Friday, January 29, 2016
By George Donnelly (@geodonnelly) and Keith Regan
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Today: Rosenberg chats
Division of Insurance holds a public hearing on the insurance industry's request for an average 6.4 percent increase in workers' compensation premiums, 1000 Washington St., Boston, 10 am
Senate President Stanley Rosenberg is a scheduled guest on Boston Public Radio with co-hosts Margery Eagan and Jim Braude. WGBH-FM 89.7, 11:30 am.
Reforming the reform: Senate releases tougher public records bill
The House's public records reform needed some reform of its own. The Senate seems to want to oblige. President Stanley Rosenberg yesterday outlined public records reform bill yesterday that is considerably stricter than the one the House passed last year. For one, it requires courts to award attorney's fees if some seeking records has been wrongfully denied; it also imposes tighter deadlines in responding to records requests. The original version of the House ran into opposition from the Massachusetts Municipal Association, which saw the reform creating an unfunded mandate on cities and towns. Pam Wilmot of Common Cause obviously likes the Senate version: "It will put teeth in the law, it will restrict costs, and it will bring transparency... We will put pressure on the conference committee to take as much of the Senate version as possible." Jack Sullivan of CommonWealth magazine gets into the differences in the House and Senate bills here: http://bit.ly/1RQ5kCV
Baker goes local with economic development bill
Gov. Baker released details of a five-year, $900 million economic development bill that has an emphasis on nuts-and-bolts spending through the MassWorks program, brownfield redevelopment and investment in Gateway Cities. Details here from Greg Ryan of the Boston Business Journal: http://bit.ly/1PJffdi
Economic development plans don't often have dissenters, but Jon Hurst, the CEO of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, was not happy with the proposal, for it lacked a provision to eliminate the time and a half requirement for retailers, which Amazon and other online retailers don't have to pay in their warehouses.
"Today the Baker Administration filed their Economic Development bill without the requested retailer Blue Law reform, and even more surprising and disappointing was the fact that the online sellers-like Amazon-did get a clarification in the bill that they don't need to adhere to the Blue Law requirements." See his blog here:http://bit.ly/1PWIDa0
Will Suffolk's board strike again?
The board of Suffolk University appears poised to force out current president Margaret McKenna just eight months after appointing her their top choice for a replacement is former Attorney General Martha Coakley, the Globe's Laura Krantz reports. Board Chairman Drew Meyer is said to have enough board votes to oust McKenna and negotiations with Coakley are already under way, Krantz reports.Coakley would be wading into turbulent waters at Suffolk, where stability has proven elusive: Four presidents have taken the helm since 2010, when longtime leader David Sargent retired after an outcry over his pay. http://bit.ly/1Trau7O
But removing McKenna could be a battle. The Herald's Joe Battenfield reports that McKenna plans to fight her ouster, quoting a spokesman who said "McKenna has not been asked to resign by the board and doesn't intend to resign." Battenfield also highlights one of the more controversial moves from McKenna's tenure so far: her decision to cut ties with the Beacon Hill Institute. http://bit.ly/1KJVScv
Pay equity bill passes Senate
The Senate passed a bill to promote gender pay equity, report Colin A. Young and Katie Lannan of the State House News Service. "The bill clarifies the current statute to better define 'comparable work,' outlaws employers from forbidding employees to discuss their salary with other employees, increases the fine for pay equity violations from $100 to $1,000, and requires employers to post a notice to employees of their rights under the act."http://bit.ly/1SN7YJG
Now the bill goes to the House, and the divide between business groups over this issue will surface again. Globe columnist Shirley Leung talks to Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce CEO Jim Rooney about why his group supports it. "The bill would probably add another complexity to doing business in Massachusetts, but if we are to make meaningful progress in closing the gender pay gap, we have to try something new," Leung concludes http://bit.ly/1Vv7sxS
Millionaire's tax gets committee's thumbs up
The Legislature's Committee on Revenue yesterday voted to approve a referendum that would raise taxes on incomes over $1 million. The measure's next step is to gain approval at Constitutional Convention this year and again next year before landing on the ballot in November 2018.http://bit.ly/1ZXF9JJ
A Cape Wind comeback?
Jim Gordon's vision of a wind farm in Nantucket Sound is not dead, writes Bruce Mohl of Commonwealth magazine. Gordon, CEO of Cape Wind, is looking for an extension on an underwater power line and sees the growing interest in adding more wind power to the state's energy mix as a possible opening for a Cape Wind revival. "We think Cape Wind is the right project at the right time," he said. "It's just taken us longer." Of course, not everyone agrees.http://bit.ly/1lYPF69
DeLeo's not keen on raising health contributions for state workers
Speaker Bob DeLeo seems less than enthused by Gov. Baker's idea to raise the health insurance contribution of state workers across the board. Workers hired before 2003 pay 20 percent; those hired afterward pay 25 percent. Requiring all workers to contribute 25 percent would save $33 million. DeLeo told Boston Herald Radio that the extra 5 percentage points would "greatly hurt a lot of people." Michael Norton of the State House News Service has more detail. http://bit.ly/23wZCtr (paywall)
Baker's sky-high approval numbers
A poll of so-called super-voters places Gov. Charlie Baker's job approval rating at 85 percent, well above his typically high ratings and likely due to the timing of the poll just as news broke that GE would relocate to Boston, the Globe's Frank Phillips reports. The Princeton Research Associates survey found high ratings for Baker even among those who disagree with him on key issues, such as the millionaire's tax and lifting the cap on charter schools. http://bit.ly/1Trff1c
SJC chief, attorneys seek legal aid for poor
Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Ralph Gants was among those who rallied Thursday on Beacon Hill to call for more legal aid for the state's poor residents, WGBH's Mike Deehan reports. A coalition that includes hundreds of attorneys statewide is pressing for $10 million more to be added to the legal aid budget- an increase of 60 percent-while Gov. Baker's draft budget proposes just a 1 percent hike. http://bit.ly/1OTYUz2
GE, EPA battle over river cleanup plan
General Electric has told the Environmental Protection Agency it plans to fight aspects of a $619 million plan to address PCB contamination along a 10-mile stretch of the Housatonic River from Pittsfield to Lenox, the Berkshire Eagle's Clarence Fanto reports. GE says aspect of the plan, including a requirement to ship PCB-laden dredging material out of state, is unnecessarily expensive and over-reaching. http://bit.ly/1NFdgiL
NAACP, Lawyer's Committee join legal fight over charter cap
The New England Area Conference of the NAACP and the Massachusetts Lawyers' Committee plan to intervene in a lawsuit that seeks to lift the state's cap on charter schools,Boston.com's Allison Pohle reports. The groups will join with seven Boston public school students to represent the students who may be harmed as resources are diverted away from traditional public schools. http://bit.ly/20aM0Fd
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