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CLT UPDATE
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Another Beacon Hill Helter-Skelter
Week
Jump directly
to CLT's Commentary on the News
Most Relevant News Excerpts
(Full news reports follow
Commentary)
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This isn't a
normal year, not by a long shot.
When 2020 dawned,
nobody expected that the major issues facing the Legislature
and Gov. Charlie Baker at the summer solstice would be
solving for the sudden evaporation of tax revenue, tackling
police reform measures that some on Beacon Hill have spent
years advocating for, and managing a reboot of the economy
while trying to hold a global pandemic at bay.
But that's where
we stand in June of 2020, a year without an equal in modern
history.
If this were a
normal year, legislative negotiators would right now be
going back and forth over a compromise budget for the fiscal
year that starts July 1 but, if history is any guide,
Massachusetts would still be among the last states to get
its spending plan in place.
Instead, the last
real action on the fiscal 2021 budget came in January when
Baker rolled out a $44.6 billion spending plan that would
have its underlying assumptions wiped away before lawmakers
could try their hands at producing a budget of their own.
The Institute on
Taxation and Economic Policy this week said that "despite
uncertainty all around the nation, a few states passed
budgets this week and many more are negotiating to enact
theirs before fiscal years close at the end of June."
Massachusetts isn't among them and Baker on Friday filed a
temporary budget for the month of July.
There are no
penalties for finishing the budget late, but the time and
effort required to agree on a budget and deal with all the
amendments and vetoes that the governor could return cuts
substantially into the capacity of lawmakers to tackle other
major bills during July, the final month of formal sessions.
If this were a
normal year, the legislative agenda would be in pretty clear
view with about six weeks left for formal lawmaking. With
time running out before the July 31 end of formals,
lawmakers and the governor typically winnow the field down
to include a handful of priority bills in addition to the
budget.
Instead, the
governor and lawmakers this week added legislation to the
laundry list of things they hope will get done by the end of
the session -- and there's been no serious talk, at least
publicly, about extending the end of formals beyond July 31
in some weeks....
On the energy
front, Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen
Theoharides this week doubled down on the administration's
intention to launch the multi-state Transportation and
Climate Initiative, a regional transportation emissions
cap-and-trade program that would increase the price of
gasoline.
State House News
Service
Friday, June 19, 2020
Weekly Roundup - New Normal Times
As House leaders
prod their Senate counterparts to pass a gas tax increase
and other new revenue sources for transportation spending,
AAA Northeast reported Monday that gas prices are holding at
$2.01 per gallon....
In March, the
House approved a tax-and-fee bill that featured a 5-cent
hike to the state's gasoline tax and a 9-cent increase to
the diesel tax. Supporters of that bill say it could bring
in more than $500 million in new revenues for transportation
and the MBTA. Senate President Karen Spilka has raised
questions about increasing taxes during the recession but
has also acknowledged the need for more transportation
system revenues.
Transportation is
shaping up as an area of focus in the weeks leading up to
the scheduled end of formal sessions on July 31, with the
tax-and-fee bill, an $18 billion multi-year borrowing bill,
a $300 million local road repair bill, and the future of the
MBTA oversight board all in play.
State House News
Service
Monday, June 15, 2020
Gas Prices Stay Low as Tax Debate Heats Up
Energy and
Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides said
Wednesday that the COVID-19 pandemic has only sharpened her
and the administration's resolve to push forward with its
climate change agenda, including a regional transportation
emissions cap-and-trade program for gasoline that would add
additional costs at the pump.
Despite the virus
pushing global economies into recession and threatening the
futures of countless businesses, Theoharides said the
collision of a highly-contagious respiratory disease and
debate over racial injustice has played a significant role
in highlighting how communities that have historically been
left out of the environmental planning process can be hurt
by climate change and pollution.
"It's not just a
climate change piece here. It's also about local air quality
and communities that have been disproportionately impacted
by air quality and these are often communities of color,"
Theoharides said....
Asked specifically
about the future of the multi-state Transportation and
Climate Initiative, Theoharides said the six-month delay in
releasing a final MOU for signatures should have no impact
on the proposed start date for the program, which had been
2022.
"I think there
continues to be really strong coordination between the
states," Theoharides said. "We did push back the deadline to
give all of the states time to deal with the pandemic and
process what this meant, but none of us feels this changes
the urgency or the need for TCI."
The initiative
would put a cap on emissions emitted by vehicles, and
require gasoline suppliers to buy allowances based on the
carbon content of their fuel. The cap-and-trade program
could add as much as 17 cents per gallon to the price of
gasoline, but would also generate hundreds of millions of
dollars for participating states to invest in climate change
mitigation.
Rather than
creating a disincentive, Theoharides said the current
pandemic has made a "compelling" argument for why TCI is
necessary.
"I think it's
built an even stronger case for TCI and the investments we
can make with the revenue at a time when revenue might be
limited," she said.
The coalition now
plans to release a final proposal for states to review and
sign by the fall, and some states, though not Massachusetts,
will need a vote of their Legislature to approve
participation....
That extends to
the MOR-EV program, a once popular rebate program for
electric vehicles that the Baker administration relaunched
in January when it was able to identify new funding to
support it.
"No one is buying
electric vehicles right now," Theoharides said.
The secretary did,
however, lament that Gov. Baker's bill to raise deeds fees
to generate $1 billion over the next 10 years to spend on
climate change mitigation in communities has stalled.
Other climate
initiatives have similarly seemed to stall out during the
pandemic.
The House passed
Speaker Robert DeLeo's own climate change adaptation bill
that proposed to spent more than $1 billion in grants over
10 years to fight climate change, but it has not moved in
the Senate. Meanwhile, the House has not taken action on a
trio of bills approved by the Senate to set a net-zero 2050
emission reduction requirement and direct the administration
to pursue carbon pricing mechanisms for the transportation
and building sectors, and explore the electrification of the
MBTA bus fleet.
State House News
Service
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
Theoharides: Urgency Remains on Transportation Emissions
Pact
Environmental Justice Policies Being Updated
Several months
into a flood of new and continuing unemployment claims
prompted by the COVID-19 outbreak, Massachusetts labor
officials quietly estimated the fund used to pay out
benefits will be billions of dollars in the red through at
least 2024. As a result, businesses may need to pick up a
huge tab....
Those shortfalls,
which do not account for potential federal loans, are
expected to last for years, rising to $6.1 billion in 2022,
$6.6 billion in 2023 and then back down slightly to almost
$5.9 billion in 2024. Officials do not currently expect the
fund to bring in more than it pays out in benefits until
2023.
Through April, the
fund had a balance of $1.4 billion. The massive, years-long
deficit on the horizon is driven by an unprecedented level
of unemployment aid, an obligation the state projects to be
nearly $6.4 billion in 2020 -- more than five times as much
as last year -- and $5.1 billion in 2021.
Business premiums
generate the money distributed to laid-off workers, and
those mandatory payments are set to rise starting in 2021.
The May report projected the average cost per employee will
rise from $562 in 2020 to $759 in 2021, $880 in 2022 and
$922 in 2023.
State House News
Service
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Businesses Could Face Huge Tab for Unemployment Crisis
American retail
sales surged in May after a dismal April, offering some
encouraging news about the prospects of economic recovery
and delivering a potential glimpse toward the near-term
future in Massachusetts, where reviving public activity has
lagged other parts of the nation.
Consumers spent
$485.5 billion on retail and food services nationally last
month, a 17.7 percent growth over the $412.6 billion spent
in April, according to data published Tuesday by the U.S.
Census Bureau....
Massachusetts did
not start allowing establishments shuttered in response to
the outbreak to start reopening until late May, and even
today -- in the first half of the Baker administration's
Phase 2 -- operations are still limited and some activity
remains off limits. Customers have been permitted to shop
inside retail stores in Massachusetts for about a week
now....
The resurgence in
May at the national level represented the largest one-month
percent increase in the history of the data series....
Data RAM collected
in a May survey showed that about 30 percent of its member
businesses questioned whether they would be able to reopen
after the pandemic. Four out of five had seen sales decline
between 26 percent and 100 percent, [Jon Hurst, president of
the Retailers Association of Massachusetts] said.
State House News
Service
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
U.S. Numbers May Foreshadow Mass. Retail Sales Surge
Sales Skyrocketed in May After Nosediving in April
Beacon Hill
leaders will further delay tax deadlines for small
businesses around the state in another step aimed at
lessening pressure on those hit hardest by the economic
downturn that the pandemic prompted.
Sales, meals and
room occupancy taxes for qualifying businesses for March
through August will not be due to the state until September,
and those that wait will not face any penalties or interest,
Gov. Charlie Baker and legislative leaders announced
Thursday.
Under the
administrative tax relief measures, any businesses that paid
less than $150,000 in regular sales plus meal taxes or less
than $150,000 in room occupancy taxes in the year ending
Feb. 29 will qualify for relief, according to a press
release. Others will also have late penalties waived.
The administration
had originally postponed collection of those taxes until
June 20.
State House News
Service
Thursday, June 18, 2020
Emergency Regulations Will Deliver More Small Biz Tax Relief
Critics warn
restaurants are being “phased out” by a four-phase reopening
plan they say is taking a “snail’s pace” approach to
restarting the state’s stalled economy as the coronavirus
threat recedes.
“Our state’s
restaurants are being phased out while they watch every
other state in New England open up but not ours,” Paul
Craney, spokesperson for Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, said
in a statement.
Massachusetts will
be the last New England state to allow indoor dining after
New Hampshire on Monday joined Rhode Island, Vermont and
Maine to allow patrons to eat indoors. Connecticut is
expected to allow indoor dining to resume Wednesday.
Gov. Charlie Baker
has promised an update on when the second half of phase 2 of
his reopening plan — which would allow indoor dining at a
reduced capacity — will go into effect....
Over a dozen
restaurants in Boston have already fallen victim to
coronavirus, announcing they would not reopen even after
restrictions are lifted....
[Massachusetts
Restaurant Association] President Bob Luz has said
Massachusetts could lose as many as 20% of its restaurants
from coronavirus losses.
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Massachusetts phased reopening ‘phasing out’ restaurants,
critic says
Restaurants that
have been serving patrons on patios and sidewalks for the
past two weeks will be able to welcome diners indoors
beginning Monday as Gov. Charlie Baker announced Friday that
he was triggering the next stage of his economic reopening
plan.
In the midst of a
heat wave, no less.
Baker, at a State
House press conference, also said offices would be able to
bring back to work more employees and increase their
capacity from one quarter to 50 percent of their workforce.
And close-contact personal services offered at nail salons,
massage and tattoo parlors and personal training can resume
on June 22.
The progress
through the phases of the Baker's administration's reopening
strategy comes as Massachusetts has continued to see
downward trends in hospitalizations, which are now under
1,000, and positive test rates, which have fallen to 2.3
percent.
"Reopening
Massachusetts is working," Baker said. "Business is coming
back, people are regaining that sense of purpose that was
lost. I know it can't happen fast enough, but people in
Massachusetts are proving that we can reopen and continue to
bring the fight to the virus when we all do our part." ...
Baker entered
Massachusetts into the second phase of his reopening plan on
June 8, but divided it into two parts. While some businesses
have had to wait two weeks longer to reopen than they
expected, restaurants were allowed to start with outdoor
dining, and are now transitioning to full service.
The rules for
indoor dining do not include capacity limitations, but do
require tables to be six feet apart from each other and for
parties to be limited to six or fewer guests. Seating is
also prohibited at the bar....
Massachusetts
Fiscal Alliance spokesman Paul Craney said Friday's move was
welcomed, but leaves Massachusetts behind other states.
"Despite today's
positive announcement from the Governor, Massachusetts is
becoming well known for being far behind the curve compared
to the rest of New England. If you are a small business
owner in Massachusetts, you have to wait the longest to
re-open. That's the message business owners, their workers,
and customers constantly hear from the Governor and today's
announcement reaffirmed this," Craney said.
Craney said
businesses like gyms, indoor recreation and theaters need
more information about what to expect in Phase 3, which
Baker said he was delaying until at least early July.
"The introduction
of additional surprise sub-phases and shifting businesses to
phase 4 should not continue going forward," Craney said,
referring to how bars were quietly moved from Phase 3 to
Phase 4.
When Baker
initially rolled out his four-phase reopening plan, he said
each phase would last a minimum of three weeks. He stuck to
that schedule when he entered Phase 2 on June 8, but the
wait for Phase 3 will be longer....
National
Federation of Independent Businesses of Massachusetts
Director Christopher Carlozzi said small businesses had been
"extremely disappointed" when Baker carved the second phase
into two parts.
"Outdoor dining
proved overly restrictive with many eateries lacking
adequate outdoor space and becoming dependent on favorable
weather conditions. Hopefully consumers will once again
choose to dine in some of the fine eating establishments
around the Commonwealth and help one of the industries
hardest hit by the pandemic," Carlozzi said in a statement.
State House News
Service
Friday, June 19, 2020
Indoor Dining Set to Resume in Mass. on Monday
Baker: "Reopening in Massachusetts is Working"
State lawmakers
are frustrated at the pace of restarting the state's
economic engine, and complain they've been locked out of the
decision-making process.
As Gov. Charlie
Baker's administration moves ahead with a phased reopening
of the state's coronavirus-battered economy, lawmakers say
they're fielding daily questions and complaints from
constituents and business owners, some of whom are
frustrated that the process isn't moving quickly enough.
Those concerns are
heightened within communities that border New Hampshire,
which had a head-start on allowing restaurants and retailers
to reopen.
Sen. Diana
DiZoglio, D-Methuen, said Baker's far-reaching executive
powers means lawmakers have had little or no control over
the reopening process.
"Throughout the
process, Gov. Baker has used his executive authority
unilaterally, without clarity or transparency," she said.
"He has chosen to bypass legislators."
It's not just
members of the Legislature's Democratic majority who are
grumbling about the pace of reopening.
Earlier this week,
House Minority Leader Brad Jones, R-North Reading, posted a
link to state data showing a continuing decline in COVID-19
cases and deaths.
"The numbers
continue strong," Jones wrote on his Facebook page. "Time to
accelerate the pace of reopening."
Rep. Lenny Mirra,
R-Georgetown, said he is hearing from a lot of businesses in
his district who want the reopening process to be stepped
up.
"The frustrating
part is we really don't have any say over it," he said. "All
we can do is call and write the governor and urge him to
open up sooner." ...
Under his state of
emergency declaration, Baker has had near autocratic powers
to unilaterally direct the state government's response to
the coronavirus pandemic.
Since the outbreak
began in mid-March, Baker has issued more than three dozen
executive orders and directives — from the closure of
schools, day care centers and other non-essential businesses
to a stay-at-home advisory — to prevent the spread of the
virus. Most of the orders remain in effect, with no
expiration date.
Meanwhile, the
Legislature was largely hobbled at the outset of the
pandemic, prevented from meeting in person to debate and
enact emergency legislation. It took several weeks before
the nearly 250-year-old legislative body came up with a
system to vote on bills remotely, and even now that process
is lumbering along.
To be sure,
legislative leaders have done little to oppose Baker's
orders and have focused on passing laws to support and
expand many of his executive actions.
But the directives
handed down by the governor function essentially as
temporary laws, bypassing the Legislature's traditional role
in the policymaking process.
That irks some
lawmakers, who say they're being locked out of decisions
related to the economic health of the communities they
represent.
"One can
understand the need to use executive power to fast-track
laws during the pandemic," DiZoglio said. "But emergency
powers were not intended to be used as a way to bypass the
elected legislative body for weeks and months."
The Salem News
Thursday, June 18, 2020
Legislature feels locked out of reopening process
State lawmakers frustrated in being left out of
decision-making process
President Donald
Trump will have a discussion with governors at the White
House Thursday about reopening small businesses, but Gov.
Charlie Baker won't be among them.
The president's
schedule released Wednesday night includes the 3 p.m.
roundtable with governors in the State Dining Room. A senior
aide to Baker said the Republican from Massachusetts will
not be traveling to Washington, D.C. On Thursday.
Baker has not
released a public schedule of his own for Thursday, but has
been taking criticism from some business groups and
conservative lawmakers about the pace of his reopening
strategy....
The
slow-and-steady reopening message from Beacon Hill contrasts
with messaging from the White House, where Vice President
Mike Pence is calling fears of a second wave of COVID-19
infection overblown and chalking up the surge in cases in
southern states like Florida, Texas and Arizona to increases
in testing.
State House News
Service
Thursday, June 18, 2020
Baker Not Joining Governors at White House
Transportation,
higher education, and housing investments are prominent
highlights of the state's $2.46 billion capital investment
plan for the fiscal year that starts in two weeks....
The projects
funded in the plan are selected by the executive branch
based in part on bond bills passed over the years by the
Legislature, where lawmakers aim to force spending on public
works projects in their districts but often authorize more
than the state can afford to borrow, leaving important
decisions about which projects advance to the Baker
administration.
State House News
Service
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
State Releases Details of $2.45 Bil Capital Spending Plan
In a typical year,
it takes six months of back and forth for the House, Senate
and administration to agree on a state budget. This year,
could they cut a deal behind closed doors?
With two weeks
left before the end of the fiscal year, no budget is in
sight. And instead of the usual process, policymakers are
floating the idea of an interim budget – one that may be
agreed on by the House, Senate, and administration before it
is released.
Independent
experts say the different approach may be a reasonable one,
given the pandemic – although it could have implications for
things like transparency and debate....
But behind the
scenes, state policymakers appear to be discussing a budget
that is done jointly and for an interim time period,
although the exact length is uncertain.
On the short end,
doing an interim budget through July or August would give
lawmakers a chance to see if Congress passes another federal
stimulus bill before the August recess. It would also let
the Department of Revenue collect last year’s state income
taxes, since the deadline for filing was extended from April
15 to July 15.
On the longer end,
there could be a political incentive to craft a budget that
goes through November, so lawmakers do not have to pass a
full-year austerity budget before they face reelection....
Eileen McAnneny,
president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said
the tight time frame – with only two weeks left before the
June 30 end of the fiscal year – means it might make sense
to bypass the multiple iterations that a budget typically
goes through, as it goes from the governor to the House to
the Senate. If there is a joint agreement, McAnneny said,
“The biggest advantage is the speed at which they’d be able
to enact it.”
But, McAnneny
cautioned, “It does assume there would be consensus on a lot
of what could be controversial choices.” For example,
lawmakers will have to decide how much money to set aside
for schools, in what was supposed to be the first year of
implementation of a new, more expensive school funding
formula.
Continuing current
funding levels also may not make sense with revenues
expected to significantly decline.
CommonWealth
Magazine
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
Lawmakers considering novel budget approaches
With time short, interim budget under consideration
During an instant
recession caused by the coronavirus shutdowns, the state
government of Massachusetts took in 22 percent more revenue
from deposit fees on bottles and cans in March, April, and
May than it did during the same time last year.
Why the
difference?
Fewer people
returned bottles and cans for a nickel apiece because it was
harder to do so, and the state kept the difference.
The Bay State’s
abandoned deposits revenue this past March was $5,567,807,
an uptick over the $4,167,181 it collected in March 2019.
Additionally, the number topped the state’s totals for
February 2020 ($4,041,401) and January 2020 ($4,849,590). In
April, the figure was $5,117,693, a slight decrease from the
$5,214,766 collected in April 2019. In May, however, it
increased to $5,638,872 — up from $3,958,691 in May 2019.
That means in
March, April, and May 2020, the state collected $16.32
million in abandoned deposit revenue compared to $13.34
million over that same span in 2019. That’s a difference of
about $2.98 million, a 22.3 percent increase in revenue.
On March 18, the
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the
Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office suspended
enforcement of the state’s regulation that ordinarily
requires retailers like grocery stores and liquor stores to
accept beverage containers with bottle deposits. The
suspension continued until June 5, when the requirement
resumed.
Did that mean
Massachusetts businesses stopped charging people the five
cents per bottle and can? No.
The New Boston
Post
Thursday, June 18, 2020
Massachusetts Bottle, Can Deposit Fee Sees 22.3 Percent
Revenue Increase
Amid Coronavirus Shutdown
With the state's
finances in disarray and the COVID-19 pandemic making it
extremely difficult to predict the next 12 months, Gov.
Charlie Baker on Friday filed a $5.25 billion interim
spending bill that would keep government running beyond June
30 through July.
The new fiscal
year is set to begin in less than two weeks, but neither the
House nor the Senate have produced an annual spending
proposal as they wait to gauge how severely the
pandemic-caused recession will erode state tax revenues, and
how slowly or quickly the economy might rebound.
House and Senate
leaders have not laid out a timeline yet for completion of a
budget for the full fiscal year, but Baker said the money
that would be authorized in the temporary budget would be
sufficient to cover government operations through July....
The House and
Senate have seven business days to pass the bill, but were
expecting its filing and could act as soon as next week.
State House News
Service
Friday, June 19, 2020
Baker Seeks $5.25 Billion Interim State Budget
Funding levels
called for under the new school finance reform law,
additional staff and an elimination of MCAS tests are among
the measures the Massachusetts Teachers Association says
should be the foundation for reopening schools....
Reflecting the
recent protests against structural racism, the MTA also said
the state "must transform public education to show — through
structures, policies and practices — that black and brown
lives matter." ...
The union's
demands come as business shutdowns associated with the
pandemic have battered the economy. Experts are projecting
the state revenue collections will fall billions below
original projections. In anticipation of lower local aid
levels and possible spending cuts, some school districts
have been issuing layoff notices.
State House News
Service
Thursday, June 18, 2020
MTA Lays Out Demands as Part of “Reopening Platform”
The state’s
largest teachers union laid out its list of demands for a
safe reopening of schools amid the pandemic this fall,
calling on the state to pay for personal protective
equipment and the “dismantling of a system of
institutionalized racism” starting with eliminating the MCAS
and taking police officers out of schools.
“Now more than
ever, we must transform public education to show — through
structures, policies and practices — that black and brown
lives matter,” the Massachusetts Teachers Association said
in a statement. “We also can only return if we know that we
as a Commonwealth are using the frightening upheaval of this
moment to think critically and collectively about the goals
we have for our public schools and what it means to keep our
students safe.” ...
The MTA is calling
for the creation of “progressive revenues” to fully fund
schools next year and pushing back on layoffs, saying
“public schools need more, not less, in the aftermath of the
pandemic.”
Money funding
police officers in public schools should be redistributed to
social services, the MTA said.
Reflecting on
widespread protests for racial equality that have gripped
the nation, the union is pushing to reimagine curriculum
that is “actively antiracist to reflect and affirm students
of color, their cultures and their histories — and fight
against xenophobia in all of its forms.”
The Boston Herald
Friday, June 19, 2020
Massachusetts teachers union wants to abolish MCAS
and take police out of schools upon reopening
Changes to
policing tactics and accountability and the way people are
allowed to vote have emerged as priorities for the six weeks
remaining before the Legislature turns the page from formal
to informal sessions and lawmakers turn their focus on
re-election battles rather than policy fights.
There's agitating
over efforts to advance major transportation, health care,
climate change and housing bills before the break, which in
and of itself is an indication that Beacon Hill is inching
away from its coronavirus-only agenda. However, it's unclear
whether a Legislature where members are still not able to
meet in the same room will be able to navigate such weighty
topics in a remote fashion.
State House News
Service
Friday, June 19, 2020
Advances - Week of June 21, 2020
|
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
It's another helter-skelter
week on Beacon Hill, with all sorts of moving parts
— and many not-moving
parts. As time runs out for a state budget by the
end of this month and the anticipated close of this
Legislature's session on July 31, with legislators still
trying to work coherently from their homes, what focus
there is at the State House is on a growing list of
unanticipated distractions.
The consensus seems to be to let The Big
Three — Gov. Baker, House Speaker DeLeo,
and Senate President Spilka — run the state
along with their lieutenants while rank and file legislators stumble
around chasing the latest headline causes.
All sorts of norms are being abandoned.
The Wuhan Chinese Pandemic has rearranged our very form of government,
restricted beyond recognition our economy, our freedoms and our lives.
Kowtowing to racial justice protests and riots that followed is changing
our safety, culture, and shared history good and bad.
"Gov. Charlie Baker on Friday filed a $5.25
billion interim spending bill that would keep government running beyond
June 30 through July," the State House News Service reported ("Baker
Seeks $5.25 Billion Interim State Budget"). "Gov. Baker filed his
$44.6 billion annual budget in January, but some economists have
predicted that tax revenues in fiscal 2021 could come in as much as $6
billion short of the estimates used to build that budget."
Stop and think about this. A $5.25
billion "interim spending bill" to get the state through July, one
month. Carried through the fiscal year that would create a $63
billion FY2021 budget for the coming 12 months. That exceeds even
the $44.6 billion Baker proposed in January, which itself was $1.3
billion more than
last year's $43.3 budget.
Commonwealth Magazine noted in its report
on Wednesday ("Lawmakers considering novel budget approaches"):
In
a typical year, it takes six months of back and
forth for the House, Senate and administration to
agree on a state budget. This year, could they
cut a deal behind closed doors?
With two weeks left before the end of the fiscal
year, no budget is in sight. And instead of
the usual process, policymakers are floating the
idea of an interim budget – one that may be agreed
on by the House, Senate, and administration before
it is released.
Independent experts say the different approach may
be a reasonable one, given the pandemic – although
it could have implications for things like
transparency and debate....
But behind the scenes, state policymakers appear to
be discussing a budget that is done jointly and for
an interim time period, although the exact length is
uncertain.
On
the short end, doing an interim budget through July
or August would give lawmakers a chance to see if
Congress passes another federal stimulus bill before
the August recess. It would also let the
Department of Revenue collect last year’s state
income taxes, since the deadline for filing was
extended from April 15 to July 15.
On
the longer end, there could be a political incentive
to craft a budget that goes through November, so
lawmakers do not have to pass a full-year austerity
budget before they face reelection.
One topic still being focused upon like a
laser is gas tax hikes, especially the Transportation Climate Initiative
(TCI), aka, "Baker's Boondoggle."
"Transportation is shaping up as an area of
focus in the weeks leading up to the scheduled end of formal sessions on
July 31, with the tax-and-fee bill, an $18 billion multi-year borrowing
bill, a $300 million local road repair bill, and the future of the MBTA
oversight board all in play," the State House News Service reported on
Monday ("Gas Prices Stay Low as Tax Debate Heats Up").
On Wednesday the News Service further
reported (Theoharides: Urgency Remains on Transportation Emissions
Pact):
Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen
Theoharides said Wednesday that the COVID-19
pandemic has only sharpened her and the
administration's resolve to push forward with its
climate change agenda, including a regional
transportation emissions cap-and-trade program for
gasoline that would add additional costs at the
pump. . . .
Asked specifically about the future of the
multi-state Transportation and Climate Initiative,
Theoharides said the six-month delay in releasing a
final MOU [memo of understanding] for signatures
should have no impact on the proposed start date for
the program, which had been 2022.
"I
think there continues to be really strong
coordination between the states," Theoharides said.
"We did push back the deadline to give all of the
states time to deal with the pandemic and process
what this meant, but none of us feels this changes
the urgency or the need for TCI." . . .
The coalition now plans to release a final proposal
for states to review and sign by the fall, and some
states, though not Massachusetts, will need a vote
of their Legislature to approve participation. . . .
The secretary did, however, lament that Gov. Baker's
bill to raise deeds fees to generate $1 billion over
the next 10 years to spend on climate change
mitigation in communities has stalled.
Other climate initiatives have similarly seemed to
stall out during the pandemic.
The House passed Speaker Robert
DeLeo's own climate change adaptation bill that
proposed to spent more than $1 billion in grants
over 10 years to fight climate change, but it has
not moved in the Senate. Meanwhile, the House
has not taken action on a trio of bills approved by
the Senate to set a net-zero 2050 emission reduction
requirement and direct the administration to pursue
carbon pricing mechanisms for the transportation and
building sectors, and explore the electrification of
the MBTA bus fleet.
The key takeaway:
"The coalition now plans to release a final proposal for
states to review and sign by the fall, and some states,
though not Massachusetts, will need a vote
of their Legislature to approve participation."
With Royal Governor Charles Baker
— instigator of this multi-state pact
— riding his omnipotent power-high I don't
expect the Legislature has the capacity to stand in his way and stop
this, even if legislators want to. Our best hope rides with
legislatures and governors in the other eleven states in the proposed
pact, perhaps too reluctant to sign onto the boondoggle and take the
political heat, preventing the critical mass necessary for TCI to
succeed.
Business across Massachusetts are being
hammered under Baker's draconian lockdowns. While most of the
nation saw retail sales surge last month as states began re-opening
their economies, Baker didn't allow his lockdown to ease a bit until
late-May. The News Service on Tuesday reported ("U.S. Numbers May
Foreshadow Mass. Retail Sales Surge"):
American retail sales surged in May after a dismal
April, offering some encouraging news about the
prospects of economic recovery and delivering a
potential glimpse toward the near-term future in
Massachusetts, where reviving public activity has
lagged other parts of the nation.
Consumers spent $485.5 billion on retail and food
services nationally last month, a 17.7 percent
growth over the $412.6 billion spent in April,
according to data published Tuesday by the U.S.
Census Bureau....
Massachusetts did not start allowing establishments
shuttered in response to the outbreak to start
reopening until late May, and even today -- in the
first half of the Baker administration's Phase 2 --
operations are still limited and some activity
remains off limits. Customers have been
permitted to shop inside retail stores in
Massachusetts for about a week now....
The resurgence in May at the national level
represented the largest one-month percent increase
in the history of the data series....
Data RAM collected in a May survey showed that about
30 percent of its member businesses questioned
whether they would be able to reopen after the
pandemic. Four out of five had seen sales
decline between 26 percent and 100 percent, [Jon
Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of
Massachusetts] said.
Now comes even greater
hardships for any that manage to reopen someday:
They will be whacked with a huge increase in
unemployment insurance payments for Baker's draconian
and extended lockdown that imposed record unemployment.
According to the State House News Service in its report
on Tuesday ("Businesses Could Face Huge Tab for
Unemployment Crisis"):
The massive, years-long deficit on the horizon is
driven by an unprecedented level of unemployment
aid, an obligation the state projects to be nearly
$6.4 billion in 2020 — more than five times as much
as last year — and $5.1 billion in 2021.
Business premiums generate the money distributed to
laid-off workers, and those mandatory payments are
set to rise starting in 2021. The May report
projected the average cost per employee will rise
from $562 in 2020 to $759 in 2021, $880 in 2022 and
$922 in 2023 .
The Boston Herald reported on Tuesday
("Massachusetts phased reopening ‘phasing out’ restaurants, critic
says"):
Massachusetts will
be the last New England state to allow indoor dining after New
Hampshire on Monday joined Rhode Island, Vermont and Maine to allow
patrons to eat indoors. Connecticut is expected to allow
indoor dining to resume Wednesday.
Gov. Charlie Baker
has promised an update on when the second half of phase 2 of his
reopening plan — which would allow indoor dining at a reduced
capacity — will go into effect....
Over a dozen
restaurants in Boston have already fallen victim to coronavirus,
announcing they would not reopen even after restrictions are
lifted....
[Massachusetts
Restaurant Association] President Bob Luz has said Massachusetts
could lose as many as 20% of its restaurants from coronavirus
losses.
But any small business fortunate enough to
still be breathing when its freedom to do business is returned has
nothing to worry about — state government
is coming to their rescue!
State House News Service reported on
Thursday ("Emergency Regulations Will Deliver More Small Biz Tax
Relief"):
Beacon Hill
leaders will further delay tax deadlines for small businesses around
the state in another step aimed at lessening pressure on those hit
hardest by the economic downturn that the pandemic prompted.
Sales, meals and
room occupancy taxes for qualifying businesses for March through
August will not be due to the state until September, and those that
wait will not face any penalties or interest, Gov. Charlie Baker and
legislative leaders announced Thursday.
Under the
administrative tax relief measures, any businesses that paid less
than $150,000 in regular sales plus meal taxes or less than $150,000
in room occupancy taxes in the year ending Feb. 29 will qualify for
relief, according to a press release. Others will also have
late penalties waived.
The administration
had originally postponed collection of those taxes until June 20.
"Beacon Hill leaders" apparently have heard
that you can't squeeze blood out of a stone —
or they'd be trying. As soon as surviving small businesses
hopefully start climbing out of the state-imposed lockdown and trying to
stand upright the Beacon Hill predators will be waiting to pounce.
Back taxes owed and a huge spike in unemployment insurance payments
— that ought to stimulate the crushed
Massachusetts economy.
Neutered legislators are beginning to
notice they've become relegated to the class of "non-essential workers,"
emasculated though still paid well.
"State lawmakers are frustrated at the pace
of restarting the state's economic engine, and complain they've been
locked out of the decision-making process," The Salem News reported on
Thursday ("Legislature feels locked out of reopening process; State
lawmakers frustrated in being left out of decision-making process").
. . . Rep. Lenny
Mirra, R-Georgetown, said he is hearing from a lot of businesses in
his district who want the reopening process to be stepped up.
"The frustrating
part is we really don't have any say over it," he said. "All
we can do is call and write the governor and urge him to open up
sooner." ...
Under his state of
emergency declaration, Baker has had near autocratic powers to
unilaterally direct the state government's response to the
coronavirus pandemic.
Since the outbreak
began in mid-March, Baker has issued more than three dozen executive
orders and directives — from the closure of schools, day care
centers and other non-essential businesses to a stay-at-home
advisory — to prevent the spread of the virus. Most of the
orders remain in effect, with no expiration date.
Meanwhile, the
Legislature was largely hobbled at the outset of the pandemic,
prevented from meeting in person to debate and enact emergency
legislation. It took several weeks before the nearly
250-year-old legislative body came up with a system to vote on bills
remotely, and even now that process is lumbering along.
To be sure,
legislative leaders have done little to oppose Baker's orders and
have focused on passing laws to support and expand many of his
executive actions. . . .
I see this as an encouraging sign that the
end of the beginning has arrived. Now that it's too late to stand
up when it counts and make a difference, legislators are making noise
about having been left out of the governing for months. It reminds
me of that old adage, "When you're about to get run out of town on a
rail, get out in front and call it a parade."
"President Donald Trump will have a
discussion with governors at the White House Thursday about reopening
small businesses," the News Service reported on Thursday, "but Gov.
Charlie Baker won't be among them."
The president's
schedule released Wednesday night includes the 3 p.m. roundtable
with governors in the State Dining Room. A senior aide to
Baker said the Republican from Massachusetts will not be traveling
to Washington, D.C. on Thursday.
Baker has not
released a public schedule of his own for Thursday, but has been
taking criticism from some business groups and conservative
lawmakers about the pace of his reopening strategy.
I wonder if the White House invited any
other "Resistance" Democrat governors to attend?
In his May 22 column ("Bottle
bill all bottled up in pandemic panic") Howie Carr noted:
Comrades, you are
hereby ordered to keep piling up those empty cans and bottles in the
garage or the mudroom or wherever, because the Reich is in no hurry
to reopen the vast majority of redemption centers.
It’s not as bad as
Charlie Parker costing you your job (38,000 more unemployed
Thursday). Nor is it as exasperating as the plague of
officious Mask Police, or the kids underfoot at home, or watching
24/7 panic porn about a virus that has killed all of 78 people in
the state under the age of 50.
But watching those
“redeemables” pile up unreturned in overflowing bags and bins is
just another little slap in the face by these smug mandarins who are
so gleefully bullying us while they continue to collect their
six-figure salaries.
No bottle
redemptions – you’ll take it and you’ll like it!
The New Boston Post updated the situation
in its report on Thursday ("Massachusetts Bottle, Can Deposit Fee Sees
22.3 Percent Revenue Increase Amid Coronavirus Shutdown"):
During an instant
recession caused by the coronavirus shutdowns, the state government
of Massachusetts took in 22 percent more revenue from deposit fees
on bottles and cans in March, April, and May than it did during the
same time last year.
Why the
difference?
Fewer people
returned bottles and cans for a nickel apiece because it was harder
to do so, and the state kept the difference.
The Bay State’s
abandoned deposits revenue this past March was $5,567,807, an uptick
over the $4,167,181 it collected in March 2019. Additionally,
the number topped the state’s totals for February 2020 ($4,041,401)
and January 2020 ($4,849,590). In April, the figure was
$5,117,693, a slight decrease from the $5,214,766 collected in April
2019. In May, however, it increased to $5,638,872 — up from
$3,958,691 in May 2019.
That means in
March, April, and May 2020, the state collected $16.32 million in
abandoned deposit revenue compared to $13.34 million over that same
span in 2019. That’s a difference of about $2.98 million, a
22.3 percent increase in revenue.
On March 18, the
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the
Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office suspended enforcement of the
state’s regulation that ordinarily requires retailers like grocery
stores and liquor stores to accept beverage containers with bottle
deposits. The suspension continued until June 5, when the
requirement resumed.
Did that mean
Massachusetts businesses stopped charging people the five cents per
bottle and can? No.
They can't squeeze blood from a stone, but
they sure can nickel and dime consumers to death.
Despite the pandemic-induced economic coma
imposed on state residents and businesses count on the Massachusetts
Teachers Association — the state's largest
teachers union and taxpayers' most prominent enemy
— to be making its usual self-serving radical demands. "The
MTA is calling for the creation of 'progressive revenues' to fully fund
schools next year and pushing back on layoffs, saying 'public schools
need more, not less, in the aftermath of the pandemic.'”
The State House News Service reported on
Thursday ("MTA Lays Out Demands as Part of 'Reopening Platform'”):
"Funding levels called for under the new school finance reform law,
additional staff and an elimination of MCAS tests are among the measures
the Massachusetts Teachers Association says should be the foundation for
reopening schools.
The Boston Herald added on Friday
("Massachusetts teachers union wants to abolish MCAS and take police out
of schools upon reopening"):
The state’s
largest teachers union laid out its list of demands for a safe
reopening of schools amid the pandemic this fall, calling on the
state to pay for personal protective equipment and the “dismantling
of a system of institutionalized racism” starting with eliminating
the MCAS and taking police officers out of schools.
“Now more than
ever, we must transform public education to show — through
structures, policies and practices — that black and brown lives
matter,” the Massachusetts Teachers Association said in a statement.
“We also can only return if we know that we as a Commonwealth are
using the frightening upheaval of this moment to think critically
and collectively about the goals we have for our public schools and
what it means to keep our students safe.” . . .
The MTA is calling
for the creation of “progressive revenues” to fully fund schools
next year and pushing back on layoffs, saying “public schools need
more, not less, in the aftermath of the pandemic.”
Money funding
police officers in public schools should be redistributed to social
services, the MTA said.
Reflecting on
widespread protests for racial equality that have gripped the
nation, the union is pushing to reimagine curriculum that is
“actively antiracist to reflect and affirm students of color, their
cultures and their histories — and fight against xenophobia in all
of its forms.”
What's ahead next week and for the days
beyond before the July 31 recess of this legislative session? It
looks like more chaos and confusion. According to next
week's Advances from the State House News Service:
Changes to
policing tactics and accountability and the way people are allowed
to vote have emerged as priorities for the six weeks remaining
before the Legislature turns the page from formal to informal
sessions and lawmakers turn their focus on re-election battles
rather than policy fights.
There's agitating
over efforts to advance major transportation, health care, climate
change and housing bills before the break, which in and of itself is
an indication that Beacon Hill is inching away from its
coronavirus-only agenda. However, it's unclear whether a
Legislature where members are still not able to meet in the same
room will be able to navigate such weighty topics in a remote
fashion. . . .
The House Ways and
Means Committee has until July 1 to make its fiscal 2021 budget
recommendation, which will be the first look at where lawmakers plan
to cut spending, exact savings, or raise revenues to address the
projected sharp decline in tax collections due to record
unemployment and the recession caused by COVID-19 business shutdowns
and related impacts. . . .
Legislative
leaders haven't signaled when they plan to put a full fiscal 2021
budget before the House or Senate, but it seems likely that budget
talks will stretch beyond the scheduled July 31 end of formal
legislative sessions.
Stay tuned . . .
|
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Chip Ford
Executive Director |
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Full News Reports Follow
(excerpted above)
|
State House
News Service
Friday, June 19, 2020
Weekly Roundup - New Normal Times
Recap and analysis of the week in state government
By Colin A. Young
This isn't a normal year, not by a long shot.
When 2020 dawned, nobody expected that the major issues
facing the Legislature and Gov. Charlie Baker at the summer
solstice would be solving for the sudden evaporation of tax
revenue, tackling police reform measures that some on Beacon
Hill have spent years advocating for, and managing a reboot
of the economy while trying to hold a global pandemic at
bay.
But that's where we stand in June of 2020, a year without an
equal in modern history.
If this were a normal year, legislative negotiators would
right now be going back and forth over a compromise budget
for the fiscal year that starts July 1 but, if history is
any guide, Massachusetts would still be among the last
states to get its spending plan in place.
Instead, the last real action on the fiscal 2021 budget came
in January when Baker rolled out a $44.6 billion spending
plan that would have its underlying assumptions wiped away
before lawmakers could try their hands at producing a budget
of their own.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy this week said
that "despite uncertainty all around the nation, a few
states passed budgets this week and many more are
negotiating to enact theirs before fiscal years close at the
end of June." Massachusetts isn't among them and Baker on
Friday filed a temporary budget for the month of July.
There are no penalties for finishing the budget late, but
the time and effort required to agree on a budget and deal
with all the amendments and vetoes that the governor could
return cuts substantially into the capacity of lawmakers to
tackle other major bills during July, the final month of
formal sessions.
If this were a normal year, the legislative agenda would be
in pretty clear view with about six weeks left for formal
lawmaking. With time running out before the July 31 end of
formals, lawmakers and the governor typically winnow the
field down to include a handful of priority bills in
addition to the budget.
Instead, the governor and lawmakers this week added
legislation to the laundry list of things they hope will get
done by the end of the session -- and there's been no
serious talk, at least publicly, about extending the end of
formals beyond July 31 in some weeks.
The Senate this week pulled the curtain off of a health care
reform bill that it plans to put up for a vote next week,
but the outlook for that issue in the House remains unclear
and recent sessions have shown that health care is a topic
that lawmakers can struggle to find common ground on. Will
the lessons of the pandemic change that? We'll see.
Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Robert DeLeo
have both said they want to act on racial justice and police
reform legislation before July 31. Baker proposed what he
called a "first step" toward creating a more just system
Wednesday, putting forward a bill that would establish a
certification system for law enforcement officers and strip
licenses from officers who commit egregious violations.
Massachusetts is one of only four states that does not have
a police certification system in place.
"How can we hold folks who are doing our nails and our hair
at a (higher) standard than someone who could take my life?
How can we hold someone who is a financial planner at a
higher standard than someone who could take my civil
liberties?" Rep. Russell Holmes, a Mattapan Democrat who has
been pushing similar legislation to create a statewide Peace
Officer Standards and Training system, said at Baker's press
conference Wednesday.
Baker repeatedly said he wanted the bill done by July 31 --
further suggesting the House and Senate will hold to their
rule of no recorded roll call votes after that date -- but
Holmes said the target completion date should be even
earlier. By finishing work on the bill by July 20, the
veteran lawmaker noted, lawmakers would still have time
before July 31 to consider any gubernatorial amendments and
override vetoes if Baker takes his full 10 days for review.
"Both the speaker and the Senate President have a more --
what we would call an omnibus bill," Holmes said. "They
believe we can get this done. I would like them to prove
it."
Attorney General Maura Healey and Baker's energy and
environment secretariat wanted the company that owns the
defunct Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth to prove
that it has the money and technical ability to safely
decommission the plant. And through a settlement announced
this week, that's just what they got.
Holtec Decommissioning International will now be held to
compliance measures that are more strict than federal
requirements, must regularly report to the state on the
status of the decommissioning of the plant that went dark a
little more than a year ago, and must help fund state
programs for emergency preparedness and environmental
monitoring.
With Pilgrim now offline and other conventional
power-generating facilities due to be retired soon, the
state has been looking to the renewable power of offshore
wind to supply some of the state's electricity. On that
front, there was good news this week.
Vineyard Wind I, the project that would begin to fulfill a
clean energy mandate from a 2016 law and has been eyed as
the first utility-scale offshore wind development in the
country, will be ready to move forward once a federal permit
the developer hopes to be issued by December is in hand, the
project's chief executive told the News Service.
On the energy front, Energy and Environmental Affairs
Secretary Kathleen Theoharides this week doubled down on the
administration's intention to launch the multi-state
Transportation and Climate Initiative, a regional
transportation emissions cap-and-trade program that would
increase the price of gasoline.
The week wrapped up Friday with a new push from lawmakers
for the state to formally recognize Juneteenth -- a holiday
marking the day in 1865 that enslaved African Americans in
Texas got word that they were free -- as a state holiday, an
idea the governor seems to be on board with.
"The need to establish Juneteenth as a state holiday is
aligned with the Black Lives Matter Movement and is a step
in the right direction," Boston Rep. Chynah Tyler, a sponsor
of one bill to make June 19 a state holiday, said in a
statement. "African Americans fought valiantly in every war
since the Civil War, yet have not been granted access to
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Because Black
lives matter, we must honor all African Americans who
sacrificed their lives for this very cause and set the tone
for the future generations to live without fear of being
unlawfully detained or harmed without equitable due
process."
State House
News Service
Monday, June 15, 2020
Gas Prices Stay Low as Tax Debate Heats Up
By Michael P. Norton
As House leaders prod their Senate counterparts to pass a
gas tax increase and other new revenue sources for
transportation spending, AAA Northeast reported Monday that
gas prices are holding at $2.01 per gallon.
The average price didn't budge in AAA's weekly survey and
compares to $2.67 a gallon at this time last year.
"As Americans drive more, they are boosting gasoline demand,
and that increased demand is generally lifting pump prices,"
said Mary Maguire of AAA Northeast. "Higher demand will
continue to push up gas prices in the coming weeks, but the
numbers aren't going to spike as high as they typically do
in summer. That's because demand won't be sufficient enough
to drive down stock levels, and we have a robust supply
right now."
In March, the House approved a tax-and-fee bill that
featured a 5-cent hike to the state's gasoline tax and a
9-cent increase to the diesel tax. Supporters of that bill
say it could bring in more than $500 million in new revenues
for transportation and the MBTA. Senate President Karen
Spilka has raised questions about increasing taxes during
the recession but has also acknowledged the need for more
transportation system revenues.
Transportation is shaping up as an area of focus in the
weeks leading up to the scheduled end of formal sessions on
July 31, with the tax-and-fee bill, an $18 billion
multi-year borrowing bill, a $300 million local road repair
bill, and the future of the MBTA oversight board all in
play.
State House
News Service
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
Theoharides: Urgency Remains on Transportation Emissions
Pact
Environmental Justice Policies Being Updated
By Matt Murphy
Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen
Theoharides said Wednesday that the COVID-19 pandemic has
only sharpened her and the administration's resolve to push
forward with its climate change agenda, including a regional
transportation emissions cap-and-trade program for gasoline
that would add additional costs at the pump.
Despite the virus pushing global economies into recession
and threatening the futures of countless businesses,
Theoharides said the collision of a highly-contagious
respiratory disease and debate over racial injustice has
played a significant role in highlighting how communities
that have historically been left out of the environmental
planning process can be hurt by climate change and
pollution.
"It's not just a climate change piece here. It's also about
local air quality and communities that have been
disproportionately impacted by air quality and these are
often communities of color," Theoharides said.
The administration, in additional to finalizing its plan to
achieve its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, also plans
to update its environmental justice policies before the end
of the year to take into account COVID-19 and other factors
as it considers energy projects and other programs. It will
be just the second update to the policy that was established
in 2002, and last changed in 2017.
The secretary took part in an hour-long discussion hosted by
the Environmental League of Massachusetts about the work her
agencies have been doing during the pandemic and how
COVID-19 has impacted their planning.
Asked specifically about the future of the multi-state
Transportation and Climate Initiative, Theoharides said the
six-month delay in releasing a final MOU for signatures
should have no impact on the proposed start date for the
program, which had been 2022.
"I think there continues to be really strong coordination
between the states," Theoharides said. "We did push back the
deadline to give all of the states time to deal with the
pandemic and process what this meant, but none of us feels
this changes the urgency or the need for TCI."
The initiative would put a cap on emissions emitted by
vehicles, and require gasoline suppliers to buy allowances
based on the carbon content of their fuel. The cap-and-trade
program could add as much as 17 cents per gallon to the
price of gasoline, but would also generate hundreds of
millions of dollars for participating states to invest in
climate change mitigation.
Rather than creating a disincentive, Theoharides said the
current pandemic has made a "compelling" argument for why
TCI is necessary.
"I think it's built an even stronger case for TCI and the
investments we can make with the revenue at a time when
revenue might be limited," she said.
The coalition now plans to release a final proposal for
states to review and sign by the fall, and some states,
though not Massachusetts, will need a vote of their
Legislature to approve participation.
One thing the administration has been able to follow through
on during the pandemic is issuing a letter of determination
updating the state's carbon emission reduction targets to
net-zero by 2050. Baker outlined this as a priority in his
State of the Commonwealth address in January, and
Theoharides signed the final notice in April.
Theoharides said that if the pandemic has taught her
anything about how states and countries should be preparing
for climate change it's that they "don't want to deny the
science."
"There's never been a more important time for us to dig down
and continue our efforts on climate change. The pandemic has
given us a glimpse of what happens where you don't prepare
for something," she said.
In particular, Theohardies said the next decade is going to
be critical for states like Massachusetts to put themselves
on the right track and implement the policies that will be
necessary to meet 2050 emission reduction goals.
She noted, for example, that over the next 30 years many
consumers will only replace their vehicles two to three
times, so steering their [decisions] toward electric or
other low-emission options is urgent.
Theoharides said the administration does not think current
trends brought on by the pandemic, such as reduced traffic
and lower public transit ridership, will last long enough to
have an impact on the state's plans to meet its climate
change goals.
That extends to the MOR-EV program, a once popular rebate
program for electric vehicles that the Baker administration
relaunched in January when it was able to identify new
funding to support it.
"No one is buying electric vehicles right now," Theoharides
said.
The secretary did, however, lament that Gov. Baker's bill to
raise deeds fees to generate $1 billion over the next 10
years to spend on climate change mitigation in communities
has stalled.
Other climate initiatives have similarly seemed to stall out
during the pandemic.
The House passed Speaker Robert DeLeo's own climate change
adaptation bill that proposed to spent more than $1 billion
in grants over 10 years to fight climate change, but it has
not moved in the Senate. Meanwhile, the House has not taken
action on a trio of bills approved by the Senate to set a
net-zero 2050 emission reduction requirement and direct the
administration to pursue carbon pricing mechanisms for the
transportation and building sectors, and explore the
electrification of the MBTA bus fleet.
One of the upsides of the COVID-19 outbreak, the secretary
said, has been the renewed appreciation for nature preserves
and outdoor recreation as people look for a safe, socially
distant way to exercise and decompress.
Theoharides said the administration has been looking at data
being compiled by Google using cellphone GPS and found that
as of June 7 in some counties there were parks and other
public spaces where usage was up 200 percent from the same
days a year ago.
"We hope these are users who will continue to use park and
open spaces and value these spaces after the pandemic is
over," she said.
State House
News Service
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Businesses Could Face Huge Tab for Unemployment Crisis
By Chris Lisinski
Several months into a flood of new and continuing
unemployment claims prompted by the COVID-19 outbreak,
Massachusetts labor officials quietly estimated the fund
used to pay out benefits will be billions of dollars in the
red through at least 2024. As a result, businesses may need
to pick up a huge tab.
The unemployment insurance trust fund outlook report for
May, which the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce
Development posted this month, forecasts that Massachusetts
will need to seek federal loans and will likely increase
payments that employers make toward unemployment insurance
by as much as 65 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels.
As first reported by the Boston Business Journal, the latest
outlook projects an unemployment fund deficit of $3.1
billion by Jan. 1, 2021.
Those shortfalls, which do not account for potential federal
loans, are expected to last for years, rising to $6.1
billion in 2022, $6.6 billion in 2023 and then back down
slightly to almost $5.9 billion in 2024. Officials do not
currently expect the fund to bring in more than it pays out
in benefits until 2023.
Through April, the fund had a balance of $1.4 billion. The
massive, years-long deficit on the horizon is driven by an
unprecedented level of unemployment aid, an obligation the
state projects to be nearly $6.4 billion in 2020 -- more
than five times as much as last year -- and $5.1 billion in
2021.
Business premiums generate the money distributed to laid-off
workers, and those mandatory payments are set to rise
starting in 2021. The May report projected the average cost
per employee will rise from $562 in 2020 to $759 in 2021,
$880 in 2022 and $922 in 2023.
In the meantime, the Baker administration will need to
secure federal loans to keep unemployment benefits flowing
while work continues on economic recovery.
State House
News Service
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
U.S. Numbers May Foreshadow Mass. Retail Sales Surge
Sales Skyrocketed in May After Nosediving in April
By Chris Lisinski
American retail sales surged in May after a dismal April,
offering some encouraging news about the prospects of
economic recovery and delivering a potential glimpse toward
the near-term future in Massachusetts, where reviving public
activity has lagged other parts of the nation.
Consumers spent $485.5 billion on retail and food services
nationally last month, a 17.7 percent growth over the $412.6
billion spent in April, according to data published Tuesday
by the U.S. Census Bureau.
May represented the first stretch of growth in sales after
month-over-month declines of 8.2 percent in March and 14.7
percent in April, precipitous drops reflecting the
widespread mandatory business closures aimed at limiting
transmission of the highly infectious coronavirus.
Massachusetts did not start allowing establishments
shuttered in response to the outbreak to start reopening
until late May, and even today -- in the first half of the
Baker administration's Phase 2 -- operations are still
limited and some activity remains off limits. Customers have
been permitted to shop inside retail stores in Massachusetts
for about a week now.
However, it's possible that the national trends could take
hold soon in Massachusetts. Jon Hurst, president of the
Retailers Association of Massachusetts, said small
businesses and state leaders will need to communicate to the
public that "they can shop and dine locally safely."
"For economic investment reasons, it is important for them
to do so to support the future of their Main Streets and
small businesses," Hurst wrote in a Tuesday email to the
News Service. "We all need to shop like jobs depend on it,
because they do."
The resurgence in May at the national level represented the
largest one-month percent increase in the history of the
data series.
Despite that growth, overall sales remained lower than
before the pandemic hit the United States in full force and
prompted a national recession. In February, consumers spent
about $527.3 billion on retail and food services.
"The dramatic bounceback in retail sales last month is an
extremely positive sign for the direction of the U.S.
economy, but the declines over the past few months have
squeezed many U.S. retailers," Jaime Ward, head of retail
finance for Citizens Bank, said in a statement. "The
Covid-19 pandemic accelerated a disruption of the retail
sector that was already well under way as more consumers
shifted from bricks and mortar stores to online shopping.
Retailers that were able to stay open during the pandemic
such as grocery stores and others that had invested in their
e-commerce platforms have fared better than those who relied
more on bricks and mortar stores for sales or were
over-leveraged."
Officials are attempting to balance the dual public health
and economic crises. More than 115,000 Americans have died
due to COVID-19 so far, while the shutdowns pushed
unemployment to a record 14.7 percent in April before a
slight drop to 13.3 percent in May.
Labor officials will release the May unemployment rate for
Massachusetts on Friday, which could offer more insight into
the current economic climate. Many of the jobs lost have
been in retail or food service.
Data RAM collected in a May survey showed that about 30
percent of its member businesses questioned whether they
would be able to reopen after the pandemic. Four out of five
had seen sales decline between 26 percent and 100 percent,
Hurst said.
While retail sales figures for May are not yet available for
Massachusetts, Hurst pointed to sales tax collections at the
state level as "better than some would have anticipated" in
recent months as evidence that a rebound could be coming.
In April, he said, a nearly 25 percent drop in overall sales
broke down into almost 60 percent less spending on meals, 34
percent on motor vehicles, and about 14 percent on
everything else.
"Being down only -14% was actually good news in my mind
because people were quarantined, stores closed, yet
significant spending still occurred," Hurst said. "Of course
that spending was primarily going to out of state sellers
over the Internet. So the key is to get those sales back to
Massachusetts sellers in the weeks to come."
State House
News Service
Thursday, June 18, 2020
Emergency Regulations Will Deliver More Small Biz Tax Relief
By Chris Lisinski
Beacon Hill leaders will further delay tax deadlines for
small businesses around the state in another step aimed at
lessening pressure on those hit hardest by the economic
downturn that the pandemic prompted.
Sales, meals and room occupancy taxes for qualifying
businesses for March through August will not be due to the
state until September, and those that wait will not face any
penalties or interest, Gov. Charlie Baker and legislative
leaders announced Thursday.
Under the administrative tax relief measures, any businesses
that paid less than $150,000 in regular sales plus meal
taxes or less than $150,000 in room occupancy taxes in the
year ending Feb. 29 will qualify for relief, according to a
press release. Others will also have late penalties waived.
The administration had originally postponed collection of
those taxes until June 20.
The House approved legislation this month that, among other
relief steps, would waive penalties and interest on meals
tax payments through the end of the year. The Senate has not
yet indicated plans for the bill (H 4767).
In a Thursday joint press release alongside Baker and Senate
President Karen Spilka, House Speaker Robert DeLeo pointed
to that legislation as a complementary step.
The Department of Revenue will issue emergency regulations
and a technical information release to implement the
administrative relief measures.
The Boston
Herald
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Massachusetts phased reopening ‘phasing out’ restaurants,
critic says
By Erin Tiernan
Critics warn restaurants are being “phased out” by a
four-phase reopening plan they say is taking a “snail’s
pace” approach to restarting the state’s stalled economy as
the coronavirus threat recedes.
“Our state’s restaurants are being phased out while they
watch every other state in New England open up but not
ours,” Paul Craney, spokesperson for Massachusetts Fiscal
Alliance, said in a statement.
Massachusetts will be the last New England state to allow
indoor dining after New Hampshire on Monday joined Rhode
Island, Vermont and Maine to allow patrons to eat indoors.
Connecticut is expected to allow indoor dining to resume
Wednesday.
Gov. Charlie Baker has promised an update on when the second
half of phase 2 of his reopening plan — which would allow
indoor dining at a reduced capacity — will go into effect.
Massachusetts has been harder-hit by coronavirus compared to
neighboring states — a fact Baker has repeatedly said is
driving the state’s gradual reopening. Restaurants were
permitted to open up patios and resume outdoor dining, with
some restrictions on June 8.
Restaurants are finding it hard to make ends meet amid
restrictions on the number of customers and the continued
ban on indoor dining. Less than 80% of Massachusetts
restaurants have outdoor patios, according to the
Massachusetts Restaurant Association.
Over a dozen restaurants in Boston have already fallen
victim to coronavirus, announcing they would not reopen even
after restrictions are lifted.
Chris Damian, co-owner of restaurants Papagayo and Sip Wine
Bar and Kitchen, said reopening indoor dining is
“exponentially important” to keeping the restaurants like
his in business.
“We’re a low-margin business … with rents and everything,
we’re nowhere near breakeven. We need the dining open,”
Damian said
MRA President Bob Luz has said Massachusetts could lose as
many as 20% of its restaurants from coronavirus losses.
It’s bad news for unemployed people looking to get back to
work. The restaurant industry employed 263,000 Massachusetts
workers in February — just over 10% of the total workforce.
Roughly 90% were laid off amid the shutdown on dining out.
Over 1 million people have filed unemployment claims in
Massachusetts since the pandemic began.
“Massachusetts continued to see our unemployment numbers
grow and that is largely due to poor decisions. The
governor’s office simply doesn’t have the capacity to review
the hundreds of thousands of unique situations that
compromise our economy. The result is unnecessary closures
and a snail’s pace reopening,” Craney said.
State House
News Service
Friday, June 19, 2020
Indoor Dining Set to Resume in Mass. on Monday
Baker: "Reopening in Massachusetts is Working"
By Matt Murphy
Restaurants that have been serving patrons on patios and
sidewalks for the past two weeks will be able to welcome
diners indoors beginning Monday as Gov. Charlie Baker
announced Friday that he was triggering the next stage of
his economic reopening plan.
In the midst of a heat wave, no less.
Baker, at a State House press conference, also said offices
would be able to bring back to work more employees and
increase their capacity from one quarter to 50 percent of
their workforce. And close-contact personal services offered
at nail salons, massage and tattoo parlors and personal
training can resume on June 22.
The progress through the phases of the Baker's
administration's reopening strategy comes as Massachusetts
has continued to see downward trends in hospitalizations,
which are now under 1,000, and positive test rates, which
have fallen to 2.3 percent.
"Reopening Massachusetts is working," Baker said. "Business
is coming back, people are regaining that sense of purpose
that was lost. I know it can't happen fast enough, but
people in Massachusetts are proving that we can reopen and
continue to bring the fight to the virus when we all do our
part."
Baker, however, urged people to continue to socially
distance, wear masks and practice proper hygiene, and said
if people can still work from home they should "for a little
longer" to limit crowding on public transit. He said he was
leaving the current work-from-home structure for executive
branch government employees in place.
"We should keep in mind that COVID doesn't take the summer
off. We cannot nor should we become complacent," Baker said,
noting spikes in cases and hospitalizations in other parts
of the country.
Baker entered Massachusetts into the second phase of his
reopening plan on June 8, but divided it into two parts.
While some businesses have had to wait two weeks longer to
reopen than they expected, restaurants were allowed to start
with outdoor dining, and are now transitioning to full
service.
The rules for indoor dining do not include capacity
limitations, but do require tables to be six feet apart from
each other and for parties to be limited to six or fewer
guests. Seating is also prohibited at the bar.
Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said the move into the second part of
Phase 2 also means clothing retailers can open fitting rooms
by appointment.
To assist with reopening, Polito also announced a new
$225,000 grant program for non-profits and community
organizations to apply for up to $25,000 to help restaurants
and other businesses set up outdoor seating and sidewalk
retail.
The application process for grants through the new
"Resurgent Places" program, as well as the previously
announced $5 million "Shared Streets and Spaces" program for
municipalities, will open on Monday, Polito said.
Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance spokesman Paul Craney said
Friday's move was welcomed, but leaves Massachusetts behind
other states.
"Despite today's positive announcement from the Governor,
Massachusetts is becoming well known for being far behind
the curve compared to the rest of New England. If you are a
small business owner in Massachusetts, you have to wait the
longest to re-open. That's the message business owners,
their workers, and customers constantly hear from the
Governor and today's announcement reaffirmed this," Craney
said.
Craney said businesses like gyms, indoor recreation and
theaters need more information about what to expect in Phase
3, which Baker said he was delaying until at least early
July.
"The introduction of additional surprise sub-phases and
shifting businesses to phase 4 should not continue going
forward," Craney said, referring to how bars were quietly
moved from Phase 3 to Phase 4.
When Baker initially rolled out his four-phase reopening
plan, he said each phase would last a minimum of three
weeks. He stuck to that schedule when he entered Phase 2 on
June 8, but the wait for Phase 3 will be longer.
Baker said he wants at least two weeks of data from indoor
dining before deciding on the next step, which would push
the reopening of gyms, movie theaters and other larger
indoor spaces beyond June 29.
National Federation of Independent Businesses of
Massachusetts Director Christopher Carlozzi said small
businesses had been "extremely disappointed" when Baker
carved the second phase into two parts.
"Outdoor dining proved overly restrictive with many eateries
lacking adequate outdoor space and becoming dependent on
favorable weather conditions. Hopefully consumers will once
again choose to dine in some of the fine eating
establishments around the Commonwealth and help one of the
industries hardest hit by the pandemic," Carlozzi said in a
statement.
Though Baker acknowledged the frustration and financial pain
being felt by many small business owners, he said the
sacrifices being made now are in an attempt to avoid or
reduce the impact of a second wave, or "echo," in the fall.
That's why, the governor said, he continues to invest in
testing and contact tracing to make sure the positive
progress made in containing the virus so far doesn't reverse
itself.
Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said
that the administration was rolling out a digital awareness
campaign to promote testing, and will begin taking
applications from providers who can either run new testing
sites, or provide mobile testing options in places where
testing has been more scarce.
The state also added a page to its website, www.mass.gov/gettested,
that will provide information on testing with a link to the
state's locator to find the most convenient site.
Friday was also the final day for free testing at the more
than 50 pop-up sites set up by the administration to make
tests available to people who had recently been in large
gatherings, including any of the more than 300 protests of
police brutality around the state that attracted 100 people
or more.
Sudders said that since Wednesday nearly 16,000 people had
been tested at these sites, and she expected results in the
next couple of days.
Meanwhile, Sudders said later Friday the state would release
new data on the reach of COVID-19 into communities of
colors, with more comprehensive race and ethnic data on
infections and recommendations on how to mitigate the
impact.
The state's crisis standards of care, which were developed
in anticipation of the surge earlier this spring, have also
been rescinded. Those guidelines were intended to
standardize decisions about who gets access to life-saving
treatment like a ventilator if a hospital were to become
overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases and run short on supplies
and staff.
The
Salem News
Thursday, June 18, 2020
Legislature feels locked out of reopening process
State lawmakers frustrated in being left out of
decision-making process
By Christian M. Wade, Statehouse Reporter
State lawmakers are frustrated at the pace of restarting the
state's economic engine, and complain they've been locked
out of the decision-making process.
As Gov. Charlie Baker's administration moves ahead with a
phased reopening of the state's coronavirus-battered
economy, lawmakers say they're fielding daily questions and
complaints from constituents and business owners, some of
whom are frustrated that the process isn't moving quickly
enough.
Those concerns are heightened within communities that border
New Hampshire, which had a head-start on allowing
restaurants and retailers to reopen.
Sen. Diana DiZoglio, D-Methuen, said Baker's far-reaching
executive powers means lawmakers have had little or no
control over the reopening process.
"Throughout the process, Gov. Baker has used his executive
authority unilaterally, without clarity or transparency,"
she said. "He has chosen to bypass legislators."
It's not just members of the Legislature's Democratic
majority who are grumbling about the pace of reopening.
Earlier this week, House Minority Leader Brad Jones, R-North
Reading, posted a link to state data showing a continuing
decline in COVID-19 cases and deaths.
"The numbers continue strong," Jones wrote on his Facebook
page. "Time to accelerate the pace of reopening."
Rep. Lenny Mirra, R-Georgetown, said he is hearing from a
lot of businesses in his district who want the reopening
process to be stepped up.
"The frustrating part is we really don't have any say over
it," he said. "All we can do is call and write the governor
and urge him to open up sooner."
Mirra said he understands Baker needs to be cautious because
he will be blamed if the state sees an uptick in COVID-19
infections during the reopening process.
"In his defense, the governor is the one who'll be held
responsible if there's an increase in hospitalizations and
deaths," he said. "It will end up on his lap."
Baker has acknowledged that not everyone is pleased with the
pace of restarting the economy, but argues the state risks a
second wave of infections if it opens up too quickly.
Under his state of emergency declaration, Baker has had near
autocratic powers to unilaterally direct the state
government's response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Since the outbreak began in mid-March, Baker has issued more
than three dozen executive orders and directives — from the
closure of schools, day care centers and other non-essential
businesses to a stay-at-home advisory — to prevent the
spread of the virus. Most of the orders remain in effect,
with no expiration date.
Meanwhile, the Legislature was largely hobbled at the outset
of the pandemic, prevented from meeting in person to debate
and enact emergency legislation. It took several weeks
before the nearly 250-year-old legislative body came up with
a system to vote on bills remotely, and even now that
process is lumbering along.
To be sure, legislative leaders have done little to oppose
Baker's orders and have focused on passing laws to support
and expand many of his executive actions.
But the directives handed down by the governor function
essentially as temporary laws, bypassing the Legislature's
traditional role in the policymaking process.
That irks some lawmakers, who say they're being locked out
of decisions related to the economic health of the
communities they represent.
"One can understand the need to use executive power to
fast-track laws during the pandemic," DiZoglio said. "But
emergency powers were not intended to be used as a way to
bypass the elected legislative body for weeks and months."
— Christian M. Wade covers
the Massachusetts Statehouse for The Salem News and its
sister newspapers and websites.
State House
News Service
Thursday, June 18, 2020
Baker Not Joining Governors at White House
By Matt Murphy
President Donald Trump will have a discussion with governors
at the White House Thursday about reopening small
businesses, but Gov. Charlie Baker won't be among them.
The president's schedule released Wednesday night includes
the 3 p.m. roundtable with governors in the State Dining
Room. A senior aide to Baker said the Republican from
Massachusetts will not be traveling to Washington, D.C. On
Thursday.
Baker has not released a public schedule of his own for
Thursday, but has been taking criticism from some business
groups and conservative lawmakers about the pace of his
reopening strategy.
"I would just say to people that the folks who went fast on
reopening in many parts of the country are now dealing with
a second set of significant issues with respect to growth
rates and their positive tests," Baker said Thursday. "Some
of them are now testing at a positive level that's above
anything that they were dealing with previously."
It's not clear if all of the nation's governors were invited
to Thursday's meeting.
The slow-and-steady reopening message from Beacon Hill
contrasts with messaging from the White House, where Vice
President Mike Pence is calling fears of a second wave of
COVID-19 infection overblown and chalking up the surge in
cases in southern states like Florida, Texas and Arizona to
increases in testing.
State House
News Service
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
State Releases Details of $2.45 Bil Capital Spending Plan
By Michael P. Norton
Transportation, higher education, and housing investments
are prominent highlights of the state's $2.46 billion
capital investment plan for the fiscal year that starts in
two weeks.
The Baker administration late Wednesday morning released its
plan and it notably features $200 million for the Chapter 90
local road and bridge repair program. Lawmakers are weighing
bills funding and authorizing $300 million for that program.
The plan includes money for a new long-term care facility at
the Soldiers' Home in Chelsea, $11.3 million for the final
phase of a major harbor dredging project in New Bedford, and
$12 million for the repair of dams and seawalls.
The projects funded in the plan are selected by the
executive branch based in part on bond bills passed over the
years by the Legislature, where lawmakers aim to force
spending on public works projects in their districts but
often authorize more than the state can afford to borrow,
leaving important decisions about which projects advance to
the Baker administration.
CommonWealth
Magazine
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
Lawmakers considering novel budget approaches
With time short, interim budget under consideration
By Shira Schoenberg
In a typical year, it takes six months of back and forth for
the House, Senate and administration to agree on a state
budget. This year, could they cut a deal behind closed
doors?
With two weeks left before the end of the fiscal year, no
budget is in sight. And instead of the usual process,
policymakers are floating the idea of an interim budget –
one that may be agreed on by the House, Senate, and
administration before it is released.
Independent experts say the different approach may be a
reasonable one, given the pandemic – although it could have
implications for things like transparency and debate. “These
are really unusual times, so I’m not surprised to see
legislators reaching for unusual approaches,” said Evan
Horowitz, executive director of the Center for State Policy
Analysis at Tufts University.
In late May, the State House News Service reported that
Senate President Karen Spilka suggested the possibility of a
joint House-Senate approach to budgeting. “I am hoping that
we can have a joint agreement of the Senate, the House, and
the administration, through [the Executive Office of
Administration and Finance], on a path to take for the
budget,” she said. “I think that it makes no sense for us to
independently do budgets and then have a conference
committee, but to just cut to the chase and just get some
kind of budget done, particularly for July and then see how
things go.”
House Speaker Robert DeLeo has been more circumspect about
the prospect of a joint budget, though he has said he is
talking to the Senate and the administration. But he been
vocal about the likelihood of an interim budget, rather than
a full-year budget. At a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce
event May 21, DeLeo suggested a “one-twelfth” budget – a
spending plan that continues current funding levels for a
month – that could be extended further.
The chairs of the Ways and Means Committees – Rep. Aaron
Michlewitz and Sen. Michael Rodrigues – have been quiet
about their plans.
“We continue to work with our colleagues in the House and
administration, and we are hopeful that we will be able to
produce a budget very soon that is thoughtful and
responsible,” Rodrigues said in a statement.
Blake Webber, chief of staff to Michlewitz, said, “We are
working closely with the Senate and the administration to
assess the uncertain economic outlook, any potential further
federal aid packages, and how best to address the FY21
budget process. We will continue these productive
conversations for the foreseeable future.”
But behind the scenes, state policymakers appear to be
discussing a budget that is done jointly and for an interim
time period, although the exact length is uncertain.
On the short end, doing an interim budget through July or
August would give lawmakers a chance to see if Congress
passes another federal stimulus bill before the August
recess. It would also let the Department of Revenue collect
last year’s state income taxes, since the deadline for
filing was extended from April 15 to July 15.
On the longer end, there could be a political incentive to
craft a budget that goes through November, so lawmakers do
not have to pass a full-year austerity budget before they
face reelection. Doing a budget for just half a year could
also give lawmakers more time to monitor medical advances
and know, for example, when a vaccine might become
available, which could allow for a fuller economic
reopening.
Under normal circumstances, Horowitz said there is an
advantage to having a robust debate as the budget bounces
between bodies. But he said that may be less necessary this
year. “There’s so much uncertainty and so little known
information, I think the quality and significance of open
debate is really diminished,” Horowitz said. “To say nothing
of the fact that legislators are still struggling with ways
to do meaningful in-person debates.”
Both the House and the Senate have been holding sessions
with remote participation, but that format makes it
difficult to have the type of natural back-and-forth that
occurs in person.
Eileen McAnneny, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers
Foundation, said the tight time frame – with only two weeks
left before the June 30 end of the fiscal year – means it
might make sense to bypass the multiple iterations that a
budget typically goes through, as it goes from the governor
to the House to the Senate. If there is a joint agreement,
McAnneny said, “The biggest advantage is the speed at which
they’d be able to enact it.”
But, McAnneny cautioned, “It does assume there would be
consensus on a lot of what could be controversial choices.”
For example, lawmakers will have to decide how much money to
set aside for schools, in what was supposed to be the first
year of implementation of a new, more expensive school
funding formula.
Continuing current funding levels also may not make sense
with revenues expected to significantly decline.
Marie-Frances Rivera, president of the Massachusetts Budget
and Policy Center, said there is an urgent need for budget
writers to get some information out, as municipalities and
school districts are starting to lay off staff due to budget
crunches. “The lack of information isn’t helpful at this
point for municipalities and departments and agencies to
make budget decisions,” Rivera said.
Rivera said the most important thing about the process,
however it is done, is that it be transparent with an
opportunity for advocates and the public to weigh in.
“There’s definitely a sense of urgency…but there also needs
to be some level of transparency and some processes that
would be democratic, with participatory conversations around
the budget,” Rivera said.
The New Boston
Post
Thursday, June 18, 2020
Massachusetts Bottle, Can Deposit Fee Sees 22.3 Percent
Revenue Increase
Amid Coronavirus Shutdown
By Tom Joyce
During an instant recession caused by the coronavirus
shutdowns, the state government of Massachusetts took in 22
percent more revenue from deposit fees on bottles and cans
in March, April, and May than it did during the same time
last year.
Why the difference?
Fewer people returned bottles and cans for a nickel apiece
because it was harder to do so, and the state kept the
difference.
The Bay State’s abandoned deposits revenue this past March
was $5,567,807, an uptick over the $4,167,181 it collected
in March 2019. Additionally, the number topped the state’s
totals for February 2020 ($4,041,401) and January 2020
($4,849,590). In April, the figure was $5,117,693, a slight
decrease from the $5,214,766 collected in April 2019. In
May, however, it increased to $5,638,872 — up from
$3,958,691 in May 2019.
That means in March, April, and May 2020, the state
collected $16.32 million in abandoned deposit revenue
compared to $13.34 million over that same span in 2019.
That’s a difference of about $2.98 million, a 22.3 percent
increase in revenue.
On March 18, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental
Protection and the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office
suspended enforcement of the state’s regulation that
ordinarily requires retailers like grocery stores and liquor
stores to accept beverage containers with bottle deposits.
The suspension continued until June 5, when the requirement
resumed.
Did that mean Massachusetts businesses stopped charging
people the five cents per bottle and can? No.
However, some observers say that would have been a good
idea.
In a time where many are struggling financially, MassFiscal
spokesman Paul Craney the state should not have been trying
to extract more money from people.
“When state government locks itself down from even being
able to collect fees it could otherwise collect, you know
you’ve taken it too far,” Craney told New Boston Post in an
email message on Wednesday. “The state is stepping over
itself throughout the lockdown and the best thing they can
do is to allow for individuals and businesses to use their
common sense and safely re-open on pace with the rest of New
England.”
In Michigan, one of 10 states with a bottle and can deposit,
the Mackinac Center, a right-leaning think tank, called for
states to suspend or repeal their bottle deposit law on
March 19 — which they have not done.
“The redemption of bottle deposits involves Michiganders
carrying millions of unwashed but massively handled — and
possibly contaminated — loose items for more touching and
handling in grocery stores,” the Mackinac Center suggested
at the time. “This pandemic has transitioned the bottle
deposit scheme from a massively unsanitary idea to a
potentially lethal one.”
Mackinac Center communications director Holy Wetzel told New
Boston Post on Wednesday that she expects that fewer bottles
will be thrown away this month than in past months because
people want their money back.
“Michigan reopened bottle deposit center’s this week, so we
expect that there will be an influx in returns,” she said in
an email message. “However, many people also either just
recycled their bottles or threw them away, so we expect
there will still be some revenue leftover.”
Last month, Patrick Marvin, a spokesman for the
Massachusetts Executive Office of Administration and
Finance, told New Boston Post that his department
recommended that people held onto their cans and bottles if
their local redemption center was closed.
At the time, he told New Boston Post why the state charged
people the bottle deposit fee during the shutdown.
“Ceasing collection of the deposit and then restarting
collection would present logistical challenges for consumers
and retailers,” he told New Boston Post in an email message
in May. “Each container sold in Massachusetts is currently
labeled with a deposit and that label signifies that the
container has a deposit value. If a nickel was not collected
at the point of sale, the bottle can be redeemed for a
nickel later due to the labeling.”
On Wednesday, he had no further comment on the situation,
and referred New Boston Post to a press release explaining
how bottle redemption centers would be re-opening this
month.
Although it would have been difficult to find grocery stores
and liquor stores accepting bottle deposits during the
shutdowns, New Boston Post reached out to several bottle
redemption centers in the first week of May to see if any
were open. Some were — in urban areas.
Employees for Taunton Redemption Center, Mattapan Bottle &
Can Return, Lowell Bottle & Can Return Center, Pennywise
Check Cashing (Worcester), and Haverhill Road Redemption
Center told New Boston Post by telephone that they were
open. In the suburbs, there was less luck. Places like
Cohasset Redemption Center, Cans and Bottle Redemption
Center (Milford), and Temple Redemption Center (Whitman),
among others, were closed.
State House
News Service
Friday, June 19, 2020
Baker Seeks $5.25 Billion Interim State Budget
By Matt Murphy
With the state's finances in disarray and the COVID-19
pandemic making it extremely difficult to predict the next
12 months, Gov. Charlie Baker on Friday filed a $5.25
billion interim spending bill that would keep government
running beyond June 30 through July.
The new fiscal year is set to begin in less than two weeks,
but neither the House nor the Senate have produced an annual
spending proposal as they wait to gauge how severely the
pandemic-caused recession will erode state tax revenues, and
how slowly or quickly the economy might rebound.
House and Senate leaders have not laid out a timeline yet
for completion of a budget for the full fiscal year, but
Baker said the money that would be authorized in the
temporary budget would be sufficient to cover government
operations through July.
The bill also directs Treasurer Deborah Goldberg to make
"advance payments for some or all of periodic local
reimbursement or assistance programs to any city, town,
regional school district or independent agricultural and
technical school that demonstrates an emergency cash
shortfall, as certified by the commissioner of revenue and
approved by the secretary of administration and finance,
pursuant to guidelines issued by the secretary." And it
extends capital spending accounts that would otherwise
expire at the end of the fiscal year.
The House and Senate have seven business days to pass the
bill, but were expecting its filing and could act as soon as
next week.
Gov. Baker filed a $44.6 billion annual budget in January,
but some economists have predicted that tax revenues in
fiscal 2021 could come in as much as $6 billion short of the
estimates used to build that budget.
State House
News Service
Thursday, June 18, 2020
MTA Lays Out Demands as Part of “Reopening Platform”
By Katie Lannan
Funding levels called for under the new school finance
reform law, additional staff and an elimination of MCAS
tests are among the measures the Massachusetts Teachers
Association says should be the foundation for reopening
schools.
The union published its reopening platform Thursday, as
educators, parents and students wait to see what the
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's fall
reopening guidance will look like.
MTA members plan to deliver the platform to the department's
Malden office Thursday afternoon.
The platform calls for "progressive revenues" to be a part
of a reopening process, saying, "Student and staff needs
will not be sacrificed due to artificial funding
constraints."
Reflecting the recent protests against structural racism,
the MTA also said the state "must transform public education
to show — through structures, policies and practices — that
black and brown lives matter."
"We also can only return if we know that we as a
Commonwealth are using the frightening upheaval of this
moment to think critically and collectively about the goals
we have for our public schools and what it means to keep our
students safe," the union said in a statement. "Now more
than ever, we must transform public education and recapture
our central mission — educating the whole child and
cultivating thinking, caring and creative adults who are
ready to protect rights and liberties in a democratic
society."
The union's demands come as business shutdowns associated
with the pandemic have battered the economy. Experts are
projecting the state revenue collections will fall billions
below original projections. In anticipation of lower local
aid levels and possible spending cuts, some school districts
have been issuing layoff notices.
The Boston
Herald
Friday, June 19, 2020
Massachusetts teachers union wants to abolish MCAS
and take police out of schools upon reopening
By Erin Tiernan
The state’s largest teachers union laid out its list of
demands for a safe reopening of schools amid the pandemic
this fall, calling on the state to pay for personal
protective equipment and the “dismantling of a system of
institutionalized racism” starting with eliminating the MCAS
and taking police officers out of schools.
“Now more than ever, we must transform public education to
show — through structures, policies and practices — that
black and brown lives matter,” the Massachusetts Teachers
Association said in a statement. “We also can only return if
we know that we as a Commonwealth are using the frightening
upheaval of this moment to think critically and collectively
about the goals we have for our public schools and what it
means to keep our students safe.”
School districts across the state are facing deep funding
cuts and thousands of teachers received pink slips this week
with revenues in free fall as the state’s economy has ground
to a halt in an effort to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
Budget watchdogs are predicting the state’s tax revenue
could drop by $6 billion dollars this year.
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will
distribute $193.8 million in federal funds to help districts
address needs associated with the coronavirus, including
technology and safety supplies. The money is allocated based
on district poverty levels.
MTA president Merrie Najimy blasted the state’s guidance
issued last week that informed school districts they would
be responsible for purchasing their own PPE saying, “it will
be communities of color — which have been historically
subjected to structural racism through disinvestment in
their public schools and other crucial services — that will
be … disproportionately impacted.”
The MTA is calling for the creation of “progressive
revenues” to fully fund schools next year and pushing back
on layoffs, saying “public schools need more, not less, in
the aftermath of the pandemic.”
Money funding police officers in public schools should be
redistributed to social services, the MTA said.
Reflecting on widespread protests for racial equality that
have gripped the nation, the union is pushing to reimagine
curriculum that is “actively antiracist to reflect and
affirm students of color, their cultures and their histories
— and fight against xenophobia in all of its forms.”
State House
News Service
Friday, June 19, 2020
Advances - Week of June 21, 2020
Changes to policing tactics and accountability and the way
people are allowed to vote have emerged as priorities for
the six weeks remaining before the Legislature turns the
page from formal to informal sessions and lawmakers turn
their focus on re-election battles rather than policy
fights.
There's agitating over efforts to advance major
transportation, health care, climate change and housing
bills before the break, which in and of itself is an
indication that Beacon Hill is inching away from its
coronavirus-only agenda. However, it's unclear whether a
Legislature where members are still not able to meet in the
same room will be able to navigate such weighty topics in a
remote fashion.
The focus remains on some of the most pressing issues,
including legislative and executive branch responses to the
pandemic, with Monday's opening of indoor restaurant dining
and nail salons and an increase in permissible office
capacity marking another major step. The virus remains
present at levels that would have been alarming earlier in
the pandemic, but there's a belief now among many that
compliance with distancing, mask-wearing and hygiene
recommendations are sufficient to control the virus until a
treatment or vaccine is available, even in an environment
where people are becoming more and more mobile.
"We're not going to be caught by surprise in the fall," Gov.
Charlie Baker said Friday, recounting efforts to address
problems with virus preparedness that were exposed when the
virus began spreading in March.
As restaurants try to rebound, a relief bill approved by the
House (H 4767) sits in the Senate. And the management of the
MBTA, a critical agency for recovery efforts, remains a
question mark with the five-year-old control board that now
runs the transit agency set to lapse on July 1 and the House
and Senate still so far in disagreement on a successor
board. Lawmakers are also up against another month-end
deadline to extend laws governing simulcast wagering.
There's a little more time, but not much, for lawmakers to
finish their work on a voting reform bill, legislation
targeting police misconduct and a bill designed to help the
state better confront viruses spread by mosquitoes.
A six-member conference committee co-chaired by Rep. John
Lawn and Sen. Barry Finegold was named Thursday to forge a
consensus approach to expanded early voting and mail-in
voting for the Sept. 1 primaries and the Nov. 3 general
election. They'll need to reach a quick agreement since the
candidates for the ballot are set, and once ballot questions
are finalized around the Fourth of July, the secretary of
state will aim to start shipping ballots out to overseas
voters.
The policing bill, a direct response to widespread outrage
over violence by law enforcement against Black Americans,
has a longer journey, but there's widespread agreement that
the goal is to pass a bill sometime in July. The first stop
for Gov. Charlie Baker's bill (H 4794) is a committee
co-chaired by Sen. Michael Moore, a former environmental
police officer, and Rep. Harold Naughton, an attorney and
Massachusetts Army National Guard member.
As lawmakers look for consensus on that issue, the Senate
next Thursday plans to advance a health care reform bill (S
612) that tackles telehealth and scope of practice issues
that have been highlighted during the pandemic. The House is
also in receipt of a Senate bill (S 2757) to bulk up
preparedness for the spread of West Nile Virus and Eastern
equine encephalitis by mosquitoes.
"Many cities and towns have not joined a mosquito control
project," Baker wrote in April, before the Senate passed a
bill based on the one the governor filed. "In these parts of
the Commonwealth, there is no entity -- state, regional or
local -- that can engage in mosquito control. While a town
by town approach does allow for maximum local input into
mosquito control, unfortunately mosquitos and viruses do not
respect borders."
-- THE BUDGET: Gov. Charlie Baker on Friday
filed a $5.25 billion interim budget to keep state spending
flowing during July while work begins on a fiscal 2021
budget. The Legislature is likely to pass the interim budget
quickly.
The House Ways and Means Committee has until July 1 to make
its fiscal 2021 budget recommendation, which will be the
first look at where lawmakers plan to cut spending, exact
savings, or raise revenues to address the projected sharp
decline in tax collections due to record unemployment and
the recession caused by COVID-19 business shutdowns and
related impacts.
State Treasurer Deb Goldberg has short-term borrowing
options to address cash flow needs, if necessary, but so far
has not needed to exercise that option, according to the
Treasury, although it's unclear whether borrowing will be
needed to make an end-of-June local aid payment to cities
and towns.
Legislative leaders haven't signaled when they plan to put a
full fiscal 2021 budget before the House or Senate, but it
seems likely that budget talks will stretch beyond the
scheduled July 31 end of formal legislative sessions. With
each passing day, Baker and lawmakers get a better
understanding of the depth of the fiscal problems and the
pace of economic recovery, but state lawmakers nationwide
are still unsure about new sources of state and local
government aid from the federal government, which officials
in the states that were hardest hit by the pandemic say is
essential to helping those states to fuel the nation's
recovery. - Michael P. Norton
-- BIG SCHOOL REOPENING DECISIONS: With most
students now on summer vacation, the wait is on to find out
what exactly K-12 and higher education officials plan for
the fall. At the college level, private institutions have
begun announcing their decisions -- in the Boston area, MIT
plans to only bring back some undergraduates, with
"everything that can be taught effectively online" taught
online, while Boston University is giving its students a
choice of in-person or remote learning.
On the public side, the nine state university campuses,
which serve more than 52,000 students each year, announced
Thursday that they plan to bring students back to campus in
the fall, operating on a "blended model" of both
face-to-face and remote coursework. At the University of
Massachusetts system, which has more than 74,000 students,
each campus will be releasing its own plan for the fall
semester.
As students and families wait for colleges and universities
to make their calls, they're faced with their own decisions
about budgeting, living situations, work plans and
educational pathways in the months ahead.
Many schools that transitioned into remote learning in the
spring offered prorated refunds for room and board charges,
and the public-health decisions they make about populating
campuses for the fall semester will also affect their bottom
lines. Some colleges were already grappling with precarious
finances before the pandemic hit, and under a 2019 law, a
new annual screening process at the Department of Higher
Education will seek to identify schools at risk of closing.
On the K-12 side, educators, parents and other interested
parties, including Attorney General Maura Healey, have their
eye on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education,
where Commissioner Jeff Riley is expected to soon issue
initial fall guidance. In late May, Riley said the
department was "working to have schools up and running in
the fall, with appropriate safety protocols" and that he
hoped to put out draft fall guidance in mid-June.
Guidelines on required safety supplies, which the department
distributed June 5, pegged the timeline for a release of
fall information as "the coming weeks." The Massachusetts
Teachers Association wants the reopening guidelines to
feature, among other elements, an elimination of MCAS
testing, and Healey on Friday said DESE's guidance should
"provide clear information about how to address the
inequities that exist while also protecting public health."
"For example, we need to know more about whether specific
student ratios make sense, and how the ratios have been
developed," she said. "Having a diverse set of perspectives
involved now will ensure better decisions and better
outcomes for our students and their families." - Katie
Lannan
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