Week Ending January 28, 2011
Earlier today House Speaker Robert DeLeo named his new leadership team for the 2011 session. Rep. James Vallee (D-Franklin), Majority Leader from last session, will be replaced by Rep. Ron Mariano (D-Quincy). Also, Rep. Brian Dempsey (D-Haverhill) was named the new House Ways and Means Chair. Last session’s House Ways and Means Chair Charles Murphy (D-Burlington) will remain in leadership as the new assistant Majority Leader. Rep. Patricia Haddad (D-Somerset) will serve as Speaker Pro Tempore (last session she was second assistant Majority Leader) and Rep. Kathi-Anne Reinstein (D-Revere) will act as the new second assistant Majority leader. The former speaker pro tempore, Rep. Thomas Petrolati (D-Ludlow), resigned from his post earlier this session. See below for a complete list of House leadership and committee chairs appointments.
On Wednesday, Governor Patrick released his Fiscal Year 2012 budget recommendations. In order to close the estimated $1.2 billion gap between current spending levels and expected revenue, the Governor’s proposed $30.5 billion budget is balanced with roughly $570 million in spending cuts, including the elimination of 900 state jobs, and several revenue raising policy changes. The Patrick Administration highlighted that the budget relies on only $385 million in one-time revenues, compared to $3.2 billion in FY2009–$1.5 billion of which was federal stimulus funds. As promised in the State of the Commonwealth Address that he delivered two weeks ago, Patrick’s budget did not cut Chapter 70 education funding, which goes to cities and towns across the state. However, he did recommend $65 million in local aid cuts. The House will consider the Governor’s budget now and work to release its own proposed FY2012 budget in April.
House and Senate members filed 5,388 bills last week for the 2011-2012 session. This represents a 10% drop from two years ago when over 6,000 bills were filed. This session 1,866 bills were filed in the Senate and 3,522 in the House. The House and Senate Clerks offices are currently processing the bills and will begin assigning them to relevant legislative committees, based on subject matter, over the next two weeks.
On Monday, the Massachusetts Department of Revenue released the tax collection figures for the first half of January. The state collected $948 million during this period, an increase of 7.4% from the same period one year earlier. According to Navjeet Bal, the state revenue commissioner, total state tax collections through the first six months of the year are up 9.9%. Although tax receipts continue to exceed expectations, much of the unexpected revenue is being funneled back into the state budget in order to pay for unexpected costs such as the state Medicaid program.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment figures were released this week and showed that the unemployment rate was up in half of the 22 geographic regions in the state. According to the new numbers, the statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 8.2% held steady from November to December. While New Bedford and Worcester added jobs, Springfield, Peabody and Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford all experienced job losses. Since December 2009, Massachusetts has added 45,600 jobs and the unemployment rate has fallen from 9.3% to 8.2%.
House Leadership and Committee Chair Appointments
Leadership:
Majority Leader, Rep. Ron Mariano
Assistant Majority Leader, Rep. Charles Murphy
Second Assistant Majority Leader, Rep. Kathi-Ann Reinstein
Speaker Pro Tem, Rep. Patricia Haddad
House Ways and Means Chairman, Rep. Brian Dempsey
Vice-Chairman of House Ways and Means, Rep. Stephen Kulik
Assistant Vice-Chair of House Ways and Means, Rep. Martha Walz
Division Chairs are Reps. Garrett Bradley, Byron Rushing, Ellen Story and new division chair Rep. Paul Donato
Chairmanships:
Joint Committee on Education, Rep. Alice Peisch
Joint Committee on Veterans Affairs, James Vallee
Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, Rep. Joseph Wagner
Joint Committee on Transportation, Rep. William Straus
Joint Committee on Health Care Financing Committee, Rep. Steven Walsh
Joint Committee on Financial Services, Rep. Michael Costello
Joint Committee on Public Safety, Rep. Hank Naughton
Joint Committee on Judiciary, Rep. Eugene O’Flaherty,
House Committee on Ethics, Rep. Martin Walsh
Joint Committee on State Administration, Rep. Peter Kocot
Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture, Rep. Anne Gobi
Joint Committee on Revenue, Rep. Jay Kaufman
Joint Committee on Higher Education, Rep. Thomas Sannicandro
Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government, Rep. Michael Kane
Joint Committee on Public Service, Rep. John Scibak
Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development Rep. Sarah Peake
Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities & Energy Committee, Rep. John Keenan
Joint Committee on Rules, Rep. John Binienda
Joint Committee on Children and Families, Rep. Kay Khan
Joint Committee on Consumer Protection, Rep. Ted Speliotis
Joint Committee on Community Development, Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry
Joint Committee on Elder Affairs, Rep. Alice Wolf
Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development, Rep. Cheryl Coakley Rivera
Joint Committee on Public Health, Rep. Jeff Sanchez
Joint Committee on Housing, Rep. Kevin Honan
House Committee on Bills in the 3rd Reading, Rep. Vincent Pedone
House Committee on Bonding and Capital Expenditures, Antonio Cabral
House Committee on Personnel and Administration, Rep. William Galvin
House Committee on Post Audit and Oversight, Rep. David Linsky
House Committee on Steering and Policy, Louis Kafka
House Committee on Global Warming, Rep. Frank Smizik
John Nunnari, Assoc AIA
Executive Director, AIA MA
jnunnari@architects.org
617-951-1433 x263
617-951-0845 (fax)
MA Chapter of American Institute of Architects
The Architects Building
52 Broad Street, Boston MA 02109-4301
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