Week Ending July 30, 2010
The formal session for the two-year legislative session in Massachusetts ends tomorrow, July 31st. With less than 33 hours before the midnight deadline, activity at the State House has been frenzied as legislators attempt to pass their legislative priorities before the end of the session. The House and Senate met in formal sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and today, and both will meet tomorrow. Many major bills are still in the works, including three conference committees trying to reach a compromise on the issues of: expanded gambling in the state, small business health insurance reform, and economic development. Conference committee reports must be filed with the Clerk by 8pm on Friday night in order to be considered by the Legislature on the last day of session.
On Thursday evening, the House and Senate reached a tentative agreement on the CORI reform legislation, a bill that would restrict public access to criminal record files after a Senate’s provision to offer early parole to non-violent drug offenders was removed. They did not however reach a final agreement as a conference committee report was not filed. Also on Thursday, a compromise bill was filed that would streamline wind development in the state by consolidating the local and state approval process. The House began debate on this compromise agreement Friday afternoon.
The bill that has garnered the most attention and still remains unresolved is the gambling bill. A very tentative agreement between House and Senate leaders was rumored on Friday. The rumored compromise bill would allow three resort style casinos in three geographic zones. It would also allow two slot parlors in-state, but restrict bidding on those two licenses to the four existing racetracks in the state. A final compromise bill needs to be filed with the Clerk before 8pm this evening to allow for a Saturday vote.
Governor Deval Patrick, after meeting with Senate President Murray and House Speaker DeLeo on Thursday, indicated that he would approve a single slot machine parlor as part of an expanded gaming bill. Patrick, who does not support slot machine parlors, said he would support one slot parlor contingent on the Legislature also passing bills on economic development consolidation, CORI reform, wind siting reform, and a health care cost control bill. It is unknown at this point if, and in what form, a gambling bill will reach Governor Patrick’s desk. It is also unknown if Governor Patrick will have line item veto authority and could possibly veto just the slot parlors provision and not the entire bill, if he disagreed with the slot parlor language. This will be dependent on whether the conference committee deems the bill a spending bill or not. There is also the possibility that Patrick will veto the entire bill if he does not agree with it.
Governor Patrick said earlier in the week that he was frustrated with the Legislature’s pace of action and said other bills should not be held up because the gaming bill has not been finalized yet. He suggested that the Legislature should stay in session past July 31st if they have not passed some of their major priorities. Almost immediately, the Senate President said the Legislature will not stay in session after July 31st.
According to Rasmussen Reports, a poll released this week shows that Governor Patrick is maintaining his lead over his two closest rivals in the race for Governor. In the most recent poll, Patrick receives 38%, Republican Charlie Baker receives 32% and Independent Tim Cahill receives 17%. The poll has a margin of error of 4.4%. 12% of voters remain undecided in the poll of 500 registered Massachusetts voters. This 6% lead for Patrick is slightly less than previous polls. Also announced this week was the next radio debate between the three candidates, which will take place on September 16th.
John Nunnari, Assoc AIA
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