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CLT UPDATE
Sunday, July 24, 2022
Final Week of Session,
Historic Chaos on Beacon Hill
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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Remember a
couple hundred Senate amendments to the economic
development bill ago, and a gun bill ago, and an
Orange Line inferno ago, and a climate bill
agreement ago, and a presidential visit ago, when
they passed the long-awaited state budget? Remember
back then?
Yeah, that
was Monday. Yes, this most recent Monday...four days
ago.
That's
life at the State House in late July of an
even-numbered year -- when the deadline for formal
sessions is so near that the SHNS session-end
counter is ticking away and the clerks offices burn
the midnight oil. Items of significance pop up so
quickly, and in such profusion, that time warps for
those foolish enough to pay close attention.
The House
and Senate this week showed just how quickly they
can work when they want or need to. An overdue
fiscal year 2023 state budget that spends $5 billion
more than the last one was filed at 6:50 p.m. Sunday
and the Legislature was done with it before 4 p.m.
Monday.
The $52.7
billion spending plan covers huge amounts of ground.
Thanks to the enormous financial flexibility
afforded by strong state tax collections and
economic growth, lawmakers plan to spend millions on
early education and care, school funding, behavioral
health and safety at the MBTA while also banning
child marriage, making phone calls free for
incarcerated people and stashing another almost $1.5
billion into savings. You know, the kinds of things
that can be made into quick work.
It was a
similar story Thursday, when House and Senate
Democrats rammed a major offshore wind and climate
policy bill that was filed at 12:21 a.m. and
circulated to lawmakers around 6:30 a.m. through
both branches by about 8 p.m. over token objections
from Republicans. That compromise bill reshapes the
state's approach to offshore wind, a crucial part of
its climate strategy, and tries to pick up the pace
of widespread electrification. Weighty issues
tackled while lawmakers had several other balls in
the air Thursday afternoon.
The House
pivoted fast from the offshore wind bill to making
sure that leadership's amendment related to gun laws
was securely hitched to a bond bill meant to fund IT
improvements in Massachusetts courts. Leaders said
the amendment would address the issues that the U.S.
Supreme Court ruling in New York State Rifle &
Pistol Association v. Bruen raised, a priority that
emerged late in the session....
But it's
not like the Legislature suddenly kicked into high
gear and took care of all of its time-sensitive
business, not by a long shot. In fact, everything
that lawmakers haven't finished work on now runs the
risk of being waylaid until next session by the
governor, whose 10-day review window for all bills
now stretches until after the House and Senate hold
their last formal sessions of the year next Sunday.
Democratic
priorities like a reproductive rights bill meant to
gird the state's laws around access to abortion in
light of the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v.
Wade now may have an added hurdle to becoming law
this session.
If the
House and Senate were concerned about Baker vetoing
anything, they probably didn't do themselves any
favors Friday when they sent his dangerousness bill
-- a Baker priority going back years that he and Lt.
Gov. Karyn Polito pushed hard as their time in
office approaches its close -- to the graveyard of a
study order. The governor called it an
"incomprehensible decision" that "protects abusers
at the expense of survivors."
House and
Senate leaders know they've let the Republican
governor have the upper hand if he wants to raise
it.
"We knew
the deadline was in there," House Speaker Ronald
Mariano said. "We worked to get it done by the
deadline. We didn't do it, so now we have to live
with those consequences." ...
STORY OF
THE WEEK: Rules are being suspended left and right,
a bond bill for computers in courts now includes
major gun law changes, the Greek salads are flying
out of Fill-A-Buster, and the latest word on
conference committee progress depends which way the
wind is blowing -- ah, July on Beacon Hill.
State
House News Service
Friday, July 22, 2022
Weekly Roundup - All of a Sudden,
Chaos Erupted
The last
scheduled week of formal sessions is about to arrive
with its standard blend of mysteries, surprises and
intrigue. Under a rule that the Legislature has
traditionally honored (Joint Rule 12A), formal
sessions must cease for the 2021-2022 Legislature by
Sunday, July 31, although how deep formals will run
into next weekend is itself a mystery as well as
which sleeper bills will suddenly be sprung from
committees and placed on fast tracks. Here are 10
themes to watch as another historic week unfolds on
Beacon Hill:
-- The
Annual Budget: Gov. Charlie Baker has until Friday
to act on the $52.7 billion budget (H 5050) that
lawmakers sent to his desk on Monday, 17 days into
the new fiscal year. ... The bill on his desk seeks
another huge spending increase, about $4.3 billion,
and the question is whether the Republican governor
who is leaving office at the end of this year will
sign off on a second big annual surge in spending,
or try to slash back Beacon Hill's spending appetite
with a bigger pile of vetoes.
-- The
Conference Committees: Eight different panels tasked
with producing compromise versions of bills that
already passed the House and Senate remain in play
heading into the last full week of formal
sessions....
-- Second
Energy Bill This Session: The House and Senate
didn't leave their second major climate and clean
energy bill this session to chance. Democrats sent
their accord (H 5060) to Baker on Thursday, ensuring
that the governor will either sign it before formal
sessions end or that they'll have a chance to act on
any measures he returns....
--
Legislative Hardball: By leaving so many major
priorities until the final few days of formal
sessions, Democrats have chosen to run the risk that
Gov. Baker might upend their plans with vetoes and
amendments. With supermajorities in both branches,
it's fair to ask why they manage the workload like
this. One theory is that only a hard deadline will
produce compromise.... Another thought is that
because they have supermajorities and because many
Democrats have no fear of losing their seats, they
can bargain without much regard for serious
consequences and know they can pick up on any issue
at the start of the next session....
--
Desperation In The Air: Expect lots of emails
requesting "urgent" action on legislative
priorities. Legislative leaders have largely
corralled their last-week-of-formals agenda, but
every session there are bills that suddenly emerge
in the final days and gain enough momentum to reach
the governor....
-- So Many
Ways To Say 'No Deal': The pressure in the days
ahead is on Democratic legislative leaders and the
Democrats they have appointed to resolve bills in
conference committee. Keep in mind: both branches
have signed off on the thrust of each bill in
conference, so the branches by definition are on
record as wanting to enact new laws. It's just about
reaching compromises....
-- All
Eyes On Ways and Means: The House and Senate Ways
and Means committees are graveyards every session
for myriad bills, but both panels have traditionally
spun out bills at an accelerated clip during the
last days of formal sessions. The activity on both
sides has already ramped up in recent weeks.
State
House News Service
Friday, July 22, 2022
Advances - Week of July 24, 2022
The final
fiscal year 2023 budget that the House and Senate
sent to the governor's desk Monday taps into the
enormous financial flexibility afforded by strong
state tax collections and economic growth to fund
investments in early education and care, school
funding, behavioral health and safety at the MBTA
while also banning child marriage, making phone
calls free for the families of incarcerated people
and stashing nearly $1.5 billion into savings.
The House
and Senate both unanimously approved a compromise
$52.7 billion annual budget (H 5050) for fiscal year
2023, which began on July 1 with an interim spending
plan in place....
Knowing
that fiscal year 2022 was about to generate a
surplus in the neighborhood of $3 billion, that the
state's primary savings account is already poised
for a record high and that billions of dollars of
federal money remains to be spent, the budget
conference committee marked up the fiscal 2023 tax
revenue estimate by $2.66 billion to $39.575 billion
and then put the additional revenue to use
throughout the budget.
The bill
contemplates a $1.46 billion deposit to the state's
stabilization fund, which would bring it to another
record high balance of $7.35 billion at the end of
the budget year.
Combined
with about $14 billion in federal reimbursements and
other sources, the bill lists the "grand total" of
funds available for the budget at $54.87 billion....
The
conference committee report, which was filed Sunday
evening and made Massachusetts the last state in the
nation to put a budget in place for fiscal 2023,
represents an increase of $5.1 billion or 10.7
percent over the $47.6 billion annual budget for
fiscal 2022. Much of that new money is targeted for
spending or savings, with lawmakers on pace to also
enact $500 million in one-time rebates and $500
million in permanent tax relief....
When faced
with differing House- and Senate-approved spending
levels, the six-person negotiating team showed a
strong inclination to adopt the higher of the two
proposed spending levels. In some instances that
reveal the priorities of House and Senate
leadership, the conferees sometimes even agreed to a
higher spend than was adopted by either branch....
Local aid
was no exception to the conference committee's
general rule for adopting the higher of two proposed
spending levels. The final budget went with the
Senate's approach, dedicating a total of $1.23
billion for unrestricted general government aid to
cities and towns -- a $63.1 million increase that
was a priority for the Massachusetts Municipal
Association.
"With
property taxes tightly capped by Proposition 2˝,
cities and towns rely on adequate state revenue
sharing to provide municipal and school services,
ensure safe streets and neighborhoods, and maintain
vital infrastructure. These services are fundamental
to our state's economic recovery, success and
competitiveness," the MMA wrote to lawmakers as they
began to piece together a compromise budget....
The
conference committee budget includes $2 million in
grants intended to make improvements to reproductive
health access, infrastructure, and safety, and more
than $2.75 million in funding for LGBTQ initiatives
that ensure access to gender-affirming health care,
youth-at-risk programming, and stable housing.
The bill
also includes a Senate-backed provision establishing
a veteran equality review board to ensure that
veterans dishonorably discharged under the "Don't
Ask Don't Tell" policy receive state-based veterans'
benefits.
In the
realm of criminal justice, the budget would
eliminate probation and parole fees, expand a pilot
for medically-assisted treatment of opioid use
disorder from five sheriff's departments to each of
the state's 14 sheriff's departments, and would
require the Department of Correction, sheriffs and
the Department of Youth Services to make phone
calls, video calls and other electronic
communications available free of charge.
State
House News Service
Monday, July 18, 2022
Budget Negotiators Invented New
Spending Plans In Conference
Rainy Day Fund Would Rise To $7.35 Billion Despite
Generous Spend Plans
In theory,
the budget is the vehicle used to fund state
government. In practice, the state budget is
frequently used as a catch-all policy vehicle, a way
to use a bill that is guaranteed to pass to further
policies that for whatever reason have not passed as
standalone legislation. This year is no different,
with policies included in the fiscal 2023 budget
that range from extending universal free school
meals to all students regardless of income to
requiring sheriffs and corrections officials to
provide free calls to incarcerated people. Lawmakers
sent the bill to Baker on Monday.
Some of
the provisions have a clear nexus to state spending.
But other “outside sections,” as the policies are
called, have little connection to the budget
itself....
Senate
Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues said he does
not think there is more policy in this year’s budget
than usual. “It’s about traditional,” he said....
But many
outside sections go beyond that....
CommonWealth Magazine
Monday, July 18, 2022
State budget is a
lot more than just a spending plan
197 outside sections set policy on everything from
child marriage to prison commissary prices
The
Massachusetts Senate on Monday unveiled a nearly
$4.3 billion spending package that includes roughly
$1 billion in tax breaks that would take effect this
tax year, a year ahead of a similar relief plan that
passed the House last week.
Details of
the economic development package emerged as
lawmakers passed a record $52 billion budget for the
new fiscal year, which began July 1.
The tax
cuts, which Senate President Karen E. Spilka
described as “pretty massive,” include an increased
deduction for renters, an increased Earned Income
Tax Credit, and an increased child and dependent tax
credit. People would be able to claim the deductions
when they file their taxes next year.
The House
version, which passed unanimously last Thursday,
made the tax relief effective in 2023, meaning
taxpayers wouldn’t be able to benefit until they
filed their taxes the following year....
Eileen
McAnneny, president of the business-backed
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the
Senate’s effort to help taxpayers next year “makes
sense” given the pressure they’re feeling.
“One of
the purposes of providing tax relief is to provide
it immediately,” she said. “Folks are feeling the
impact of inflation now.” ...
The
Senate’s 111-page bill also makes changes to the
estate tax deduction that differ sharply from the
House’s plan. The Senate’s plan creates a tax credit
of $99,600 for estates subject to the state’s estate
tax, which leaders said effectively eliminates the
so-called “cliff effect.”
The
proposal affects about 2,500 estates and costs the
state $185 million — about $22 million less than the
House’s plan, which changes the estate tax threshold
from $1 million to $2 million and taxes only above
that amount. The House also raises the tax rate from
16 to 17 percent for the largest estates and applies
the higher rate to slightly smaller estates. The new
estate proposal would go into effect Sept. 1.
While the
plan costs less than the House, the $185 million
cost is still a “direct transfer to the wealthiest
families in the Commonwealth,” said Phineas
Baxandall, a senior tax analyst at the left-leaning
Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.
“It flies
in the face of commitments to achieve greater equity
in Massachusetts,” he said. “It is a special
favoritism that we give to the kind of income that
wealthy people tend to have.”
The
Boston Globe
Monday, July 18, 2022
Taxpayer relief would
come sooner under Senate’s version
of sweeping economic development bill
The
Massachusetts Senate released a $4 billion economic
development bill on Monday that includes some key
spending differences from a House bill in areas like
education, human services, and housing. The House
and Senate are largely in agreement on a $1 billion
proposal to reduce a slew of taxes, but with two key
differences, one related to the estate tax and
another to the timing of when the tax breaks go into
effect....
Lawmakers
from the House and Senate agreed in advance on most
aspects of the tax plan, and the House and Senate
versions are identical in the ways in which they
would increase the child and dependent tax credit,
increase the earned income tax credit, increase the
rental deduction, and increase the senior circuit
breaker. Both would also send out $250 rebates for
individuals earning $38,000 to $100,000, and $500
rebates for couples earning up to $150,000.
But the
Senate would introduce the tax cuts for the 2022 tax
year, while the House would not implement them until
2023. “We think that’s important to provide this tax
relief immediately,” said Senate Ways and Means
Chair Michael Rodrigues.
Evan
Horowitz, executive director of the Center for State
Policy Analysis at Tufts University, said given that
the state has a massive fiscal surplus now,
implementing the tax relief in 2022 “is a
no-brainer.”
Both plans
are fairly similar to a tax relief plan that Baker
proposed in January, except Baker did not include
the rebates.
The other
difference between the House and Senate is in the
changes to the estate tax. Both bodies seek to
ensure that estates worth less than $2 million do
not have to pay the estate tax, which currently
kicks in at $1 million. Both also seek to ensure
that there is no “cliff effect,” which today
requires someone to effectively pay taxes on the
entire value of their estate – so an estate worth
$999,999 pays nothing while an estate of $1,000,001
is taxed on the entire value.
But the
mechanisms of how they do that are different and
complex. The House changes the actual tax rates,
while the Senate relies on a tax credit to lower
taxpayers’ liability. The House plan would result in
lower tax rates than the Senate’s plan for most
estates over $2 million – with the exception of the
largest estates, those worth over $7 million, where
the House would impose even higher tax rates than
exist today. The cost to the state would range from
$185 million for the Senate’s plan to $231 million
for a similar proposal made by Baker.
CommonWealth Magazine
Monday, July 18, 2022
Senate’s $4B economic
development bill provides faster tax relief
With time running short, some key differences with
House
Senators
will vote Thursday on a $4.3 billion economic
development bill that would more than double the
House-approved investment in human service provider
rates and affordable housing construction, and take
a different route to long-awaited tax reforms.
Top Senate
Democrats on Monday outlined the contours of the
bill (S 3018) that will hit the chamber floor later
in the week. It combines bonding, federal relief
funds and surplus state budget dollars in a single
spending package that also features permanent tax
changes....
The bill
calls for nearly $1.39 billion in bond
authorizations and about $2.9 billion in direct
spending from either state government's pot of
remaining American Rescue Plan Act funds or a fiscal
year 2022 budget surplus....
Senate
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Michael Rodrigues
said the non-bond dollars would be "split mostly
evenly" between ARPA and the surplus, though a
committee spokesperson later clarified that the
legislation does not set a limit on how much the
administration could draw from either source to
execute the spending outlined.
That
differs from the House, whose final amended bill
included caps limiting the maximum amount of ARPA
and surplus spending to nearly $1.43 billion each.
Negotiators will need to resolve whether to include
an explicit ceiling on ARPA spending in the final
bill....
Like the
House, the Senate's economic development bill would
also serve as the vehicle for about $500 million in
one-time tax rebates and another $500 million in
permanent tax relief featuring changes to the earned
income tax credit, child and dependent credits,
rental deduction, and senior circuit breaker.
But
senators diverged on taxes from their colleagues
across the hall in two significant ways: the Senate
bill would update credits and deductions in time for
taxpayers to access them when they file next year,
rather than waiting until 2024 as the House bill
would require, and it takes a different route to
reforming the estate tax.
The Senate
bill would double the threshold at which the estate
tax kicks in to $2 million, which mirrors the House,
but instead of changing rates, it would create a
credit of up to $99,600 for all estates.
That
credit is equal to the amount of tax burden an
estate worth exactly $2 million would face, and
Senate Democrats said it would effectively eliminate
a "cliff effect" in the current system that subjects
the entire value of an estate, not just the amount
over the threshold, to the levy.
"It's very
easy to administer," Rodrigues said of the proposed
estate tax credit. "It's the same way the federal
government administers their federal estate tax
provisions. Second, it's the most progressive, so it
gives the benefit to those estates closer to $2
million than the larger estates, and third, it does
not actually add taxes like the House did where they
increased taxes to the highest estates."
Senate
Democrats estimate their estate tax proposal would
cost Massachusetts $185 million, $22 million less
than the House bill and $46 million less than Gov.
Charlie Baker's reforms filed in January.
The
chamber plans to debate the bill during a formal
session on Thursday, when senators could swell its
bottom line even further through amendments, which
are due by 5 p.m. Tuesday. The House Ways and Means
Committee version hit the floor with a bottom line
of about $3.8 billion, and the bill grew to $4.2
billion by the time that chamber finished packing on
earmarks and additional spending initiatives.
State
House News Service
Monday, July 18, 2022
Senate Unveils $4.3
Billion Economic Development Bill
Major Spending Decisions Continue As Formals Wind
Down
Senators
kicked off debate on a "kitchen sink" economic
development bill Thursday by quickly and quietly
tacking on more than $86 million to its $4.3 billion
bottom line.
At the
outset of a formal session to consider the
wide-ranging legislation (S 3018), the Senate
approved a bundle of 147 amendments with a single
voice vote and rejected another 143 amendments in
the same manner.
No
senators spoke about the contents of either package,
which appear to feature mostly earmarks for local
packages. A Senate Ways and Means Committee
spokesperson said the group of successful amendments
added about $25.5 million in direct spending and
$60.7 million in bond authorization.
Combined
with amendments already withdrawn, the quick action
on the bundles leaves about 230 amendments for
senators to consider as they continue debate, which
could stretch well into Thursday night or into
Friday. Many high-profile proposals remain on the
table, including measures that would overhaul the
tax relief top Democrats wove into their bill.
State
House News Service
Thursday, July 21, 2022
Senate Bulking Up
$4.3 Bil Economic Development Bill
Unable to
agree on scores of major bills, top Democrats in the
Legislature are on the verge of ceding some of their
power to Republican Gov. Charlie Baker.
After
Thursday, Baker can technically hold on to bills
sent to his desk until after July 31, when lawmakers
are scheduled to wrap up formal sessions for this
two-year meeting of the General Court. Almost 19
months into the session, Democrats could have
avoided the scenario by shifting their work ahead by
just two weeks, but have instead chosen to embrace
their longstanding approach of leaving lots of work
until the very end....
One
historic casualty of late-session rushes to enact
bills is fair notice, with lawmakers more prone to
pass bills quickly and without debate rather than
slowing things down to ensure widespread public
understanding of proposals and to give legislators
enough time to understand what they are voting on.
State
House News Service
Thursday, July 21, 2022
Dems Again Let Some Leverage
Flow To Governor
The
Massachusetts House on Thursday quickly introduced
and passed provisions tightening gun licensing
standards in response to a recent US Supreme Court
decision.
With just
10 days to go before the end of formal legislative
sessions this year, House Speaker Ron Mariano
announced Thursday morning that the House had
reached an agreement with the Senate, in
consultation with Attorney General Maura Healey, “to
expedite legislation needed to come into compliance
with the Bruen decision while proactively
safeguarding existing components of our gun laws
from future challenges.”
Mariano
said House and Senate lawmakers agreed to deliver a
“tailored proposal” to Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk by
July 31.
The sudden
action on guns, which was passed as an amendment to
a bond bill Thursday evening, angered gun rights
activists. Jim Wallace, executive director of Gun
Owners Action League, a gun rights lobbying group,
said he “cannot even describe how angry we are” that
gun owners were not consulted. “The very people that
were affected by the Supreme Court decision and are
going to be affected by whatever they do today, we
didn’t even get the courtesy of a phone call to say
hey what do you think about this?” he said.
If the
provisions become law, Wallace said there will
“absolutely without a doubt” be a legal challenge.
The
amendment passed by a vote of 122 to 33, with five
Democrats joining all the House Republicans in
voting no.
CommonWealth Magazine
Thursday, July 21, 2022
House passes gun bill as
amendment to bond legislation
Move angers gun group, which was given no advance
notification
House
Speaker Ron Mariano tweeted that the Legislature
will vote on a compromise bill to combat climate
change on Thursday, presumably by suspending rules
designed to give lawmakers proper notice of a bill
coming up for a vote.
Officials
said House and Senate negotiators reached agreement
on the bill Wednesday afternoon but technical
drafting issues continued past 8 p.m., the deadline
for giving proper notice.
The bill
attempts to combine a House proposal heavily geared
toward the development of offshore wind with a
Senate proposal focused more on the adoption of
electric vehicles, solar policy, and reducing the
reliance on fossil fuels in construction.
CommonWealth Magazine
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Compromise climate bill
coming down to the wire
Measure would allow 10 communities to ban natural
gas hookups
Orange
Line passengers had to jump for their lives into the
Mystic.
A
Democratic state rep is fighting a petition campaign
backing a ballot question to repeal the law giving
driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. He’s being
applauded instead of condemned by his party.
This comes
as the Democratic-controlled Legislature remains out
of touch with the over-taxed and inflation-stressed
citizens of Massachusetts.
Bay State
Attorney General Maura Healey is watching all this
unfold nicely while running for governor with the
November election closing like a runaway T train.
That’s an apt analogy because if no one can slow her
down, Healey will be the rubber stamp Beacon Hill
has been salivating over since Deval Patrick took
his drapes and headed off into the private sector.
Healey is
now being asked to step in and stop fellow Democrats
from intimidating petition seekers trying to let
voters decide if the Legislature got it right by
giving illegal immigrants a fast lane to a license.
Why does
she even need to be asked? ...
Stop
intimidating those collecting signatures for a
ballot initiative. We’re talking to you state Sen.
Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton)....
Maura
Healey needs to say so. She needs to move on anyone
who goes too far — and we state here that Jamie
Eldridge has gone too far.
But we
won’t hold our breath waiting for Maura Healey to
quickly condemn fellow Democrats for being out of
line. No. She’s all in on being Gov. Rubber Stamp.
A Boston
Herald editorial
Sunday, July 24, 2022
Gov. Rubber Stamp
nightmare |
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary |
|
Chaos reigns on Beacon
Hill as never before while "The Best Legislature Money Can Buy"
scrambles in the final few days of its two-year session before the
alleged "full time" legislators take the rest of the year off to
campaign for pro forma reelection. Massive and complex bills
are flying through to passage with few if any comprehending what
they're voting on or for. Even veteran reporters of usual
Beacon Hill shenanigans are appalled at the slipshod and cavalier
process of just ramming through legislation with a wink and a nod.
I usually post the
State
House News Service's Friday summaries at the end of
these Updates but this week — if you
read nothing else — read them.
The two reports tell the story and describe the atmosphere in the
fewest words.
On
Friday, July 22, 2022 the News Service in part
reported ("Weekly Roundup - All of a Sudden,
Chaos Erupted"):
Remember a
couple hundred Senate amendments to the economic
development bill ago, and a gun bill ago, and an
Orange Line inferno ago, and a climate bill
agreement ago, and a presidential visit ago, when
they passed the long-awaited state budget? Remember
back then?
Yeah, that
was Monday. Yes, this most recent Monday...four days
ago.
That's
life at the State House in late July of an
even-numbered year -- when the deadline for formal
sessions is so near that the SHNS session-end
counter is ticking away and the clerks offices burn
the midnight oil. Items of significance pop up so
quickly, and in such profusion, that time warps for
those foolish enough to pay close attention.
The House
and Senate this week showed just how quickly they
can work when they want or need to. An overdue
fiscal year 2023 state budget that spends $5 billion
more than the last one was filed at 6:50 p.m. Sunday
and the Legislature was done with it before 4 p.m.
Monday.
The $52.7
billion spending plan covers huge amounts of ground.
Thanks to the enormous financial flexibility
afforded by strong state tax collections and
economic growth, lawmakers plan to spend millions on
early education and care, school funding, behavioral
health and safety at the MBTA while also banning
child marriage, making phone calls free for
incarcerated people and stashing another almost $1.5
billion into savings. You know, the kinds of things
that can be made into quick work.
It was a
similar story Thursday, when House and Senate
Democrats rammed a major offshore wind and climate
policy bill that was filed at 12:21 a.m. and
circulated to lawmakers around 6:30 a.m. through
both branches by about 8 p.m. over token objections
from Republicans. That compromise bill reshapes the
state's approach to offshore wind, a crucial part of
its climate strategy, and tries to pick up the pace
of widespread electrification. Weighty issues
tackled while lawmakers had several other balls in
the air Thursday afternoon.
The House
pivoted fast from the offshore wind bill to making
sure that leadership's amendment related to gun laws
was securely hitched to a bond bill meant to fund IT
improvements in Massachusetts courts. Leaders said
the amendment would address the issues that the U.S.
Supreme Court ruling in New York State Rifle &
Pistol Association v. Bruen raised, a priority that
emerged late in the session....
But it's
not like the Legislature suddenly kicked into high
gear and took care of all of its time-sensitive
business, not by a long shot. In fact, everything
that lawmakers haven't finished work on now runs the
risk of being waylaid until next session by the
governor, whose 10-day review window for all bills
now stretches until after the House and Senate hold
their last formal sessions of the year next Sunday.
Democratic
priorities like a reproductive rights bill meant to
gird the state's laws around access to abortion in
light of the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v.
Wade now may have an added hurdle to becoming law
this session.
If the
House and Senate were concerned about Baker vetoing
anything, they probably didn't do themselves any
favors Friday when they sent his dangerousness bill
-- a Baker priority going back years that he and Lt.
Gov. Karyn Polito pushed hard as their time in
office approaches its close -- to the graveyard of a
study order. The governor called it an
"incomprehensible decision" that "protects abusers
at the expense of survivors."
House and
Senate leaders know they've let the Republican
governor have the upper hand if he wants to raise
it.
"We knew
the deadline was in there," House Speaker Ronald
Mariano said. "We worked to get it done by the
deadline. We didn't do it, so now we have to live
with those consequences." ...
STORY OF
THE WEEK: Rules are being suspended left and right,
a bond bill for computers in courts now includes
major gun law changes, the Greek salads are flying
out of Fill-A-Buster, and the latest word on
conference committee progress depends which way the
wind is blowing -- ah, July on Beacon Hill.
In its
Advances - Week of July 24, 2022
the State
House News Service forewarned of the ongoing circus
going into the week ahead:
The last
scheduled week of formal sessions is about to arrive
with its standard blend of mysteries, surprises and
intrigue. Under a rule that the Legislature has
traditionally honored (Joint Rule 12A), formal
sessions must cease for the 2021-2022 Legislature by
Sunday, July 31, although how deep formals will run
into next weekend is itself a mystery as well as
which sleeper bills will suddenly be sprung from
committees and placed on fast tracks. Here are 10
themes to watch as another historic week unfolds on
Beacon Hill:
-- The
Annual Budget: Gov. Charlie Baker has until Friday
to act on the $52.7 billion budget (H 5050) that
lawmakers sent to his desk on Monday, 17 days into
the new fiscal year. ... The bill on his desk seeks
another huge spending increase, about $4.3 billion,
and the question is whether the Republican governor
who is leaving office at the end of this year will
sign off on a second big annual surge in spending,
or try to slash back Beacon Hill's spending appetite
with a bigger pile of vetoes.
-- The
Conference Committees: Eight different panels tasked
with producing compromise versions of bills that
already passed the House and Senate remain in play
heading into the last full week of formal
sessions....
-- Second
Energy Bill This Session: The House and Senate
didn't leave their second major climate and clean
energy bill this session to chance. Democrats sent
their accord (H 5060) to Baker on Thursday, ensuring
that the governor will either sign it before formal
sessions end or that they'll have a chance to act on
any measures he returns....
--
Legislative Hardball: By leaving so many major
priorities until the final few days of formal
sessions, Democrats have chosen to run the risk that
Gov. Baker might upend their plans with vetoes and
amendments. With supermajorities in both branches,
it's fair to ask why they manage the workload like
this. One theory is that only a hard deadline will
produce compromise.... Another thought is that
because they have supermajorities and because many
Democrats have no fear of losing their seats, they
can bargain without much regard for serious
consequences and know they can pick up on any issue
at the start of the next session....
--
Desperation In The Air: Expect lots of emails
requesting "urgent" action on legislative
priorities. Legislative leaders have largely
corralled their last-week-of-formals agenda, but
every session there are bills that suddenly emerge
in the final days and gain enough momentum to reach
the governor....
-- So Many
Ways To Say 'No Deal': The pressure in the days
ahead is on Democratic legislative leaders and the
Democrats they have appointed to resolve bills in
conference committee. Keep in mind: both branches
have signed off on the thrust of each bill in
conference, so the branches by definition are on
record as wanting to enact new laws. It's just about
reaching compromises....
-- All
Eyes On Ways and Means: The House and Senate Ways
and Means committees are graveyards every session
for myriad bills, but both panels have traditionally
spun out bills at an accelerated clip during the
last days of formal sessions. The activity on both
sides has already ramped up in recent weeks.
On Monday the
State House News Service reported ("Budget Negotiators Invented New
Spending Plans In Conference—Rainy Day Fund Would Rise To $7.35 Billion Despite
Generous Spend Plans") that the Legislature just
increased the FY2023 state budget by an additional by $2.66
Billion over the $49.68 Billion previously
proposed just two months ago —
which itself was an increase in spending of $2 Billion over the
previous year's (FY2021) budget. The new FY2023 budget sent to
the governor will spend $52.7 Billion this fiscal year (which
started on July 1) — "an increase of
$5.1 billion or 10.7 percent over the $47.6 billion annual budget
for fiscal 2022" the News Service reported:
The final
fiscal year 2023 budget that the House and Senate
sent to the governor's desk Monday taps into the
enormous financial flexibility afforded by strong
state tax collections and economic growth to fund
investments in early education and care, school
funding, behavioral health and safety at the MBTA
while also banning child marriage, making phone
calls free for the families of incarcerated people
and stashing nearly $1.5 billion into savings.
The House
and Senate both unanimously approved a compromise
$52.7 billion annual budget (H 5050) for fiscal year
2023, which began on July 1 with an interim spending
plan in place....
Knowing
that fiscal year 2022 was about to generate a
surplus in the neighborhood of $3 billion, that the
state's primary savings account is already poised
for a record high and that billions of dollars of
federal money remains to be spent, the budget
conference committee marked up the fiscal 2023 tax
revenue estimate by $2.66 billion to $39.575 billion
and then put the additional revenue to use
throughout the budget.
The bill
contemplates a $1.46 billion deposit to the state's
stabilization fund, which would bring it to another
record high balance of $7.35 billion at the end of
the budget year.
Combined
with about $14 billion in federal reimbursements and
other sources, the bill lists the "grand total" of
funds available for the budget at $54.87 billion....
The
conference committee report, which was filed Sunday
evening and made Massachusetts the last state in the
nation to put a budget in place for fiscal 2023,
represents an increase of $5.1 billion or 10.7
percent over the $47.6 billion annual budget for
fiscal 2022. Much of that new money is targeted for
spending or savings, with lawmakers on pace to also
enact $500 million in one-time rebates and $500
million in permanent tax relief....
When faced
with differing House- and Senate-approved spending
levels, the six-person negotiating team showed a
strong inclination to adopt the higher of the two
proposed spending levels. In some instances that
reveal the priorities of House and Senate
leadership, the conferees sometimes even agreed to a
higher spend than was adopted by either branch....
Local aid
was no exception to the conference committee's
general rule for adopting the higher of two proposed
spending levels. The final budget went with the
Senate's approach, dedicating a total of $1.23
billion for unrestricted general government aid to
cities and towns -- a $63.1 million increase that
was a priority for the Massachusetts Municipal
Association.
"With
property taxes tightly capped by Proposition 2˝,
cities and towns rely on adequate state revenue
sharing to provide municipal and school services,
ensure safe streets and neighborhoods, and maintain
vital infrastructure. These services are fundamental
to our state's economic recovery, success and
competitiveness," the MMA wrote to lawmakers as they
began to piece together a compromise budget....
The
conference committee budget includes $2 million in
grants intended to make improvements to reproductive
health access, infrastructure, and safety, and more
than $2.75 million in funding for LGBTQ initiatives
that ensure access to gender-affirming health care,
youth-at-risk programming, and stable housing.
The bill
also includes a Senate-backed provision establishing
a veteran equality review board to ensure that
veterans dishonorably discharged under the "Don't
Ask Don't Tell" policy receive state-based veterans'
benefits.
In the
realm of criminal justice, the budget would
eliminate probation and parole fees, expand a pilot
for medically-assisted treatment of opioid use
disorder from five sheriff's departments to each of
the state's 14 sheriff's departments, and would
require the Department of Correction, sheriffs and
the Department of Youth Services to make phone
calls, video calls and other electronic
communications available free of charge.
This is such standard
Beacon Hill thinking. "We've got it now so we'll spend it,
fast!"
Remember this when you
receive your pitiful $250 "tax relief" rebate check in the mail come
October, shamelessly provided a few weeks before the November
election for which you are expected to be grateful.
CommonWealth Magazine reminded us on Monday ("State budget is a
lot more than just a spending plan—197 outside sections set policy on everything from
child marriage to prison commissary prices"):
In theory,
the budget is the vehicle used to fund state
government. In practice, the state budget is
frequently used as a catch-all policy vehicle, a way
to use a bill that is guaranteed to pass to further
policies that for whatever reason have not passed as
standalone legislation. This year is no different,
with policies included in the fiscal 2023 budget
that range from extending universal free school
meals to all students regardless of income to
requiring sheriffs and corrections officials to
provide free calls to incarcerated people. Lawmakers
sent the bill to Baker on Monday.
Some of
the provisions have a clear nexus to state spending.
But other “outside sections,” as the policies are
called, have little connection to the budget
itself....
Senate
Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues said he does
not think there is more policy in this year’s budget
than usual. “It’s about traditional,” he said....
But many
outside sections go beyond that....
The
Boston Globe on Monday reported the other tax
"reforms" may take effect sooner than the House has proposed in its
Economic Development Bill ("Taxpayer relief would
come sooner under Senate’s version
of sweeping economic development bill"):
The
Massachusetts Senate on Monday unveiled a nearly
$4.3 billion spending package that includes roughly
$1 billion in tax breaks that would take effect this
tax year, a year ahead of a similar relief plan that
passed the House last week.
Details of
the economic development package emerged as
lawmakers passed a record $52 billion budget for the
new fiscal year, which began July 1.
The tax
cuts, which Senate President Karen E. Spilka
described as “pretty massive,” include an increased
deduction for renters, an increased Earned Income
Tax Credit, and an increased child and dependent tax
credit. People would be able to claim the deductions
when they file their taxes next year.
The House
version, which passed unanimously last Thursday,
made the tax relief effective in 2023, meaning
taxpayers wouldn’t be able to benefit until they
filed their taxes the following year....
Eileen
McAnneny, president of the business-backed
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the
Senate’s effort to help taxpayers next year “makes
sense” given the pressure they’re feeling.
“One of
the purposes of providing tax relief is to provide
it immediately,” she said. “Folks are feeling the
impact of inflation now.” ...
The
Senate’s 111-page bill also makes changes to the
estate tax deduction that differ sharply from the
House’s plan. The Senate’s plan creates a tax credit
of $99,600 for estates subject to the state’s estate
tax, which leaders said effectively eliminates the
so-called “cliff effect.”
The
proposal affects about 2,500 estates and costs the
state $185 million — about $22 million less than the
House’s plan, which changes the estate tax threshold
from $1 million to $2 million and taxes only above
that amount. The House also raises the tax rate from
16 to 17 percent for the largest estates and applies
the higher rate to slightly smaller estates. The new
estate proposal would go into effect Sept. 1.
While the
plan costs less than the House, the $185 million
cost is still a “direct transfer to the wealthiest
families in the Commonwealth,” said Phineas
Baxandall, a senior tax analyst at the left-leaning
Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.
“It flies
in the face of commitments to achieve greater equity
in Massachusetts,” he said. “It is a special
favoritism that we give to the kind of income that
wealthy people tend to have.”
Did you
catch that?
"The tax
cuts, which Senate President Karen E. Spilka
described as 'pretty massive,' include an increased
deduction for renters, an increased Earned Income
Tax Credit, and an increased child and dependent tax
credit. People would be able to claim the deductions
when they file their taxes next year."
"Pretty massive" is quite
a relative term in my view. Considering the multi-billion
dollar revenue surpluses (over-taxation) bonanza over the past two
years (some $9 Billion), $1 Billion in tax relief, compared to $5
Billion in increased spending just this fiscal year alone, doesn't
seem "massive" whatsoever. Rather, it seems relatively
negligible, a rounding error. If the over-taxation rebate was
twice its proposed $1 Billion (to $2 Billion) or even three times
($3 Billion) that would still leave the Legislature with
unexpected billions more to squander however it wished. We
might even call that one of the progressives' favorite terms:
"Tax Fairness"!
About that Senate Economic
Bill, the State
House News Service further reported on Thursday ("Senate Bulking Up
$4.3 Bil Economic Development Bill"):
Senators
kicked off debate on a "kitchen sink" economic
development bill Thursday by quickly and quietly
tacking on more than $86 million to its $4.3 billion
bottom line.
At the
outset of a formal session to consider the
wide-ranging legislation (S 3018), the Senate
approved a bundle of 147 amendments with a single
voice vote and rejected another 143 amendments in
the same manner.
No
senators spoke about the contents of either package,
which appear to feature mostly earmarks for local
packages. A Senate Ways and Means Committee
spokesperson said the group of successful amendments
added about $25.5 million in direct spending and
$60.7 million in bond authorization.
Combined
with amendments already withdrawn, the quick action
on the bundles leaves about 230 amendments for
senators to consider as they continue debate, which
could stretch well into Thursday night or into
Friday. Many high-profile proposals remain on the
table, including measures that would overhaul the
tax relief top Democrats wove into their bill.
How chaotic has it become
on Beacon Hill with the looming deadline a week away? Just how
dysfunctional has the Legislature become even by its own standards,
how incapable is it to even meet the deadline of its two-year
formal session?
State
House News Service reported on Thursday ("Dems Again Let Some Leverage
Flow To Governor"):
Unable to
agree on scores of major bills, top Democrats in the
Legislature are on the verge of ceding some of their
power to Republican Gov. Charlie Baker.
After
Thursday, Baker can technically hold on to bills
sent to his desk until after July 31, when lawmakers
are scheduled to wrap up formal sessions for this
two-year meeting of the General Court. Almost 19
months into the session, Democrats could have
avoided the scenario by shifting their work ahead by
just two weeks, but have instead chosen to embrace
their longstanding approach of leaving lots of work
until the very end....
One
historic casualty of late-session rushes to enact
bills is fair notice, with lawmakers more prone to
pass bills quickly and without debate rather than
slowing things down to ensure widespread public
understanding of proposals and to give legislators
enough time to understand what they are voting on.
"The Best
Legislature Money Can Buy" is so fully dysfunctional
it can't even get out of its own way.
There's a lot more news on
the chaos overwhelming Beacon Hill in these final few days as
legislators and their leadership jam everything on everyone's wish
list into any hole they can cram it, so they can run from the State
House until January. If you're not disgusted enough yet feel
free to read on.
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Chip Ford
Executive Director |
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State House News
Service
Friday, July 22, 2022
Weekly Roundup - All of a Sudden, Chaos Erupted
Recap and analysis of the week in state government
By Colin A. Young
Remember a couple hundred Senate amendments to the economic
development bill ago, and a gun bill ago, and an Orange Line
inferno ago, and a climate bill agreement ago, and a
presidential visit ago, when they passed the long-awaited
state budget? Remember back then?
Yeah, that was Monday. Yes, this most recent Monday...four
days ago.
That's life at the State House in late July of an
even-numbered year -- when the deadline for formal sessions
is so near that the SHNS session-end counter is ticking away
and the clerks offices burn the midnight oil. Items of
significance pop up so quickly, and in such profusion, that
time warps for those foolish enough to pay close attention.
The House and Senate this week showed just how quickly they
can work when they want or need to. An overdue fiscal year
2023 state budget that spends $5 billion more than the last
one was filed at 6:50 p.m. Sunday and the Legislature was
done with it before 4 p.m. Monday.
The $52.7 billion spending plan covers huge amounts of
ground. Thanks to the enormous financial flexibility
afforded by strong state tax collections and economic
growth, lawmakers plan to spend millions on early education
and care, school funding, behavioral health and safety at
the MBTA while also banning child marriage, making phone
calls free for incarcerated people and stashing another
almost $1.5 billion into savings. You know, the kinds of
things that can be made into quick work.
It was a similar story Thursday, when House and Senate
Democrats rammed a major offshore wind and climate policy
bill that was filed at 12:21 a.m. and circulated to
lawmakers around 6:30 a.m. through both branches by about 8
p.m. over token objections from Republicans. That compromise
bill reshapes the state's approach to offshore wind, a
crucial part of its climate strategy, and tries to pick up
the pace of widespread electrification. Weighty issues
tackled while lawmakers had several other balls in the air
Thursday afternoon.
The House pivoted fast from the offshore wind bill to making
sure that leadership's amendment related to gun laws was
securely hitched to a bond bill meant to fund IT
improvements in Massachusetts courts. Leaders said the
amendment would address the issues that the U.S. Supreme
Court ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen raised, a priority that emerged late in the session.
Representatives followed that up by adopting an amendment
that would implement the recommendations of the commission
created in the 2020 policing reform law to investigate usage
of facial recognition by government.
Nominally the "judiciary IT bond bill," the authorization
for what Rep. Mike Day said was the most significant
modernization effort for the courts in a quarter-century is
now the third most important part of the bill.
But it's not like the Legislature suddenly kicked into high
gear and took care of all of its time-sensitive business,
not by a long shot. In fact, everything that lawmakers
haven't finished work on now runs the risk of being waylaid
until next session by the governor, whose 10-day review
window for all bills now stretches until after the House and
Senate hold their last formal sessions of the year next
Sunday.
Democratic priorities like a reproductive rights bill meant
to gird the state's laws around access to abortion in light
of the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade now may
have an added hurdle to becoming law this session.
If the House and Senate were concerned about Baker vetoing
anything, they probably didn't do themselves any favors
Friday when they sent his dangerousness bill -- a Baker
priority going back years that he and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito
pushed hard as their time in office approaches its close --
to the graveyard of a study order. The governor called it an
"incomprehensible decision" that "protects abusers at the
expense of survivors."
House and Senate leaders know they've let the Republican
governor have the upper hand if he wants to raise it.
"We knew the deadline was in there," House Speaker Ronald
Mariano said. "We worked to get it done by the deadline. We
didn't do it, so now we have to live with those
consequences."
Speaking of living with the consequences, how'd you like to
be Steve Poftak right about now?
The MBTA general manager was clear Monday when he told state
lawmakers and the 600,000 people who rely on the public
transit agency he runs to go about their daily lives that
they had nothing to worry about: "I want to say
unequivocally today to the committee and to our customers
that the system is safe."
That didn't even hold up through Thursday's morning rush.
Around 6:45 a.m., according to an Orange Line rider named
Chloe, "All of a sudden, chaos erupted."
It looked like something out of a Michael Bay summer
blockbuster; an Orange Line train stopped on a bridge high
above the Mystic River...on fire!...with passengers breaking
windows to escape the flames and smoke. One woman decided
she'd be safer leaping off the bridge and taking her chances
getting to shore than having anything more to do with
Poftak's "unequivocally" safe MBTA.
"Obviously a very frightening event and not the service that
the MBTA wants to provide," Poftak said Thursday afternoon
of the morning's chaos, which immediately joined the 2015
Ghost Train in the pantheon of epic T boners.
It's been a bad year for the T. Three people have died -- a
man who fell through a section of dilapidated stairs that
was blocked off at a T station in Dorchester, a woman whose
car was struck by a commuter train in Wilmington and a man
whose arm became trapped in the doors of a Red Line train in
South Boston and was dragged to his death. Crashes, a major
escalator malfunction and other incidents have resulted in
at least 40 hospitalizations, according to a Boston Globe
accounting of the T's last 12 months. Brand new train cars
keep getting pulled out of service as new problems with them
crop up.
And most of the system's subway lines are running at the
lower weekend levels until further notice because the
Federal Transit Administration had such serious concerns
about safety and dispatcher work hours. So is it unfair to
say that the MBTA is a total mess?
"Yes," Gov. Baker said Thursday when GBH Radio's Jim Braude
asked him that question. The governor pointed to the T's
on-time rates and overall system reliability data, but
agreed "it's not unfair to say what happened today is
unacceptable."
The Legislature thinks the T is enough of a mess that it's
steering hundreds of millions of dollars to the T just to
respond to directives arising out of the FTA's nearly
unprecedented safety inspection. Between an infrastructure
bond bill and the fiscal 2023 budget, lawmakers are poised
to hand the MBTA $666 million to deal with its devilish
problems.
LOOSE ENDS: It says something about the week that the fact
that President Joe Biden visited Somerset to make a speech
and then tested positive for COVID-19 the next day is
considered a loose end ... If the MBTA doesn't deter people
from moving to Massachusetts, maybe the record high median
home sale price will ... The Governor's Council continues to
operate in its own weird, alternate universe where
councilors play fast and loose with the rules and constantly
look to drag out personal vendettas against each other ...
The state's Treasury had to postpone this week a $2.7
billion bond sale meant to repay federal unemployment
insurance loans because of a disagreement between the House
and Senate ... Speaker Mariano said negotiators are still
"far apart" on sports betting, either a worrying sign for
one of the Beacon Hill measures most closely watched by the
public or a negotiating tactic as time runs short.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Rules are being suspended left and right,
a bond bill for computers in courts now includes major gun
law changes, the Greek salads are flying out of
Fill-A-Buster, and the latest word on conference committee
progress depends which way the wind is blowing -- ah, July
on Beacon Hill.
State House News
Service
Friday, July 22, 2022
Advances - Week of July 24, 2022
The last scheduled week of formal sessions is about to
arrive with its standard blend of mysteries, surprises and
intrigue. Under a rule that the Legislature has
traditionally honored (Joint Rule 12A), formal sessions must
cease for the 2021-2022 Legislature by Sunday, July 31,
although how deep formals will run into next weekend is
itself a mystery as well as which sleeper bills will
suddenly be sprung from committees and placed on fast
tracks. Here are 10 themes to watch as another historic week
unfolds on Beacon Hill:
-- The Annual Budget: Gov. Charlie Baker has until Friday to
act on the $52.7 billion budget (H 5050) that lawmakers sent
to his desk on Monday, 17 days into the new fiscal year. The
interim budget that's in place is supposed to carry state
spending through July, and it's possible that Baker could
act before Friday. House and Senate Democrats have left
themselves only a few days to deal with budget vetoes and
amendments. Last year, Baker vetoed only about $7 million
and agreed to a significant spending increase fueled by
strong tax collections. The bill on his desk seeks another
huge spending increase, about $4.3 billion, and the question
is whether the Republican governor who is leaving office at
the end of this year will sign off on a second big annual
surge in spending, or try to slash back Beacon Hill's
spending appetite with a bigger pile of vetoes.
-- The Conference Committees: Eight different panels tasked
with producing compromise versions of bills that already
passed the House and Senate remain in play heading into the
last full week of formal sessions. Accords could emerge at
any moment or languish until shortly before the final gavel
on July 31, and when they do, lawmakers will hustle to get
the updated legislation through both branches and to Gov.
Baker's desk. If conferees fail to reach agreements, the
issues will be kicked into the 2023-24 session. Conference
committees are in place to negotiate governance reforms at
state-run soldiers' homes (led by Rep. Joseph Wagner and
Sen. Michael Rush), legalized sports betting (chief
conferees Rep. Jerald Parisella and Sen. Michael Rodrigues),
cannabis industry regulatory changes (Rep. Daniel Donahue
and Rodrigues), mental health access improvements (Rep.
Adrian Madaro and Sen. Julian Cyr), open space preservation
(Rep. Ruth Balser and Sen. Sal DiDomenico), military family
licensure and veterans benefits (Rep. Paul McMurtry and Sen.
John Velis), reproductive rights after the overturn of Roe
v. Wade (Rep. Aaron Michlewitz and Sen. Cindy Friedman), and
a roughly $10 billion infrastructure bond bill (Rep. William
Straus and Sen. Brendan Crighton). The list is poised to
grow with House- and Senate-approved economic development
bills, which are the vehicle's for tax relief, varying in
bottom lines ($4.3 billion in the House, $4.57 billion in
the Senate) and policy riders (online lottery authorization
in the House, local option happy hours permitted in the
Senate). Lawmakers might also turn to a conference committee
to finalize a judiciary IT bond bill, which representatives
used as a vehicle for gun law reforms and facial recognition
regulations, that will get a vote in the Senate next week.
-- The Calendar: With scores of major matters unresolved,
the House and Senate clocked off Thursday and decided to
stay out of session for three days, and then scheduled only
light informal sessions for Monday. The scheduling shows
that House and Senate Democrats either are not close to
reaching any major deals or feel it doesn't really matter
when they reach an agreement, as long as it's by the 31st.
But formal sessions are likely a possibility throughout next
week and through the weekend.
-- Executive-Legislative Relations: Their regular meetings
have become a lot less frequent in recent months, but it's
hard to really know how closely Democrat legislative leaders
and Gov. Baker are communicating. While they have made a big
deal out of their regular get-togethers, House and Senate
Democrats and Baker can also communicate the same ways that
we all do: by text and phone. However, with Baker running
out his last term as a lame duck, there's a sense that
Democrats are looking past him, and feeling that if they
can't agree on bills this year they can just kick them into
2023, when they expect Democrat Maura Healey will be in the
Corner Office.
-- Second Energy Bill This Session: The House and Senate
didn't leave their second major climate and clean energy
bill this session to chance. Democrats sent their accord (H
5060) to Baker on Thursday, ensuring that the governor will
either sign it before formal sessions end or that they'll
have a chance to act on any measures he returns. It's a
switch from previous sessions when clean energy bills were
pushed to the final days and minutes of formal sessions,
most notably last session when Baker vetoed the climate
roadmap bill, causing Democrats to restart that legislation
and speed it to his desk at the start of this session.
-- Legislative Hardball: By leaving so many major priorities
until the final few days of formal sessions, Democrats have
chosen to run the risk that Gov. Baker might upend their
plans with vetoes and amendments. With supermajorities in
both branches, it's fair to ask why they manage the workload
like this. One theory is that only a hard deadline will
produce compromise. Another is that House and Senate
Democrats perhaps like playing hardball with each other more
than people realize. Underscoring their institutional
rivalry, House and Senate Democrats are always quick to
point out which of their priorities survive in conference,
and to claim the compromises more closely resemble the
original bills from one branch or the other. Another thought
is that because they have supermajorities and because many
Democrats have no fear of losing their seats, they can
bargain without much regard for serious consequences and
know they can pick up on any issue at the start of the next
session. Another reason for the hardball could be their lack
of fear of Baker. The Republican governor is certainly
capable of throwing wrenches into their plans, but he for
the most part during his tenure has agreed to the
legislative agenda crafted by Democrats, and if he decides
to make an especially noteworthy veto, he alone will carry
that decision forward. And they know the governor may be
loath to kill an entire measure such as reproductive rights,
and take the blame, because he objects to a single section.
-- Desperation In The Air: Expect lots of emails requesting
"urgent" action on legislative priorities. Legislative
leaders have largely corralled their last-week-of-formals
agenda, but every session there are bills that suddenly
emerge in the final days and gain enough momentum to reach
the governor. Conversely, the week ahead is really the end
of the line for most bills, which will not emerge in the
five-plus months of informal sessions from August through
early January.
-- So Many Ways To Say 'No Deal': The pressure in the days
ahead is on Democratic legislative leaders and the Democrats
they have appointed to resolve bills in conference
committee. Keep in mind: both branches have signed off on
the thrust of each bill in conference, so the branches by
definition are on record as wanting to enact new laws. It's
just about reaching compromises. And without deals to
announce, negotiators on Beacon Hill have a menu of
non-enlightening ways to convey that they don't have deals.
"We're working hard," one conferee may say. "We're
exchanging proposals" is another stock line. "We're in
constant communication," they'll say, aware that there's no
way to verify that. Or they'll offer that "we're making
progress," another claim that can't be proven or disproven.
The conference committees Democrats are relying on to come
up with deals have all chosen to meet only in private, and
only a select few are privy to the details of their talks.
-- Guns and Facial Recognition: A pair of significant
criminal justice reform proposals are on deck for
consideration in the Senate. After the House attached
amendments overhauling the state's firearms law and setting
boundaries on police use of facial recognition to a
judiciary IT bond bill (H 5046), it's time for senators to
stamp their mark. Top Senate Democrats already signaled they
want to "act expeditiously" to get a bill to Baker's desk
responding to the U.S. Supreme Court's New York State Rifle
& Pistol Association v. Bruen ruling and pursue more
sweeping gun control measures next session, but their
outlook on the facial recognition guardrails is less clear.
Any differences in scope the Senate approves will need to
get resolved, potentially in another conference committee,
before the branches can send something to Baker.
-- All Eyes On Ways and Means: The House and Senate Ways and
Means committees are graveyards every session for myriad
bills, but both panels have traditionally spun out bills at
an accelerated clip during the last days of formal sessions.
The activity on both sides has already ramped up in recent
weeks. And with a limited window for action, many of the
bills that get out of Ways and Means in the coming days have
a solid chance of moving deep into the approval process and
even all the way to the Corner Office. Whether it's by
design or not, another unfortunate byproduct of fast-moving
bills out of Ways and Means is the lack of transparency
about what's in the bills, which often advance without
debate or explanation....
It's the final week (under Joint Rule 12A) that lawmakers
can hold formal sessions, and the Legislature kicks off the
week with a pair of informal sessions. The twin informals
could hold clues, like reports from the Ways and Means
committees, of any additional priorities being raised ahead
of July 31....
Senators of both parties will meet for a private hybrid
caucus [Wednesday] as the time left for them to make
significant action runs down. Senators have been told to
expect additional caucuses (and sessions) to be scheduled
during the week and the final weekend of July. ...
Democratic and Republican senators plan to meet for their
second joint caucus in as many days [Thursday], presumably
to get on the same page for the final days of formal
sessions this year.
State House News
Service
Monday, July 18, 2022
Budget Negotiators Invented New Spending Plans In Conference
Rainy Day Fund Would Rise To $7.35 Billion Despite Generous
Spend Plans
By Colin A. Young
The final fiscal year 2023 budget that the House and Senate
sent to the governor's desk Monday taps into the enormous
financial flexibility afforded by strong state tax
collections and economic growth to fund investments in early
education and care, school funding, behavioral health and
safety at the MBTA while also banning child marriage, making
phone calls free for the families of incarcerated people and
stashing nearly $1.5 billion into savings.
The House and Senate both unanimously approved a compromise
$52.7 billion annual budget (H 5050) for fiscal year 2023,
which began on July 1 with an interim spending plan in
place.
Gov. Charlie Baker will be meeting with GOP governors in
Colorado when the last annual budget bill of his tenure
lands and he will have up to 10 days to review it and send
back amendments and vetoes. Last year, under similarly
strong economic conditions, Baker vetoed just $7.9 million
in spending. The Legislature's latest late budget could
leave Democratic lawmakers with only a tight time window in
which they could override or overrule the Republican
governor on budget measures before formal sessions end July
31.
Knowing that fiscal year 2022 was about to generate a
surplus in the neighborhood of $3 billion, that the state's
primary savings account is already poised for a record high
and that billions of dollars of federal money remains to be
spent, the budget conference committee marked up the fiscal
2023 tax revenue estimate by $2.66 billion to $39.575
billion and then put the additional revenue to use
throughout the budget.
The bill contemplates a $1.46 billion deposit to the state's
stabilization fund, which would bring it to another record
high balance of $7.35 billion at the end of the budget year.
Combined with about $14 billion in federal reimbursements
and other sources, the bill lists the "grand total" of funds
available for the budget at $54.87 billion.
"This budget builds off of the successes of the last few
years and it prioritizes our residents. By reinvesting in
the people of the commonwealth, we will continue to assist
those recovering from this pandemic while making our economy
stronger and more equitable for years to come," House Ways
and Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz said. "We remain mindful
of the economic uncertainty on the horizon, but the
commonwealth is in a stronger fiscal position to weather the
storms ahead."
The conference committee report, which was filed Sunday
evening and made Massachusetts the last state in the nation
to put a budget in place for fiscal 2023, represents an
increase of $5.1 billion or 10.7 percent over the $47.6
billion annual budget for fiscal 2022. Much of that new
money is targeted for spending or savings, with lawmakers on
pace to also enact $500 million in one-time rebates and $500
million in permanent tax relief.
"We have taken the long view here in the commonwealth
because I think we are doomed for failure if we do not
embrace sustainability in the budgets that we present to the
people of the state of Massachusetts," Rep. Todd Smola, the
Warren Republican who represented the House minority caucus
on the six-person conference committee, said. "And we do
that by investing in those quality programs that matter most
to the people in our cities and towns."
When faced with differing House- and Senate-approved
spending levels, the six-person negotiating team showed a
strong inclination to adopt the higher of the two proposed
spending levels. In some instances that reveal the
priorities of House and Senate leadership, the conferees
sometimes even agreed to a higher spend than was adopted by
either branch.
The line item for regionalization incentive grants in the
Executive Office of Administration and Finance serves as a
dramatic example: The House budget called for $15,145,600
while the Senate plan was for $5,555,000. The conference
committee decided to go with $20,675,600 in the final
budget, a 272 percent increase from what the Senate approved
and a 36.5 percent increase from what the House adopted.
The conference committee also went above and beyond approved
spending levels for the University of Massachusetts system,
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
administration, climate change adaptation and preparedness,
veterans' outreach centers, state parks and recreational
areas, the Safe and Successful Youth Initiative, MassHealth
administration, local public safety program grants, the
Department of Public Health, substance addiction treatment,
children's mental health services, and more.
In at least one case, the budget conference committee
created a spending initiative out of whole cloth -- $266.29
million for an MBTA Safety/Workforce reserve that also
includes language requiring the Department of Transportation
to report monthly on "the status of the department's
progress toward responding to each finding and required
action as issued by the Federal Transit Administration,"
which undertook a nearly unprecedented investigation of
safety at the T.
While that account that was not funded in either the House
or Senate budgets, safety and workforce problems at the T
have been an increasingly urgent area of focus for the
Legislature and the Joint Committee on Transportation is
holding an oversight hearing related to MBTA safety on
Monday. At that hearing, MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak
estimated that addressing the FTA's directives will cost
about $300 million and said Baker is likely to file for more
money in a fiscal year 2022 close-out.
Local aid was no exception to the conference committee's
general rule for adopting the higher of two proposed
spending levels. The final budget went with the Senate's
approach, dedicating a total of $1.23 billion for
unrestricted general government aid to cities and towns -- a
$63.1 million increase that was a priority for the
Massachusetts Municipal Association.
"With property taxes tightly capped by Proposition 2˝,
cities and towns rely on adequate state revenue sharing to
provide municipal and school services, ensure safe streets
and neighborhoods, and maintain vital infrastructure. These
services are fundamental to our state's economic recovery,
success and competitiveness," the MMA wrote to lawmakers as
they began to piece together a compromise budget. "This is a
very high priority for municipalities throughout the state,
as these funds will all be devoted to balancing local
budgets and maintaining the local programs and services that
residents rely on every day."
Senate officials said the final budget keeps Massachusetts
"well positioned to deliver on the promise of high-quality
public education" by providing almost $6 billion in Chapter
70 local school funding, a $495 million increase over fiscal
2022 that keeps the state on track to fully implement the
Student Opportunity Act by fiscal year 2027. The budget also
doubles the minimum Chapter 70 aid per pupil from $30 to
$60.
The budget also makes significant investments in early
childhood education and care, a sector that's importance and
vulnerabilities came into sharp focus when the pandemic
closed schools and child care centers, upending the work
routines of many parents. The Special Legislative Early
Education and Care Economic Review Commission estimated this
year that $1.5 billion in investments are needed to
stabilize the early education and care system and help it
meet the needs of families.
The fiscal year 2023 budget works towards that goal with
$250 million in Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3)
stabilization grants, $60 million for a rate reserve to
increase salaries for teachers and others at subsidized
providers, $31.5 million in grants to Head Start programs
across the state and $175 million for a new High-Quality
Education and Care Affordability Fund that will help fund
the implementation of recommendations from the review
commission. In a separate bill, the House is proposing to
bring in $200 million a year for early education by
authorizing online Lottery sales.
"Extension of the C3 Stabilization Grant Program, coupled
with an investment in salary increases for early educators
serving lower-income children, will be critical for
retaining early educators and keeping classrooms open for
children and families," Lauren Kennedy, co-president of the
Boston early education nonprofit Neighborhood Villages,
said. "Moreover, ensuring that state reimbursement for child
care subsidies is now tied to enrollment of children, rather
than attendance, marks an important change in policy, one
that will help to strengthen and build the capacity of the
early education and care sector."
Beacon Hill Democrats have advanced their tax relief plans
in a separate bill, but a Senate summary of the conference
budget highlights calls attention to a smattering of budget
provisions that officials said are meant to help families
that are struggling with the high (and rising) cost of
living in Massachusetts: a 10 percent increase to
Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC)
and Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled and Children (EAEDC)
benefits, and increasing the annual child clothing allowance
to $400 per child for eligible families.
Rep. Andy Vargas took to Twitter on Sunday night to
celebrate that budget negotiators preserved one of his
priorities, universal free school meals for all school
children across Massachusetts at a cost of about $115
million. "A huge win that provides economic relief for
public school parents, removal of social stigma, and most
importantly -- less hungry kids and better academic
outcomes! So hyped and grateful," the Haverhill Democrat
tweeted.
Senate officials said the universal free school meals
provision will provide "immediate relief to working families
by saving them up to $1,200 every year."
Health Care for All was happy to see that lawmakers included
in the final budget a two-year pilot program that
"significantly expands" ConnectorCare, the state's
subsidized insurance program, to an estimated 37,000
additional Massachusetts residents. The pilot will provide
access to coverage with reduced premiums, co-pays, and
deductibles for individuals and families up to 500 percent
of the federal poverty level -- about $68,000 a year for an
individual or $139,000 for a family of four.
"We hear every day on our HelpLine from people who
desperately need access to care but cannot afford it.
Instead, they delay care or face difficult choices in
deciding whether to see a doctor or pay their rent. We are
grateful for the legislature's support in ensuring that more
Massachusetts residents will have access to the affordable,
subsidized, high-quality health insurance program," Health
Care For All Executive Director Amy Rosenthal said.
The ConnectorCare expansion pilot, the organization said,
will be one of the largest expansions of coverage in the Bay
State since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in
2014.
With the conference budget, the House and Senate are also
hoping to expand access to behavioral health care, including
$8.2 million to support student behavioral health services
at the University of Massachusetts, state universities and
community colleges.
The budget bill would also create a new Behavioral Health
Access and Crisis Intervention Trust Fund to support "a
statewide, payor-agnostic community behavioral health crisis
system including ... a behavioral health access line to
connect individuals to behavioral health services, including
clinical assessment and triage; and a statewide system to
deliver behavioral health crisis intervention services 24
hours per day and 7 days per week in mobile and
community-based settings, available to all residents without
regard to insurance."
The conference committee budget includes $2 million in
grants intended to make improvements to reproductive health
access, infrastructure, and safety, and more than $2.75
million in funding for LGBTQ initiatives that ensure access
to gender-affirming health care, youth-at-risk programming,
and stable housing.
The bill also includes a Senate-backed provision
establishing a veteran equality review board to ensure that
veterans dishonorably discharged under the "Don't Ask Don't
Tell" policy receive state-based veterans' benefits.
In the realm of criminal justice, the budget would eliminate
probation and parole fees, expand a pilot for
medically-assisted treatment of opioid use disorder from
five sheriff's departments to each of the state's 14
sheriff's departments, and would require the Department of
Correction, sheriffs and the Department of Youth Services to
make phone calls, video calls and other electronic
communications available free of charge.
Together with a new requirement that correctional facilities
limit the prices of commissary items such as food or hygiene
products to no more than three percent over the initial
purchase cost, the Senate said the budget provisions "will
ensure that correctional facilities do not unjustly profit
off the basic needs of incarcerated persons."
Massachusetts Communities Action Network said that the
compromise budget includes "significant increases" for
reentry programs that help formerly incarcerated people find
jobs, enroll in job training, secure housing, access health
care and more. There is $20 million for the Community
Empowerment and Reinvestment Grant Fund (up from $15 million
in previous years), $13.1 million for residential reentry
programs (up from $11.1 million last year) and $3.75 million
for job training for formerly incarcerated individuals (up
from $2.5 million).
Between the budget and American Rescue Plan Act outlays,
MCAN said the Legislature has recently approved $21.75
million in new funding for reentry programs.
CommonWealth
Magazine
Monday, July 18, 2022
State budget is a lot more than just a spending plan
197 outside sections set policy on everything from child
marriage to prison commissary prices
By Shira Schoenberg
Fraidy Reiss, who leads the New Jersey-based advocacy group
Unchained At Last, has been fighting to end child marriage
in Massachusetts for six years, lobbying lawmakers and
testifying at hearings.
Supporters created a coalition of 50 organizations opposed
to child marriage, and there was no vocal opposition. The
first legislative session Reiss was told it was too new of
an issue. The second legislative session, the Senate passed
the bill unanimously, then COVID hit. This year, as the
Judiciary Committee stalled on releasing the bill, House
Minority Leader Brad Jones introduced a budget amendment to
ban child marriage, which passed the House unanimously.
On Monday, the Legislature prohibited marriage for minors
under age 18 as part of the final state budget bill that
emerged from a conference committee Sunday. If Gov. Charlie
Baker signs the provision, Massachusetts would become the
seventh US state to ban child marriage.
Rep. Kay Khan, a Newton Democrat who has been a prime
sponsor of the measure for years, spoke passionately on the
House floor. “Early marriage undermines a child’s health,
education, and future, and future economic opportunities,”
she said.
Reiss notes that 59 of the more than 1,200 teenagers married
in Massachusetts since 2000 were too young under state law
to legally consent to sex. None of these young women were
old enough to file for divorce or enter a domestic violence
shelter.
Reiss’s reaction to the bill’s passage was a joyous scream.
But even she acknowledged the odd path the ban is taking to
become law. “Ideally, policy shouldn’t be done in the
budget,” Reiss said. “But when you need to end a human
rights abuse, you use whatever means are available, and this
was the means available.”
In theory, the budget is the vehicle used to fund state
government. In practice, the state budget is frequently used
as a catch-all policy vehicle, a way to use a bill that is
guaranteed to pass to further policies that for whatever
reason have not passed as standalone legislation. This year
is no different, with policies included in the fiscal 2023
budget that range from extending universal free school meals
to all students regardless of income to requiring sheriffs
and corrections officials to provide free calls to
incarcerated people. Lawmakers sent the bill to Baker on
Monday.
Some of the provisions have a clear nexus to state spending.
But other “outside sections,” as the policies are called,
have little connection to the budget itself.
For example, advocates for certain segments of the Asian
community have had a long-running disagreement over what
types of demographic information should be collected when a
form asks about ethnicity. The concern is that the label
Asian-American is overly broad and does not distinguish
between distinct ethnic groups.
An outside section of the budget states that any government
agency that collects demographic race and ethnicity data
must have separate tabulations for a huge number of
subpopulations, including Asian groups (like Chinese,
Japanese, Filipino, Korean, etc.), Pacific Islander groups
(Native Hawaiian, Guamanian, Samoan, etc.), Black groups
(African American, Jamaican, Haitian, etc.), Latino groups
(Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban), and Whites (German, Irish,
English, and so on).
Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues said he does
not think there is more policy in this year’s budget than
usual. “It’s about traditional,” he said. “Anybody who knows
me knows that I resist as much as possible making policy
changes in the budget vehicles, but it happens every year.”
Rodrigues added that often, outside policy sections are
necessary to implement spending provisions.
Some policy sections do fit into that category. For example,
an outside section creates a scholarship fund to attract
more public school teachers from underrepresented
populations, and the budget capitalizes the fund.
House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz said because so
many bills come before the Ways and Means Committees, the
budget gives lawmakers an opportunity to pass bills the
committee sees as valuable, often those with a financial
impact.
For example, the House increased funding for early education
and also changed how the money is paid by basing payments on
enrollment rather than attendance. The budget in this case
provided a way to quickly implement recommendations from an
early education commission report that came out in March.
“From the House side, there was some more pieces that were
financially impactful that had a little more policy in them
than maybe traditionally – like no-cost calls [for inmates]
and some of the early education pieces,” Michlewitz said.
But many outside sections go beyond that.
The budget bill would set up a new board to ensure that any
veteran who received a dishonorable discharge from the US
military because of their sexual orientation or gender
identity under the former Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy will
receive state-based veteran benefits. The policy banned
openly gay and lesbian military members from serving for 17
years, beginning in 1994.
Advocates for the poor have for years been urging government
to set up a common application people can use to apply for a
range of welfare benefits, rather than having to apply for
each benefit individually. The state has made some progress,
but the budget would require the administration to create a
common application someone could use to simultaneously apply
for MassHealth, food assistance, cash assistance, veterans
benefits, childcare subsidies, housing subsidies, fuel
assistance, and “other needs-based health care, nutrition
and shelter benefits.”
The bill sets up a new program under which people with
severe intellectual or developmental disabilities can
participate in public college campus activities as
non-matriculated students – taking undergraduate academic
courses or participating in internships, work-based
trainings, or extracurricular activities, even if they did
not graduate high school or take a college entrance exam.
The bill requires anyone seeking to open a quarry apply to a
state geologist for permission, provide information about
quarry operations, test for pyrite or pyrrhotite, and
conform with state standards for pyrrhotite. This appears to
be a response to the problem in parts of Massachusetts where
homes’ foundations were contaminated with pyrrhotite, which
crumbles over time.
State officials would be required to examine data and
publish a report related to the prescribing and treatment
history, including court-ordered treatment or treatment
within the criminal legal system, of Massachusetts residents
who suffered fatal opioid overdoses between 2019 and 2021.
Prisons and jails would be barred from charging more than 3
percent over the purchase cost for commissary items.
The bill would require anyone seeking to open a clinical
laboratory independent of a hospital or licensed health
clinic to obtain a license.
The Executive Office of Health and Human Services would be
tasked with reviewing data and issuing a report to ensure
health care services are adequate to meet the needs of
people with sickle cell disease.
Amid a debate about whether to let the state construct
additional prison facilities, the Legislature would require
the Department of Correction and county sheriffs to provide
an annual, public report of their housing inventory,
capacity, number of inmates held there, and amounts of
out-of-cell time offered to incarcerated people.
There are also numerous commissions created to study
different issues. A commission would look at the creation of
a Middlesex County “restoration center,” where people
suffering from mental health problems or substance use
disorders who end up in court can be diverted and be taken
out of lockups into the center.
UMass Amherst would examine the possibility of constructing
a new Massachusetts school of health sciences education and
a center for health care workforce innovation at the Mount
Ida campus in Newton.
There would be commissions to study oral health, chronic
kidney disease, and the history of state institutions for
people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
The Boston
Globe
Monday, July 18, 2022
Taxpayer relief would come sooner under Senate’s version
of sweeping economic development bill
By Samantha J. Gross and Matt Stout
The Massachusetts Senate on Monday unveiled a nearly $4.3
billion spending package that includes roughly $1 billion in
tax breaks that would take effect this tax year, a year
ahead of a similar relief plan that passed the House last
week.
Details of the economic development package emerged as
lawmakers passed a record $52 billion budget for the new
fiscal year, which began July 1.
The tax cuts, which Senate President Karen E. Spilka
described as “pretty massive,” include an increased
deduction for renters, an increased Earned Income Tax
Credit, and an increased child and dependent tax credit.
People would be able to claim the deductions when they file
their taxes next year.
The House version, which passed unanimously last Thursday,
made the tax relief effective in 2023, meaning taxpayers
wouldn’t be able to benefit until they filed their taxes the
following year.
Like its counterpart in the House, the Senate’s nearly $4.3
billion bill seeks to address the effects of soaring
inflation that has made it harder for people to pay their
bills. The measure would reduce taxes by nearly $501 million
in permanent breaks and another $510 million in one-time
relief.
That is slightly less than the House’s bill, which calls for
nearly $524 million in permanent tax breaks and $510 million
in one-time relief payments.
The proposals are among the largest tax relief measures in
Massachusetts in a generation.
“We in the Legislature completely understand the
difficulties that many of our constituents are going through
in this time of rising inflation,” Senator Michael J.
Rodrigues, the Senate’s budget chief, told The Boston Globe
on Sunday. “It’s food, it’s gas, it’s clothes. It’s
everything.”
Eileen McAnneny, president of the business-backed
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the Senate’s effort
to help taxpayers next year “makes sense” given the pressure
they’re feeling.
“One of the purposes of providing tax relief is to provide
it immediately,” she said. “Folks are feeling the impact of
inflation now.”
Apart from the timing of the tax breaks, the House and
Senate largely agree about the contents of the relief
package, which increases the Earned Income Tax Credit from
30 percent to 40 percent of the federal level, raises the
deduction renters can claim from $3,000 to $4,000, and lifts
the child and dependent credits from $180 to $310 per child
while removing the cap on the number of dependents a
taxpayer can claim.
The Senate’s proposal also would increase a tax credit
seniors can claim to offset property taxes or rental costs
from a maximum of $1,170 to $2,340, at a cost of $60 million
to the state.
The House and Senate are also aligned on a one-time rebate
of $250 for individuals who earned $38,000 or more in
taxable income last year and $500 for joint filers who earn
less than $150,000. Those checks would be sent out by
October, lawmakers said.
Rodrigues described the Senate’s plan as “very similar” to
the House’s, just “a little different in priorities.”
Legislative leaders are readying for the possibility that
the tax breaks take effect earlier. As part of a budget
agreement unveiled Sunday, lawmakers proposed a “taxpayer
relief fund” that could receive up to $315 million to
“support the implementation of new tax relief measures
taking effect in tax year 2022.”
Rodrigues called the amount a “good start” for covering the
cost of the tax breaks but stressed that the two legislative
bodies are not yet on the same page about when they will
take effect.
“They have not agreed with us,” Rodrigues said of House
officials.
The Senate’s 111-page bill also makes changes to the estate
tax deduction that differ sharply from the House’s plan. The
Senate’s plan creates a tax credit of $99,600 for estates
subject to the state’s estate tax, which leaders said
effectively eliminates the so-called “cliff effect.”
The proposal affects about 2,500 estates and costs the state
$185 million — about $22 million less than the House’s plan,
which changes the estate tax threshold from $1 million to $2
million and taxes only above that amount. The House also
raises the tax rate from 16 to 17 percent for the largest
estates and applies the higher rate to slightly smaller
estates. The new estate proposal would go into effect Sept.
1.
While the plan costs less than the House, the $185 million
cost is still a “direct transfer to the wealthiest families
in the Commonwealth,” said Phineas Baxandall, a senior tax
analyst at the left-leaning Massachusetts Budget and Policy
Center.
“It flies in the face of commitments to achieve greater
equity in Massachusetts,” he said. “It is a special
favoritism that we give to the kind of income that wealthy
people tend to have.”
Senate leaders also approved spending increases — in ways
both big and small — beyond the House’s budget. They said
their proposal would allocate an additional $50 million to
struggling hospitals, an additional $225 million for housing
production, and an extra $150 million to supplement human
service provider rates. It would also set aside another $2.5
million for grants for reproductive care providers, pushing
the total past $17 million.
The Senate is also seeking to spend an additional $150
million on grants for child care providers, adding to $250
million legislative leaders already agreed to as part of
their budget proposal.
“To have these genuinely eye-popping investments in these
areas is an incredible relief to the Commonwealth,” said
Senator Adam G. Hines, the chamber’s revenue committee
chairman.
The Senate bill also tucks in several policy changes,
including a new advisory board to address employee ownership
of businesses, a program to assist farmers with state
programs and funding, and expanding locations and
affordability requirements for starter home zoning
districts.
The Senate version of the development bill does not include
some provisions passed in the House, such as allowing the
state lottery to sell its products online or language that
could clear the way for Robert Kraft to build a long-sought
soccer stadium for the New England Revolution on a
waterfront property in Everett.
Like the House’s version, the bill does not include a
suspension of the state’s gas tax, a provision pushed by
many Republicans and business groups.
The Senate is expected to take up the legislation Thursday.
Assuming it passes, leaders from both chambers will then
hash out the details to reach a compromise to send to
Governor Charlie Baker, who can sign it, veto it, or veto
certain sections of it, among other options.
CommonWealth
Magazine
Monday, July 18, 2022
Senate’s $4B economic development bill provides faster tax
relief
With time running short, some key differences with House
By Shira Schoenberg
The Massachusetts Senate released a $4 billion economic
development bill on Monday that includes some key spending
differences from a House bill in areas like education, human
services, and housing. The House and Senate are largely in
agreement on a $1 billion proposal to reduce a slew of
taxes, but with two key differences, one related to the
estate tax and another to the timing of when the tax breaks
go into effect.
The Senate plans to take up the bill Thursday, leaving just
11 days for the House and Senate to reconcile their
differences and get a bill to Gov. Charlie Baker before the
legislative session ends.
“This package is broad-based, and we believe will make a
meaningful impact to so many Massachusetts residents and
working families,” said Senate President Karen Spilka in a
State House briefing with reporters. “It leverages the
Commonwealth’s current strong revenues and our federal
relief to uplift the sectors that have helped us and
continue to help us get through the crisis.”
Both the House and Senate versions of the bill would be paid
for through a mix of federal American Rescue Plan Act
funding, leftover money from fiscal 2022, and bonding. The
Baker administration would have flexibility to determine
which pot of money to use for each item, since the federal
money has certain conditions attached to it.
Lawmakers from the House and Senate agreed in advance on
most aspects of the tax plan, and the House and Senate
versions are identical in the ways in which they would
increase the child and dependent tax credit, increase the
earned income tax credit, increase the rental deduction, and
increase the senior circuit breaker. Both would also send
out $250 rebates for individuals earning $38,000 to
$100,000, and $500 rebates for couples earning up to
$150,000.
But the Senate would introduce the tax cuts for the 2022 tax
year, while the House would not implement them until 2023.
“We think that’s important to provide this tax relief
immediately,” said Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael
Rodrigues.
Evan Horowitz, executive director of the Center for State
Policy Analysis at Tufts University, said given that the
state has a massive fiscal surplus now, implementing the tax
relief in 2022 “is a no-brainer.”
Both plans are fairly similar to a tax relief plan that
Baker proposed in January, except Baker did not include the
rebates.
The other difference between the House and Senate is in the
changes to the estate tax. Both bodies seek to ensure that
estates worth less than $2 million do not have to pay the
estate tax, which currently kicks in at $1 million. Both
also seek to ensure that there is no “cliff effect,” which
today requires someone to effectively pay taxes on the
entire value of their estate – so an estate worth $999,999
pays nothing while an estate of $1,000,001 is taxed on the
entire value.
But the mechanisms of how they do that are different and
complex. The House changes the actual tax rates, while the
Senate relies on a tax credit to lower taxpayers’ liability.
The House plan would result in lower tax rates than the
Senate’s plan for most estates over $2 million – with the
exception of the largest estates, those worth over $7
million, where the House would impose even higher tax rates
than exist today. The cost to the state would range from
$185 million for the Senate’s plan to $231 million for a
similar proposal made by Baker.
The Senate proposal includes some major expenditures that
were not in the House’s plan including: $150 million to
extend early education operating grants through fiscal 2023;
an additional $150 million to raise rates for human service
providers; an additional $225 million toward the
construction of affordable and workforce housing; $100
million in new funding for electric vehicle infrastructure;
and $50 million more for clean water projects.
Sen. Eric Lesser, who chairs the Committee on Economic
Development and Emerging Technologies, said a committee he
led that examined the future of work flagged the importance
of “work adjacent issues” like housing, childcare, and
transportation. This bill, he said, aims to address the
housing and childcare issues in several ways, from expanding
a tax incentive program that encourages market rate housing
development in Gateway Cities to expanding the state’s
capacity to recruit and retain early education teachers
through scholarship programs.
“One of most important ways Massachusetts can address in our
state the inflation we’re seeing is by expanding the
productive capacity of the economy here,” Lesser said. He
said provisions in the bill related to scholarship funding,
higher human service provider rates, and other workforce
challenges “are about helping expand capacity in the
workforce in the places that are most constrained.”
The Senate bill does not include a House proposal to allow
online Lottery ticket sales. Spilka was noncommittal on the
policy saying she is “willing to hear from my colleagues on
the strengths, advantages, and disadvantages” of allowing
online Lottery sales.
Both the House and Senate include money for security at
health clinics that provide abortion, $15 million in the
House version and $17.5 million in the Senate version.
House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz said House and
Senate lawmakers had long conversations before the bills
were released about tax policy. “These were things we just
had some disagreements on going into the floor debates on
each side,” Michlewitz said. Michlewitz said he is “hopeful”
lawmakers will resolve the disputes by July 31.
State House News
Service
Monday, July 18, 2022
Senate Unveils $4.3 Billion Economic Development Bill
Major Spending Decisions Continue As Formals Wind Down
By Chris Lisinski
Senators will vote Thursday on a $4.3 billion economic
development bill that would more than double the
House-approved investment in human service provider rates
and affordable housing construction, and take a different
route to long-awaited tax reforms.
Top Senate Democrats on Monday outlined the contours of the
bill (S 3018) that will hit the chamber floor later in the
week. It combines bonding, federal relief funds and surplus
state budget dollars in a single spending package that also
features permanent tax changes.
"This is a huge bill," said Sen. Eric Lesser, who co-chairs
the Economic Development Committee. "It's part traditional
economic development bill, part ARPA bill, part supplemental
budget. There's a lot of moving pieces."
The bill is taking shape only eight months after Gov.
Charlie Baker signed another $4 billion law allocating
federal American Rescue Plan Act funds and fiscal 2021 state
budget surplus revenues.
The legislation (S 3018) would spread investments out across
the state, focusing in particular on health and human
services (in line for $962.5 million in appropriations),
environment and climate initiatives ($610 million) and
housing ($400 million).
Several areas of spending differ from the $4.2 billion
version that cleared the House unanimously last week (H
5034). The Senate bill would bump up Chapter 257 human
service provider rate funding to $250 million, or $150
million more than the House bill, and push money available
for housing production from $175 million to $400 million.
Other Senate-only measures include $150 million in
Commonwealth Cares for Children, or C3, grants for early
education providers, building on $250 million in the fiscal
year 2023 budget; $100 million for electric vehicle rollout
and charging infrastructure; and tripling the cap on Housing
Development Incentives Program credits to $30 million to
encourage development in Gateway Cities.
The bill calls for nearly $1.39 billion in bond
authorizations and about $2.9 billion in direct spending
from either state government's pot of remaining American
Rescue Plan Act funds or a fiscal year 2022 budget surplus.
Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Michael Rodrigues
said the non-bond dollars would be "split mostly evenly"
between ARPA and the surplus, though a committee
spokesperson later clarified that the legislation does not
set a limit on how much the administration could draw from
either source to execute the spending outlined.
That differs from the House, whose final amended bill
included caps limiting the maximum amount of ARPA and
surplus spending to nearly $1.43 billion each. Negotiators
will need to resolve whether to include an explicit ceiling
on ARPA spending in the final bill.
Rodrigues, talking in what he described as "round figures,"
said the Senate's economic development bill would leave
about $1.25 billion of state government's ARPA dollars
untouched for future use. However, without a cap in the
bill, the exact amount remaining -- and the amount of
unspent FY22 surplus -- would be unclear.
State government must obligate all of its remaining $2.3
billion in ARPA funds by the end of 2024. Asked if Senate
Democrats were waiting for the next governor to take office
in January to decide how to use the final chunk, Rodrigues
replied, "It looks like that's going to happen."
"We've spent about half of the ARPA dollars in November.
We're spending half of the other half now," the Westport
Democrat said. "From the time we authorize the spending and
appropriate the spending, for the money to actually get out
the door, it takes time."
Senate President Karen Spilka added that spending lawmakers
authorized late last year from the federal relief pot is
"still going out the door."
"We want the recipients to get that (money), and then we can
take a look at what other areas ... may need some increased
funding, what new areas might there be, what gaps might
there be," she said. "We have to be thoughtful about this,
and we have some time."
Like the House, the Senate's economic development bill would
also serve as the vehicle for about $500 million in one-time
tax rebates and another $500 million in permanent tax relief
featuring changes to the earned income tax credit, child and
dependent credits, rental deduction, and senior circuit
breaker.
But senators diverged on taxes from their colleagues across
the hall in two significant ways: the Senate bill would
update credits and deductions in time for taxpayers to
access them when they file next year, rather than waiting
until 2024 as the House bill would require, and it takes a
different route to reforming the estate tax.
The Senate bill would double the threshold at which the
estate tax kicks in to $2 million, which mirrors the House,
but instead of changing rates, it would create a credit of
up to $99,600 for all estates.
That credit is equal to the amount of tax burden an estate
worth exactly $2 million would face, and Senate Democrats
said it would effectively eliminate a "cliff effect" in the
current system that subjects the entire value of an estate,
not just the amount over the threshold, to the levy.
"It's very easy to administer," Rodrigues said of the
proposed estate tax credit. "It's the same way the federal
government administers their federal estate tax provisions.
Second, it's the most progressive, so it gives the benefit
to those estates closer to $2 million than the larger
estates, and third, it does not actually add taxes like the
House did where they increased taxes to the highest
estates."
Senate Democrats estimate their estate tax proposal would
cost Massachusetts $185 million, $22 million less than the
House bill and $46 million less than Gov. Charlie Baker's
reforms filed in January.
The chamber plans to debate the bill during a formal session
on Thursday, when senators could swell its bottom line even
further through amendments, which are due by 5 p.m. Tuesday.
The House Ways and Means Committee version hit the floor
with a bottom line of about $3.8 billion, and the bill grew
to $4.2 billion by the time that chamber finished packing on
earmarks and additional spending initiatives.
One area of debate could be whether to authorize the
Massachusetts Lottery to sell its products online. The House
folded in that policy change, and top Senate Democrats
omitted it from their rewrite of the bill.
Spilka, Rodrigues and Majority Leader Cynthia Creem all
voted against an online lotto amendment in 2016, when the
Senate embraced the idea but the House rejected it. This
time around, the House earmarked the revenue from an online
Lottery to early education, a Senate priority, and forecast
$200 million in new aid.
"Certainly I'm willing to hear from my colleagues and hear
the strengths and advantages and disadvantages," Spilka told
reporters Monday. "Things change constantly, particularly
with anything like an online lottery, so we will have some
discussions and get a sense from the members where they're
at."
State House News
Service
Thursday, July 21, 2022
Senate Bulking Up $4.3 Bil Economic Development Bill
By Chris Lisinski
Senators kicked off debate on a "kitchen sink" economic
development bill Thursday by quickly and quietly tacking on
more than $86 million to its $4.3 billion bottom line.
At the outset of a formal session to consider the
wide-ranging legislation (S 3018), the Senate approved a
bundle of 147 amendments with a single voice vote and
rejected another 143 amendments in the same manner.
No senators spoke about the contents of either package,
which appear to feature mostly earmarks for local packages.
A Senate Ways and Means Committee spokesperson said the
group of successful amendments added about $25.5 million in
direct spending and $60.7 million in bond authorization.
Combined with amendments already withdrawn, the quick action
on the bundles leaves about 230 amendments for senators to
consider as they continue debate, which could stretch well
into Thursday night or into Friday. Many high-profile
proposals remain on the table, including measures that would
overhaul the tax relief top Democrats wove into their bill.
The bill, which carried a price tag at the start of debate
about $100 million higher than version the House approved
last week (H 5034), calls for about $1.4 billion in bonding
and a combined $2.9 billion in spending from the state's
fiscal year 2022 budget surplus and untapped American Rescue
Plan Act funds.
"This comprehensive economic development package before the
body is what we are calling down in Senate Ways and Means
'the kitchen sink bill,'" said committee chair Sen. Michael
Rodrigues. "It is a thoughtfully crafted and multifaceted
$4.3 billion bill making an array of strategic investments,
authorizing capital spending, and it proposes immediate and
real tax relief for the citizens of Massachusetts."
State House News
Service
Thursday, July 21, 2022
Dems Again Let Some Leverage Flow To Governor
By Michael P. Norton
Unable to agree on scores of major bills, top Democrats in
the Legislature are on the verge of ceding some of their
power to Republican Gov. Charlie Baker.
After Thursday, Baker can technically hold on to bills sent
to his desk until after July 31, when lawmakers are
scheduled to wrap up formal sessions for this two-year
meeting of the General Court. Almost 19 months into the
session, Democrats could have avoided the scenario by
shifting their work ahead by just two weeks, but have
instead chosen to embrace their longstanding approach of
leaving lots of work until the very end.
The changing dynamic may give Baker some leverage in
negotiations over myriad proposals bouncing between the
branches. It also puts at some risk the Legislature's
ability to have its way on the reproductive rights bill
crafted in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning
of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
Baker in 2020 vetoed the ROE Act, a sweeping abortion rights
bill, citing concerns with sections dealing with abortions
later in pregnancy and the age of consent for the procedure.
The Legislature left itself enough time that session to
override that veto.
The conference committee now trying to come up a
late-session accord on a bill that also includes new
measures to ensure equitable access to gender-affirming care
is wrestling with different policy approaches to later-term
abortions. The House bill adds "severe fetal anomalies" to
the list of allowable reasons for an abortion after 24 weeks
of pregnancy, while the Senate bill instead seeks to clarify
the language in the existing law. Both bills include
measures favored by the governor, but his ultimate views on
the entire bill are unknown.
House and Senate Democrats have also been unable to find
common ground on other major bills that have cleared each
branch, affecting mental health care access, legalizing
sports betting, a more than $10 billion infrastructure bond
bill, bills to make the cannabis sector more friendly to
businesses, and a pair of bills affecting veterans and
state-run soldiers' home operations.
And Democrats are leaving two huge topics -- economic
development and tax relief -- to the last minute. The House
last week approved a $4.2 billion proposal, and the Senate
on Thursday is tackling its version of the bill, which will
need an accelerated negotiation to reach the governor by
next Sunday, July 31. Senators have filed 631 amendments to
their bill, which will increase differences between the
House and Senate bills.
One historic casualty of late-session rushes to enact bills
is fair notice, with lawmakers more prone to pass bills
quickly and without debate rather than slowing things down
to ensure widespread public understanding of proposals and
to give legislators enough time to understand what they are
voting on.
CommonWealth
Magazine
Thursday, July 21, 2022
House passes gun bill as amendment to bond legislation
Move angers gun group, which was given no advance
notification
By Shira Schoenberg
The Massachusetts House on Thursday quickly introduced and
passed provisions tightening gun licensing standards in
response to a recent US Supreme Court decision.
With just 10 days to go before the end of formal legislative
sessions this year, House Speaker Ron Mariano announced
Thursday morning that the House had reached an agreement
with the Senate, in consultation with Attorney General Maura
Healey, “to expedite legislation needed to come into
compliance with the Bruen decision while proactively
safeguarding existing components of our gun laws from future
challenges.”
Mariano said House and Senate lawmakers agreed to deliver a
“tailored proposal” to Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk by July 31.
The sudden action on guns, which was passed as an amendment
to a bond bill Thursday evening, angered gun rights
activists. Jim Wallace, executive director of Gun Owners
Action League, a gun rights lobbying group, said he “cannot
even describe how angry we are” that gun owners were not
consulted. “The very people that were affected by the
Supreme Court decision and are going to be affected by
whatever they do today, we didn’t even get the courtesy of a
phone call to say hey what do you think about this?” he
said.
If the provisions become law, Wallace said there will
“absolutely without a doubt” be a legal challenge.
The amendment passed by a vote of 122 to 33, with five
Democrats joining all the House Republicans in voting no.
The Senate plans to take up a version of the bill next week,
which will have to be reconciled with the House version
before it goes to Baker.
“Senate leadership looks forward to continuing to work with
House leadership and the Office of the Attorney General to
ensure quick passage of legislation that will allow us to be
in compliance with the Bruen decision while defending the
Commonwealth’s gun laws, which are very effective at keeping
our residents safe,” Senate President Karen Spilka said in a
statement.” We plan to review the House’s final proposal and
act expeditiously to get a bill to Governor Baker by the end
of this session, and continue our efforts to strengthen our
effective gun laws next session.”
The US Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle &
Pistol Association v. Bruen struck down a New York law
that required someone who wanted a license to carry a
concealed weapon to prove they had “proper cause” for
needing a concealed weapon. The decision had ramifications
for similarly crafted laws in other states, including
Massachusetts.
After the ruling, Healey issued guidance saying that
licensing authorities could no longer enforce a provision of
Massachusetts law that allowed a gun license to be
restricted or denied if an applicant lacked a sufficiently
good reason to fear injury to person or property.
Healey said police chiefs would continue to have discretion
to decide if a license applicant is “unsuitable” to obtain a
gun license, although some experts suggested the Bruen
ruling would make this provision ripe for a court challenge.
Healey spokesperson Chloe Gotsis said the attorney general’s
office will continue to work with lawmakers. “We look
forward to continuing to work with them next session to
further strengthen our gun laws and protect public safety,”
she said.
House Judiciary Committee Chair Michael Day will continue
working on a larger, omnibus gun bill over the next few
months, for consideration in next year’s legislative
session. “Our proposal will consider everything from
updating our firearm licensing and training framework, to
clamping down on evolving technology designed to circumvent
our safety laws, to refining tools that help identify
individuals who pose a danger to themselves or others,”
Mariano said.
The provisions considered Thursday were introduced as an
amendment, sponsored by Day, to an information technology
bond bill for the judiciary. Day called it a “tightening up”
of the “safety net” that was loosened by the Bruen decision.
“We’ll be tightening up, correcting some of the lapses we
had in that law so that the individual who’s a prohibited
person from obtaining a license to carry will be more
clearly defined,” he said.
The amendment eliminates the now-unenforceable language
requiring someone to show “good reason” to obtain a gun
license, and generally removes language that gives
discretion to licensing authorities in favor of more
concrete standards.
It adds two categories of people to those who are prohibited
from getting a gun license: someone subject to a harassment
prevention order, and someone who poses a risk of danger to
themselves or others by possessing a firearm.
Rather than giving police chiefs discretion to determine who
is “unsuitable” for a gun license, as is the law today, it
sets a standard to require “reliable, articulable, and
credible information that the applicant has exhibited or
engaged in behavior suggesting that, if issued a
license, they may create a risk to public safety or a risk
of danger to their self or others.”
It also reduces the amount of time a gun license is good for
from six to three years, ensuring more frequent reviews, and
it codifies a requirement for an in-person interview with a
licensing authority before someone can obtain a gun license.
Day said the licensing system currently works and makes
Massachusetts one of the safest states in the country for
gun violence. That’s why he said he wanted to better define
the “suitability” standard rather than eliminate it. “People
have freedom to apply for firearms,” Day said. “We want to
make sure that our licensing authorities are considering who
should actually get them, who’s safe and who’s not, who’s a
responsible gun owner and who’s not.”
On the House floor, Day said, “Our system works, and we
trust our local law enforcement professionals, those who
know us best, to implement that system. This is a necessary
step to ensure licensing authorities can continue to do that
work.”
Wallace said he believes keeping the suitability standard is
unconstitutional, even with the new language, because there
is no objective standard for determining if someone poses a
threat. “It’s purely subjective, it will not pass
constitutional muster,” Wallace said.
Wallace also worried about cutting the license term in half,
since that doubles the licensing fee and will burden
municipalities that already have backlogs for processing
license renewals. He also said there is no need for an
in-person interview now that the courts have determined
there cannot be subjectivity in licensing.
“Gun owners are not going to be happy this was done in
secret and stuffed into a bond bill,” Wallace said.
House Republicans tried unsuccessful procedural maneuvers to
delay the vote.
Rep. Paul Frost, an Auburn Republican, said during debate
that he is hearing opposition from police chiefs who say
requiring an interview every three years, rather than giving
an option for an interview every six years, “is going to be
an administrative nightmare.” He compared the doubling of
the fee to implementing a “poll tax,” since both voting and
gun ownership are a constitutional right.
CommonWealth
Magazine
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Compromise climate bill coming down to the wire
Measure would allow 10 communities to ban natural gas
hookups
By Bruce Mohl
House Speaker Ron Mariano tweeted that the Legislature will
vote on a compromise bill to combat climate change on
Thursday, presumably by suspending rules designed to give
lawmakers proper notice of a bill coming up for a vote.
Officials said House and Senate negotiators reached
agreement on the bill Wednesday afternoon but technical
drafting issues continued past 8 p.m., the deadline for
giving proper notice.
The bill attempts to combine a House proposal heavily geared
toward the development of offshore wind with a Senate
proposal focused more on the adoption of electric vehicles,
solar policy, and reducing the reliance on fossil fuels in
construction.
House and Senate officials said they were pleased with the
final bill, which they said combines the best of both their
approaches. Their negotiations began on May 20.
Details on the compromise bill were not available Wednesday
night, but officials said new surcharges on utility bills
that had been proposed as a funding mechanism in the House
legislation are not included in the final bill. The Senate
proposal relied on state surplus funds and federal aid to
capitalize trust funds.
The compromise legislation also allows 10 communities to bar
natural gas hookups in new construction, but the prohibition
comes with some caveats designed to address concerns raised
by the Baker administration.
The legislation, for example, would not allow fossil fuel
infrastructure to be banned in life science labs and bans
would only be permitted in communities where 10 percent of
the housing qualifies as affordable. Under that definition,
Arlington, Newton, and West Tisbury would not qualify unless
they increase their amount of affordable housing.
“Massachusetts needs to open up huge new sources of green
electric power if it’s to stay on course for reducing
emissions. Today’s compromise aims to ramp up clean power,
especially offshore wind but also solar, storage, and
networked geothermal, and run it through cars, trucks,
buses, and buildings, the biggest sources of emissions in
the state,” said Rep. Jeff Roy of Franklin and Sen. Michael
Barrett of Lexington, in a statement.
“We thank President Biden for issuing a call to action to
the entire country today,” the two lawmakers said.
“Massachusetts legislators hear him, and we’re going all
out.”
The Boston
Herald
Sunday, July 24, 2022
A Boston Herald editorial
Gov. Rubber Stamp nightmare
Orange Line passengers had to jump for their lives into the
Mystic.
A Democratic state rep is fighting a petition campaign
backing a ballot question to repeal the law giving driver’s
licenses to illegal immigrants. He’s being applauded instead
of condemned by his party.
This comes as the Democratic-controlled Legislature remains
out of touch with the over-taxed and inflation-stressed
citizens of Massachusetts.
Bay State Attorney General Maura Healey is watching all this
unfold nicely while running for governor with the November
election closing like a runaway T train. That’s an apt
analogy because if no one can slow her down, Healey will be
the rubber stamp Beacon Hill has been salivating over since
Deval Patrick took his drapes and headed off into the
private sector.
Healey is now being asked to step in and stop fellow
Democrats from intimidating petition seekers trying to let
voters decide if the Legislature got it right by giving
illegal immigrants a fast lane to a license.
Why does she even need to be asked? Collecting signatures so
voters can be asked if they support or reject a law passed
by the one-party bosses on Beacon Hill is called democracy.
We’re a blue state, not a fiefdom.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Geoff Diehl is now joining
MassGOP in calling out Healey.
“I am calling on Maura Healey to do her job and join with me
in condemning attacks on people gathering signatures for a
ballot question to repeal the law giving driver’s licenses
to illegal immigrants,” Deihl wrote.
“I support these signature gatherers’ right to exercise
their political liberty free from intimidation, harassment
and physical violence. I expect Maura Healey — who is
currently our state’s top law enforcement official — to do
the same thing notwithstanding her personal political
leanings.”
It’s a savvy political move on Diehl’s part, while he’s in a
primary race with fellow Republican Chris Doughty, but it’s
also embarrassing. This is a glimpse into the future if
Maura Healey is elected governor.
Healey is playing it safe by not making waves while AG.
That’s exactly what this state does not need. Massachusetts
is home to John Adams and the first draft of the U.S.
Constitution. We need bold leadership from those who are
willing to take an unpopular stance for the greater good.
Stop intimidating those collecting signatures for a ballot
initiative. We’re talking to you state Sen. Jamie Eldridge
(D-Acton).
He told the Herald more than a week ago he is proud to be
protesting signature gatherers attempting to overturn the
state’s new immigrant license law.
“I have been proud to support the Work and Family Mobility
Act, and oppose the effort to repeal the law, sharing with
voters my point of view,” he said trying to explain why he’s
showing up at grocery stores as signatures are being
collected.
It’s very clear he is worried the law will be overturned if
everyone — in the privacy of the ballot box — can vote. They
won’t need to face hurtful accusations from the left. They
will just be able to vote in peace.
Maura Healey needs to say so. She needs to move on anyone
who goes too far — and we state here that Jamie Eldridge has
gone too far.
But we won’t hold our breath waiting for Maura Healey to
quickly condemn fellow Democrats for being out of line. No.
She’s all in on being Gov. Rubber Stamp. |
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes
only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
Citizens for Limited Taxation ▪
PO Box 1147 ▪ Marblehead, MA 01945
▪ (781) 639-9709
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