Beacon Hill Roll Call
Volume 37 - Report No. 2
Monday, January 11 through
Friday, January 15, 2010
Copyright © 2010
Beacon Hill Roll Call.
All Rights Reserved.
THE HOUSE AND SENATE. Beacon Hill Roll Call records the votes of local representatives and senators on two roll calls from the week of January 11-15.

EDUCATION SYSTEM CHANGES (S 2247) The House, 98-47, and the Senate, 23-12, approved and sent to Governor De­val Patrick a lengthy and complicated bill making changes to the state’s edu­cation system including implementing mechanisms designed to improve un­derperforming schools. The House and Senate had approved different versions of the bill and a conference committee drafted this compromise plan.

The measure creates Innovation Schools that are district schools with in­creased autonomy and flexibility to op­erate. It raises the state’s spending cap for charter schools from 9 percent to 18 percent of new school spending in dis­tricts performing in the lowest 10 per­cent and eliminates the cap that limits the state’s total charter school popula­tion to 4 percent. Other provisions require all public high schools to include a mandatory course on the correct use, display, and etiquette relating to the American flagand allow the education department to designate up to 72 schools as “under­performing.” These schools would be targeted for aggressive intervention, in­cluding making it easier to dismiss and replace poor teachers and administra­tors and to reopen and amend collective bargaining agreements. According to a summary of the bill, “In the worst per­forming schools, the commissioner may amend collective bargaining agreements without negotiation, as necessary.” Supporters said that the bill would address a persistent and growing gap between achievement levels at schools across the state and help improve many underperforming urban schools. They noted that this legislation must be signed into law quickly in order for the state to be eligible for its portion of up to $250 million in federal education grants.

Some opponents said that this com­plicated bill had only been in print for a few hours and was irresponsibly being rushed through the Legislature. Others said that it is just another temporary Band-Aid solution to an ever-growing list of problems with the state’s school system. Some took issue with specific sections of the bill, including a provision that one opponent said would weaken or even eliminate the collective bargain­ing rights of some teachers. (A “Yes” vote is for the bill. A “No” vote is against the bill.)

Representative Richard Ross Yes Senator Scott Brown Yes

MORE POWER FOR CITIES AND TOWNS TO COLLECT FINES (H 3588) The House, 143-1, approved and sent to the Senate a bill that would increase the power of cities and towns to collect fines for violations of local sanitary, housing, and snow and ice removal laws.

The measure, effective only in mu­nicipalities that adopt it, would allow communities to add unpaid fines to the offender’s property tax bill. If the fineis still not paid, the community would be allowed place a lien on the property. The measure is designed with the main goal of collecting fines for improper trash disposal by absentee landlords. Another provision exempts anyone who in good faith removes snow or ice from sidewalks abutting their property from liability for any personal injuries unless the alleged misconduct was gross neg­ligence.

Supporters said that millions of dol­lars in fines go unpaid under the current system that forces cities and towns to go to Housing Court to collect unpaid fines. They argued that allowing unpaid fines to be added to property tax bills would increase collections and help struggling cities and towns. They also argued that it should not be so easy to sue property owners when they make a good faith at­tempt to shovel snow and ice. The lone opponent did not offer any arguments against the bill. The House and Senate approved a similar bill at the end of the 2008 ses­sion but Governor Patrick pocket vetoed it. A pocket veto can occur when the Legislature approves a bill at the end of a legislative year. If the governor does not act on the measure within 10 days, it is considered to be vetoed. Since the legislative year is over, the Legislature does not have the opportunity to over­ride the veto.

Last year the governor’s office ex­plained its opposition to the bill. A state­ment said, “We were concerned that the legislation would for the first time cre­ate

different tort standards depending on the community an event occurred in which could cause great confusion in the legal process. It also would have made it much more difficultfor those legitimately harmed through negligence of a property owner to obtain redress.” Representative Richard Ross Yes

SUSPEND RULES TO ALLOW IM­MEDIATE CONSIDERATION OF EDUCATION BILL The Senate, 29-6, suspended rules to allow the Senate to immediately con­sider the conference committee version of the education bill. The rule that was suspended requires that a copy of a con­ference

committee report be in print by 8 p.m. the night before the day of the vote in order to be considered that day. The education bill missed that deadline by six hours when it was finally printed around 2 a.m. Supporters of rule suspension said that the state is in danger of losing $250 million in federal education grants if the bill were not approved that day. Opponents said that members have not had time to read the complicated bill and should not be voting on something about which they do not know the de­tails. The argued that the Senate could work on the bill the next day and still meet the deadline for federal grants. (A “Yes” vote is for suspending rules to allow immediate consideration of the education bill. A “No” vote is against rule suspension.) Senator Scott Brown No ALSO UP ON BEACON HILL REQUIRE RECYCLING BINS NEAR VENDING MACHINES (S 1489) — The Committee on Telecom­munication, Utilities, and Energy is taking a look at a proposal that would require beverage vending machine own­ers to place a recycling box near their machines.

ZERO-BASED BUDGETING (S 1455) — The Committee on State Ad­ministration and Regulatory Oversight is considering a bill that would require the state to implement zero-based bud­geting every four years. This type of budgeting means that all state depart­ments would start with zero dollars and prepare and justify their budget regard­less of what it was in prior years.

BETTING ON SUPER BOWL AND MARCH MADNESS (S 164) — A bill on the agenda of the Committee on Consumer Protection and Profes­sional Licensure would allow betting on the outcome of the Super Bowl and the “March Madness” NCAA basketball tournament. The measure would permit the buying and selling of pools or bet­ting

squares as long as all revenues are used for prizes and not to compensate pool organizers.

ADOPTED CHILD AND MATER­NITY LEAVE (S 57) — The Commit­tee on Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities’ agenda includes a bill requiring that an employee on mater­nity leave for the adoption of a child be entitled to the same benefits offered by her employer as an employee on mater­nity leave for the birth of a child. ALLOW RETIRED TEACHERS TO TEACH (S 1037) — A bill pending in the Committee on Public Service would allow retired public school teachers to be hired as teachers if there is a critical shortage of certified teachers available in a school district.

CRIMINALS ON PROBATION PAY THEIR OWN FEES (S 1770) — The Committee on the Judiciary is consider­ing legislation that would allow courts to require a defendant to pay for the cost of any programs that he or she at­tends or services that he or she receives during probation. This would include rehabilitative or assessment programs, urinalysis testing, and premiums for liability insurance coverage while the criminal is performing community ser­vice work.

QUOTABLE QUOTES “It is sort of sad in a way that it’s taken the dangling of $250 million in new education aid to finally make the Leg­islature

do the right thing and address some of the problems of the underper­forming schools.” — Senator Richard Tisei (Republican from Wakefield), minority leader, com­menting on the Legislature’s rush to ap­prove education legislation in order to get $250 million in federal grants. “I think that we heard a gubernatorial campaign speech over the last five or ten minutes.”

— Senator Robert O’Leary (Democrat from Cummaquid) commenting on Ti­sei’s speech. Tisei is running for lieuten­ant governor with GOP gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker.

“Once determined, it is imperative that Harry Reid and Massachusetts Demo­crats adhere to the will of the people and certify this election, so he [Senator Scott Brown] can take his seat as soon as possible.” — Florida Governor Charlie Crist re­sponding to talk that Massachusetts Democrats would try to delay the certi­fication

of Brown if he wins the special election to fill Massachusetts’s vacant United States Senate seat. Crist is a Re­publican. “If Governor Crist is so concerned with validating the will of the voters, he should pay more attention to what’s go­ing on in his own state, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country at 11.5 percent and is facing a projected budget gap of $4.7 billion for the next fiscal year.”

— Senate President Therese Murray responding to Crist. Murray is a Demo­crat.

HOW LONG WAS LAST WEEK’S SESSION? Beacon Hill Roll Call tracks the length of time that the House and Senate were in session each week. Many legislators say that legislative sessions are only one aspect of the Leg­islature’s job and that a lot of important work is done outside of the House and Senate chambers. They note that their jobs also involve committee work, re­search,

constituent work, and other matters that are important to their dis­tricts. Critics say that the Legislature does not meet regularly or long enough to debate and vote in public view on the thousands of pieces of legislation that have been filed. They contend that the infrequency and brief length of sessions are misguided and lead to irresponsible late-night sessions and a mad rush to act on dozens of bills in the days imme­diately preceding the end of an annual session. During the week of January 11-15, the House met for a total of seven hours and 37 minutes while the Senate met for a total of seven hours and 51 minutes.
Monday, January 11
House 11:03 a.m. to 11:11 a.m.
Senate 11:00 a.m. to 11:04 a.m.
Tuesday, January 12
No House session
No Senate session
Wednesday, January 13
No House session
Senate 11:01 a.m. to 11:17 a.m.
Thursday, January 14
House 11:01 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Senate 11:01 a.m. to 6:32 p.m.
Friday, January 15
No House session
No Senate session
Bob Katzen
welcomes feedback
at bob@beaconhillrollcall.com