Much to do in January

As the first leg of the 2013-14 legislative cycle wound down this evening (November 20), we wrapped up time critical legislation, but we left other major legislation until January.  Massachusetts works on a two year legislative cycle, so unfinished business can be deferred without losing any forward progress.  In adjourning the session this evening, the Senate President noted the unfinished business and pledged to make a running start in January.

In the completed pile for the first leg of the session:

In the well-along pile:

In the let’s-bring-it-to-the-floor-soon pile, the Senate President identified this evening the following items:

In the also-hope-we-can-move-it category, I see:

As usual, the second leg of the legislative cycle — from January through July of 2014 — will be busy.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to bring many of these pending priorities to closure.  And, of course, we’ll continue to work on a number of regional issues, notably on improvements to the Green Line and other transit services.

Published by Will Brownsberger

Will Brownsberger is State Senator from the Second Suffolk and Middlesex District.

2 replies on “Much to do in January”

  1. Hi Will,

    It seems likely that OPEB will be a topic of discussion at Belmont Town Meeting next week; emails have been circulating among some town meeting members.

    Do you have any update on the subject of OPEB reform? In a November 2013 post you seemed less than optimistic that a bill based on the January 2013 recommendations of the Governor’s OPEB Special Commission could get through the legislature. That would be very disappointing; in my view the Commission’s recommendations were based on a series of rosy expectations

    From a municipal perspective this is a frustrating issue because all of the major decisions are made on Beacon Hill but much of the fiscal impact falls on the cities and towns.

    How should citizens lobby on this issue? Where are the roadblocks?

    Thank you.

    Vince

  2. I think we are looking at the next session for OPEB reform. The bill is still pending, but I’m not feeling that things are going to come together for it.

    I share your sense of the importance of the issue and will work for reforms again next year. Hopefully, we can get together a package that responds to some of the concerns expressed about the Commission package.

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