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.
Government Reform
children and families, election laws, ethics rules, insider jobs, pensions & benefits, structure and operations, transparency
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 …
Reform before revenue, part 2 — pension reform
Pension reform is probably the most fundamental and controversial among the reforms on the agenda this year. Now seated on the Public Service Committee, I expect to give this area quite a bit of my own attention.
Reform before revenue — the legislative agenda this spring
Our mantra in the legislature this spring is “Reform before Revenue.”