Senate Transportation Plan includes Transparency Enhancements

While the main agenda in yesterday’s transportation discussion was to fund transportation operations and maintenance, we passed a number of amendments to strengthen transparency. A particular issue that had troubled many observers for decades was the secrecy of the MBTA’s pension fund.  The MBTA’s pension plan has been perceived as excessively generous, allowing relatively early retirements. …

The Senate Transportation Plan

The Senate passed its own version of the transportation package after a ten hour session on Saturday.  The vote was 30 to 5 in favor with 3 Republicans and only two anti-tax Democrats opposed. Many of us had hoped for a broader package, along the lines proposed by the Governor in January — addressing not …