Final passage of a landmark transportation reform bill, with a bipartisan vote of 130 to 25 in the House today, signals an end to decades of costly balkanization of our transportation infrastructure. I voted in favor — nothing so controversial and complex can be perfect, but it is a very good bill.
Government Reform
children and families, election laws, ethics rules, insider jobs, pensions & benefits, structure and operations, transparency
Transportation Reform Enacted
Final passage of a landmark transportation reform bill, with a bipartisan vote of 130 to 25 in the House today, signals an end to decades of costly balkanization of our transportation infrastructure. I voted in favor — nothing so controversial and complex can be perfect, but it is a very good bill.
Thoughts on budget transparency
I have been reading about the idea of having a budget transparency website where citizens can get information easily. Apparently, there are 23 states using this system and wonder what your thoughts are on the pros and cons of this.
Strong pension reform bill to be enacted
The legislature today will enact a strong pension reform that will eliminate rules that give some employees, mostly elected officials, special advantages.
Indictment of Former Speaker Sal DiMasi
Former House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi was indicted last week on federal corruption charges. House Democrats, including me, voted overwhelmingly to re-elect DiMasi as speaker in January and he served briefly before resigning later that month. What were we thinking?
State employee health insurance premiums
Like roughly 80% of Massachusetts workers, public employees receive health insurance as part of their compensation. The issue of how much active employees should contribute to the cost of that insurance has been controversial in every recent budget season. Since the cost of public employee health insurance is just under $1 billion, the employee share …