billion in state
spending related to the COVID-19 pandemic, but is confident
that the federal government will reimburse Massachusetts for
the cost of things like personal protective equipment and
temporary field hospitals.
Baker said Tuesday
that he had filed a supplemental budget because it "gives us
the leverage that we need to utilize federal financial
support, like aid from the Federal Emergency Management
Agency so-called FEMA, which can only reimburse state
spending resulting from eligible disaster response
activities."
The bill's
passage, he said, will also "ensure that adequate state
spending has been authorized to allow the Commonwealth to
continue to support our communities, until additional
federal reimbursements are provided." ...
Baker said he
expects that the supplemental budget bill (HD 5083) will
carry no additional cost for state government in
Massachusetts.
"It's a billion
dollars, but it's actually a net zero to the state. This is
the money that we need to appropriate and acknowledge to be
able to access federal reimbursements under our emergency
declaration act under FEMA," he said.
State House News
Service
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
Baker to Legislature: Allocate $1 Bil, Feds Will Reimburse
Ahead of a remote
caucus planned to discuss it, the House Ways and Means
Committee is voting Wednesday morning on a bill to borrow
more than $1 billion for information technology and
cybersecurity upgrades and to bolster the supply chain for
locally grown or produced food.
The committee's
redraft of what was a $1.15 billion bond bill when Gov.
Charlie Baker filed it more than a year ago includes
hundreds of millions of dollars for general government IT
upgrades, but also calls for a $25 million grant program
through which the Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education would help public school systems "establish,
enhance or expand remote learning environments" or reimburse
them for developing remote learning during the COVID-19
pandemic.
State House News
Service
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
Remote Learning, Food Supply Measures in IT Bond Bill
The second remote
formal session in the history of the Massachusetts
Legislature went off without a hitch on Wednesday. No
members debated any of the three bills before the House and
the session ended quickly. The flow of information mimicked
a conveyor belt with monitors gathering votes by phone and
handing paperwork to clerks, who then entered the votes into
computers in the House chamber.
Lawmakers passed
two land taking bills and enacted Gov. Charlie Baker's bill
to facilitate short-term borrowing, to be paid back by the
end of next fiscal year, to keep the state's cash flowing in
the face of revenue shortfalls.
An enactment vote
in the Senate could come on Thursday when that branch meets
in a formal for the first time since Feb. 27 with emergency
rules in place to allow for remote voting on roll calls.
State House News
Service
House Session Summary - Wednesday, May 13, 2020
Enacts Critical Borrowing Bill, Two Land Bills
The branches
resumed their Constitutional Convention Wednesday with Sen.
Michael Rush (D-West Roxbury) quickly gaveling those present
in and out of the session.
The convention is
now set to resume on Dec. 16. In 2019, the convention
advanced to the 2021-2022 Legislature
a constitutional
amendment imposing a surtax on household incomes above $1
million.
No action was
taken Wednesday on any other amendments.
State House News
Service
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
Constitutional Convention Summary: Quickly Recesses Until
Dec. 16
Gov. Charlie Baker
said Thursday that his administration would do everything it
could to make sure cities and towns were in "decent shape"
financially next year, but could offer no reassurances that
local aid from the state would not be hurt by the economic
crisis brought on by COVID-19.
The new fiscal
year starts in just over two months, but Baker and the
Legislature have not yet settled on how much money they
think the state will have to spend, or how and when the
House and Senate will attempt to debate and pass a budget
while operating remotely for now.
"It's hard to
figure out exactly where we're going to land on a number of
elements associated with the budget," Baker said Thursday
during his daily press conference on the state's coronavirus
response.
It's been a month
since economists and fiscal watchdogs warned that state tax
revenues could plummet by $4 billion to $6 billion in fiscal
2021. Baker, however, noted that the state could still
receive considerable federal aid, and is unsure of the full
impact of the decision to postpone the state income tax
filing deadline to July 15.
March tax revenues
exceeded budget estimates for the year, but April revenues
were off by more than $2 billion.
State House News
Service
Thursday, May 14, 2020
Baker Hopes to Keep Local Government in “Decent Shape”
Moving Parts Mean Budget Picture Still Fuzzy
More than 1
million out-of-work Massachusetts residents have sought
financial relief from the state in the past two months,
labor officials said Thursday, a stark indicator of the
ongoing economic damage brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic
and the shutdowns it prompted.
Since March 15,
about 821,000 people have filed new claims for standard
unemployment insurance in Massachusetts, the Executive
Office of Labor and Workforce Development said in a Thursday
press release.
More than 255,000
others have submitted claims for Pandemic Unemployment
Assistance, a program Congress created to offer benefits to
those such as gig workers who do not qualify for traditional
coverage. The federal government reimburses the costs of the
program, while states must cover standard unemployment
insurance through premiums charged to employers.
The 1.07 million
claimants across both programs represent nearly 29 percent
of the Massachusetts labor force in March.
State House News
Service
Thursday, May 14, 2020
Jobless Aid Seekers Top 1 Million Mark in Massachusetts
A creeping number
of furloughs among Massachusetts cities and towns
foreshadows “a perfect storm of a financial crisis” that
public policy experts warn will strain local budgets and
quickly spur painful cuts.
“Furloughs are in
every corner of the state and we expect that that number —
without significant federal relief coming very quickly — to
be even within next few weeks to months,” said Geoffrey
Beckwith, executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal
Association.
Unemployment
claims among government workers have jumped 9% since the
coronavirus swept across Massachusetts forcing schools and
businesses to close. Most — if not all — of the 12,216
public-sector workers out of a job are from cities and
towns.
Compared to job
losses in the retail, construction, restaurant and hotel
industries, government employees have “been largely spared,”
from the historic levels of unemployment, according to
Pioneer Institute Research Director Greg Sullivan. But he
warned the furloughs could be a precursor of layoffs to come
as state and municipal leaders grapple with collapsing tax
revenues.
“Income, sales and
meals tax revenues are all down. … This is a perfect storm
of a financial crisis,” Sullivan said. April saw state tax
revenues plummet 50% below the prior year, according to
state Department of Revenue Data — a trend Sullivan said is
likely to continue amid ongoing business shutdowns.
Gov. Charlie Baker
has not yet announced any layoffs of state workers even as
Massachusetts faces an $830 million tax revenue shortfall in
the current fiscal year and an estimated reduction in next
year’s tax revenues of $4.4 billion.
The Boston Herald
Friday, May 15, 2020
‘Perfect storm’ of economic unrest threatens city, town
budgets amid coronavirus crisis
April saw state tax revenues plummet 50% below the prior
year
The coalition of
northeast and mid-Atlantic states pursuing a regional
cap-and-trade pact to reduce carbon emissions has pushed
back its timeline to the fall to finalize the details of a
program states will be asked to join.
Massachusetts
Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen
Theoharides has been chairing the effort known as the
Transportation Climate Initiative to develop a program that
would cap carbon emissions from fuel used by cars and
trucks.
The 12 original
TCI states and the District of Columbia finalized a draft of
the cap-and-trade program in December before putting it out
for public comment, though New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu
withdrew after calling the program a "boondoggle." The goal
before the COVID-19 pandemic hit was to have a final
memorandum of understanding ready by the spring for states
to review and sign if they wanted to join.
The delay, the
participating states announced on Friday, was a result of
the "unprecedented need for governors and agencies to
respond to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic." ...
The pact as
proposed last year would have added between 5 cents and 17
cents to the price of a gallon of gas, but researchers also
estimated it could save millions in health care costs and
generate more than $500 million in revenue for state
government in Massachusetts.
The TCI states
said they would spend the time between now and the fall
doing additional modeling on the impact of reduced emissions
on people and communities and "identifying investments,
initiatives, and complementary policies that will further
reduce pollution, benefit public health, create jobs, and
accelerate economic recovery in the wake of the pandemic."
The Beacon Hill
Institute, a conservative think tank, recommended this week
that Massachusetts abandon TCI because of the financial
strain it will put on businesses as they try to emerge from
their pandemic shutdowns. The impact on fuel prices under
TCI would not be felt until 2022.
State House News
Service
Friday, May 15, 2020
States to Extend Fuel Emissions Talks Into the Fall
|
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
Greetings CLT members
— and former-members
still lapsed:
First let me apologize for
so long between CLT Updates. The last one was sent
on May 1 — from my old
"retired" computer. Four days before, my new
computer system crashed and I was battling with it.
Actually, Dell onsite tech support killed
it. A technician was here to replace a minor part
— the internal wireless card that controls
Bluetooth. Many of us now know how important Bluetooth has become
in these days of Zoom conferences. The Bluetooth function in my
new Dell computer decided to die. The simple
replacement of the card took about fifteen minutes, but when we tried to restart my
otherwise perfectly functioning workstation it would not boot up.
Absolutely dead, dead at the initial Dell logo screen
— locked-up hard!
Dell sent out another technician four days
later with a different part that also did not work. I battled
around the clock with my computer and with Dell support. Finally,
on Thursday while I was breaking it down to ship back for an approved
full refund, I discovered that both technicians had failed to
replug one simple cable to a different card inside the computer! I plugged it
in, put the workstation all back together again, turned it on
— and it booted right up and has been
working now for two days and counting. I've put the
return/refund with Dell on hold for a few days until I'm certain it's
going to continue working properly.
On a personal note, Don Feder
— CLT's first executive director — contacted me
somewhere during that crash downtime. He reminded me that Ed King
would be turning 80 on last Monday, May 11. Edward F. King was the
founder of Citizens for Limited Taxation back in 1975 to fight the
graduated income tax back then. Don thought it would be nice for
Ed to hear from anyone who remembers him from the old days. Ed
doesn't get e-mail but he can be contacted at:
Edward
F. King
84 Hastings Street
West Roxbury, MA 02132
Bob Katzen, publisher of Beacon Hill Roll
Call contacted me Thursday night for a comment for a report he was
working on for Friday:
Gov. Baker
announced that he is preparing to distribute up to $502
million from the state portion of the federal Coronavirus Relief
Fund to local cities and towns for their costs related to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The plan will allow cities and towns to apply for
estimated fiscal year 2020 needs immediately and then apply for
fiscal year 2021 funds at a later date....
The Baker
administration said the available funds represent approximately 25
percent of the funding the state received from the federal
Coronavirus Relief Fund ...
I shot back my response,
which he included:
“Never let a crisis go
to waste,” said Chip Ford, executive director of Citizens
for Limited Taxation (CLT). “This one has clearly defined who
the ‘essential workers’ are and [who] are not. Municipalities and
the state now have their own ‘new normal' baselines when it’s
over. Federal helicopter money dropped over the states to assist in
this crisis of course needs to be distributed to the cities and
towns as designed. Fortunately, limited by CLT's Proposition 2½,
municipalities can't raise revenue through property tax hikes over
2.5 percent annually, and squeezing that from the record number of
unemployed won’t be easy.”
You can see how much your
city or town is supposed to get in state aid
HERE.
On Thursday, May 7, 2020 The Boston Herald
reported ("1 in 4 Massachusetts workers unemployment amid coronavirus
pandemic"):
A
quarter of Massachusetts workers have lost their
jobs as the business shutdown prompted by the
coronavirus pandemic have spurred the worse economic
catastrophe since the Great Depression. . . .
Officials are bracing for what’s expected to be a
grim April jobs report, which the federal government
will issue Friday. It’s the first full-month report
since the coronavirus crisis began and it’s likely
to be the worst since modern record-keeping began
post-World War II.
The unemployment rate is forecast to reach at least
16% — the highest rate since the Great Depression.
Economists estimate 21 million jobs were lost last
month, wiping out nearly all job growth of the last
11 years since the Great Recession in a single
month.
On Friday, May 8, as
anticipated the unemployment crisis got worse. The
State House News Service (SHNS) reported ("Pandemic,
Shutdowns Trigger Record Job Losses"):
Experts had projected that April's numbers would be
dire, particularly after March only captured a
couple of weeks of forced business shutdowns.
Those expectations held true: both the 20.5 million
lost jobs and the 10.3 percentage point increase in
the unemployment rate were the largest one-month
changes since the Bureau of Labor Statistics
launched those data series in 1939 and 1948,
respectively.
Total non-farm payroll employment in April was about
131 million, effectively wiping out nine-plus years
of continuous job growth since the wake of the Great
Recession.
Every single category of employment covered in that
figure except the federal government experienced
losses in April, according to Bureau of Labor
Statistics data. The deepest cuts came in the
leisure and hospitality sector, where 7.65 million
jobs -- almost 47 percent of the entire industry --
evaporated last month. . . .
An
updated unemployment rate for Massachusetts will be
released on May 22, but signs ahead of that indicate
the state's outlook will be similarly grim -- if not
more so -- compared to national trends.
New unemployment insurance claims filed between
March 15 and May 2 reflect about 20.5 percent of the
United States labor force and about 20.9 percent of
the Massachusetts labor force.
Adding applicants for the Pandemic Unemployment
Assistance program who do not qualify for
traditional unemployment benefits, Pioneer Institute
Research Director Greg Sullivan estimated Friday
that the state has been hit even harder, with 25.8
percent of the workforce seeking aid compared to
21.4 percent nationally.
If you're a state
government employee thank your lucky stars
— we are certainly not "all in
this together." You have so far been entirely
spared, and municipal government employees aren't doing
much worse. Of over a million Bay State
former-workers now sentenced to long-term unemployment, only
12,216 government employees have lost their jobs.
The Boston Herald reported yesterday ("‘Perfect storm’
of economic unrest threatens city, town budgets amid
coronavirus crisis"):
Unemployment claims among
government workers have jumped 9% since the
coronavirus swept across Massachusetts forcing
schools and businesses to close. Most — if not all —
of the 12,216 public-sector workers out of a job are
from cities and towns.
Compared to job losses in the
retail, construction, restaurant and hotel
industries, government employees have “been largely
spared,” from the historic levels of unemployment,
according to Pioneer Institute Research Director
Greg Sullivan. But he warned the furloughs could be
a precursor of layoffs to come as state and
municipal leaders grapple with collapsing tax
revenues.
“Income, sales and meals tax
revenues are all down. … This is a perfect storm of
a financial crisis,” Sullivan said. April saw state
tax revenues plummet 50% below the prior year,
according to state Department of Revenue Data — a
trend Sullivan said is likely to continue amid
ongoing business shutdowns.
Gov. Charlie Baker has not yet
announced any layoffs of state workers even as
Massachusetts faces an $830 million tax revenue
shortfall in the current fiscal year and an
estimated reduction in next year’s tax revenues of
$4.4 billion.
The State House News Service reported on
Tuesday ("Baker to Legislature: Allocate $1 Bil, Feds Will Reimburse"):
Gov. Charlie Baker is asking the Legislature to
authorize $1 billion in state spending related to
the COVID-19 pandemic, but is confident that the
federal government will reimburse Massachusetts for
the cost of things like personal protective
equipment and temporary field hospitals.
Baker said Tuesday that he had filed a supplemental
budget because it "gives us the leverage that we
need to utilize federal financial support, like aid
from the Federal Emergency Management Agency
so-called FEMA, which can only reimburse state
spending resulting from eligible disaster response
activities."
The bill's passage, he said, will also "ensure that
adequate state spending has been authorized to allow
the Commonwealth to continue to support our
communities, until additional federal reimbursements
are provided."
The next day, State House
News Service reported on even more proposed borrowing
("Remote Learning, Food Supply Measures in IT Bond
Bill"):
Ahead of a remote caucus planned to
discuss it, the House Ways and Means Committee is voting Wednesday
morning on a bill to borrow more than $1 billion for information
technology and cybersecurity upgrades and to bolster the supply
chain for locally grown or produced food.
The committee's redraft of what was a
$1.15 billion bond bill when Gov. Charlie Baker filed it more than a
year ago includes hundreds of millions of dollars for general
government IT upgrades, but also calls for a $25 million grant
program through which the Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education would help public school systems "establish, enhance or
expand remote learning environments" or reimburse them for
developing remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gov. Charlie Baker is hoping for the
federal government to bail-out Massachusetts' financial problems
— Chinese Wuhan Pandemic-caused, or from
decades of states fiscal mismanagement —
like all the other Blue State governors are doing. Speaker Nancy
Pelosi and the Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives last
night passed its $3 Trillion "HEROES" bill to do just that and much,
much more within its 1,800 pages — such as bailing
out Blue State pension funds. It is reportedly dead on
arrival in Mitch McConnell's U.S. Senate, thank god.
You can learn more about Pelosi's
$3-Trillion socialist giveaway wish list at the link that follows:
National
Review
May 14, 2020
No HEROES by Kevin D, Williamson
With so much depressing news these days,
among it there was one spark of light: The multi-state
Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI) compact schedule has been set
back by the Chinese Wuhan Pandemic. The State House News Service
reported yesterday ("States to Extend Fuel Emissions Talks Into the
Fall"):
The coalition of northeast and mid-Atlantic states
pursuing a regional cap-and-trade pact to reduce
carbon emissions has pushed back its timeline to the
fall to finalize the details of a program states
will be asked to join.
Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs
Secretary Kathleen Theoharides has been chairing the
effort known as the Transportation Climate
Initiative to develop a program that would cap
carbon emissions from fuel used by cars and trucks.
The 12 original TCI states and the District of
Columbia finalized a draft of the cap-and-trade
program in December before putting it out for public
comment, though New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu
withdrew after calling the program a "boondoggle."
The goal before the COVID-19 pandemic hit was to
have a final memorandum of understanding ready by
the spring for states to review and sign if they
wanted to join.
The delay, the participating states announced on
Friday, was a result of the "unprecedented need for
governors and agencies to respond to the impacts of
the COVID-19 pandemic." ...
The pact as proposed last year would have added
between 5 cents and 17 cents to the price of a
gallon of gas, but researchers also estimated it
could save millions in health care costs and
generate more than $500 million in revenue for state
government in Massachusetts. . . .
The Beacon Hill Institute, a conservative think
tank, recommended this week that Massachusetts
abandon TCI because of the financial strain it will
put on businesses as they try to emerge from their
pandemic shutdowns. The impact on fuel prices under
TCI would not be felt until 2022.
During the last Zoom
conference among our coalition of state groups opposing
TCI on May 4 there was little political activity to
report in any of the states striving to impose TCI.
One point raised and agreed upon was that forcing
increased use of public transportation to "Save The
Planet" at the same time "Social Distancing" has been
ordered and imposed to save lives will be a hard sell.
Nobody these days is anxious to be crammed into the
disease-ridden cattle cars of public transportation.
Here's to catching up with the past week or
two — there have been lots of things
happening on Beacon Hill that are creating our "new normal" of the
future. "Forewarned is forearmed" it is said.
Be well and stay safe.
|
 |
 |
|
Chip Ford
Executive Director |
|
|
|
Full News Reports Follow
(excerpted above)Beacon Hill
Roll Call
Volume 45 - Report No. 20
May 11-15, 2020
$502 Million for Cities and Towns for COVID-19 Costs
By Bob Katzen
$502 MILLION FOR CITIES AND TOWNS FOR COVID-19 COSTS – Gov.
Baker announced that he is preparing to distribute up to
$502 million from the state portion of the federal
Coronavirus Relief Fund to local cities and towns for their
costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan will allow
cities and towns to apply for estimated fiscal year 2020
needs immediately and then apply for fiscal year 2021 funds
at a later date.
The funds must be utilized by municipalities for eligible
costs related to the COVID-19 response effort, consistent
with parameters established by the federal Coronavirus Aid,
Relief and Economic Security Act (the “CARES” Act) and
guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department.
The Baker administration said the available funds represent
approximately 25 percent of the funding the state received
from the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund and will help ease
municipal cashflow pressures. It plans to distribute money
to cities and towns quickly and efficiently and maintain
necessary flexibility to allocate additional funds if
unanticipated needs arise, or if federal rules change. These
resources will also help ease municipal cashflow pressures.
“The COVID-19 funding being released today is a much-needed
resource to offset the unprecedented core municipal services
costs being absorbed by all 351 cities and towns in the
commonwealth,” said Rep. Russell Holmes (D-Boston). “The
demands on our first responders, the need for personal
protection equipment in our nursing homes, IT upgrades
needed for staff to support constituents from home and much
more will be needed for the foreseeable future. This funding
will enable the mayors and city administrators to continue
to focus on constituents’ welfare and not divert their time
and energy to cuts that would have a devastating impact on
our communities.”
Not everyone agrees. “Never let a crisis go to waste,” said
Chip Ford, executive director of Citizens for
Limited Taxation (CLT). “This one has clearly defined
who the ‘essential workers’ are and [who] are not.
Municipalities and the state now have their own ‘new normal'
baselines when it’s over. Federal helicopter money dropped
over the states to assist in this crisis of course needs to
be distributed to the cities and towns as designed.
Fortunately, limited by CLT's Proposition 2½,
municipalities can't raise revenue through property tax
hikes over 2.5 percent annually, and squeezing that from the
record number of unemployed won’t be easy.”
“The funding is an important first step in recognizing the
tremendous costs incurred by communities in helping to
address the pandemic and helping them maintain their fiscal
stability,” said House GOP Minority Leader Brad Jones
(R-North Reading).
“The state is awarding money to cities and towns that they
are borrowing from the federal government," said said
Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance Executive Director Paul Craney.
"Massachusetts is already the highest indebted state in the
country per capita. The best way out of this economic
depression is to allow business owners and their workers to
safely get back to work. Small businesses are the backbone
of the Massachusetts economy, without them, the state is
doomed.”
The
Salem News
Saturday, May 2, 2020
Pandemic puts tax plans on hold
By Christian M. Wade, Statehouse Reporter
From a gas tax increase to higher fees for Uber and Lyft
rides, months-old plans on Beacon Hill to drum up revenue
have been shelved by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Before the pandemic, the Democratic-led Legislature was
advancing a host of proposals that relied on higher taxes
and fees — such as a 5 cent per gallon gas tax hike — to
funnel more money into the state's aging infrastructure and
to help blunt the impact of climate change.
But with nearly a quarter of the state's workforce
unemployed, economists say lawmakers shouldn't be looking to
raise taxes anytime soon.
"The state's economy is in a shambles, so the worst thing
anybody in the Legislature could do would be to impose new
taxes," said David Tuerck, president of the Beacon Hill
Institute. "I know that the state is going to be hurting for
revenue, but raising taxes would be politically disastrous."
Tuerck said the state should cut spending and tap into its
$3.5 billion rainy day fund to keep the state government
running, instead of raising taxes.
Small business groups say any increase in the cost of doing
business, with a swath of industries shut down amid the
pandemic, would make matters worse.
"Right now, business owners are struggling to survive with
their doors closed and no revenue coming in," said
Christopher Carlozzi, state director of the National
Federation of Independent Businesses. "Any sort of tax
increase on a small business or a consumer at this point
would be adding insult to injury."
Gov. Charlie Baker has scoffed at the idea of a gas tax
increase amid the pandemic, but he still supports a
multi-state greenhouse gas reduction initiative that would
be funded, in part, by increasing consumer gas taxes.
To be sure, economists say the state will eventually need
more revenue with tax collections and other sources of
funding if the economic fallout from COVID-19 drags on for
years, as expected.
The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation predicts the state
will see a $4.4 billion drop in tax revenues in the fiscal
year that begins July 1, a figure that could grow depending
on how long people are out of work.
Eileen McAnneny, the group's president, said while tax
proposals are likely shelved for the time being, the state
will eventually need to figure out a way to pay for repairs
to its crumbling roads and public transit system.
"Some of those proposals will take a back seat in the short
term, but the need for investments in transportation hasn't
gone away," she said.
McAnneny said the state will also be forced to cut spending
by changing how it delivers many programs and services to
tackle a yet unknown deficit.
"This downturn is impacting all aspects of the economy,
which makes it hard to increase taxes," she said. "There's
no group that could contribute painlessly."
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for
North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites.
State House
News Service
Monday, May 4, 2020
House Agrees to Rules for Remote Sessions
Reps Will Vote, Debate by Phone on Wednesday
By Chris Van Buskirk and Matt Murphy
House Democrats and Republicans agreed Monday on compromise
rules to accommodate remote debate and voting during the
coronavirus pandemic, achieving a breakthrough in what had
become tense, partisan negotiations that will allow the
House to hold its first virtual session Wednesday to take up
Gov. Charlie Baker's short-term borrowing bill.
After a week of private deliberations, House lawmakers
agreed to an amendment to the proposed emergency rules
expanding the ability for some members to debate. The
process for debating bills remotely had emerged as a primary
concern of House Republicans.
"The Temporary Order passed today strikes a careful balance
of safety, security and equitable access so that Members can
meaningfully participate and perform their duty of
representing their constituents," House Speaker Robert DeLeo
said in a statement after Monday's session. "This historic
order is the result of hours of work, discussions and
research. I thank everyone involved and look forward to the
important work ahead."
DeLeo had been threatening to call members back to the State
House to vote in person on the rules package if a compromise
had not been reached on Monday. That is no longer necessary.
The rules come eight weeks after Gov. Charlie Baker declared
a COVID-19 state of emergency in Massachusetts, and six
weeks after Baker banned most gatherings of more than 10
people to address the spread of the disease. That ban does
not apply to the Legislature, but lawmakers are trying to
adhere to social distancing.
The House plans to meet at 11 a.m. Wednesday in their first
remote formal session where lawmakers can call in by phone
to vote on or debate bills. Legislators are expected to take
up a short-term borrowing bill (H 4593) to carry the state
through pandemic-related revenue shortfalls.
Baker, at a press conference on Thursday, said the bill
"really needs to happen sometime in the month of May."
Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, the House Ways and Means Committee
chairman, said lawmakers will attempt a trial run for remote
voting during Wednesday's session when the House plans to
pass the borrowing authorization bill. Technically, a roll
call vote is only required at a later stage in the process
after the bill clears the Senate one time.
"We're going to want to make sure we do it proper both times
... because I'm sure there potentially will be kinks we got
to work out from a logistical standpoint," Michlewitz said.
For the past week, Republicans have voiced concerns over the
proposed limit on how many times a member can speak during
remote debate, a 10 a.m. deadline to sign up to debate, and
the inability for members to know how long a recess, or
break, might last. House Minority Leader Brad Jones said it
took numerous conversations with his caucus and House
leadership before he could agree to a compromise.
"It's an improvement," Jones said Monday, after the rules
passed. "I mean the fact of the matter is my caucus
expressed their disapproval in a variety ways. Obviously, we
held up and we wanted to see some changes. This is
consistent with some of the changes that we suggested to
them last week. So my caucus got to a point where they're
not necessarily happy but obviously you guys have written
about the importance of getting this [borrowing] bill done."
Under the new rules, representatives wishing to speak in
favor of or against a particular bill must still notify
their division monitor by 10 a.m. on the day of the formal
session. Division monitors would then provide a list to the
speaker of those wishing to speak in support or opposition
to a bill.
After conferring with the minority leader, the speaker would
create a final list of members in support and opposition to
email out to all members before the session.
Instead of limiting legislators to one chance at oral
arguments, the compromise amendment adopted Monday allows
the House minority leader, the chair of the committee that
released the bill, and the ranking minority member of the
committee reporting the bill to be recognized more than once
on any question before the House.
After all members who signed up have been recognized to
speak on a bill or amendment, the primary sponsor, or their
designee, could provide a rebuttal or further explanation.
If that happens, a member of the opposing political party
could also be recognized and neither could speak for more
than five minutes without unanimous consent.
"Under the original proposal, I had no opportunity without
unanimous consent to get back up," Jones said. "Now I have a
five-minute window that I can get back up at the end to say,
let me answer that question, or let me indicate why members
are wrong about how they're reading my amendment, whatever
the case may be."
The compromise follows a week of disagreements and drama
that accentuated partisan divides in a normally collegial
State House. Jones twice ended informal sessions last week
over his caucus' concerns about the original emergency rules
proposal. DeLeo on Friday made preparations to call
Democrats back to Beacon Hill to pass the package of rules.
"So I think [the compromise], in an imperfect world,
preserves a level of deliberation and debate that
potentially wasn't going to be there in the originally
proposed order. And that's really what was the back and
forth," Jones said. "That said, I think the goal for
everybody should be to have these orders for the remote
session in place for as short a period of time as possible."
—Sam Doran contributed
reporting
State House
News Service
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
April Tax Collections Plunge by $2.3 Billion
Borrowing Eyed to Fill Growing Hole in State Budget
By Michael P. Norton
State tax collections tumbled in April by more than $2.3
billion compared to last April, another sign of the damage
inflicted on the economy and the state's finances by forced
business shutdowns aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19.
Revenue Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder late Tuesday announced
that collections last month totaled $1.981 billion, down 54
percent, or $2.34 billion, when compared to April 2019. Some
of the decline stems from the state's decision in late March
to push the April 15 income tax filing deadline to July 15.
April is typically the biggest month of the year for
collections. The decline in revenue comes 10 months into
fiscal 2020, a budget year where the state had been on track
to possibly produce a surplus, before the pandemic struck.
Now, officials are poised to embrace short-term borrowing to
offset some of the decline in receipts, with House and
Senate leaders showing more interest in passing a borrowing
authorization bill filed by Gov. Charlie Baker in late
March.
With hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents
suddenly jobless during the pandemic, income taxes last
month were down by nearly $2.1 billion, or 65 percent,
compared to April 2019, accounting for most of the
year-over-year decline for the month.
It's unclear how much of the revenue plunge is attributable
to the postponed filing deadline, and how much stems from
the drop in economic activity.
The state reported Tuesday that the Department of Revenue
received 24 percent fewer income tax returns through April
30 than the same period last year.
Evan Horowitz, executive director of the Center for State
Policy Analysis at Tufts University, said that as much as 80
percent of the April drop may be attributable to the
deferred tax-filing deadline, but added that "the slowdown
is big." Horowitz said the latest income tax withholding and
sales tax data suggested people are still earning money but
not spending it, which he said may help with demand during a
potential recovery.
With two months left in the fiscal year when the state has
spent most of its more than $43 billion budget, tax
collections are running 6 percent, or nearly $1.5 billion,
behind the same 10-month period in fiscal 2019.
"The April revenue shortfall is attributable to multiple
factors, including adjustments to tax payment deadlines
across several categories, the extension of the personal
income tax filing and payment deadline, and the overall
impact that necessary COVID-19 precautions have on economic
activity. We will continue to closely monitor the deferral
of tax receipts and how COVID-19 impacts the economy for the
remainder of the fiscal year," Snyder said in a statement.
The governor's office and Administration and Finance
Secretary Michael Heffernan have pointed only to the
borrowing bill when asked in recent weeks about plans to
ensure a balanced fiscal 2020 state budget. Beyond that, an
aide said, the administration is monitoring tax collections
and federal funding.
A Heffernan spokesman had no further comment Tuesday in
light of the news about April tax collection levels.
Massachusetts has about $3.5 billion in its stabilization
account, fiscal analysts recently gave the state's cash flow
position a mostly favorable review, and the state is in
store to receive federal aid to deal with coronavirus
impacts and pay unemployment benefits.
The pandemic is causing lawmakers to pause state budget
deliberations and recalibrate estimates and expectations,
with one of the next steps being a new assessment of
anticipated tax collections.
S&P Global Ratings in a late-April bulletin said it ran the
state's cash flow projection from February through a stress
test and found that, even without the additional cash flow
financing bill, the state will have the liquid funds it
would need to cover expenses for the remainder of fiscal
year 2020, which ends June 30. The projection, S&P said,
forecast a nonsegregated available cash balance of $3.18
billion at the end of March.
Hit harder by the pandemic than other states, Massachusetts
is still in the grips of its fight against the deadly and
highly contagious virus. Economic reopening plans are being
discussed with more intensity by the day, and a plan from a
working group led by Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito is due this
month.
Total confirmed COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts since the
outbreak began surpassed 70,000 Tuesday, reaching 70,271,
while 122 additional fatalities brought the death toll to
4,212.
The Boston
Globe
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
April’s state tax revenue falls 50 percent from 2019,
underlining pandemic’s pull
By Matt Stout
Massachusetts tax revenues plummeted in April, dropping more
than 50 percent below what the state collected at this time
a year ago, in an unnerving sign of the grim fiscal reality
wrought by the pandemic.
The state Department of Revenue reported Tuesday that it
collected $1.98 billion in taxes last month, more than $2.1
billion below what was projected and less than half of the
$4.32 billion it collected in April 2019.
April is typically the biggest tax month of the year, fueled
by the state’s April 15 deadline for filing tax returns. But
as officials scrambled to ease the burden on taxpayers, the
state in March announced it would shift the deadline to July
15, potentially diverting huge chunks of revenue it would
otherwise collect to later in the year.
Geoffrey Snyder, the state’s revenue commissioner,
attributed the drop, in part, to adjusting that and other
tax deadlines and a dramatic shortfall in non-withheld
income tax. The Department of Revenue received 24 percent
fewer income tax returns through April 30 than in the same
period last year.
And sales tax revenue dipped 23 percent below projections,
reflecting a reluctance by people worried about losing jobs
— or who have already lost them — to make purchases, as well
as the closing of thousands of retail businesses by order of
Governor Charlie Baker.
Evan Horowitz, executive director of the nonpartisan Center
for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University, said the vast
majority of the shortfall appears tied to the deferral of
tax payments. But the drops in sales tax and withholding tax
collections, which were 3 percent below projections, are
evidence of a slowdown.
“So it begins,” said Michael Goodman, a University of
Massachusetts Dartmouth economist. “March and April were
dramatically negative months for us. We’ve never seen
anything like it, for the nation and for the globe.”
The April figures may provide as stark an example as any of
the rapid reversal of the state’s financial picture amid the
pandemic. A year ago, the state collected north of $1
billion more than it did the previous April, setting itself
up for the second straight year with a budget surplus and
the enviable problem of figuring out how to spend it.
Now, nearly one in four Massachusetts workers have already
lost their jobs during the coronavirus shutdown, and the
state’s economy shrank at a 6.1 percent annualized rate in
the first quarter of the year as restaurants, bars, and
thousands of other businesses closed, part of the effort to
slow COVID-19′s spread.
Economists warned lawmakers and state officials last month
that tax revenues could plunge $4.4 billion below past
projections for next fiscal year.
Deep spending cuts would hurt. As the state lost billions in
revenue in the last financial crisis, funding for the
Department of Children and Families, for example, dropped
from $837 million in fiscal year 2009 to $737 million by
fiscal year 2012.
Those reductions led to heavy caseloads and strained already
overworked social workers — challenges that sprang to the
forefront years later, when the death of 5-year-old Jeremiah
Oliver exposed widespread problems at the agency. (Its
budget now stands at nearly $1.06 billion.)
And flagging revenue could upend plans to pour new money
into local school districts. The Massachusetts Taxpayers
Foundation, a business-backed budget watchdog, suggested
this week that lawmakers consider putting off implementing a
sweeping school-funding law until fiscal year 2022.
The law, signed with great fanfare last year, promised to
pour $1.5 billion in extra money into Massachusetts schools
over seven years. But lawmakers and Governor Charlie Baker
approved it without a dedicated funding source, meaning the
state needs to carve the extra money from its existing
budget each year — a task that’s all the more difficult when
once-flush revenues are expected to dry up.
The Taxpayers Foundation also warned that the postponed
deadline means “some portion” of an expected $9 billion in
tax revenue could be pushed into the fiscal year starting in
July, putting policy makers into a difficult fiscal juggling
act.
The state has safety nets, including newly available federal
funds and its own emergency account, known as the Rainy Day
fund, which sits at $3.5 billion. But tapping them to
balance the books comes with its own risks.
“Over-reliance on federal funds may make fiscal 2021 easier
but put the Commonwealth on course for even more painful tax
hikes or spending cuts in future fiscal years,” Eileen
McAnneny, the foundation’s president, wrote in a letter to
state officials and lawmakers.
The same goes for tapping the state’s savings account, she
added. “Lawmakers should tread carefully,” McAnneny said.
The state’s unstable financial footing has already thrown
funding for a host of Beacon Hill’s priorities out of whack.
It’s unclear when the Legislature will produce a budget
proposal for the next fiscal year, a months-long process
that, in normal times, would have already wrapped up in the
House.
Lawmakers had also been tinkering with ideas about how to
raise taxes to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into
repairing congested highways, upgrading worn-out transit
infrastructure, and improving grinding commutes.
But the prospects for a House bill to raise as much as $600
million in new tax revenue, passed just days before Baker
declared a state of emergency, are in doubt as questions
grow over whether the state should increase taxes as
residents’ paychecks disappear.
The House, in its first test of remote voting, is expected
on Wednesday to take up a bill that would give the state
more flexibility in borrowing more money this fiscal year.
State House
News Service
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Senate Prepares Rules for Remote Session
By Sam Doran
Senators would have a couple of options to vote from outside
the Senate Chamber -- or from outside the State House -- on
the governor's short-term borrowing bill under proposed
temporary rules filed Monday.
The rules would only apply to a final passage vote on the
borrowing bill (H 4677), which Gov. Charlie Baker filed to
bridge the gap in state revenues created by extension of the
income tax filing deadline due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This short-term, bill-specific rules package differs from
the approach in the House, which developed a comprehensive
emergency rules package -- adopted Monday after a week of
internal negotiations -- applying to all future formal
sessions during the state of emergency.
The proposed Senate rules (S 2688) would allow for members
either to designate another senator as a proxy to vote on
their behalf or to communicate their vote directly to a
court officer in the chamber. Senators using the proxy
option would be able to stay home during the session,
according to a Senate official.
Members would also be allowed to enter the chamber one at a
time while wearing masks to cast votes, Sen. Cynthia Creem
told the News Service last month.
Senate leadership is working on a longer-term rules package,
targeted for implementation in early June, to conduct
emergency-era formal sessions beyond the governor's
borrowing bill.
Monday is the earliest that the borrowing bill could come up
for final passage in the branches. The House is slated to
engross the bill Wednesday during their first virtual formal
session, teeing it up for potential engrossment Thursday in
the Senate and for final enactment votes next week.
State House
News Service
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
House Turns to Borrowing to Plug State Cash Gap
Michlewitz: Short-Term Loan Could Hit $3 Billion
By Matt Murphy
House lawmakers, many of whom watched on computer screens
miles from the State House, took an historic and unanimous
vote on Wednesday to authorize the Treasury to borrow
billions of dollars as needed through June to meet the
state's financial obligations during the ongoing fight
against the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
House Ways and Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz, speaking
from the House chamber with a mask covering his nose and
mouth, said that Treasurer Deb Goldberg may need to borrow
as soon as this month to balance the state's outflow of
cash, which is not being replenished as fast as it otherwise
might.
State revenue officials reported Tuesday that April tax
collections had fallen off 54 percent compared to the same
month in 2019, and missed budgeted estimates for the month
by nearly $2.2 billion.
April is the state's largest tax revenue month of the year,
and Michlewitz called the losses a "staggering number." He
and other experts have said a "large portion" of the drop in
revenues could be because of the extended income tax filing
deadline. If that assumption is correct, it would allow the
state to quickly recoup some of the losses in July to begin
repaying a large short-term debt by the end of fiscal 2021.
"We estimate that the level of borrowing could be in the
range of $3 billion, but the overall amount will depend on a
number of different factors, from our progress in combating
the virus to the economic situation we find ourselves in
over the coming months," Michlewitz said.
The 157-0 vote marked the first occasion in its nearly
400-year history that the House has used a roll call to pass
legislation with most members participating remotely using
computers and phones to monitor the proceedings and send in
their votes. Remote participation was authorized this week
in new emergency rules.
The bill now moves to the Senate, which plans to hold a
session on Thursday when Senate President Karen Spilka's
office said her intention is to engross the bill and adopt
its own rules for remote participation so that the bill can
be enacted by a roll call when it comes back from the House.
The House has an informal session scheduled for Thursday,
but needs another formal session to take one more roll call,
likely next week, before the bill can reach Gov. Charlie
Baker's desk.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo presided over the
first-of-its-kind session, commemorating the occasion with a
moment of silence for all of those who have died in
Massachusetts and around the world from COVID-19. Another
208 deaths in Massachusetts were reported on Wednesday,
bringing the state total to 4,420.
"Standing in front of a virtual empty chamber, it is a stark
reminder of what our commonwealth is facing, both from a
public health standpoint and from an economy that has been
placed in a self-induced coma while we confront this virus,"
Michlewitz said.
A small number of other legislators were also present in
person for the vote, including "monitors" who received and
tallied the votes of their colleagues participating
remotely. The new process was the result of weeks of
planning and negotiations between Democrats and Republicans
and ran fairly smoothly. The roll call on the legislation
took under seven minutes.
Minority Leader Brad Jones, however, said it was clear that
some of the kinks still need to be ironed out, particularly
with remote debating, before the House will be ready to
tackle more contentious or complicated legislation, like the
annual budget, which usually features hundreds of
amendments.
The biggest noticeable glitch occurred when Ways and Means
Vice Chairwoman Denise Garlick tried to speak via
teleconference with what sounded like a livestream of the
session playing on delay in the background. The result was a
distracting feedback that would be familiar to listeners of
talk radio.
The only legislator not to vote on Wednesday was Rep. Harold
Naughton, a Clinton Democrat who is not seeking reelection
and is currently mobilized on active duty for the
Massachusetts Army National Guard through at least May 13,
according to a letter submitted to the clerk by Speaker Pro
Tempore Patricia Haddad.
Two other House seats remain vacant, with special elections
scheduled for June 2.
Michlewitz called the bill (H 4677) filed by Gov. Charlie
Baker in late March "fairly straightfoward, but also
extremely timely."
The governor proposed the short-term borrowing bill in
tandem with the decision by his administration and the
Legislature to postpone the state income tax filing deadline
from April 15 to July 15, in unison with the federal
extension.
"However, unlike the federal government, our fiscal year
ends in the middle of those dates. So in essence we are
moving our income tax revenue from one fiscal year to
another. Also unlike the the federal government, we are
unable to spend into a deficit," Michlewitz said.
"Without the anticipated revenue from those filings, the
state will begin to have a serious cash flow problem as
early as the end of May. We could also begin to run into a
problem with the credit agencies without some certainty for
the remainder of FY20," he said.
Whatever money the Treasury does have to borrow, the bill
requires that it be repaid in fiscal 2021, which ends on
June 30, 2021.
Standard & Poor's Global Ratings, one of the major credit
agencies, said as recently as last month that even without
the additional cash flow financing bill it anticipated that
Massachusetts would have sufficient liquidity to cover
expenses for the remainder of fiscal year 2020.
The credit agency, however, assumed that a worst case
scenario might be a 39 percent decline in projected tax
revenue in April, May and June, and the April figures showed
a drop off of more than 50 percent.
If some businesses do begin to reopen as soon as May 18, as
Gov Baker suggested on Wednesday, that could start to
relieve some budgetary pressure on the state.
Rep. Todd Smola, a Warren Republican and the ranking
minority member of the Ways and Means Committee, also
celebrated the bipartisan cooperation in recent years that
led to the building of a $3.5 billion reserve fund.
"This is not an action that we take today about survival,
but more this is a measure to help ensure that the
commonwealth of Massachusetts will succeed in this
unprecedented time," Smola said.
—Sam Doran and Chris Van
Buskirk contributed reporting.
State House
News Service
Thursday, May 7, 2020
Reps Reflect on First Remote House Session
One Calls Process "Unworkable" for State Budget
By Chris Van Buskirk
Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, a Northampton Democrat, sat on her
couch with her 13-year-old daughter and prepared to work
although her "office" looked a little different than usual.
For the first time in state history, Massachusetts House
lawmakers on Wednesday participated in a remote formal
session where they could watch the session livestream as
long as they had a solid internet signal and vote from
anywhere as long as their phones could connect to their
colleagues in the chamber.
Sabadosa used part of the time to show her daughter how
legislating works.
"I got to participate in this historic event with my
daughter on the couch watching and showing her how
everything works on the floor, which was kind of, you know,
it was special," she told the News Service. "I cast it from
my computer to the television so she could watch it with
me."
Sabadosa's experience mirrored that of many legislators who
voted from home, offices, or other places off of Beacon
Hill. The House used the formal session, their first since
early March, to pass Gov. Charlie Baker's short-term
borrowing bill to keep the state's cash flow moving through
pandemic-related revenue shortfalls.
Lawmakers took two roll call votes, one to ascertain a
quorum and a second unanimous vote to pass the bill. Only
one representative who was not in the chamber offered
remarks on the bill.
Several lawmakers who spoke to the News Service said the
bill, a critical measure that did not generate any
controversy, was a good opportunity to test the remote
voting procedure. Some expressed concerns with the
feasibility of the system during consideration of
contentious bills or legislation with many amendments.
Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz said the House needs
to work out some kinks with remote debate.
"I think we still have to work out the people speaking
remotely for debate, because I think as we get to maybe more
contentious issues, we're going to have to have that figured
out," Michlewitz, who attended the session in person, told
the News Service afterwards. "We wanted to see how today
went, you know, make sure that we could do this process in a
relatively smooth manner. And then I think we're gonna try
to decide how to proceed."
For over a week, House Republican and Democratic leaders
butted heads on the proposed rules establishing remote
voting and participation. Minority Leader Brad Jones
repeatedly expressed concerns over how debate would unfold.
After Wednesday's session, the North Reading Republican said
the new debate setup will take time to get used to
especially when the House takes up more controversial topics
or stacks of amendments.
The only member who tried to speak from outside the State
House during the session, Rep. Denise Garlick (D-Needham),
appeared to abruptly end her remarks after delayed audio
feedback interrupted her speech.
"We did an easy bill [on Wednesday]. An easy bill
highlighted some shortcomings," Jones said. "Hopefully those
shortcomings will be addressed. But now you do a difficult
bill where there's amendments, people are trying to queue up
to speak on those, that piece of it didn't go that well."
The House floor on Wednesday looked like a large phone-bank
event with eight members fielding questions, taking
attendance, and tallying the votes of the 20 members they
each oversaw. Paperwork and chatter flowed throughout the
chamber between those on the rostrum, in the well, and
seated at their desks.
The remote voting system is needed to enable the House to
settle disputed matters by recorded votes and to meet the
roll call requirements associated with passing certain kinds
of bills like land-taking and borrowing legislation, which
in normal times would require a quorum -- at least 81
representatives -- to gather in the chamber. At some point,
both the House and Senate will need to advance the fiscal
2021 budget, where numerous roll call votes are normally
requested throughout the process.
Sabadosa originally planned to attend the first remote
formal session in-person but decided against it after
learning an employee for the building's cleaning contractor
tested positive for COVID-19. The Northampton Democrat said
it was a better idea to stay home and minimize the risk of
contracting the respiratory virus. As for her experience?
She said it was much cozier voting from home than in the
House Chamber.
"I think the voting portion actually went pretty well. There
was a technical glitch when Vice Chair Garlick started to
speak, so it was really hard to hear her. I'm hopeful that
that will get ironed out," she said. "It's really important
for people to be able to speak and for us to be able to hear
them. We were able to hear I think better than ever and more
clearly when Chair Michlewitz spoke but unfortunately the
call in from Vice Chair Garlick didn't work out."
The entire process on Wednesday relied upon the eight
monitors who fielded phone calls from representatives,
tallied their votes, and handed off the information to the
presiding officer.
Rep. Kate Hogan (D-Stow) served as Sabadosa's monitor and
the experience of calling in on Wednesday was pleasant,
Sabadosa said, as some members had a few moments to catch up
with each other for the first time in months.
"Then there was just also kind of a moment where we got to
say hello to each other, which is not something that always
happens on the House floor," Sabadosa said. "We always come
running in, hit the button for quorum votes but that doesn't
mean you get to talk to everyone in your division."
Rep. Kimberly Ferguson of Holden served as one of two
Republican monitors alongside Rep. David Vieira of Falmouth.
She said making sure everyone got the right information and
participated fully was a challenge.
"The roll call part itself went fine. I think that that went
off without a hitch from my perspective in Division 2A," she
told the News Service. "The challenge is going to be as
debate progresses along further and there are amendments and
more people wanting to speak ... some of those things I
think are going to impact us. Just in the management piece
of it."
Rep. Peter Durant (R-Spencer) was part of the division that
Ferguson oversaw. He said 20 members is a workable number
for each monitor to handle, and that he shares the concerns
about debating controversial legislation or bills with many
amendments.
"Rep. Ferguson did a good job of corralling us all in. I'm
just joking. But no, it worked out well," he said. "This
format works fine for some of these things that we have to
get done that are relatively uncontroversial where maybe you
have an amendment or two and votes are pretty much expected
to be relatively easy. We get to something like the budget,
and I would tend to believe that this kind of process is
going to be unworkable on something that large."
State House
News Service
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Reopening Panel Has Sent Reports to Baker
Guv: "I'm Not Going to Speak to the Future"
By Colin A. Young
The advisory board figuring out how Massachusetts businesses
might be able to reopen has already filed interim reports
with the governor and is expected to make additional
suggestions ahead of its May 18 deadline, Gov. Charlie Baker
said Wednesday, though the governor also further elaborated
on what conditions must be met before he will allow
businesses to reopen.
Speaking outside Gillette Stadium after swearing in the
latest class of Massachusetts State Police recruits, Baker
said "the trends over the course of the last six to eight
days have been reasonably positive" but added that the data
still does not support a reopening of the economy.
"We're still very much in this fight with COVID-19, but it
is encouraging to see some positive progress. As we come
through the other side of this and determine our next steps
for a path forward, we need to see those numbers continue to
drop," he said. "Our goal, starting on May 18, is to begin
re-opening certain types of businesses in a limited fashion
where it can be done more safely than under normal
operations. But this phased-in process can't begin until we
see sustained downward trends in many of the data elements
that we talk about every day."
Baker said the reopening panel led by Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito
and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy has already
"made several" reports on potential strategies. "They're
planning to make what I would describe as interim reports
along the way here between now and the 18th, absolutely," he
said.
The governor has already eased some restrictions in order to
allow employees of non-essential businesses to return to
their locked workplaces to facilitate online orders,
deliveries and the like. On Wednesday morning, the Greater
Boston Chamber of Commerce said the Baker administration
should announce its phased economic re-opening plan by this
Friday to give employers and workers at least 10 days to
prepare for a potential reawakening of activity.
The governor pointed out Wednesday that the percentage of
tests that result in positive cases has consistently been
lower than it was last month and that hospitalizations have
been flat or slightly declining over the last week. But, he
said, many hospitals are still operating under their surge
plans -- the steps taken to boost capacity at hospitals and
through field hospitals to prepare for an influx of COVID-19
patients -- and he wants to see the hospitals return to
something closer to normal before restarting the economy.
"Right now, a significant number of hospitals are still very
much relying on these temporary spaces and beds. We need to
have more and more patients recovering and moving out of
hospital level care so that hospitals can return to what we
would describe as a more normal level of activity," Baker
said. "The phased reopening where only certain industries
begin to reopen that we're planning for now can't move
forward until we see progress on surge capacity, among some
of those other elements. And as I said, the virus is still
very much challenging our health care system."
As of Tuesday, there were 3,542 people hospitalized with
COVID-19 in Massachusetts and the number of people
hospitalized has stubbornly hovered between 3,485 and 3,965
for more than three weeks. The number of hospitalized
patients has declined in six of the last eight days.
Asked Wednesday about field hospitals in parts of the state
that seen COVID-19 activity die down a bit, like Western
Mass. and Cape Cod, Baker said, "I think you'll likely see
some decisions made over the course of the next several days
if, in fact, the trends we've seen so far continue with
respect to some of that ancillary capacity that we
developed."
Baker cautioned, as he has been doing for about two weeks
now, that a few days of encouraging signs from the data is
not enough to draw conclusions about the virus or how the
pandemic will play out.
"It's very risky to make broad prognostications about what's
going on, where it's going, how it's going to get there. So
much of what we know about this virus has changed in the
last 60 days. Some people might even say that everything we
know about this virus has changed in the last 60 days. So
when I say here that we have seen encouraging trends, that's
because I'm talking about the past," he said. "I'm not going
to speak to the future. The future is going to be what it's
going to be."
The Boston
Herald
Thursday, May 7, 2020
1 in 4 Massachusetts workers unemployment amid coronavirus
pandemic
By Erin Tiernan
A quarter of Massachusetts workers have lost their jobs as
the business shutdown prompted by the coronavirus pandemic
have spurred the worse economic catastrophe since the Great
Depression.
Nearly 3.2 million laid-off Americans applied for
unemployment benefits last week including another 55,448
laid-off Bay State workers as unemployment claims rose for a
seventh straight week, according to federal labor data.
Roughly 33.5 million people nationwide and 949,699 in
Massachusetts have filed jobless claims as the viral
outbreak has forced many companies to close, gobbling up
jobs. That is the equivalent of 1 in 5 workers on a national
level, or 1 in 4 workers in Massachusetts, where the
workforce in March totaled 3,740,600 workers, according to
state data.
The 55,448 figure for the week ending May 2 is down almost
16,000 from the week before which say 71,358 new filings.
That’s down from an all-time high of 181,423 claims in a
single week at the end of March.
The state is now more than two weeks into offering benefits
to an expanded range or applicants including gig workers and
the self-employed, who did not qualify for benefits until
Congress expanded eligibility under the so-called CARES Act
last month. Updated data on how many of those workers have
sought benefits is expected later Thursday.
Officials are bracing for what’s expected to be a grim April
jobs report, which the federal government will issue Friday.
It’s the first full-month report since the coronavirus
crisis began and it’s likely to be the worst since modern
record-keeping began post-World War II.
The unemployment rate is forecast to reach at least 16% —
the highest rate since the Great Depression. Economists
estimate 21 million jobs were lost last month, wiping out
nearly all job growth of the last 11 years since the Great
Recession in a single month.
“The feds will put the unemployment rate at 16% on Friday,
but that’s three-and-a-half weeks delayed. The real-time
unemployment will probably be much higher,” said Greg
Sullivan of the Pioneer Institute in Boston.
That’s definitely true in Massachusetts were as of last
week, 24% of the state’s civilian workforce had filed
unemployment claims.
But watchdogs say those stunning figures won’t fully capture
the magnitude of the damage the coronavirus has inflicted on
the job market. Many people still working have had hours
reduced and pay cut. Others who haven’t looked for new jobs
after being laid off in this bleak environment won’t even be
counted as unemployed. It also won’t capture anyone who was
laid off but delayed filing for benefits.
The record-level of need has stretched the state’s
already-skimp trust fund used to pay out benefits. Prior to
the coronavirus crisis, the Massachusetts unemployment fund
was the fifth-most under-funded account in the nation. Prior
to the crisis on March 1, the state’s fund had 1.6 billion.
By April 1 that balance dropped to $1.4 billion and was down
more than half to $748 million by April 16, according to
U.S. Treasury data.
The Baker administration has requested a $1.2 billion
federal loan to float the program through the coming months.
—Herald wire services
contributed to this report.
State House
News Service
Thursday, May 7, 2020
Spilka Warned Locals Budget “May Not Be Pretty”
Budget "In Some Form" Needed by July 1, Senate President
Says
By Katie Lannan
There are many possibilities for how lawmakers might tackle
next year's budget, Senate President Karen Spilka said, but
the pandemic's shocks to state revenues may mean the idea of
passing one-month budgets while a full spending plan is
developed would need to look different than it has in the
past.
The economic turmoil created by the COVID-19 crisis began as
Beacon Hill's budget season approached -- typically, the
House passes its budget in April and the Senate in May. The
final budget is due by July 1, the first day of the new
fiscal year, though lawmakers have often negotiated beyond
that deadline and passed "one-twelfth" budgets that allocate
enough money for a month of operations, based on the
previous year's spending.
With the normal timeline thrown off course and the
pandemic's full economic impact not yet quantified, it's
still unclear when the Legislature will take up the fiscal
2021 budget or what its bottom line will be.
The set of emergency rules the House adopted this week gave
the House Ways and Means Committee until July 1 to report
out its version of the budget, and S&P Global Ratings said
in a recent bulletin that it expects Massachusetts to adopt
a fiscal 2021 budget this summer.
"We need to have some budget in some form by July 1, and
there's a lot of different possibilities," Spilka told the
News Service Thursday.
"We could do short-term and longer-term. We could break it
up," she said. "Generally in the past when we have done a
one-twelfth budget for the month of July in the next year,
we use the prior year's budget, which I do not believe we
can do because the 2020 budget revenue will be bigger than
the 2021. Hopefully, we can work very closely with the House
and the administration and be on the same page and just
really roll up our sleeves and get something done for the
Commonwealth."
Tax collections last month fell by more than $2.3 billion
compared to April 2019, partially driven by state officials'
decision in late March to push the April 15 income tax
filing deadline back three months. Economic experts who
testified at a recent hearing projected that next year's tax
collections could land $4 billion to $6 billion below
initial estimates.
The lack of clarity around a state budget plan creates
uncertainty for anyone who relies on spending in the more
than $43 billion budget and means local aid levels, a major
source of revenue for municipal government, remain unknown
for the municipal officials who usually craft their city and
town budgets in the spring.
Spilka, who in the past has served as chairwoman of the
Senate Ways and Means Committee and as an Ashland School
Committee member, said she spoke to the Natick and Ashland
school committees and select boards in her district this
week. She said she's "been very honest with them in saying
that it may not be pretty, but this is the situation we're
in" and sharing economic projections.
"I have shared with them that, especially coming from a
municipal school committee background, I understand that
cities and towns need to plan their budget, they need to set
their tax rates, they need something definite at some point
in the near future, and we are sensitive to that," she said.
"The Ways and Means chairs and secretary of [Administration
and Finance] are working on this."
Last month, the Legislature passed and Gov. Charlie Baker
signed a bill that eases some of the deadlines and
scheduling requirements municipalities face and allows
cities and towns to tap into their free cash, or remaining
fiscal 2020 reserves, for fiscal 2021 budgets without having
to go through the usual state approval process.
The Senate on Monday passed another bill (S 2680) intended
to give municipal governments added flexibility, and Spilka
said it primarily addresses town meetings and vendor
services.
"Hopefully that will go through soon because there's lots of
towns that want to hold a town meeting with a reduced quorum
or figure out how to hold it virtually," she said.
The Boston
Herald
Friday, May 8, 2020
‘Sober look’ at public payrolls urged as coronavirus
bailouts tax system
By Joe Dwinell
Fiscal watchdogs are urging city leaders in Boston — and in
communities across the state — to take a “sober look” at
budget cuts to help take the burden off taxpayers and the
private sector.
The warning comes after Boston’s public payroll was posted
by the Herald showing 8,000 employees who earned $100,000 or
more last year. While first responders are on the front
lines of the pandemic, others in Boston have not been
furloughed.
“We are faced with a crisis. By necessity, the state and
City of Boston must find places to tighten the belt. They
have an obligation to do it now,” said Greg Sullivan of the
Pioneer Institute, who once was the state inspector general.
“There’s a national debate in Congress right now on
providing a half a trillion dollars to states and cities.
That’s equivalent to making our children and grandchildren
pay off this debt,” Sullivan added.
He added the cost of the coronavirus pandemic breaks down to
$20,000 per household — and that’s only if the bailouts ease
up.
Pam Kocher, president of the Boston Municipal Research
Bureau, said Thursday evening Boston needs to zero in on
overtime costs.
“The city should continue to analyze overtime usage for
insights to help manage spending and maximize efficiency in
deployment of these city workers,” Kocher said.
As others have said, police, fire and EMS workers are all
facing daily dangers of working amid a pandemic. City
payroll records show many are racking up OT, but some
drastically more than others.
Out of the 8,000 city employees who took home six-figure pay
last year, 31 recorded gross pay of $300,000 or more and
another 700 workers clocked in at $200,000 and up, records
show. There were also two large workers’ compensation
settlements in 2019 for $772,000, to a school employee, and
$401,000, to a council worker.
Mayor Martin Walsh earned $199,000 last year, records show.
He did not earn any overtime.
Gov. Charlie Baker earned $184,233 last year, state records
show.
“Springfield, Worcester, New Bedford and Lawrence all look
to the state as a financial safety net, but right now the
state is in a financial crisis,” Sullivan said, adding it’s
time to take “a sober, hard look” at where to cut.
The budget-tightening talk comes jobless numbers show one in
four in Massachusetts are unemployed.
“This is the emergency we’ve talked about that would prod
reductions,” he added. “What Congress is looking to provide
states and cities is mind-numbing. We need to start now to
get serious.”
The Boston
Herald
Friday, May 8, 2020
A Boston Herald editorial
Revenue hit imperils increased education funding
Uncertainty remains the only certainty during this ongoing
coronavirus pandemic.
That extends from our personal lives to the administration
of our state and federal governments.
The loss of income can hit a family especially hard,
particularly if you’re living paycheck to paycheck. Not
knowing when or if you’ll return to work forces difficult
decisions that come with prioritizing limited resources.
Now multiply that unsettling situation by a few million and
you’ll have some idea of what’s facing the governor and
legislative leaders as they confront the challenges of
meeting the commonwealth’s needs with drastically reduced
revenues.
One fiscal watchdog group has offered a few suggestions.
In a letter to Senate Ways and Means Chairmen Michael
Rodrigues, Aaron Michlewitz and Administration and Finance
Secretary Michael Heffernan, the chief fiscal 2021 budget
planners, Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President
Eileen McAnneny offered a few ideas on how to deal with
budget shortfalls, which include delaying the implementation
of the new school funding law and reducing a planned boost
in state pension system contributions.
That’s because tax collections that lawmakers had hoped
would fund significant new investments in education will
likely fall $4.4 billion short of previous projections — or
14.1% below the figure that top budget officials agreed to
back in January.
The early signs of a business slowdown first observed in
March returned with a vengeance in April. The state
Department of Revenue reported Tuesday that it collected
$1.98 billion in taxes last month, more than $2.1 billion
below estimates and less than 50% of the $4.32 billion it
collected in April 2019.
Normally the most robust revenue-producing month of the year
— thanks to the April 15 income-tax filing deadline — the
decision to ease taxpayers’ burden by extending tax
submissions to July 15 accounts for a chunk of that lost
income.
So, while the balance of that tax revenue will be collected
by mid-July, other shortfalls — April sales tax receipts
came in 23% below projections — will deprive the state
treasury of funds required to fully meet its obligations.
Eventually, Gov. Charlie Baker will allow a phased reopening
of certain businesses, which hopefully will begin by the end
of May.
That will slowly add corporations and employees to the tax
rolls, but revenues will continue to dramatically lag for
several months.
Which means significant cuts can’t be avoided.
Starting with unfunded mandates makes sense, which is why
the Taxpayers Foundation recommended postponing the
distribution of funds contained in the Student Opportunity
Act, which gives schools an additional $1.5 billion over
seven years starting with fiscal year 2021.
Lawmakers expected continued budget surpluses to provide
that money, but that’s no longer the case.
That school funding law was especially designed to help
Gateway Cities with education costs unique to their
communities.
At this stage, when we don’t even know if schools will open
on time for the next academic year, an education funding
boost might take a back seat to more pressing needs.
State House
News Service
Friday, May 8, 2020
U.S. Jobless Rate Shoots Up to 14.7 Percent
Pandemic, Shutdowns Trigger Record Job Losses
By Chris Lisinski
The COVID-19 pandemic and the economic shutdowns aimed at
preventing its spread wiped out more than 20 million
American jobs in April, a historic implosion felt in
virtually every corner of the economy, federal officials
said Friday.
In the first full month of data reflecting the outbreak's
impact, the national unemployment rate jumped to 14.7
percent, a sharp increase over the 4.4 percent rate observed
in March when the downward trend started but had not reached
full force.
Experts had projected that April's numbers would be dire,
particularly after March only captured a couple of weeks of
forced business shutdowns.
Those expectations held true: both the 20.5 million lost
jobs and the 10.3 percentage point increase in the
unemployment rate were the largest one-month changes since
the Bureau of Labor Statistics launched those data series in
1939 and 1948, respectively.
Total non-farm payroll employment in April was about 131
million, effectively wiping out nine-plus years of
continuous job growth since the wake of the Great Recession.
Every single category of employment covered in that figure
except the federal government experienced losses in April,
according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The deepest
cuts came in the leisure and hospitality sector, where 7.65
million jobs -- almost 47 percent of the entire industry --
evaporated last month.
Education and health services lost 2.5 million jobs in
April, professional and business services lost 2.13 million,
and retail trade lost about 2.11 million.
"Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic shutdown
to combat its spread, the employment situation has
completely flipped from just two months ago when much of the
United States seemed to be at, or near, full employment,"
said Tony Bedikian, head of global markets at Citizens Bank,
in a statement. "Several states are relaxing their
stay-at-home orders now and governments and businesses have
stepped up to support many workers and companies, but it
remains to be seen what the new normal will look like."
An updated unemployment rate for Massachusetts will be
released on May 22, but signs ahead of that indicate the
state's outlook will be similarly grim -- if not more so --
compared to national trends.
New unemployment insurance claims filed between March 15 and
May 2 reflect about 20.5 percent of the United States labor
force and about 20.9 percent of the Massachusetts labor
force.
Adding applicants for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance
program who do not qualify for traditional unemployment
benefits, Pioneer Institute Research Director Greg Sullivan
estimated Friday that the state has been hit even harder,
with 25.8 percent of the workforce seeking aid compared to
21.4 percent nationally.
While the sudden damage is unprecedented, it remains largely
unknown how long a recovery will take or even when it might
begin. The answer to that question depends in part on how
reopening processes fare across the world, whether
successful treatments or vaccines are developed, and how
well government leaders are able to prevent a rebound in
transmissions.
"Some industries and companies may be changed forever, but
the economy as a whole was on solid footing at the start of
the year and should be well-poised for a recovery once the
COVID-19 pandemic abates," Bedikian said.
A wide majority of those unemployed described their
situations as short-term: in April's federal data, 79.4
percent reported being on temporary layoff. However, it is
not clear if those positions will still be available after
the public health emergency abates.
Even if stay-at-home advisories and non-essential business
closures are soon lifted, consumer behavior may not return
to pre-pandemic patterns with the same rapidity. A Suffolk
University/WGBH/Boston Globe poll of 500 Massachusetts
residents released this week found, once activities are
again allowed, 54 percent of respondents will still be
unwilling to eat out at restaurants, 73 percent unwilling to
attend a sporting event and 79 percent unwilling to use
public transit.
Some activities were seen more favorably, though. About 71
percent of those polled said they would be comfortable
shopping, while 58 percent said they are willing to return
to offices or schools in-person.
Gov. Charlie Baker's order closing non-essential businesses
extends until May 18, and a panel tasked with plotting out a
phased reopening has already submitted interim reports ahead
of a final deadline on that date.
State House
News Service
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
Baker to Legislature: Allocate $1 Bil, Feds Will Reimburse
By Colin A. Young
Gov. Charlie Baker is asking the Legislature to authorize $1
billion in state spending related to the COVID-19 pandemic,
but is confident that the federal government will reimburse
Massachusetts for the cost of things like personal
protective equipment and temporary field hospitals.
Baker said Tuesday that he had filed a supplemental budget
because it "gives us the leverage that we need to utilize
federal financial support, like aid from the Federal
Emergency Management Agency so-called FEMA, which can only
reimburse state spending resulting from eligible disaster
response activities."
The bill's passage, he said, will also "ensure that adequate
state spending has been authorized to allow the Commonwealth
to continue to support our communities, until additional
federal reimbursements are provided."
The expenses include payments for many of the areas where
the state has been spending during the pandemic: personal
protective equipment, rate adjustments for human service
providers, incentive pay for state employees on the front
lines at certain facilities, costs of temporary field
hospitals and shelters, National Guard pay, costs associated
with the state's contact tracing program, emergency child
care for essential workers, and increased costs of local
housing authorities and of the family and individual shelter
system.
Baker said he expects that the supplemental budget bill (HD
5083) will carry no additional cost for state government in
Massachusetts.
"It's a billion dollars, but it's actually a net zero to the
state. This is the money that we need to appropriate and
acknowledge to be able to access federal reimbursements
under our emergency declaration act under FEMA," he said.
"The way FEMA works is, and this is sort of the way it's
always worked, is the states spend, the feds reimburse when
it comes to FEMA stuff. And for us to access what we believe
is a very significant amount of resource that the federal
government, through the emergency declaration, has signed up
to reimburse us for, we need to spend first to get them to
reimburse us and that's basically what that is."
He said that his administration expects that any other
COVID-19 costs not reimbursed through FEMA "will, to the
extent possible, be matched by other available federal
revenue resources including through the recently enacted
federal CARES Act."
"We want to ensure that we can take advantage and maximize
the federal funds that can come to Massachusetts so we will
be looking at it with that in mind, of course, and ensuring
that it can help as many areas as possible," Senate
President Karen Spilka said, adding that the Senate's review
of the bill will begin Tuesday. "The COVID-19 crisis has hit
so many different areas from the state funding, to our
seniors, to veterans, to our disabled populations, and our
schools, our cities and towns -- I mean, just every facet of
our life we realize has been hit hard by the COVID-19
pandemic, so we will certainly be taking a good look at it
and will try to get it through expeditiously."
House Speaker Robert DeLeo, whose chamber must take up the
budget bill first, said in a statement that the House Ways
and Means Committee will "conduct significant due diligence
to ensure that we fully understand federal guidance and
potential reimbursements, as well the concerns of impacted
communities" and that the House "will seek to fully
determine the extent and format of federal reimbursements
while ensuring that the COVID-related needs of House members
are given the attention they deserve."
The governor's new bill adds to the constellation of
budget-related matters that the Legislature has to deal
with. The state is facing what is expected to be a
multi-billion dollar shortfall in the current fiscal year
and development of the fiscal year 2021 budget -- during
which time economists have predicted state tax revenue could
come in $4 billion to $6 billion below initial estimates --
is in a holding pattern while budget writers seek clarity on
federal reimbursements and the possibility of more direct
federal aid to states.
In the letter to lawmakers that accompanied Baker's filing,
the governor said the supplemental budget "also includes a
section that would attribute federal reimbursements to
Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20) if they are associated with COVID-19
response costs incurred in FY20, allowing us to optimize the
use of revenue sources without putting the FY20 budget out
of balance."
State House
News Service
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
Remote Learning, Food Supply Measures in IT Bond Bill
By Colin A. Young
Ahead of a remote caucus planned to discuss it, the House
Ways and Means Committee is voting Wednesday morning on a
bill to borrow more than $1 billion for information
technology and cybersecurity upgrades and to bolster the
supply chain for locally grown or produced food.
The committee's redraft of what was a $1.15 billion bond
bill when Gov. Charlie Baker filed it more than a year ago
includes hundreds of millions of dollars for general
government IT upgrades, but also calls for a $25 million
grant program through which the Department of Elementary and
Secondary Education would help public school systems
"establish, enhance or expand remote learning environments"
or reimburse them for developing remote learning during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The committee's draft also calls for a $36 million outlay to
fund a food security program through the Department of
Agricultural Resources. The program would aim to support
local food banks, farms, farm stands, fisheries and others
in the food distribution network as they adapt to changes
brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and to "provide greater
access to local food in ways that support social-distancing
recommendations."
The bill contemplates "an online system to link food system
channels to identify and match agricultural and fishery
products to consumers and markets, particularly to benefit
food insecure communities."
The House Ways and Means Committee also set aside $1.25
million in the bill for "necessary information technology
upgrades for the House of Representatives," which last week
began holding remote formal sessions that rely on technology
to run smoothly.
After the committee vote, House Democrats are expected to
discuss the IT bond bill in a remote caucus Wednesday
afternoon. Major capital bills usually generate hundreds of
amendments and, as a borrowing bill, the IT investments will
require recorded votes to pass.
State House
News Service
House Session Summary - Wednesday, May 13, 2020
Enacts Critical Borrowing Bill, Two Land Bills
By Chris Van Buskirk
The second remote formal session in the history of the
Massachusetts Legislature went off without a hitch on
Wednesday. No members debated any of the three bills before
the House and the session ended quickly. The flow of
information mimicked a conveyor belt with monitors gathering
votes by phone and handing paperwork to clerks, who then
entered the votes into computers in the House chamber.
Lawmakers passed two land taking bills and enacted Gov.
Charlie Baker's bill to facilitate short-term borrowing, to
be paid back by the end of next fiscal year, to keep the
state's cash flowing in the face of revenue shortfalls.
An enactment vote in the Senate could come on Thursday when
that branch meets in a formal for the first time since Feb.
27 with emergency rules in place to allow for remote voting
on roll calls.
The House also set a 3 p.m. Friday deadline for amendments
to an information technology bond bill that's gathering
momentum. The House meets next on Thursday at 11 a.m. in an
informal session.
State House
News Service
Thursday, May 14, 2020
Baker Hopes to Keep Local Government in “Decent Shape”
Moving Parts Mean Budget Picture Still Fuzzy
By Matt Murphy
Gov. Charlie Baker said Thursday that his administration
would do everything it could to make sure cities and towns
were in "decent shape" financially next year, but could
offer no reassurances that local aid from the state would
not be hurt by the economic crisis brought on by COVID-19.
The new fiscal year starts in just over two months, but
Baker and the Legislature have not yet settled on how much
money they think the state will have to spend, or how and
when the House and Senate will attempt to debate and pass a
budget while operating remotely for now.
"It's hard to figure out exactly where we're going to land
on a number of elements associated with the budget," Baker
said Thursday during his daily press conference on the
state's coronavirus response.
It's been a month since economists and fiscal watchdogs
warned that state tax revenues could plummet by $4 billion
to $6 billion in fiscal 2021. Baker, however, noted that the
state could still receive considerable federal aid, and is
unsure of the full impact of the decision to postpone the
state income tax filing deadline to July 15.
March tax revenues exceeded budget estimates for the year,
but April revenues were off by more than $2 billion.
"April was terrible, but April was terrible in part because
we had sort of the full brunt of COVID but also nobody filed
their tax payments if they owed because they're not due
until July. So local communities and the commonwealth are
still trying to figure out exactly where this all lands both
for closing this fiscal year and opening next year," Baker
said.
The governor was asked if cities and towns, already using
furloughs and layoffs to control expenses, should be
prepared for cuts in local aid for government operations and
schools.
Baker said a lot will depend on whether the federal
government gives the state more flexibility in how it spends
relief money from the CARES Act, and whether Congress
delivers more assistance. He pointed to U.S. Rep. Richard
Neal's role in helping to craft a new coronavirus relief
package that will be voted on by the House Friday that
included $875 billion in direct aid to state and local
governments.
"There's just a lot of moving parts there and I hesitate to
comment on specifics around what is going to happen either
to close the books or open next year when there's still a
lot of stuff that's kind of up in the air," Baker said.
Referring to Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, he added, "We have both
talked at great length with our colleagues in municipal
government and are going to do everything we can to make
sure that they're in decent shape heading into the fiscal
year."
A year ago at this time, the House had already passed its
version of the annual state spending bill and senators were
reviewing a proposal from the Senate Ways and Means
Committee with an eye toward filing amendment for debate
that would begin in the days before Memorial Day weekend.
A senior House official told the News Service this week that
talks were still happening with the Senate and
administration about how to approach the budget process and
develop a new estimate of revenues on which to build a
spending plan.
Massachusetts Municipal Association President Geoff Beckwith
recently told the News Service that another federal stimulus
bill is the "last best hope" to bail out municipal
governments.
"There's no local official that's seen anything like this in
their lifetime," he said.
State House
News Service
Thursday, May 14, 2020
Jobless Aid Seekers Top 1 Million Mark in Massachusetts
By Chris Lisinski
More than 1 million out-of-work Massachusetts residents have
sought financial relief from the state in the past two
months, labor officials said Thursday, a stark indicator of
the ongoing economic damage brought on by the COVID-19
pandemic and the shutdowns it prompted.
Since March 15, about 821,000 people have filed new claims
for standard unemployment insurance in Massachusetts, the
Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development said in
a Thursday press release.
More than 255,000 others have submitted claims for Pandemic
Unemployment Assistance, a program Congress created to offer
benefits to those such as gig workers who do not qualify for
traditional coverage. The federal government reimburses the
costs of the program, while states must cover standard
unemployment insurance through premiums charged to
employers.
The 1.07 million claimants across both programs represent
nearly 29 percent of the Massachusetts labor force in March.
Massachusetts received 44,274 new claims for UI between May
3 and May 9, according to the state labor office. That total
is the lowest amount since the first weekly spike in
mid-March, but still several times higher than any
pre-pandemic record.
Based on continuing claims, food and accommodation was hit
with steeper job losses than any other industry, followed by
retail trade and health care and social assistance.
Gov. Charlie Baker is working on plans to allow some
workplaces to reopen while abiding by mandatory safety
regulations for all employers.
The Boston
Herald
Friday, May 15, 2020
‘Perfect storm’ of economic unrest threatens city, town
budgets amid coronavirus crisis
April saw state tax revenues plummet 50% below the prior
year
By Erin Tiernan
A creeping number of furloughs among Massachusetts cities
and towns foreshadows “a perfect storm of a financial
crisis” that public policy experts warn will strain local
budgets and quickly spur painful cuts.
“Furloughs are in every corner of the state and we expect
that that number — without significant federal relief coming
very quickly — to be even within next few weeks to months,”
said Geoffrey Beckwith, executive director of the
Massachusetts Municipal Association.
Unemployment claims among government workers have jumped 9%
since the coronavirus swept across Massachusetts forcing
schools and businesses to close. Most — if not all — of the
12,216 public-sector workers out of a job are from cities
and towns.
Compared to job losses in the retail, construction,
restaurant and hotel industries, government employees have
“been largely spared,” from the historic levels of
unemployment, according to Pioneer Institute Research
Director Greg Sullivan. But he warned the furloughs could be
a precursor of layoffs to come as state and municipal
leaders grapple with collapsing tax revenues.
“Income, sales and meals tax revenues are all down. … This
is a perfect storm of a financial crisis,” Sullivan said.
April saw state tax revenues plummet 50% below the prior
year, according to state Department of Revenue Data — a
trend Sullivan said is likely to continue amid ongoing
business shutdowns.
Gov. Charlie Baker has not yet announced any layoffs of
state workers even as Massachusetts faces an $830 million
tax revenue shortfall in the current fiscal year and an
estimated reduction in next year’s tax revenues of $4.4
billion.
The governor on Thursday pledged to do everything he could
to keep cities and towns in “decent shape” financially amid
the COVID-19 crisis, but short of a federal bailout, public
policy experts say there’s little he can do.
State Rep. David DeCoste, R-Norwell, who represents a
district where two out of the three towns have already
furloughed public workers, said local leaders are “planning
for various shades of bad scenarios.”
In Rockland, Town Administrator Douglas Lapp said he was
forced to place more than three dozen employees on full or
partial furlough to help make up a $1.3 million budget
deficit.
Furloughs in Rockland — as well as in other communities —
span the spectrum of local government from the library to
the city clerk’s office to the building inspector’s office.
Lapp said he’s so far avoided cutting any police and
firefighting jobs, but said balancing next year’s budget “is
a concern” since municipalities don’t know where local aid
dollars stand.
The same is true in Randolph, where dozens of the teachers
aides and secretaries were also furloughed. School Committee
Chairwoman Andrea Nixon said the district isn’t taking
layoffs off the table for next year.
For cities and towns throughout Massachusetts, the “only
certainty is bad news” but Beckwith of the MMA said the
stimulus bill legislators are negotiating now includes $875
million in direct aid to state and local governments that
would be “adequate” to soften the blow.
State House
News Service
Friday, May 15, 2020
States to Extend Fuel Emissions Talks Into the Fall
By Matt Murphy
The coalition of northeast and mid-Atlantic states pursuing
a regional cap-and-trade pact to reduce carbon emissions has
pushed back its timeline to the fall to finalize the details
of a program states will be asked to join.
Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary
Kathleen Theoharides has been chairing the effort known as
the Transportation Climate Initiative to develop a program
that would cap carbon emissions from fuel used by cars and
trucks.
The 12 original TCI states and the District of Columbia
finalized a draft of the cap-and-trade program in December
before putting it out for public comment, though New
Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu withdrew after calling the
program a "boondoggle." The goal before the COVID-19
pandemic hit was to have a final memorandum of understanding
ready by the spring for states to review and sign if they
wanted to join.
The delay, the participating states announced on Friday, was
a result of the "unprecedented need for governors and
agencies to respond to the impacts of the COVID-19
pandemic."
"The timing for signing the MOU has shifted to the fall, but
work on the program details continues and engagement with
stakeholders will continue to inform the process," a note
posted on the TCI website Friday stated.
The pact as proposed last year would have added between 5
cents and 17 cents to the price of a gallon of gas, but
researchers also estimated it could save millions in health
care costs and generate more than $500 million in revenue
for state government in Massachusetts.
The TCI states said they would spend the time between now
and the fall doing additional modeling on the impact of
reduced emissions on people and communities and "identifying
investments, initiatives, and complementary policies that
will further reduce pollution, benefit public health, create
jobs, and accelerate economic recovery in the wake of the
pandemic."
The Beacon Hill Institute, a conservative think tank,
recommended this week that Massachusetts abandon TCI because
of the financial strain it will put on businesses as they
try to emerge from their pandemic shutdowns. The impact on
fuel prices under TCI would not be felt until 2022. |
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
▪ (781) 639-9709
BACK TO CLT
HOMEPAGE
|
