I’ve always wondered – why do we need a Governor’s Council? What duties do they perform that could not be covered by other existing bodies? As far as I can tell: approval of gubernatorial appointments (including judges), prison pardons, and something about payments from the treasury. How much does this cost, in terms of salary, …
Government Reform
children and families, election laws, ethics rules, insider jobs, pensions & benefits, structure and operations, transparency
State pension obligations
Will, There was an article in Saturday’s NYT entitled “In Budget Crisis States Take Aim at Pension Costs“. It quotes a pension expert who finds that states like Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana and New Jersey are less than 10 years from exhausting their pension funds. However, as the article says “…paying public pensions straight out of …
Municipal Health Insurance in Conference Committee
What is the status of the health insurance bill? I remain very concerned that this will be done in a way that allows municipalities to make unilateral changes in negotiated labor agreements — I gather that such a power is in fact a provision of the Senate bill, but NOT of the House bill.
Transparency Improvements Passed
In April, the House, with leadership support, passed two big steps in the right direction on financial transparency. The Senate, during budget debate, approved roughly the same measures, making their final passage highly likely.
Politics in Probation
The disappointing news last week was the response of some leaders that political influence is OK in probation. Probationary supervision is an important strategy for cost-effectively controlling crime and it is centrally important that we do probation well.
Eliminate Suffolk-only holidays
I saw today (boston.com) that the Senate voted to eliminate Evacuation Day and Bunker Hill Day holidays. I’ve lived here for more than 20 years and have been stumped why they still exist. We all know one is just an excuse for St Patrick’s Day partying by Boston people. If you chopped out Patriots Day …