An Act to make the public pension system simpler and fairer, to provide better income security to lower wage state employees and to protect future taxpayers from unanticipated pension costs (HD 01392) Summary: This bill creates a new pension plan for new public employees designed to improve the income security of lower state employees by …
Case Law on Changes to Benefits
In discussing changes to public employee benefits, a critical question is which groups of employees they should be applied to. There is no legal or moral limit to changes for new employees. It would be both illegal and immoral in most instances to make big changes to benefits of those already retired. For the cases …
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the Brownsberger Deep Energy Retrofit (DER) project
What is the net environmental impact of a deep energy retrofit (DER)? We know that adding insulation, a more efficient furnace, modern windows and leak sealing foam to an older house will reduce the energy required to maintain a given temperature. We can calculate the cost savings and GHG reductions. But what of the environmental …
Are There Significant Healthcare Savings To Be Found In Reforming The Malpractice System?
Summary Massachusetts already has several levels of limits on malpractice suits and damages Pretrial tribunals Caps on non-economic damages Caps on attorney’s fees Malpractice rates set by the Insurance Commissioner Pretrial tribunals are not a significant barrier to pursuing a suit The amount of bond necessary to move forward is too low and has …
A “contrary” view on the pension fund problems
Via Brad Delong‘s blog: http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/reports/the-origins-and-severity-of-the-public-pension-crisis It argues, roughly, that the current shortfall is attributable to the recent stock market plunge, that pension funds, because of their size and long-term outlook, need not and should not invest like individuals, and that the size of the shortfalls, as a share of future state receipts, is not that alarming. …
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Legislative Stats for the 2009-2010 Session
An overview of bill flow in the past session.