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Weekly Roundup
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January 28th, 2010
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Have you heard? Our budget is out!
 Governor Deval Patrick released his version of our State Budget for Fiscal Year 2011 today, including $151 Million in proposed reforms to our tax expenditure budget.
The changes would begin to address the fiscal situation we currently face as a state, but two of the changes - $80 of the total revenue - are only temporary limits on credits, and will not help to address the long-term stability of our budget.
If you haven't done so already, now is the time to talk to your legislators about their budgetary priorities, how those priorities affect your community, and how they plan to support them financially. Now is the time to urge them to support balanced, stable, and adequate revenue reforms! In the meantime, check out this preliminary analysis of the Governor's FY11 Budget from the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center. For more information on how you can get involved in shaping the FY11 budget, or any of our other campaigns, please feel free to contact me! Take care,
Yawu Miller Project Director, ONE Massachusetts
yawu@realclout.org | 617-275-2918
Here's a look at what else has been happening around Massachusetts:
Civic Engagement | Revenue | Government Reform
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 CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
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Goal: By 2013, the voice and input of the state's multi-racial, multi-ethnic communities will create a counterweight to the currently dominant voice and will be tangibly reflected in the public decision making process.
Updates:
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 Transportation Forums. The state Department of Transportation will hold a series of community forums about transportation, beginning Tuesday in Framingham. These forums are intended to increase public awareness of the day-to-day operations and long-range planning of DOT, and engage public input into DOT's decision-making processes. The forums will be held throughout the state, including in Worcester at a date to be determined. [Telegram] -
 Letters to the Editor Campaign. ONE Massachusetts strives to strengthen the voices of each person in our state, especially those have not traditionally had a place at the table. We want to encourage our readers and members to write to their local media about what they value in their communities and about their support for more revenue in the state.
Please visit our site for tips to getting your letter published as well as talking points you could use to customize your message.
For more information on the campaign, and how you or your organization can get more involved - including free trainings and coaching, contact ONE Massachusetts Project Director, Yawu Miller.
Upcoming:
- Feb 2nd & 3rd - Insider Budget Briefing. Please join ONE Massachusetts on February 2nd or 3rd for a very special Insider Budget Briefing on the current state of the budget, ways on how to talk more effectively about your budget priorities during an economic downturn, and a hands on training on how to organize effective local meetings with legislators. Trainers will include a representative of the Mass Budget and Policy Center, Yawu Miller and Judy Meredith from ONE Massachusetts and Lew Finfer from the Massachusetts Communities Action Network.
- Tuesday February 2nd
180 Mount Vernon St., Dorchester, MA 02125
10:00 am - 1:00 pm
RSVP to lewfinfer@gmail.com
- Wednesday February 3rd
30 Winter Street, 9th Floor, Boston, MA 02108
4:30 pm - 7:00 pm
RSVP to carmen@realclout.org
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| REVENUE |
Goal: By 2013, a fair, adequate, and stable tax system will be implemented. It will raise sufficient revenue so that state and local governments can fund the array of services needed.
Updates:
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 Local Budgets: Overrides. John Robertson, deputy legislative director of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, said budget overrides have become fewer in number, even though towns are struggling. "It's far harder for communities to balance their budgets, but going to the ballot has been a last resort,'' he said. [Boston Globe] -
Local Budgets: Local Decisions. Legislation Gov. Deval Patrick filed Friday will let cities and towns push off payments to address unfunded pension system liabilities and the governor is also calling on lawmakers to pass legislation authorizing incentives to entice municipal employees to retire early with full benefits. Also, as part of the fiscal 2011 budget he'll file next week, Patrick will propose freezing special education private placement rates, allowing regional school districts to share superintendents, and allowing regional school districts greater access to stabilization funds. [SHNS]
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State Budget: Supplemental Spending. Along with the $28.2 billion budget for fiscal 2011, Gov. Deval Patrick has also crafted a $228 million supplemental spending plan for the current fiscal year, the vast majority of it to cover Medicaid spending. About $200 million funds MassHealth needs, $9 million goes to restructured collective bargaining contracts, and $8 million pays for deficiencies in the Department of Corrections. The governor is also seeking $7.2 million to reimburse cities and towns for added costs incurred by the special U.S. Senate elections. [SHNS]
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 Budget Cuts in FY11. The state budget, already more than $1 billion slimmer than two years ago, will likely need to shed nearly $1 billion more next fiscal year, the Senate's top budget author said Thursday. Expecting close to $1 billion less in federal funding, with state reserves dwindling, and facing a political climate even less amenable to tax increases than a year ago, the $27 billion operating plan faces a structural deficit of roughly $3 billion next year. "Right there, off the bat, you know you're going to have to make some significant cuts," said Sen. Steven Panagiotakos, chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. "I would think close to $1 billion." [SHNS] Upcoming:
- Feb 1, 2010 - Massachusetts EITC Awareness Day. Join Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray to celebrate Massachusetts Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day. The tax season is here and many working individuals and households are eligible for the federal tax credit the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).
February 1st, 2010 - 1:15 pm
State House, Nurses Hall
For more information contact Ron Marlow at 617-727-2040. |
GOVERNMENT REFORM
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| Goal: By 2013, a transparent, accessible and accountable state and local policy-making process will be in place.
Updates:
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 Transparency: State Legislature. A growing group of dissidents in the Massachusetts House yesterday called on Speaker Robert A. DeLeo to open the chamber's books, allow healthy debate on all bills, and subject the Legislature to the laws that cover other elected bodies - including laws on public records, open meetings, and competitive bidding. "We want the House to become a functional democracy,'' the group said in a letter, which was e-mailed to all 160 members. [Boston Globe]
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Loopholes: State Pensions. Governor Patrick introduced a bill on Tuesday that included roughly a dozen changes to state pension law, including requiring anyone seeking special, enhanced benefits to provide an actuarial analysis of the cost before the request can be approved, according to two state officials briefed on the plan. The bill would address loopholes left open after the Legislature approved the governor's first pension overhaul last year. [Boston Globe]
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 Transparency: Federal Stimulus. The report "Show us the stimulus (again)" released by the non profit research center Good Jobs First ranks Massachusetts in the top 10 of 50 states in the country in transparency on economic stimulus spending. "Massachusetts has moved from being in the middle on transparency rankings to the top 10. Not only does that show good progress, it also means that interested residents can more easily find information about government stimulus spending in Massachusetts," said Pam Wilmot, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts.
- Campaign Finance: Federal Ruling. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling Thursday lifts campaign spending restrictions on unions and corporations in the name of free speech, a decision with major ramifications for elections around the country. In Massachusetts, one analyst familiar with the issues says the ruling will spur a renewed push for public campaign financing, an issue that roiled Beacon Hill last decade. [SHNS]
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