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Post Office Box 1147
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Marblehead, Massachusetts 01945
▪ (781) 639-9709
“Every Tax is a Pay Cut ... A Tax Cut is a Pay Raise”
48 years as “The Voice of Massachusetts Taxpayers”
— and
their Institutional Memory — |
|
CLT UPDATE
Sunday, February 13, 2022
Gov's Tax Relief
Clashes With Legislature's New Taxes Schemes
Jump directly
to CLT's Commentary on the News
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Most Relevant News
Excerpts
(Full news reports follow Commentary)
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Taxpayers need a
break. Massachusetts couples shell out the highest
percentage of their income on taxes in the nation, a
new study shows.
Massachusetts took the top spot for couples filing
jointly, with couples paying 23.51% of their income
in taxes. Close behind is Oregon, at 23.24%, Hawaii,
at 23.05%, and Connecticut, at 22.99%. The lowest
rate was in Tennessee, with taxpaying couples owing
just 15.54% of their income to taxes.
This comes
as the state Department of Revenue collected $4.026
billion in tax revenue from people and businesses
last month. That was 27% more than expected.
Plus, it
places Massachusetfs nearly $1.5 billion ahead of
its end-of-fiscal-year target.
Gov.
Charlie Baker is pushing tax-relief proposals that
would give breaks for housing and child care costs
and eliminate the income tax for hundreds of
thousands. Keep on going. The pandemic and President
Biden’s policies have driven up the cost of just
about everything.
Inflation
is a hidden tax that hits everyone. The government
needs to put the needs of taxpayers first as we
climb out of this mandate-heavy moment in history.
We back Baker’s train of thought, but urge he add
more coal to the engine.
The
Boston Herald
Sunday, February 6, 2022
A Boston Herald editorial
Give us a break! On taxes
There are
many people and businesses in Massachusetts
struggling during these pandemic times. The
commonwealth is not among them. The Massachusetts
state government is awash in money. According to the
state comptroller’s office, FY2021 revenues ($57
billion) were 30% ($13 billion) higher than the
original budget estimate. Income tax revenue was 25%
($20 billion) above the budget estimate.
The
Massachusetts Lottery produced a record $1.1 billion
in profit. In fact, the last week of 2021 was
highest on record for Lottery sales. So far, FY2022
is trending ahead of FY2021 for both revenues and
the Lottery. So, the State House politicians got
more than they expected or planned for.
Idea: They
should give some of it, at least the “excess,” back
to the people who earned it and from whom they took
it i.e., the Massachusetts taxpayers. An
across-the-board tax refund and cut for next year.
But that’s not on the radar for the
Democrat-controlled legislature. Quite the opposite.
The
Democrats on Beacon Hill are proposing still more
taxes. As Chip Ford of Citizens for
Limited Taxation headlined it,
“Record-Shattering Revenue Haul Still Not Enough.”
The current scheme to raise taxes is a proposed
amendment to the state constitution that would
impose a 4% surtax on people and businesses with
income over $1 million. It will be on the ballot
this November. The Democrats tout this as just going
after “millionaires.” But it’s not only about money.
Democrats believe they can get votes and political
benefit from fomenting resentment of the “rich.” ...
To promote
the tax, Democrat proponents say the revenue
generated would go to education and transportation.
But the actual proposal does not require that. In
fact, there’s a legal challenge over misleading
wording in the summary to be circulated to voters
before the November vote. So, Democrat legislators
(with a few exceptions, such as Rep. Colleen Garry
of Dracut) expect us to simply trust them about how
the new tax money will be spent.
But
legislators don’t keep their tax promises. Remember
the “temporary” income tax hike of 1989? It was
promised to be for 18 months. But that tax remained
even after CLT’s successful 2000 ballot
initiative to repeal it. The tax finally went back
to 5% in 2020 — 30 years later. So much for
legislative trustworthiness.
We can
trust Democrat legislators to have an insatiable
desire for more taxes. But this surtax proposal, for
the largest ever tax increase, is ill-conceived and
ill-timed. Instead, implement a tax cut. It’s time
to refund the hard-working people of Massachusetts
their tax dollars.
The
Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 9, 2022
Awash in cash, Mass. should
cut, not raise taxes
By Avi Nelson
Cities and
towns run the risk of being "permanently left
behind" in their ability to fund key local services
without a change in the way state revenue growth is
calculated, the head of the Massachusetts Municipal
Association warned Tuesday.
Speaking
at a meeting of the Local Government Advisory
Commission, MMA Executive Director Geoff Beckwith
asked that state officials look for another way to
gauge annual revenue growth to make sure that
communities are able to share in the upswings.
"We fear
what will happen to communities if local aid does
not keep pace, not just for this year, but for many
years," Beckwith said....
Beckwith
said state revenues and unrestricted local aid were
"generally growing at the same rate" until 2020,
when the COVID-19 pandemic knocked the global
economy askew. Since then, he said, the growth
estimates used to set local aid levels have been
"extraordinarily low and missed the mark in fiscal
2021 and fiscal 2022."
"If this
method of calculating revenue growth isn't
corrected, cities and towns will be permanently left
behind and their capacity to fund key, core services
at the municipal level will be hindered on a
long-term basis for many, many years," Beckwith
said. "And local services are the building blocks
for our state's economy," he said.
He said
that while state revenue growth has averaged about 5
percent each year, local aid will have risen about 3
percent, resulting in an approximately "40 percent
difference in terms of revenue sharing for
unrestricted general government aid." ...
On school
funding, the MMA wants the minimum aid funding --
the increase districts receive when funding formulas
mean their school aid would not otherwise go up --
to rise from $30 per student in Baker's plan to $100
per student.
Baker's
budget recommends a $485 million hike in Chapter 70
aid to local schools, bringing that account up to
$5.989 billion.
Sandwich
Town Manager George "Bud" Dunham said that despite
the 8 percent increase in Chapter 70 over this year,
136 of 318 school districts would receive just the
minimum aid increase, for a combined increase of
just over $9 million at those districts.
Sandwich
is a minimum-aid community and stands to receive a 1
percent aid increase, he said.
State
House News Service
Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Muni Officials Say State Not Sharing
Enough Revenue
Collections Have Far Exceeded Conservative
Projections
The
biennial bill-reporting deadline came and went last
week, but an 11-month legislative disagreement means
the public may never know how their representatives
and senators voted in deliberations over whether
proposals should advance or fall short.
The House
and Senate each supported some form of pulling back
the curtain on how panels vote, but Democrats
couldn't agree on a reform plan and existing
legislative rules do not require joint committees to
publish any breakdown of where members stand on
bills they report.
Some joint
committees could still volunteer that information,
but the failure of House and Senate Democrats to
find consensus on the transparency measures means
that the individual preference of each panel's
chairs determines whether a vote breakdown becomes
public.
At the
start of the 2021-2022 lawmaking session, the
Legislature adopted joint rules that governed the
2019-2020 session -- which do not require disclosure
of joint committee votes -- as a temporary
placeholder....
Today,
more than halfway through the session and with only
a bit more than five months remaining until the end
of formal sessions where the most substantial bills
are considered, last session's rules remain in place
on a temporary basis, modified only in a few
sections outlined in the conference committee's
partial report....
A section
of the Legislature's rules known as Joint Rule 10
sets the first Wednesday in February in even years
as the date by which most committees must give
up-or-down recommendations to all bills under their
purview.
While
joint committees have made decisions on scores of
bills - giving them favorable or adverse reports, or
sending them to dead-end studies - committees are
also able to easily hold on to bills with extension
orders.
Even after
Joint Rule 10 Day has passed, determining the fate
of a bill can be tricky. For many bills, the online
bill history still does not list if the committee
pushed back its reporting deadline, and the only way
to deduce that information is to study the bill
numbers listed in an extension order.
The bill
history is also slow to update for legislation on
which committees act. Last week, for example, the
Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure
Committee sent to a study a Rep. Mike Connolly bill
(H 4135) that would create a commission to review
and evaluate happy-hour policies, effectively
killing it.
That
information is only apparent on the "reported out of
committee" tab on the committee's website. As of
midday Monday, the bill history for H 4135 still
listed the most recent step as a Nov. 8 hearing.
State
House News Service
Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Transparency Measures
Disappear In Conference Darkness
Democrats Can't Agree On Joint Committee Votes
Top
Democrats said Tuesday that Gov. Charlie Baker's
plan to offer tax relief to hundreds of thousands of
parents, renters, seniors and other middle-income
taxpayers will get its "due diligence," but were
non-committal on the centerpiece of the Republican
governor's final state spending plan as he prepares
to leave office next year.
Baker has
proposed close to $700 million in tax cuts as
multiple governors around the country are eyeing tax
relief this year. State revenues in Massachusetts
continue to soar as they have throughout the
COVID-19 pandemic, creating surpluses and pools of
money that have been used to boost spending and
state reserves.
Illinois
Gov. JB Pritzker offered $1 billion in tax cuts as
part of his budget this year, and Connecticut Gov.
Ned Lamont has proposed $336 million in tax relief.
Both are Democrats.
Legislative leaders on Beacon Hill, however,
cautioned that the state's fortunes could turn on a
dime as federal support dries up and factors like
inflation and tight supply chains hold the potential
to slow economic growth. House Ways and Means
Chairman Aaron Michlewitz also cited the need to
fully fund the Student Opportunity Act, protect
vulnerable residents from a "housing crisis" and
invest in transportation.
"I'm
absolutely open minded," Senate Ways and Means
Chairman Michael Rodrigues said after the hearing.
Michlewitz
said it was "a little too early to make any real
determinations," noting that Baker's plan contains
multiple changes to the tax code that each have
their own costs associated....
The
Legislature kicked off its annual budget process on
Tuesday when Administration and Finance Secretary
Michael Heffernan, along with other statewide
elected officials, testified before the House and
Senate Ways and Means committees on Baker's $48.5
billion budget proposal for fiscal 2023.
Heffernan,
who was presenting his fifth budget on behalf of the
administration, described the state's economy as
"resilient" in the face of an ongoing public health
crisis, and highlighted how Baker's budget would
boost an already healthy $4.6 billion "rainy day"
fund to $6.6 billion by the end of the next fiscal
year.
"The
state's strong fiscal standing has also positioned
us to be able to offer relief to Massachusetts
taxpayers. This is especially important at this
moment, as people face continued economic
instability and rising costs due to inflation,
supply-chain issues, and other factors," Heffernan
said.
The tax
relief push from the administration comes as the
state is witnessing continued strong tax
collections. After raising its expected fiscal 2022
tax collection target by $1.5 billion in January,
the Department of Revenue reported earlier this
month that collections are running $1.45 billion
above the revised targets....
Heffernan
called the short-term capital gains rate "markedly
uncompetitive" with other states, and something
important to consider as opportunities for remote
work give employees and businesses the option of
relocating outside of Massachusetts.
He also
said that because of inflation the current estate
tax would "trip" a lot of middle-income families as
close to 9 percent of single-family homes in
Massachusetts approach the $1 million valuation
mark.
"Because
of inflation, many many more people are paying the
estate tax," said Heffernan, telling lawmakers that
the full impact of the $231 million tax cut would
not be realized until fiscal year 2024.
Asked by
Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante how Baker's spending and
tax plan fit into the context of the November vote
on a plan to add a 4 percent surtax on household
income over $1 million, Heffernan called the
so-called millionaires tax "dangerous policy" and
unnecessary given the way Baker's budget would
simultaneously build state reserves, invest in
long-term liabilities like the pension system and
offer tax relief at the same time.
"If you
look at the way our tax systems work right now, it's
working much to the benefit of all our residents,"
he said.
State
House News Service
Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Tax Cuts Force Look At Stability
Of Government, Taxpayers
Sharing State's Tax Haul Shaping Up As Election-Year
Issue
Raising
taxes on income over $1 million would be a
“dangerous policy,” given how well the state is
doing financially under the current tax system,
Secretary of Administration and Finance Michael
Heffernan said Tuesday....
Heffernan
said wealthy residents already pay the biggest
portion of state taxes. The state tax rate is a flat
5 percent, so residents with more money pay more in
absolute dollars. Heffernan said millionaires make
up half a percent of the population but pay 24 to 25
percent of state income taxes. The wealthiest 10
percent of taxpayers pay 50 percent of taxes. “We
have a very progressive income tax system because of
the way it’s been set up in statute,” he said.
CommonWealth Magazine
Tuesday, February 8, 2021
A&F Secretary Heffernan calls
millionaire’s tax ‘dangerous’
Masks.
Wear 'em if you want to.
Massachusetts joined a growing number of states
around the country this week that began to relax
masking requirements as the omicron surge fades and
imaginations drift to what it would be like to see
people's full faces again.
Stepping
back into what has become an increasingly polarized,
and political, debate over the continued necessity
of masking, Gov. Charlie Baker made the decision to
allow masking requirements in public schools to
lapse at the end of the month when his order is set
to expire.
And Baker
was not alone.
Governors
in about a dozen states took similar actions, from
California and Illinois to Connecticut. But the herd
could not fully protect Baker from the blowback that
was to be expected, as some Democrats and teachers
unions questioned whether it was too soon, or if he
should at least wait a few more weeks until after
the upcoming school vacation....
But if
it's good for the goose, what about the ...
Legislature?
Still
shuttered to the public after 703 days, Baker said
he believes the State House should reopen to
visitors and anyone with business before their
elected representatives, but legislative leaders
continue to slow walk that decision-making process.
As Baker
made his school masking announcement in the
third-floor library of the State House, protesters
in the basement pushed past security demanding
access to the "People's House," among other gripes
they chose to air.
"It's
their building, it's their call," Baker said,
referring to the House and Senate.
Technically, it seems the governor might have a
point. While the Bureau of the State House sits
within the executive branch, Massachusetts General
Laws stipulate that the building superintendent
should operate and maintain the building "subject to
such rules as the committee on rules of the 2
branches, acting concurrently, may adopt..."
There was
nothing concurrent about Senate President Karen
Spilka's declaration that she intends to open Senate
sessions to the public on Feb. 22, but it remains to
be seen how exactly that would work....
House
Speaker Ron Mariano, who supports proof of
vaccination to enter the building, wouldn't say if
he supports a Feb. 22 reopening....
Mariano
may not be ready to hang the welcome sign above the
General Hooker entrance, but after years (decades?)
of debating whether undocumented immigrants should
be able to get a driver's license the speaker is
ready to try to answer that question. And the answer
is, "Yes."
Mariano
signaled plans to put the license bill on the floor
next week for a vote, the first time it has
progressed that far in either branch. Baker has long
suggested opposition to the idea, but House leaders
say they're hopeful once he sees the public safety
protections included in the legislation he can be
persuaded.
State
House News Service
Friday, February 11, 2022
Weekly Roundup - Chains of
Command
For the
second straight session, a legislative committee
advanced legislation with 14 votes in favor that
would allow undocumented immigrants to acquire
driver's licenses.
This time,
the bill appears certain to proceed beyond the
committee stage to a vote in at least one chamber.
A day
after House Speaker Ronald Mariano announced that he
planned to bring the immigrant licensing bill to the
floor next week, the Joint Transportation Committee
favorably reported the bill with a 14-3 vote along
party lines.
The three
votes against pushing the bill forward came from the
panel's only House Republicans: Rep. David DeCoste
of Norwell, Rep. Steven Howitt of Seekonk and Rep.
Norman Orrall of Lakeville....
The
Transportation Committee's redrafted bill would
allow residents without proof of lawful presence in
the United States, including individuals ineligible
for a Social Security number, to obtain a license if
they have sufficient alternative documentation that
proves their identity, date of birth and residency
in the Bay State....
A majority
of representatives and senators co-sponsored the
original versions of the bill (H 3456 / S 2289),
referred to as the Work and Family Mobility Act,
though it remains unclear if Mariano will be able to
line up enough votes to constitute the two-thirds
majority needed to override a potential
gubernatorial veto.
Baker has
said he opposes the push to make driver's licenses
available to undocumented immigrants, but has not
publicly threatened to veto the bill.
Democrats
wield supermajority margins in both chambers. The
House -- currently down to a total of 158 members
due to two vacancies -- has 128 Democrats, 29
Republicans and one independent, while the Senate
has 37 Democrats and three Republicans.
State
House News Service
Friday, February 11, 2022
License Access Bill Advances On
Party Line Vote
Redraft Could Hit House Floor For Vote Next Week
Maura
Healey is an astute politician.
That’s why
she’s ripping a page out of Ed Markey’s re-election
playbook by quickly letting everyone know she’s as
progressive as any rival.
Sen.
Markey outmaneuvered Joe Kennedy III with a deft
political reinvention that had him morph into the
Bernie Sanders of Massachusetts. AOC and other
younger progressives rallied to Markey’s side and he
blew past JoeKIII winning re-election. (55.3% to
44.6%)
Maura
Healey, it appears, took note.
This past
week she announced for all to hear that she’s “a
proud progressive and I am incredibly proud of my
record.” That’s textbook primary calculus. She first
needs to defeat gubernatorial rivals state Sen.
Sonia Chang-Diaz and Harvard professor Danielle
Allen....
The
primary is Sept. 20 with the general election set
for Nov. 8. Republicans Geoff Diehl, a former
Whitman state representative who is endorsed by
former President Donald Trump, and Wrentham
businessman Chris Doughty, we’re sure, will remember
this pivot by Healey.
But what
will voters say?
As of this
weekend, Massachusetts has roughly 4.7 million
voters. A majority — 57.4% — are independent-minded
and register as “unenrolled.” The rest are 31.6%
Democrat, 9.7% Republican and 1.3% “other.”
A Boston
Herald editorial
Sunday, February 6, 2022
Healey’s left turn out of woke
playbook
As more
reps leave office early for new jobs, state election
officials on Tuesday are poised to make nomination
papers available to candidates who plan on running
in the 200 newly configured legislative districts
this fall.
In
addition to the churn caused by incumbent lawmakers
running for new elected posts, the next session will
feature more new faces to replace some of the reps
who are jumping ship midway through this session.
Rep. Carolyn Dykema of Holliston departed Friday for
a job in the solar energy sector, and former Reps.
Claire Cronin of Easton and Lori Ehrlich of
Marblehead recently resigned to join the Biden
administration.
The
departures are leaving key posts unfilled, including
House majority leader (Cronin), the House chair of
the Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture
Committee (Dykema), and the House chair of the
Municipalities and Regional Government Committee
(Ehrlich).
Groton
Rep. Sheila Harrington could be confirmed on
Wednesday for a clerk magistrate post, which would
mean another resignation and an opening for Minority
Leader Brad Jones to slot in a new ranking minority
member of the Judiciary Committee.
Over in
the Senate, the co-chairmanship of the Joint
Committee on Transportation, most recently held by
former Sen. Joseph Boncore, has remained vacant
since last September. Sen. Lydia Edwards won a
special election to fill the seat Boncore held, but
House leaders have signaled no plans to hold special
elections to fill the growing number of vacant House
seats, which would leave scores of residents without
representation. Edwards, who remains on the Boston
City Council, joined the Senate on Jan. 20 and has
yet to be assigned to committees.
State
House News Service
Friday, February 11, 2022
Advances - Week of Feb. 13, 2022 |
|
A Boston Herald editorial ("Give
us a break! On taxes") last Sunday stated an observation that's
become obvious to most relatively cognizant citizens and especially
those who pay the state's heavy tax burden:
Taxpayers need a break.
Massachusetts couples shell out the highest
percentage of their income on taxes in the
nation, a new study shows.
Massachusetts took the top
spot for couples filing jointly, with couples
paying 23.51% of their income in taxes. Close
behind is Oregon, at 23.24%, Hawaii, at 23.05%,
and Connecticut, at 22.99%. The lowest rate was
in Tennessee, with taxpaying couples owing just
15.54% of their income to taxes.
This comes as the state
Department of Revenue collected $4.026 billion
in tax revenue from people and businesses last
month. That was 27% more than expected.
Plus, it places
Massachusetts nearly $1.5 billion ahead of its
end-of-fiscal-year target.
Gov. Charlie Baker is
pushing tax-relief proposals that would give
breaks for housing and child care costs and
eliminate the income tax for hundreds of
thousands. Keep on going. The pandemic and
President Biden’s policies have driven up the
cost of just about everything.
Inflation is a hidden tax
that hits everyone. The government needs to put
the needs of taxpayers first as we climb out of
this mandate-heavy moment in history. We back
Baker’s train of thought, but urge he add more
coal to the engine.
The Herald followed up on Wednesday publishing a
column by Avi Nelson who wrote "Awash in cash,
Mass. should cut, not raise taxes"), which in part pointed out:
There are many people and
businesses in Massachusetts struggling during
these pandemic times. The commonwealth is not
among them. The Massachusetts state government
is awash in money. According to the state
comptroller’s office, FY2021 revenues ($57
billion) were 30% ($13 billion) higher than the
original budget estimate. Income tax revenue was
25% ($20 billion) above the budget estimate.
The Massachusetts Lottery
produced a record $1.1 billion in profit. In
fact, the last week of 2021 was highest on
record for Lottery sales. So far, FY2022 is
trending ahead of FY2021 for both revenues and
the Lottery. So, the State House politicians got
more than they expected or planned for.
Idea: They should give some
of it, at least the “excess,” back to the people
who earned it and from whom they took it i.e.,
the Massachusetts taxpayers. An across-the-board
tax refund and cut for next year. But that’s not
on the radar for the Democrat-controlled
legislature. Quite the opposite.
The Democrats on Beacon
Hill are proposing still more taxes. As Chip
Ford of Citizens for Limited Taxation
headlined it, “Record-Shattering Revenue Haul
Still Not Enough.” The current scheme to raise
taxes is a proposed amendment to the state
constitution that would impose a 4% surtax on
people and businesses with income over $1
million. It will be on the ballot this November.
The Democrats tout this as just going after
“millionaires.” But it’s not only about money.
Democrats believe they can get votes and
political benefit from fomenting resentment of
the “rich.” ...
To promote the tax,
Democrat proponents say the revenue generated
would go to education and transportation. But
the actual proposal does not require that. In
fact, there’s a legal challenge over misleading
wording in the summary to be circulated to
voters before the November vote. So, Democrat
legislators (with a few exceptions, such as Rep.
Colleen Garry of Dracut) expect us to simply
trust them about how the new tax money will be
spent.
But legislators don’t keep
their tax promises. Remember the “temporary”
income tax hike of 1989? It was promised to be
for 18 months. But that tax remained even after
CLT’s successful 2000 ballot initiative
to repeal it. The tax finally went back to 5% in
2020 — 30 years later. So much for legislative
trustworthiness.
We can trust Democrat
legislators to have an insatiable desire for
more taxes. But this surtax proposal, for the
largest ever tax increase, is ill-conceived and
ill-timed. Instead, implement a tax cut. It’s
time to refund the hard-working people of
Massachusetts their tax dollars.
Here comes the push by
cities and towns for more taxpayers' cash. At this moment it
appears the Massachusetts Municipal Association
— the statewide
lobbying group for municipal governments — is focused on trying to
convince the Legislature to share some of the state's over-abundance
of tax revenue with cities and towns.
But the Legislature
never likes to share what it considers its private bounty with
anyone, so what we have is the opening salvo of Beacon Hill's
idea of "revenue sharing": Empowering and encouraging cities
and towns to raise more revenue locally, on their own.
The
State House News Service reported on Tuesday ("Muni
Officials Say State Not Sharing Enough Revenue—Collections
Have Far Exceeded Conservative Projections"):
Cities and towns run the
risk of being "permanently left behind" in their
ability to fund key local services without a
change in the way state revenue growth is
calculated, the head of the Massachusetts
Municipal Association warned Tuesday.
Speaking at a meeting of
the Local Government Advisory Commission, MMA
Executive Director Geoff Beckwith asked that
state officials look for another way to gauge
annual revenue growth to make sure that
communities are able to share in the upswings.
"We fear what will happen
to communities if local aid does not keep pace,
not just for this year, but for many years,"
Beckwith said....
Beckwith said state
revenues and unrestricted local aid were
"generally growing at the same rate" until 2020,
when the COVID-19 pandemic knocked the global
economy askew. Since then, he said, the growth
estimates used to set local aid levels have been
"extraordinarily low and missed the mark in
fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2022."
"If this method of
calculating revenue growth isn't corrected,
cities and towns will be permanently left behind
and their capacity to fund key, core services at
the municipal level will be hindered on a
long-term basis for many, many years," Beckwith
said. "And local services are the building
blocks for our state's economy," he said.
He said that while state
revenue growth has averaged about 5 percent each
year, local aid will have risen about 3 percent,
resulting in an approximately "40 percent
difference in terms of revenue sharing for
unrestricted general government aid." ...
Now follow me for a minute
— this will become self-explanatory
ahead.
The State House News Service on Tuesday reported ("Transparency
Measures Disappear In Conference Darkness—Democrats
Can't Agree On Joint Committee Votes
The biennial bill-reporting
deadline came and went last week, but an
11-month legislative disagreement means the
public may never know how their representatives
and senators voted in deliberations over whether
proposals should advance or fall short.
The House and Senate each
supported some form of pulling back the curtain
on how panels vote, but Democrats couldn't agree
on a reform plan and existing legislative rules
do not require joint committees to publish any
breakdown of where members stand on bills they
report....
Today, more than halfway
through the session and with only a bit more
than five months remaining until the end of
formal sessions where the most substantial bills
are considered, last session's rules remain in
place on a temporary basis, modified only in a
few sections outlined in the conference
committee's partial report....
While joint committees have
made decisions on scores of bills - giving them
favorable or adverse reports, or sending them to
dead-end studies - committees are also able to
easily hold on to bills with extension orders.
Even after Joint Rule 10
Day has passed, determining the fate of a bill
can be tricky. For many bills, the online bill
history still does not list if the committee
pushed back its reporting deadline, and the only
way to deduce that information is to study the
bill numbers listed in an extension order.
The bill history is also
slow to update for legislation on which
committees act. Last week, for example, the
Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure
Committee sent to a study a Rep. Mike Connolly
bill (H 4135) that would create a commission to
review and evaluate happy-hour policies,
effectively killing it.
That information is only
apparent on the "reported out of committee" tab
on the committee's website. As of midday Monday,
the bill history for H 4135 still listed the
most recent step as a Nov. 8 hearing.
I reported on Rule 10
last week, that I
had found no movement on the five bills CLT is watching which
attempt to stealthily attack our Proposition 2½.
I wrote:
The legislative
History for each of the following bills indicates that they
remain in the secretive Joint Committee on Revenue — have not
been rejected for this session, not been reported out favorably,
not been condemned to the graveyard of "further study."
A tip of my hat to Chris
Lisinski at the News Service who investigated then mapped out a path
through the maze and revealed where the status of bills still in
committee — or those quietly reported
out — can be found. Now knowing
where to look for the hidden results didn't make finding them easy
and, as Chris noted, some bill histories still haven't been updated
since their public hearings months ago.
Plowing through page after
page of the
Joint Committee on Revenue's reports I was eventually able to
locate the bills we've been following and trying to track
since July. All five of the stealth attacks on Proposition
2½ were passed out of the committee favorably
so each of them is now ready to take the next step into becoming
law.
The Joint Committee on Revenue
Assaults on Proposition 2½
Reported out of Committee Favorably
S.1804 - An Act authorizing a local affordable housing surcharge
Sponsor: Sen. William N. Brownsberger
Reported out "Favorable"
S.1899 - An Act relative to regional transportation ballot
initiatives
Sponsor: Sen. Eric P. Lesser
Reported out "Favorable"
H.3086 - An Act relative to regional ballot initiatives
Sponsor: Rep. Andres X. Vargas
Reported out "Favorable"
accompanied H.2978 [which follows below]
H.2978 - An Act relative to regional transportation ballot
initiatives
Sponsor: Rep. Jack Patrick Lewis
This bill is pending in the House Clerk's Office. Accompanied
H.3086 [directly above]
H.3039 - An Act establishing a local option gas tax
Sponsors: Reps. Smitty Pignatelli and Tommy Vitolo
Reported out "Favorable"
Now we must vigilantly
watch for them to pop up somewhere, discretely buried in some
enormous
"must-pass" bill with little if any connection to
expanding municipal
taxation. Based on usual past legislative machinations, I
expect in the weeks and months ahead one or more of these stealth attacks
will (hopefully) be uncovered in time within some unrelated package
of legislation where it's not expected and doesn't belong
— and be excised or defeated.
It's been done
before.
On Tuesday the
State House News Service reported on Gov. Baker's
proposed tax relief and reforms ("Tax Cuts Force
Look At Stability Of Government, Taxpayers—Sharing
State's Tax Haul Shaping Up As Election-Year Issue"):
Top Democrats said Tuesday
that Gov. Charlie Baker's plan to offer tax
relief to hundreds of thousands of parents,
renters, seniors and other middle-income
taxpayers will get its "due diligence," but were
non-committal on the centerpiece of the
Republican governor's final state spending plan
as he prepares to leave office next year.
Baker has proposed close to
$700 million in tax cuts as multiple governors
around the country are eyeing tax relief this
year. State revenues in Massachusetts continue
to soar as they have throughout the COVID-19
pandemic, creating surpluses and pools of money
that have been used to boost spending and state
reserves....
Legislative leaders on
Beacon Hill, however, cautioned that the state's
fortunes could turn on a dime as federal support
dries up and factors like inflation and tight
supply chains hold the potential to slow
economic growth....
[Administration and Finance
Secretary Michael] Heffernan, who was presenting
his fifth budget on behalf of the
administration, described the state's economy as
"resilient" in the face of an ongoing public
health crisis, and highlighted how Baker's
budget would boost an already healthy $4.6
billion "rainy day" fund to $6.6 billion by the
end of the next fiscal year.
"The state's strong fiscal
standing has also positioned us to be able to
offer relief to Massachusetts taxpayers. This is
especially important at this moment, as people
face continued economic instability and rising
costs due to inflation, supply-chain issues, and
other factors," Heffernan said.
The tax relief push from
the administration comes as the state is
witnessing continued strong tax collections.
After raising its expected fiscal 2022 tax
collection target by $1.5 billion in January,
the Department of Revenue reported earlier this
month that collections are running $1.45 billion
above the revised targets....
Heffernan called the
short-term capital gains rate "markedly
uncompetitive" with other states, and something
important to consider as opportunities for
remote work give employees and businesses the
option of relocating outside of Massachusetts.
He also said that because
of inflation the current estate tax would "trip"
a lot of middle-income families as close to 9
percent of single-family homes in Massachusetts
approach the $1 million valuation mark.
"Because of inflation, many
many more people are paying the estate tax,"
said Heffernan, telling lawmakers that the full
impact of the $231 million tax cut would not be
realized until fiscal year 2024.
Asked by Rep. Ann-Margaret
Ferrante how Baker's spending and tax plan fit
into the context of the November vote on a plan
to add a 4 percent surtax on household income
over $1 million, Heffernan called the so-called
millionaires tax "dangerous policy" and
unnecessary given the way Baker's budget would
simultaneously build state reserves, invest in
long-term liabilities like the pension system
and offer tax relief at the same time.
"If you look at the way our
tax systems work right now, it's working much to
the benefit of all our residents," he said.
Note that
"Legislative leaders on Beacon Hill, however,
cautioned that the state's fortunes could turn on a
dime as federal support dries up and factors like
inflation and tight supply chains hold the potential
to slow economic growth."
The Legislature always
has, or can fabricate, an abundance of "reasons" to avoid any manner
or amount of tax reductions.
House Ways and Means
Chairman Aaron Michlewitz responded to any tax relief that "it was
'a little too early to make any real determinations,' noting that
Baker's plan contains multiple changes to the tax code that each
have their own costs associated."
Clearly once again, more
is never enough and never will be for insatiable legislators
convinced they can spend your money better than you. Once
extracted from taxpayers it's never to be returned
— it becomes theirs to spend however they
like forevermore. What's theirs is theirs and what remains
yours for now is theirs too, for plundering down the road.
|
 |
 |
|
Chip Ford
Executive Director |
|
|
The Boston
Herald
Wednesday, February 9, 2022
Awash in cash, Mass. should cut, not raise taxes
By Avi Nelson
There are many people and businesses in Massachusetts
struggling during these pandemic times. The commonwealth is
not among them. The Massachusetts state government is awash
in money. According to the state comptroller’s office,
FY2021 revenues ($57 billion) were 30% ($13 billion) higher
than the original budget estimate. Income tax revenue was
25% ($20 billion) above the budget estimate.
The Massachusetts Lottery produced a record $1.1 billion in
profit. In fact, the last week of 2021 was highest on record
for Lottery sales. So far, FY2022 is trending ahead of
FY2021 for both revenues and the Lottery. So, the State
House politicians got more than they expected or planned
for.
Idea: They should give some of it, at least the “excess,”
back to the people who earned it and from whom they took it
i.e., the Massachusetts taxpayers. An across-the-board tax
refund and cut for next year. But that’s not on the radar
for the Democrat-controlled legislature. Quite the opposite.
The Democrats on Beacon Hill are proposing still more taxes.
As Chip Ford of Citizens for Limited Taxation
headlined it, “Record-Shattering Revenue Haul Still Not
Enough.” The current scheme to raise taxes is a proposed
amendment to the state constitution that would impose a 4%
surtax on people and businesses with income over $1 million.
It will be on the ballot this November. The Democrats tout
this as just going after “millionaires.” But it’s not only
about money. Democrats believe they can get votes and
political benefit from fomenting resentment of the “rich.”
Class warfare has become a central theme in the Democrats’
political playbook. They strive to pit one group against
another for political gain. This proposed tax is an example.
The 10th Commandment says, “Thou shalt not covet thy
neighbor’s house … or anything that is thy neighbor’s.” But
the Democrats have found a loophole. The commandment
prohibits coveting, but it’s silent about outright taking.
So, the Democrats are contriving an 11th commandment:
“Resent and envy thy wealthier neighbor — and taketh all
thou can from him.” One can’t covet that which one has
already taken.
The Bible aside, the surtax isn’t the “free ride” on other
people’s money that the politicians claim. The Beacon Hill
Institute has calculated that the new tax would cause people
and businesses to leave Massachusetts for other lower tax
states, with a resulting loss of some 9,000 jobs next year
and an associated loss of investment and workers’ disposable
income. The Pioneer Institute has published numerous
analyses showing the detrimental effects of the tax. Not the
least would be the 80% tax increase on one-time sales of
homes and small businesses – the “nest eggs” many people are
counting on for their retirement. So, the surtax would hit
many thousands more people than the “annual” millionaires
Democrat legislators claim are the targets.
To promote the tax, Democrat proponents say the revenue
generated would go to education and transportation. But the
actual proposal does not require that. In fact, there’s a
legal challenge over misleading wording in the summary to be
circulated to voters before the November vote. So, Democrat
legislators (with a few exceptions, such as Rep. Colleen
Garry of Dracut) expect us to simply trust them about how
the new tax money will be spent.
But legislators don’t keep their tax promises. Remember the
“temporary” income tax hike of 1989? It was promised to be
for 18 months. But that tax remained even after CLT’s
successful 2000 ballot initiative to repeal it. The tax
finally went back to 5% in 2020 — 30 years later. So much
for legislative trustworthiness.
We can trust Democrat legislators to have an insatiable
desire for more taxes. But this surtax proposal, for the
largest ever tax increase, is ill-conceived and ill-timed.
Instead, implement a tax cut. It’s time to refund the
hard-working people of Massachusetts their tax dollars.
— Avi Nelson is a
Boston-based political analyst and talk-show host.
State House News
Service
Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Muni Officials Say State Not Sharing Enough Revenue
Collections Have Far Exceeded Conservative Projections
By Katie Lannan
Cities and towns run the risk of being "permanently left
behind" in their ability to fund key local services without
a change in the way state revenue growth is calculated, the
head of the Massachusetts Municipal Association warned
Tuesday.
Speaking at a meeting of the Local Government Advisory
Commission, MMA Executive Director Geoff Beckwith asked that
state officials look for another way to gauge annual revenue
growth to make sure that communities are able to share in
the upswings.
"We fear what will happen to communities if local aid does
not keep pace, not just for this year, but for many years,"
Beckwith said.
Gov. Charlie Baker's fiscal 2023 budget includes $1.2
billion in unrestricted general government aid for the
state's 351 cities and towns, an increase of $31.5 million
or 2.7 percent over this year's budget. Baker and Lt. Gov.
Polito ran for office on a pledge to match the state's
estimated revenue growth with similar increases in local
aid, and budget-writers have projected tax collections will
rise 2.7 percent next year.
The 2.7 percent figure is based on a revised revenue
forecast for this year of $35.9 billion, which was recently
upgraded by more than $1.5 billion. Massachusetts ended
fiscal 2021 with a sizeable surplus and so far this year
actual collections have been running well above benchmarks,
a dynamic that has been prompting municipal officials to
call for additional unrestricted aid next year.
Beckwith said state revenues and unrestricted local aid were
"generally growing at the same rate" until 2020, when the
COVID-19 pandemic knocked the global economy askew. Since
then, he said, the growth estimates used to set local aid
levels have been "extraordinarily low and missed the mark in
fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2022."
"If this method of calculating revenue growth isn't
corrected, cities and towns will be permanently left behind
and their capacity to fund key, core services at the
municipal level will be hindered on a long-term basis for
many, many years," Beckwith said. "And local services are
the building blocks for our state's economy," he said.
He said that while state revenue growth has averaged about 5
percent each year, local aid will have risen about 3
percent, resulting in an approximately "40 percent
difference in terms of revenue sharing for unrestricted
general government aid."
The House and the Senate will draft and pass their own
spending plans in April and May, and Beckwith said the MMA
is asking lawmakers to use the tax revenue prediction baked
into this year's budget as their benchmark for growth, which
would raise unrestricted local government aid by $85.3
million.
On school funding, the MMA wants the minimum aid funding --
the increase districts receive when funding formulas mean
their school aid would not otherwise go up -- to rise from
$30 per student in Baker's plan to $100 per student.
Baker's budget recommends a $485 million hike in Chapter 70
aid to local schools, bringing that account up to $5.989
billion.
Sandwich Town Manager George "Bud" Dunham said that despite
the 8 percent increase in Chapter 70 over this year, 136 of
318 school districts would receive just the minimum aid
increase, for a combined increase of just over $9 million at
those districts.
Sandwich is a minimum-aid community and stands to receive a
1 percent aid increase, he said.
"A 1 percent increase in Chapter 70 funding really doesn't
come close to keeping up with our rising internal costs for
things like employee benefits and school operational needs,"
Dunham said.
Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said the points around school funding
were "well-taken" and that the administration would look
more specifically at the minimum-aid districts.
She told the local officials that the administration had
"tried hard in the revenue sharing to hold you harmless
during those tough years" when state tax collections landed
below projections.
"We all know that in 2020, everything changed, so a formula
that would have run, I think, in a good way had the pandemic
not occurred, probably would have continued on that track,"
she said.
State House News
Service
Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Transparency Measures Disappear In Conference Darkness
Democrats Can't Agree On Joint Committee Votes
By Chris Lisinski
The biennial bill-reporting deadline came and went last
week, but an 11-month legislative disagreement means the
public may never know how their representatives and senators
voted in deliberations over whether proposals should advance
or fall short.
The House and Senate each supported some form of pulling
back the curtain on how panels vote, but Democrats couldn't
agree on a reform plan and existing legislative rules do not
require joint committees to publish any breakdown of where
members stand on bills they report.
Some joint committees could still volunteer that
information, but the failure of House and Senate Democrats
to find consensus on the transparency measures means that
the individual preference of each panel's chairs determines
whether a vote breakdown becomes public.
At the start of the 2021-2022 lawmaking session, the
Legislature adopted joint rules that governed the 2019-2020
session -- which do not require disclosure of joint
committee votes -- as a temporary placeholder.
The Senate's version of a joint rules package for the
2021-2022 session (S.14) would have made "any recorded votes
on a favorable or adverse report on an individual bill"
publicly available online. The House's version (H.68) was
more limited, calling for a committee to post names only for
committee members who vote against a bill alongside "an
aggregate tally of members voting in the affirmative,
members not voting and members reserving their rights."
Both branches insisted on their own approach to the joint
rules, with differences including other sections covering
public notice of hearings and access to testimony submitted
by the public, and legislative leaders on March 22, 2021
tasked a six-member conference committee with finding
compromise.
That panel quickly produced a limited agreement (S.39) that
formalized the joint committee structure, but it left the
remainder of the proposed joint rules packages -- which
total 31 pages in the Senate and 45 pages in the House --
untouched.
Today, more than halfway through the session and with only a
bit more than five months remaining until the end of formal
sessions where the most substantial bills are considered,
last session's rules remain in place on a temporary basis,
modified only in a few sections outlined in the conference
committee's partial report.
The conference committee's membership has been depleted. One
of the three Senate conferees, former Sen. Joe Boncore,
resigned in September for a job leading the Massachusetts
Biotechnology Council. The lead House negotiator, former
Majority Leader Claire Cronin, left in January to become
U.S. ambassador to Ireland.
Neither chamber has appointed successors to fill those
positions, according to the Senate clerk's office.
House-only and Senate-only committees, including each
branch's Ways and Means Committee, must provide some
information about how they vote under chamber-specific rules
in place. Mirroring each branch's proposal for joint
committees, House panels must publish names of members who
vote against bills and aggregate numbers of supporters and
abstainers, while Senate panels must post each member's
recorded vote.
A section of the Legislature's rules known as Joint Rule 10
sets the first Wednesday in February in even years as the
date by which most committees must give up-or-down
recommendations to all bills under their purview.
While joint committees have made decisions on scores of
bills - giving them favorable or adverse reports, or sending
them to dead-end studies - committees are also able to
easily hold on to bills with extension orders.
Even after Joint Rule 10 Day has passed, determining the
fate of a bill can be tricky. For many bills, the online
bill history still does not list if the committee pushed
back its reporting deadline, and the only way to deduce that
information is to study the bill numbers listed in an
extension order.
The bill history is also slow to update for legislation on
which committees act. Last week, for example, the Consumer
Protection and Professional Licensure Committee sent to a
study a Rep. Mike Connolly bill (H 4135) that would create a
commission to review and evaluate happy-hour policies,
effectively killing it.
That information is only apparent on the "reported out of
committee" tab on the committee's website. As of midday
Monday, the bill history for H 4135 still listed the most
recent step as a Nov. 8 hearing.
State House News
Service
Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Tax Cuts Force Look At Stability Of Government, Taxpayers
Sharing State's Tax Haul Shaping Up As Election-Year Issue
By Matt Murphy
Top Democrats said Tuesday that Gov. Charlie Baker's plan to
offer tax relief to hundreds of thousands of parents,
renters, seniors and other middle-income taxpayers will get
its "due diligence," but were non-committal on the
centerpiece of the Republican governor's final state
spending plan as he prepares to leave office next year.
Baker has proposed close to $700 million in tax cuts as
multiple governors around the country are eyeing tax relief
this year. State revenues in Massachusetts continue to soar
as they have throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, creating
surpluses and pools of money that have been used to boost
spending and state reserves.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker offered $1 billion in tax cuts as
part of his budget this year, and Connecticut Gov. Ned
Lamont has proposed $336 million in tax relief. Both are
Democrats.
Legislative leaders on Beacon Hill, however, cautioned that
the state's fortunes could turn on a dime as federal support
dries up and factors like inflation and tight supply chains
hold the potential to slow economic growth. House Ways and
Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz also cited the need to fully
fund the Student Opportunity Act, protect vulnerable
residents from a "housing crisis" and invest in
transportation.
"I'm absolutely open minded," Senate Ways and Means Chairman
Michael Rodrigues said after the hearing.
Michlewitz said it was "a little too early to make any real
determinations," noting that Baker's plan contains multiple
changes to the tax code that each have their own costs
associated.
"Obviously the governor put significant efforts making this
a part of his budget. I think we want to give him the due
respect of at least analyzing it and making sure that it's
getting its full due diligence, and so that's something were
working on together now," Michlewitz said.
The Legislature kicked off its annual budget process on
Tuesday when Administration and Finance Secretary Michael
Heffernan, along with other statewide elected officials,
testified before the House and Senate Ways and Means
committees on Baker's $48.5 billion budget proposal for
fiscal 2023.
Heffernan, who was presenting his fifth budget on behalf of
the administration, described the state's economy as
"resilient" in the face of an ongoing public health crisis,
and highlighted how Baker's budget would boost an already
healthy $4.6 billion "rainy day" fund to $6.6 billion by the
end of the next fiscal year.
"The state's strong fiscal standing has also positioned us
to be able to offer relief to Massachusetts taxpayers. This
is especially important at this moment, as people face
continued economic instability and rising costs due to
inflation, supply-chain issues, and other factors,"
Heffernan said.
The tax relief push from the administration comes as the
state is witnessing continued strong tax collections. After
raising its expected fiscal 2022 tax collection target by
$1.5 billion in January, the Department of Revenue reported
earlier this month that collections are running $1.45
billion above the revised targets.
The administration attributed some growth to tax law changes
that produced a temporary bump, but even after backing out
those revenues, they say the state is running $794 million,
or 4 percent, ahead of benchmarks.
Michlewitz said it was important after two years of
budgeting in a pandemic that legislators "find stability and
predictability in our budget system, something that has been
nearly impossible during this COVID-19 era."
"Throughout these unprecedented times, the commonwealth has
seen historic highs in terms of our revenue numbers. We have
made some difficult decisions along the way to make that
happen. However, without the assistance from the federal
government it is safe to say that we would be dealing with
an entirely different budgetary situation than we are right
now," the Boston Democrat said.
"Unfortunately, this level of support is not permanent and
going forward we must keep that in mind as we plan this
budget cycle and the ones that follow it," Michlewitz
continued.
Baker has proposed to double tax credits for dependents and
child care, double the allowable maximum for the senior
circuit breaker property tax credit and increase the cap on
deductions for rent payments from $3,000 to $5,000.
He is also looking to raise the income level at which people
are required to file taxes to $12,400 for single filers,
$18,650 for heads of households, and $24,800 for joint
filers in a move that would save about 234,000 low-income
taxpayers $41 million annually.
The rest of Baker's tax plan calls for cutting the tax rate
on short-term capital gains from 12 percent to 5 percent and
doubling the threshold at which the estate tax kicks in to
$2 million, with the tax only applying to the value of
estate above $2 million rather than the whole amount.
Heffernan called the short-term capital gains rate "markedly
uncompetitive" with other states, and something important to
consider as opportunities for remote work give employees and
businesses the option of relocating outside of
Massachusetts.
He also said that because of inflation the current estate
tax would "trip" a lot of middle-income families as close to
9 percent of single-family homes in Massachusetts approach
the $1 million valuation mark.
"Because of inflation, many many more people are paying the
estate tax," said Heffernan, telling lawmakers that the full
impact of the $231 million tax cut would not be realized
until fiscal year 2024.
Asked by Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante how Baker's spending and
tax plan fit into the context of the November vote on a plan
to add a 4 percent surtax on household income over $1
million, Heffernan called the so-called millionaires tax
"dangerous policy" and unnecessary given the way Baker's
budget would simultaneously build state reserves, invest in
long-term liabilities like the pension system and offer tax
relief at the same time.
"If you look at the way our tax systems work right now, it's
working much to the benefit of all our residents," he said.
While members of the committee spent very little time
delving into Baker's tax cut plans, both Michlewitz and
Rodrigues focused much of their questioning on the state's
MassHealth program, which at $17.8 billion gross is the
largest single part of the budget.
Heffernan said the overall size of the MassHealth, or state
Medicaid, program is projected to decrease by $1.8 billion
in fiscal 2023 due to the end of enhanced federal
reimbursements tied to the COVID-19 public health emergency
and the ability for the state to resume the eligibility
redetermination process later this year.
The cost to the state for administering the health benefits
program, however, is projected to climb $293 million, or 4
percent, including a $115 million investment in behavioral
health services and a fully-staffed help-line to connect
individuals to mental health and addiction treatment at any
time of day.
Both Rodrigues and Michlewitz said they were concerned that
individuals and families might not be prepared to transition
off MassHealth as the state begins to redetermine
eligibility, a process that has been frozen during the
federal COVID-19 health emergency set to expire on April 11.
"We don't want to surprise anyone going forward," Heffernan
said, explaining that the state must give 45 days notice and
benefits won't begin to expire until mid-July at the
earliest.
The secretary said the administration expects the MassHealth
rolls to be trimmed from about 2.16 million during the
pandemic to 1.9 million, which is still above the 1.75
million pre-pandemic enrollment, but Heffernan said most of
those people would become eligible for employer-sponsored
coverage or a subsidized plan through the Health Connector.
Another highlight of Baker's budget is a proposed $591.4
million increase in public education spending to fund the
Student Opportunity Act, including a $485 million increase
Chapter 70 funding. Heffernan said low-income school
districts will receive the biggest boost after the state
recorded an increase of 26,000 students in October
qualifying as low-income.
The budget calls for the quadrupling of the Residential
Assistance for Families in Transition program to $80 million
to fund a permanent increase of the benefit limit to $7,000
over 12 months, up from $4,000 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
And Heffernan told the committee that Baker will soon file a
supplemental budget for fiscal 2022 that would include more
funding for rental assistance to build on the $620 million
in state and federal funding deployed to prevent housing
instability during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Baker's budget would also put an additional $250 million
into the state's pension reserve to lower future annual
pension obligations, funds the implementation of the 2020
policing reform law and increases spending on reentry and
diversion programs to $78.3 million, along with a proposal
to eliminate all parole and probation fees.
The committees on Tuesday also heard from Secretary of State
William Galvin, Treasurer Deb Goldberg, Auditor Suzanne
Bump, Inspector General Glenn Cunha and Secretary of
Technology Services and Security Curt Wood.
Galvin told lawmakers that Baker's budget has "dramatically
underfunded" elections, and Bump requested $500,000 to help
her office launch an information technology audit initiative
in the new year.
"It's essential that an organization's IT infrastructure and
data are secure as the number of and level of sophistication
in cyber threats continue to increase," Bump said.
Attorney General Maura Healey did not testify Tuesday due to
a scheduling conflict, but her office said it was working
with legislators to find a future date when she could do so.
The House and Senate Ways and Means Committee plan seven
more hearings over the coming weeks to dig into more
specific areas of the governor's budget, according to
Michlewitz, before the House releases and debates its
version of the budget in April.
— Sam Doran contributed
reporting.
CommonWealth
Magazine
Tuesday, February 8, 2021
A&F Secretary Heffernan calls millionaire’s tax ‘dangerous’
MassHealth, cybersecurity, alcohol, and other budget hearing
takeaways
By Shira Schoenberg
Raising taxes on income over $1 million would be a
“dangerous policy,” given how well the state is doing
financially under the current tax system, Secretary of
Administration and Finance Michael Heffernan said Tuesday.
“I think that if you look at the way our tax system works
rights now, it’s working much to the benefit of all our
residents,” Heffernan told the House and Senate Ways and
Means Committees.
Gov. Charlie Baker has long opposed the “millionaire’s tax,”
a constitutional amendment headed toward the November ballot
that would raise the tax rate on income over $1 million by 4
percentage points. Heffernan was asked about the proposal
during the committee’s first fiscal 2023 budget hearing. His
comments reflect what is becoming a primary argument by
opponents of the tax increase: The state is awash in cash,
so more money is unnecessary.
Heffernan said wealthy residents already pay the biggest
portion of state taxes. The state tax rate is a flat 5
percent, so residents with more money pay more in absolute
dollars. Heffernan said millionaires make up half a percent
of the population but pay 24 to 25 percent of state income
taxes. The wealthiest 10 percent of taxpayers pay 50 percent
of taxes. “We have a very progressive income tax system
because of the way it’s been set up in statute,” he said.
Heffernan said within current revenues, which have been
incredibly strong due to an influx in federal recovery
money, Massachusetts has added to its “rainy day” reserve
fund, fully funded state services, paid more toward its
pension liability, and Baker is proposing $700 million in
tax breaks. Heffernan said Massachusetts previously lowered
its income and corporate tax rates and “enjoyed robust tax
revenue because we’ve been very consistent on our tax
policy.”
The hearing was held mostly virtually and gave lawmakers who
write the state budget their first opportunity to publicly
delve into Baker’s $48.5 billion budget proposal. The
committees also heard from Secretary of State William
Galvin, Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, Auditor Suzanne Bump,
Inspector General Glenn Cunha, and Executive Office of
Technology Services and Security Secretary Curtis Wood.
Attorney General Maura Healey was unable to attend. Her
office said she is working with the committee to find
another date to testify.
Here are some takeaways from the multi-hour hearing.
Tax policy
Lawmakers gave little indication where they stand on the
governor’s proposed $700 million tax cut package. Heffernan
said the package “will reduce taxes for hundreds of
thousands of hardworking families and low-income residents,
and it will align the Commonwealth with most other states to
support our competitiveness and encourage our citizens to
continue calling Massachusetts home.”
The only question a committee member asked on the specifics
of the proposal came from House Ways and Means chair Aaron
Michlewitz, who asked about savings estimates from raising
the threshold and changing the structure of the estate tax.
Heffernan said both the estate tax and a tax on short-term
capital gains, which Baker wants to lower, are catching
increasing numbers of middle-income residents. Heffernan
said around 9 percent of single-family homes in
Massachusetts are approaching a million-dollar valuation.
“Because of inflation, many more people are paying the
estate tax,” Heffernan said.
Education enrollment
State education funding is based on enrollment numbers as of
the prior October. During the first year of the pandemic,
enrollment in public schools dropped by around 37,000 and
many of those students did not return in 2021. But Heffernan
said there has been one change in enrollment: an additional
26,000 students now qualify as low-income.
“There is a not insignificant shift in need inside public
education,” Heffernan said.
Districts get more money for teaching poorer students
because those students tend to need more services.
MassHealth
During the pandemic, MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid
program, expanded from covering 1.75 million low-income
individuals to covering more than 2.1 million people. Part
of the reason was the federal government barred states from
redetermining eligibility for Medicaid and kicking people
off their health plan during the state of emergency. (The
federal government provided higher reimbursements to pay for
these individuals.)
With the federal state of emergency set to end April 11,
state health officials are planning to begin the
redetermination process, so they can stop providing
MassHealth insurance to people who are no longer eligible.
This could be, for example, someone who lost a job, then
found a new one, and can now obtain employer-based
insurance.
Heffernan said he estimates MassHealth will level out around
1.9 million people – a loss of about 200,000 individuals.
Senate Ways and Means chair Michael Rodrigues pressed
Heffernan about how MassHealth will tell people they are
losing coverage. “It will be our legislative offices that
will hear from constituents as they’re redetermined,”
Rodrigues said.
Heffernan said there are federal guidelines for conducting
redeterminations, including a 45-day notice period, and the
earliest people could start losing coverage would be June.
He said there will be “plenty of notice and communication.”
Rental assistance
Advocates for low-income tenants have been worrying about
what will happen as federal housing assistance money runs
out. Already, state housing officials began cutting back
some housing assistance benefits to preserve funding.
Advocates had asked lawmakers to find more money to save the
benefits.
Heffernan announced Tuesday that Baker plans to file a
supplemental budget in the coming weeks that will seek
additional money for rental assistance as the
state’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program exhausts its
funding. Lawmakers would still have to act on the
supplemental budget, but the idea presumably would be to
fill the gap between the time the money runs out and the
July start of the next fiscal year.
Alcohol
One change in people’s living patterns during the pandemic
was in how they consume alcohol. More people are drinking at
home, and fewer are drinking out.
Testifying about the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission’s
performance last year, Treasurer Deborah Goldberg said 8
percent of state licensees (wholesalers, manufacturers, and
shipping companies) did not renew their licenses, and 5
percent of retailers with municipal licensees did not renew.
At the same time, there was a surge in direct-to-consumer
alcohol deliveries, which were up a whopping 300 percent.
Redistricting and re-precincting
The decennial redrawing of district and voting precinct
lines will create headaches for local and state election
officials, Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin said.
Galvin said normally, about 10 percent of precincts are
divided into “sub precincts,” where voters who vote at the
same polling place must receive different ballots. This
year, there is a “much higher percentage” of precincts
requiring multiple ballots.
This happens because of differences in where the lines are
drawn for legislative races compared to municipal races.
Typically, local communities draw their boundary lines
first, followed by the Legislature. This year, due to census
delays, the process was reversed.
Galvin said there will be higher costs because more ballots
and personnel are needed in those precincts. Galvin also
said he will need to print more ballots because the
Legislature is moving toward approving early voting by mail.
Galvin said the budget Baker proposed for the 2022 election
is “dramatically underfunded” and “inadequate to conduct the
election as we’re all planning and expecting it to be.”
Cybersecurity
Maintaining cybersecurity is becoming increasingly important
as sophisticated hackers have tried to target government at
all levels. Auditor Suzanne Bump said audits she has
conducted related to internal controls and cybersecurity
training have found imperfect compliance with agency
protocols. She asked lawmakers to give her $500,000 to
launch an audit initiative related to information
technology.
“This office needs to become more expert and aggressive in
auditing the performance of IT systems and ensuring
compliance with national and international security
standards,” Bump said. “We need a team of well-trained IT
professionals to be able to probe more deeply and test for
system vulnerabilities.”
Executive Office of Technology Services and Security
Secretary Curtis Wood also asked for a budget increase,
primarily to address cybersecurity. Wood said there has been
a “dramatic increase” in threats as governments transitioned
to more remote work. “It is critical for the Commonwealth to
remain in a state of readiness and preparedness to best
position itself to mitigate potential cyber threats and
maintain continuity of government services for the customers
and constituents we serve,” Wood said.
State House News
Service
Friday, February 11, 2022
Weekly Roundup - Chains of Command
Recap and analysis of the week in state government
By Matt Murphy
Masks. Wear 'em if you want to.
Massachusetts joined a growing number of states around the
country this week that began to relax masking requirements
as the omicron surge fades and imaginations drift to what it
would be like to see people's full faces again.
Stepping back into what has become an increasingly
polarized, and political, debate over the continued
necessity of masking, Gov. Charlie Baker made the decision
to allow masking requirements in public schools to lapse at
the end of the month when his order is set to expire.
And Baker was not alone.
Governors in about a dozen states took similar actions, from
California and Illinois to Connecticut. But the herd could
not fully protect Baker from the blowback that was to be
expected, as some Democrats and teachers unions questioned
whether it was too soon, or if he should at least wait a few
more weeks until after the upcoming school vacation.
"Our kids have had to put up with a lot of disruption, a lot
of time alone, and have suffered a real learning loss over
the past two years," Baker said. "Given the extremely low
risk for young people, the widespread availability and the
proven effectiveness of vaccines, and the distribution of
accurate test protocols and tests, it's time to give our
kids a sense of normalcy."
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on
Thursday reported 6,723 cases of COVID-19 among students and
staff over the previous week, an 86.8 percent decrease in
school-reported cases over the last five weeks.
Baker, of course, said local school districts are free to
keep mask mandates in place if they wish, and that's exactly
what Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said she intends to do.
Wu said Boston would wait to drop masks in the classroom
until transmission and hospitalization rates support such a
decision, the same metrics the mayor is using to determine
when to lift the city's indoor vaccination mandate for
businesses. Other cities and towns will be making similar
calls before the end of the month.
But if it's good for the goose, what about the ...
Legislature?
Still shuttered to the public after 703 days, Baker said he
believes the State House should reopen to visitors and
anyone with business before their elected representatives,
but legislative leaders continue to slow walk that
decision-making process.
As Baker made his school masking announcement in the
third-floor library of the State House, protesters in the
basement pushed past security demanding access to the
"People's House," among other gripes they chose to air.
"It's their building, it's their call," Baker said,
referring to the House and Senate.
Technically, it seems the governor might have a point. While
the Bureau of the State House sits within the executive
branch, Massachusetts General Laws stipulate that the
building superintendent should operate and maintain the
building "subject to such rules as the committee on rules of
the 2 branches, acting concurrently, may adopt..."
There was nothing concurrent about Senate President Karen
Spilka's declaration that she intends to open Senate
sessions to the public on Feb. 22, but it remains to be seen
how exactly that would work.
Spilka said the reopening of the State House must be
contingent on visitors being vaccinated for COVID-19 and
wearing masks, but her office had nothing to say about how
that would be enforced, or what would happen once a visitor
entered the building and was free to roam.
Perhaps she was just trying to use a deadline to spur the
House to get on board with a reopening plan, but only time
will tell.
House Speaker Ron Mariano, who supports proof of vaccination
to enter the building, wouldn't say if he supports a Feb. 22
reopening.
"The Speaker is eager to safely reopen to the public,"
Mariano spokeswoman Ana Vivas said on Friday afternoon.
"Understanding it's a public building, the Speaker is
prioritizing safety while also ensuring everyone has equal
access when open to the public. The House is in active
conversations with the Administration and the Senate to
finalize the plan and work through logistics."
Mariano may not be ready to hang the welcome sign above the
General Hooker entrance, but after years (decades?) of
debating whether undocumented immigrants should be able to
get a driver's license the speaker is ready to try to answer
that question. And the answer is, "Yes."
Mariano signaled plans to put the license bill on the floor
next week for a vote, the first time it has progressed that
far in either branch. Baker has long suggested opposition to
the idea, but House leaders say they're hopeful once he sees
the public safety protections included in the legislation he
can be persuaded.
Like dropping its school mask mandate, Massachusetts
wouldn't be alone in this either. Sixteen states and the
District of Columbia already have laws allowing residents
who can't prove legal status in the United States to show
other documentation to prove their identity and qualify for
a license.
Mariano's vote-whipping skills will be put to the test next
week, and it's likely he'll find more opposition than he did
Thursday to legislation reforming oversight of the Holyoke
and Chelsea soldiers' homes.
The bill spawned from multiple investigations into a
early-pandemic COVID-19 outbreak at the Holyoke long-term
care facilities won near unanimous support in the House, but
one vote that wasn't immediately evident from the 156-1
tally was that of Rep. Linda Dean Campbell.
The retiring Methuen Democrat and veteran voted present,
despite helping to lead the Legislature's investigation into
the Holyoke tragedy and writing a comprehensive reform bill
with Sen. Michael Rush.
Campbell said the bill she and Rush wrote was "much more
comprehensive" than the one leadership presented on
Thursday. Among other changes, the House bill did not
elevate the secretary of veterans affairs to full Cabinet
status or give the governor direct authority to hire, and
fire, the superintendent of the facilities.
Both reforms, Campbell and others said, would help establish
a clear chain of command after so much was made in the
aftermath of Holyoke of how much Baker knew and when.
The Senate will get its chance at the soldiers' home bill
soon, Spilka said, but first up was Sen. Cindy Friedman's
bill to rein in high pharmaceutical costs, putting the drug
manufacturers and pharmacy benefit manager under greater
state scrutiny and capping out-of-pocket patient costs for
insulin at $25 a month.
While the Legislature made progress on some of the
priorities of its leaders this week, the chairs of the House
and Senate Ways and Means committees were more circumspect
when it came to one of Gov. Baker's top budgetary
initiatives - tax relief.
Administration and Finance Secretary Mike Heffernan kicked
off the annual budget hearing process by making the case for
Baker's package of nearly $700 million in tax cuts for
renters, seniors, low-income households, middle-class
investors and anyone who pays the estate tax.
Heffernan said it was time to give back and make
Massachusetts more competitive at a time when employees and
businesses have more freedom than ever before to live and
work where they want, or can afford.
Rep. Aaron Michlewitz and Sen. Michael Rodrigues both said
they'd give Baker's proposal its due respect, but neither
appeared to be drooling over the prospect of tax cuts, even
in an election year.
Speaking of which, Secretary of State William Galvin is
running for reelection this fall and warning that Baker's
budget proposal deeply underfunds elections, especially if
the Legislature expects to authorize voting-by-mail.
Rep. Carolyn Dykema won't be on the ballot, working her last
day in the Legislature this week as she leaves for a job in
the solar energy industry, and Rep. Sheila Harrington could
be next to depart after her confirmation hearing before the
Governor's Council this week to become the next clerk
magistrate in Gardner District Court.
Unlike those two colleagues, Republican Rep. Shawn Dooley
hopes to be on the ballot in November, but he'll be running
for the Senate instead of his House seat after deciding to
take on incumbent Democrat Sen. Becca Rausch in a district
historically favorable to Republicans.
Remember when President Donald Trump was running for
reelection and a controversy ignited over Trump's name being
included on the memo line of stimulus checks being mailed
out to millions of Americans?
Well, we're not sure if Baker's name will be on the checks
when they start going out next month (and he's not running
for reelection), but the governor finalized plans this week
to send $500 to about 500,000 low-income workers.
The money was included as part of the $4 billion American
Rescue Plan Act spending law and intended to be a bonus for
low-income, frontline workers who stayed on the job during
the early days of the pandemic, though the only criteria
Baker is using for eligibility in this round is income.
The checks to be mailed in March allocate about $250 million
of the $460 million bonus-pay fund.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Masks are coming off, but the State
House's doors remain locked, for now.
State House News
Service
Friday, February 11, 2022
License Access Bill Advances On Party Line Vote
Redraft Could Hit House Floor For Vote Next Week
By Chris Lisinski
For the second straight session, a legislative committee
advanced legislation with 14 votes in favor that would allow
undocumented immigrants to acquire driver's licenses.
This time, the bill appears certain to proceed beyond the
committee stage to a vote in at least one chamber.
A day after House Speaker Ronald Mariano announced that he
planned to bring the immigrant licensing bill to the floor
next week, the Joint Transportation Committee favorably
reported the bill with a 14-3 vote along party lines.
The three votes against pushing the bill forward came from
the panel's only House Republicans: Rep. David DeCoste of
Norwell, Rep. Steven Howitt of Seekonk and Rep. Norman
Orrall of Lakeville.
A Mariano spokesperson, who provided the breakdown to the
News Service, said 14 members of the panel voted in favor of
advancing the bill while two others reserved their rights.
The spokesperson declined to identify the two members who
opted against taking a position, citing House rules that
call for House-specific panels to release only the names of
lawmakers who vote in the negative alongside an aggregate
total of how many voted in the affirmative or withheld their
votes.
Sen. Patrick O'Connor of Weymouth, the committee's only
Senate Republican, confirmed to the News Service he was one
of the two lawmakers who reserved their rights.
O'Connor said he has "serious concerns with this policy in
particular" and thinks it constitutes "weighing in on things
that should be done at the federal level." He said he often
declines to take a position during committee polls on
controversial bills.
"I wanted to continue to see the debate transpire," O'Connor
said. "The real vote that matters is what's going to happen
on the floor of the House or the floor of the Senate."
The same trio of House Republicans and former Republican
Sen. Dean Tran voted in the negative two years ago, when the
Transportation Committee first advanced a similar version of
the bill with a 14-4 vote. However, the legislation never
emerged for a vote in either chamber in the 2019-2020
lawmaking session.
The Transportation Committee's redrafted bill would allow
residents without proof of lawful presence in the United
States, including individuals ineligible for a Social
Security number, to obtain a license if they have sufficient
alternative documentation that proves their identity, date
of birth and residency in the Bay State.
Sixteen other states and the District of Columbia allow
undocumented immigrants to receive driver's licenses,
according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Supporters say the measure will improve public safety by
ensuring that undocumented immigrants -- many of whom might
choose to drive today without a license -- undergo proper
road testing and education before getting behind the wheel.
Senate President Karen Spilka has previously voiced support
for the proposal.
"I believe that for public safety reasons, even just if you
look at it alone, we should pass it," Spilka said in a
September 2019 radio interview. "We have people that are
driving -- they're going to keep driving -- that don't know
the rules of the road. They have accidents. They run from
them because they don't have insurance. They don't have a
license, they're afraid of being deported."
"There's like 14 other states that have done this and the
sky hasn't fallen," Spilka added in that interview.
A majority of representatives and senators co-sponsored the
original versions of the bill (H 3456 / S 2289), referred to
as the Work and Family Mobility Act, though it remains
unclear if Mariano will be able to line up enough votes to
constitute the two-thirds majority needed to override a
potential gubernatorial veto.
Baker has said he opposes the push to make driver's licenses
available to undocumented immigrants, but has not publicly
threatened to veto the bill.
Democrats wield supermajority margins in both chambers. The
House -- currently down to a total of 158 members due to two
vacancies -- has 128 Democrats, 29 Republicans and one
independent, while the Senate has 37 Democrats and three
Republicans.
The Boston
Herald
Sunday, February 6, 2022
A Boston Herald editorial
Healey’s left turn out of woke playbook
Maura Healey is an astute politician.
That’s why she’s ripping a page out of Ed Markey’s
re-election playbook by quickly letting everyone know she’s
as progressive as any rival.
Sen. Markey outmaneuvered Joe Kennedy III with a deft
political reinvention that had him morph into the Bernie
Sanders of Massachusetts. AOC and other younger progressives
rallied to Markey’s side and he blew past JoeKIII winning
re-election. (55.3% to 44.6%)
Maura Healey, it appears, took note.
This past week she announced for all to hear that she’s “a
proud progressive and I am incredibly proud of my record.”
That’s textbook primary calculus. She first needs to defeat
gubernatorial rivals state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz and Harvard
professor Danielle Allen.
The primary is Sept. 20 with the general election set for
Nov. 8. Republicans Geoff Diehl, a former Whitman state
representative who is endorsed by former President Donald
Trump, and Wrentham businessman Chris Doughty, we’re sure,
will remember this pivot by Healey.
But what will voters say?
As of this weekend, Massachusetts has roughly 4.7 million
voters. A majority — 57.4% — are independent-minded and
register as “unenrolled.” The rest are 31.6% Democrat, 9.7%
Republican and 1.3% “other.” That’s all rounded out by the
secretary of state’s office.
It’s clear, Healey is taking a calculated risk. People will
soak in all she says in the coming months on the campaign
trail. There’s also a huge difference between running for
U.S. Senate and governor.
Massachusetts voters are wary of a state Legislature weighed
down by Democrats. The only check sits in the corner office,
but Charlie Baker isn’t seeking re-election. So, your tax
dollars could fall victim to a rubber-stamping if Healey,
Chang-Diaz and Allen — or whomever else jumps in on the left
— win. Diehl and or Doughty are all that stand in the way.
State House News Service
Friday, February 11, 2022
Advances - Week of Feb. 13, 2022
Two rare commutation votes, debate on a bill to make
undocumented immigrants eligible for state-issued driver's
licenses, and preparations for the possible reopening of the
State House are among the marquee items on the agenda for
the week ahead.
The word endemic keeps popping up as the next phase for
COVID-19 but given the collective lack of experience with
pandemics and the relative novelty of vaccines and boosters
for this potentially deadly virus, the shift from one phase
to the next has ratcheted up the debate over mask-wearing
and the wisdom of requiring people to be vaccinated in order
to be allowed entry into public spaces. For instance, Senate
President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano want to
only allow those who can prove they are vaccinated into the
State House, but Gov. Charlie Baker opposes that type of
requirement and legislative leaders appear to be wrestling
with a plan that offers equal access to all.
House and Senate leaders are running out of time to announce
guidelines if they wish to open this month, as Spilka
desires. The Senate president said she wants to open Senate
sessions to in-person visitors on Feb. 22, but talks are
ongoing with the House on a broader reopening plan.
As more reps leave office early for new jobs, state election
officials on Tuesday are poised to make nomination papers
available to candidates who plan on running in the 200 newly
configured legislative districts this fall.
In addition to the churn caused by incumbent lawmakers
running for new elected posts, the next session will feature
more new faces to replace some of the reps who are jumping
ship midway through this session. Rep. Carolyn Dykema of
Holliston departed Friday for a job in the solar energy
sector, and former Reps. Claire Cronin of Easton and Lori
Ehrlich of Marblehead recently resigned to join the Biden
administration.
The departures are leaving key posts unfilled, including
House majority leader (Cronin), the House chair of the
Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Committee (Dykema),
and the House chair of the Municipalities and Regional
Government Committee (Ehrlich).
Groton Rep. Sheila Harrington could be confirmed on
Wednesday for a clerk magistrate post, which would mean
another resignation and an opening for Minority Leader Brad
Jones to slot in a new ranking minority member of the
Judiciary Committee.
Over in the Senate, the co-chairmanship of the Joint
Committee on Transportation, most recently held by former
Sen. Joseph Boncore, has remained vacant since last
September. Sen. Lydia Edwards won a special election to fill
the seat Boncore held, but House leaders have signaled no
plans to hold special elections to fill the growing number
of vacant House seats, which would leave scores of residents
without representation. Edwards, who remains on the Boston
City Council, joined the Senate on Jan. 20 and has yet to be
assigned to committees.
Storylines In Progress
... Having already passed bills dealing with hospital sector
consolidation (House) and mental health care access
(Senate), the Senate moved the health care debate further
downfield this week with approval of a prescription drug
access and pricing bill. Meantime, the wait continues for
the sweeping health care bill that Gov. Charlie Baker has
promised to offer
... Spilka this week suggested the Senate will act soon
after the House on reforms to improve oversight and
accountability at the state's two long-term care homes for
veterans. The House approved its proposal on Thursday
... Progressive activists frustrated that their priorities
are hung up in the Democrat-controlled Legislature plan to
speak out on Monday
... The fiscal 2023 state budget season continues on Tuesday
with another Joint Ways and Means Committee hearing about
Baker's $48.5 billion bill, this time focusing on health and
human services spending
... A Senate committee will get an update from the energy
and environment secretary as the Baker administration works
to implement the 2021 climate roadmap law, which includes
significant July 1 deadlines.
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