government reform

New Reforms Will Make Government More Transparent and Accountable

By Guest Writer, Deirdre Cummings,
Legislative Director, MASSPIRG

Transparency advocates praised last night’s vote by the Massachusetts Senate approving two reforms which will set a new standard for government transparency and accountability.

With unanimous votes during its budget debate, the Senate created a searchable new state budget website, making transparent much of state spending and revenue sources for all state agencies, including quasi publics. The website will allow the public, including local officials, businesses, lawmakers, citizens, and others to see where the state is investing our tax dollars.

Over the past year, in nearly every state across our country, newspapers have been filled with stories of state legislatures and town committees trying to work their budgets out of the red.

These times of fiscal crisis can be opportunities for us all to work together to rebuild healthy, safe, and appropriately-funded state and local communities, but we can only be effective in these efforts if all involved have access to the necessary budget and revenue information.

Brockton community members have demonstrated their agreement as evidenced by at least two school committee members refusing to meet secretly with their Superintendent, and by the recent opinion piece on in The Enterprise regarding secret school committee meetings surrounding a potential layoff of hundreds of staff:

"As we face a serious financial crisis, the superintendent needs to lead openly, strongly and decisively. He can dispel any questions about his abilities to steer Brockton's system to even higher academic achievements if parents and citizens are certain of his strength and clear thinking under pressure.

But no one can support what they can't see or hear... [more]

Through our elected officials - at all levels of government - we shape our economy. This happens through the decisions we make today, policies we implement for tomorrow, and the outside factors that continuously change around us.

Our public structures, such as the legal framework that regulates our property rights and courts, and the structures that educate our workforce and keep it healthy, have only developed through careful, long-term planning and effort. We invest in these structures through our government to promote healthy communities that attract businesses and build vibrant communities.

That is why we must make sure that Governor Patrick, Senate President Murray and House Speaker DeLeo understand that we are all interconnected and that they need to work together. Striving together, they can achieve policy decisions that positively influence the economic well-being of every community in our state. They could more easily foster economic development, building and implementing joint policies like the Governor's recently announced incentives for small businesses, and Senate President Murray proposal to create one-stop shops where all information about state programs and services would be available.

Together, we can influence how public policy works for the well-being of all.

Secretary William Galvin has issued a new opinion on the lobbying law which adds clarity to certain key issues that have concerned many non-profits in the past few months.  In a January 21, 2010 opinion rendered to attorney Roger Donoghue, Lobbyist Section Director Alan Cote stated unequivocally that a communication with a covered executive or legislative official IS required in order to meet the statutory provisions for registering as a lobbyist.  In other words, back-room staff, who never talk with legislators, are not lobbyists.

To those of you who have been following this issue, Cote, in an October letter to attorney Carl Valvo, failed to answer this same question.  In this new letter to Attorney Donoghue, he references the previous letter and states that the office, "now finds that absent a direct, personal communication with a covered legislative or executive official by an individual, the participation of that individual in strategizing, planning and research activities does not trigger registration.” (emphasis in the original)

This new interpretation is consistent with Common Cause's view of the statute and that of Governor Patrick’s former chief legal counsel Ben Clements, who chaired the Governor's task force on Public Integrity and wrote the original legislation along with other members of the task force.  Attorney Clements is mentioned in the letter.

The opinion also clarifies the issue of whether non-profit board members who lobby on behalf of their non-profit have to register as lobbyists.  It states that when a Board member is not compensated by the non-profit, despite being a salaried employee of another corporation, he or she does not have to register.

The wellbeing of our communities across Massachusetts hinges on our ability to work together with our government in finding ways on how to support the public structures we have built and maintained for decades. Public education, clean water, public security, clean streets, snow and trash removal, prevention programs among many others are some public structures that we all value and seek to continue funding. These public structures are what make Massachusetts competitive.

As residents of this state we need to continue participating in the decisions our elected officials make on our behalf. Our elected officials as our representatives are accountable to our communities. We are the ones electing them to make decisions that have an impact on all of us. Recent government scandals have undermined the faith many have in our government and in our ability to work together to solve the big issues of our time. Government transparency and accountability play an important role in restoring the public’s faith in the mission and purpose of the Legislature, and government as a whole.

In an article dated on January 26th, State Representative Will Brownsberger talks about the lack of transparency in certain activities of the state Legislature. Representative Brownsberger particularly discusses the lack of transparency around how funds are spent in certain legislative accounts and about hiring patterns in the House leadership. The article rightly states how these indiscretions "obscure real recent accomplishments like pension reform, ethics reform, transportation reform, and education reform, not to mention producing a timely budget in a deep recession" that state government has accomplished recently.

By ONE Massachsuetts Guest Blogger Rep. Carl Sciortino

Medford - It’s not a secret that our state economy is in bad shape. The economic troubles plaguing the nation are having the same impact on the state budget as they are on the budgets of businesses and families across Massachusetts.

This week's Conference Committees Meetings...

After last week’s flurry of activity on Beacon Hill, this week may seem like a period of rest for our legislators – and for those constituents wishing to be heard on the reforms and revenues affecting the health of our state.

It's not too late! This week looks to be filled with conference committee meetings. And while they are all closed to the public, they will all be run by our legislators - men and women that are interested in and impacted by your thoughts and concerns.

Below you can find for each of these bills - Ethics, Transportation, Pension, and Budget - the full bill text, conference committee members, and analysis, when available. 

Meanwhile...

It is clear that the revenue options currently proposed in both the House and Senate Budgets will be inadequate to support the public structures that have been cut over the past year. Legislators are already talking about options for revenue bills in the fall, including a revamped bill to support Casinos and Slots.

Other options that were suggested in this year's budget debate included restoring the Income Tax to its 5.95% rate in 1999 (amendment by Sen. Chang Díaz), and the expansion of the Sales Tax to include professional services (amendment by Rep. Peter Kocot).

ONE Massachusetts is interested in hearing more about what you value in our state, and how you think we should pay for it! 

In preparation to call my legislators for this week's Virtual Rally, I've decided to check out which of the amendments proposed after the release of the House's Ways and Means budget called for increased revenue.

I'm scanning down the list of the 978 proposed amendments, looking for words like tax and fee.

Aha!

This sounds promising:
Amendment #131    Clark, Katherine    Alcohol Tax Exemption

Let's read the text: 

Ms. Clark of Melrose moves to amend the bill by adding at the end thereof the following section:-

“SECTION X. Subsection (g) of Section 6 of chapter 64H of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 72, the following words:- “and one hundred and thirty-eight”.”

Umm... So what does that mean??

There are many things we can achieve together as a community that we are not able to achieve as individuals. Governor Deval Patrick’s proposed transparency and lobbying reforms are designed to restore in Massachusetts residents a confidence in government that makes those achievements possible. Yesterday, March 18^th, Massachusetts legislators held a joint hearing at the State House to discuss the Bill on ethics and lobbying reform.

State Administration and Regulatory Oversight Co-chair, Representative Steven Walsh, and House Speaker Robert DeLeo hope to have the bill on the House floor as soon as possible, certainly before the 2010 budget reaches the floor in late April.  There are rumors around the State House that this bill will be on the House floor as early as the last week of March.  Senator Brian Joyce, the committee's co-chair, called Patrick's bill a "very well thought out and very well developed proposal" that both leaders of the House and Senate would like to implement as soon as possible.