Article from State House news service this afternoon - #1 reform for Gov. Deval Patrick is the Turnpike


The current period and the one approaching on Beacon Hill contains some parallels to the early months and years of Republican Gov. William Weld's first term in the early 1990s. In addition to deep spending cuts triggered then to make fiscal ends meet, Weld and the Legislature embarked on a reform agenda that targeted welfare, workers compensation, and health care payment system deregulation. Nearly 20 years later, Gov. Deval Patrick, in addition to his own deep cuts, says he'll focus on at least three major areas of reform. Patrick says his administration is working on legislation for the 2009-2010 session to overhaul the public employee pension system and to abolish the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. Patrick says his pension legislation will be comprehensive and will "enhance the system, including steps to curb pension abuse, adopt a new funding schedule and address unfunded retiree health care liability." Perhaps before the turnpike and pension bills are rolled out, Patrick served notice last week, the governor will propose legislation in the "coming weeks" under Article 87 of the state constitution related to the state's economic recovery and state government bureaucracy changes aimed at promoting efficiency. A legislative committee must hold a hearing on any Article 87 reorganization proposal within 30 days of its filing and the committee must approve or disapprove the proposal within 10 days of the hearing. Lawmakers have 60 days from the plan's filing to approve or reject it and taking no action constitutes approval.

Charles Stefanini
c/o Capitol Strategies LLC
11 Beacon Street, Suite 1120
Boston, MA 02108
cell 781-249-0562
work 617-367-6600 x4
fax 617-227-1616 cas@capitolstrategies-llc.com