Recent weeks have been chock full of stories about Beacon Hill.
First, there were the stories of Representative Mark Cusack and his alleged late-night State House escapades with colleagues. Then, there was news that former House Speaker Sal DiMasi was found guilty on several federal felony charges.
Here's one thing that hasn't been getting much attention until today: the House and Senate have not yet passed a budget for next fiscal year. And, the clock's ticking -- the state's fiscal year starts on July 1.
Chief on the list of people who should be disappointed by this lack of accomplishment is Governor Deval Patrick. Patrick has a constitutional right to take 10 days to review the budget that will eventually reach his desk and to consider reasons to veto parts of the bill. But, after today, that power erodes as a practical matter as the deadline for a signed budget gets closer with each passing day.
Most of all, though, it's the people of Massachusetts who should be appalled at the lack of meaningful work on Beacon Hill. By our count, there have been only 44 bills signed into law with this year almost half over, and most of those bills are so-called "special acts" like liquor licenses and sick leave banks.
Here's another way to put it into perspective: The House Budget was released on April 13, the same day the Bruins started their postseason drive toward the Stanley Cup. In the intervening weeks, the Bruins did the seemingly impossible, winning several postseason series matchups. On the other hand, the House, well... not so much.
We can only think that recent headlines -- brought upon legislators by themselves -- have been a distraction impeding actual work from getting done. That's just sad.
In the past, many have observed that it's not always a bad thing when the Legislature fails to pass bills. It's a fair point. But, on the other hand, if that's the case, then why do we have a full-time Legislature in the first place?
I have said many times that we need to reduce the entire legislature AND SATFFS to a prat time workforce. Saves real money, saves health care costs, saves pensions. And maybe then we could find them doing something productive. Most of the Reps. have back-up jobs anyway. Seems like a logical way to reduce spending on Beacon Hill....and maybe we could funnel some of this back to help cities and towns. The legislature is a sewer. Time to vote all of them off the payroll and get some people to run who can change things.
ReplyDeleteNow it is Wednesday, June 22nd.....and still no budget ???? What is going on with our leaders? It is a disgrace. Could it be that government will shut down if no budget? We can all hope, as it would be a giant money savings!!!! So go back to sleep, our legislators !!!
ReplyDeleteNow we know the rest of the story on JUne 27th. MA has the same disease as Washington. We now have a "continuing resolution" type budget extension for 10 days since we have no budget yet. Shameful. These bozo's couldn't get a compromise budget done after weeks of discussion. Oh wait, they only work part time, I forgot. After all ,how can you do anything if you only work part of the day...but get paid for a full day. Or maybe they were watching the DiMasi trail...or Whitey. Apparently there is no sense of ungency on Beacon Hill....who would have guessed ? And bet they will not work the 4th weekend. Let's see...everyone will be int their district Friday....makes for a four day weekend for the bunch. And we are STUPID to keep re-electing these idiots..or maybe we are the idiots?
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