Senator Brownsberger, Representative Livingstone and Representative Rushing have been working with transportation officials to develop a study that would examine capacity constraints of the roadways and public transportation system in Boston. Senator Brownsberger anticipates working with all of the members of the Boston delegation as this process moves forward. The following proposal was submitted to …
Anesthesiology Practice Issues
There are two competing email campaigns going on right now — one waged by a group of nurse anesthetists and the other by a group of physician anesthesiologists. Samples of the emails appear further below. A pair of bills are pending which would allow trained nurses to administer anesthesia without the supervision of a physician. …
Overview of the Governor’s Budget
Quite appropriately, Governor Patrick’s Fiscal 2015 budget continues and extends the priorities he has defined together with the legislature over the past 8 years. It does not propose major new initiatives. Total proposed Fiscal 2015 budgetary spending is $36.4 billion — up $1.7 billion or 4.9% over projected Fiscal 2014 budgetary spending. This growth is …
Understanding the Governor’s Budget Presentation
The Patrick Administration deserves great credit for its efforts to make its budget as transparent as possible. Nonetheless, a 46 billion dollar spending program is intrinsically complex, so here are answers to a few questions that I found myself asking as I worked through the presentation. How big is the budget? The financial statement section shows proposed …
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Are we on the right track financially?
Wall Street has applauded our state-level efforts to manage long-term liabilities — the rating agencies are giving the Commonwealth its highest ever bond ratings. But we should consider carefully whether we should accept Wall Street’s metrics for financial health — not that I doubt the need for financial discipline, but rather that we should, perhaps, …
People’s Pledge
I have recently received a number emails calling on me to take a “People’s Pledge” to transparency. The People’s Pledge itself very much reflects my personal approach to legislating and I do hereby affirm the pledge immediately appearing below: I swear that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of State Legislator to …