Over the past two months, I have heard from roughly 200 constituents in my district who are concerned about the Governor’s proposal to eliminate the film tax credit. Some of the most thoughtful constituents indicated that they didn’t like the credit going to out of state movie stars and would like to see it used in a less wasteful way to benefit in-state workers. To further that conversation, in this year’s Senate budget we adopted a very modest compromise amendment, calling for a report.
Author Archives: Will Brownsberger
Senate Approves Control Board for the MBTA
Last night, the Senate adopted the Governor’s recommendation for a Financial and Management Control Board for the MBTA. The vote was unanimous after a week of debate and negotiation. The process in the Senate on this issue was a great credit to the leadership style of Senate President Rosenberg.
Privatization and the MBTA
The exciting frontier of transportation planning is in information technology: car sharing, ride sharing, on-demand shuttles. We can’t expect public transportation agencies to lead in creating these evolving business models. We need to experiment.
Governor’s MBTA Fix
The Governor has accepted political responsibility for fixing the MBTA and has asked the legislature for a set of tools. While there are some elements I cannot support in the Governor’s bill, most notably the reduction in contributions into the Transportation Fund, we should be giving him as much as we can of what he has asked for.
Drivers Licenses and Drug Crimes
In 1989, when the crack epidemic was on the front page every day, the Massachusetts legislature was among the first in the nation to pass a law requiring that the registrar of motor vehicles suspend the driver’s license of anyone convicted of any drug crime. It’s about time we revisited that law.
Accountability for the MBTA
The central recommendation of the Governor’s MBTA task force was greater accountability for the MBTA. I agree — the management team needs direct accountability to the Governor. That accountability will give the team the strength it needs to sharpen its focus and make change happen.