• Bus Route Meetings: Community, Local Lawmakers Unimpressed.  Months of meetings at which many residents and businesses of Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury greeted with skepticism a proposed transit line called "Route 28X" that would run along dedicated bus lanes on portions of the corridor between Mattapan Square and Ruggles Station." At the end of the day, the Executive Office of Transportation did not succeed in winning over the community members," said state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz. Rushing said the most positive aspect of the community process on the project was the attendance and involvement of the community, which has long felt neglected and betrayed over past projects that have promised better and faster service, in transportation matters.

Upcoming:

• Immigration Law Training. MIRA Coalition is organizing an intensive three day overview of immigration law for the general public. The training will cover the following topics:
  
  Dec. 9th: Family-Based Immigration, Employment-Based Immigration.
  Dec. 10th: Worker's Rights, VAWA, Immigrant Access to Benefits.
  Dec. 11th: Detention & Deportation, Asylum Law and Procedure, BIA Accreditation.
  
  View event flyer for training, costs, and RSVP information.

• State Budget: Bill to House Wednesday, Deficit is Steady.  Senators anticipate a supplementary budget with spending cuts and an array of other provisions to arrive in their chamber from the House Wednesday. The House budget committee had not begun polling members shortly before 3 p.m., aides said.  Sen. Steven Panagiotakos, Senate budget chief, said he expected some form of Gov. Deval Patrick's request for "9C" budget-cutting authority would be included in the bill.
  
  Officials with Gov. Deval Patrick's administration are optimistic a projected $600 million state budget deficit this year will hold, the state's top financial official said on Tuesday. But while painful additional late-year cuts might be avoided, the state likely will face significant fiscal challenges again in the 2010-11 budget year, Patrick's budget chief told city and town leaders last Tuesday. [SHNS]
  
  
• State Health Care Funding: Costs Rise With Immigrant Removal. The amount Massachusetts taxpayers spend to cover most of the low-income residents enrolled in Commonwealth Care may be poised to increase, a result of the removal of nearly 30,000 legal immigrants from coverage in September... Because the legal immigrant population tends to cost less to cover than the general population, officials of the state Connector Authority said, their removal could drive up how much the state spends to cover other members of those plans. [SHNS]
  
  
• Counting on Cuts. State governments - unlike our federal system - are not legally allowed to run deficits. This means that Massachusetts, with its significant ongoing structural deficit, has also faced ongoing budget cuts. Advocates, angered by Governor Patrick's recent cuts, including those below, have begun to ask for a more balanced approach, including utilizing a combination of federal and rainy day funds, new broad-based revenues, and a more comprehensive look at our current tax loopholes.
  
• Disablity Programs.  $100 million [has been cut] from state Medicaid programs, including a reduction in the number of hours day habilitation programs. [SHNS]
  
• Health Benefits. The Patrick administration is preparing to reduce adult dental benefits, limit access to personal care attendants... and bump up pharmaceutical co-pays for some of the Bay State's most vulnerable citizens as officials aim to squeeze $100 million of savings out of an already strained Medicaid budget. [SHNS]
• Rape Crisis Programs. A program [known as SANE] credited with putting sex offenders behind bars and helping women cope with the aftermath of rape... lost 66 percent of its $2.4 million budget as part of the state's latest round of emergency cuts, leaving too little cash for the program to survive, advocates say. [Boston Herald]
  
  
• Local Options Taxes: Towns Raising Funds from Hotels and Meals. In Rockland, residents voted 2-1 in favor of a Proposition 2 1/2 override to build an $86 million high school. At town meetings in Hudson, Wellesley and Bellmont, voters raised meals taxes. Town officials in Hudson said the .75 percent increase on restaurants would save town jobs. [More Information]
  

• Refundable Tax Credits. A group of lawmakers wants to revive a proposed requirement under which state officials who administer so-called refundable tax breaks would have to identify the recipients, the number of jobs created, and the average salaries of those jobs. [Full Globe Editorial]
  
  Senator Jamie Eldridge commented on the bill yesterday on Blue Mass Group, "At a time of extreme budget cuts, this provision is even more important. Tens of millions of dollars go out in the form of refundable tax credits every year - and yet legislators, and the public, have no idea where the money is going or what effect it's having."[Senator Eldridge's Full Comments on BMG]
  

• Lobbyist Registration Assistance.The Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will provide assistance to help you register as a lobbyist in the state. 
  
  Location:
  1 Ashburton Place,
  17th Floor Conference Room
  Boston, MA
  Dates:
  December 1 (Tuesday),
  December 7 (Monday)
  Time: 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
  
  For more information, contact the Lobbyist Section at 617-727-2832