WEEKLY ROUNDUP - WEEK OF NOV. 28, 2005
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

By Jim O'Sullivan
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, DEC. 1, 2005 -- Perhaps it was the tryptophan wearing off after Thanksgiving, or the chief executive's absence from the state for most of the week, forsaking the vegetarian convention for the electoral meat of the far Left Coast. Maybe it was just the predictable hush of informal sessions. Whatever the reason, there was little visible action inside the State House this week.

Behind the scenes, though, conference committees percolated around four key legislative areas: the supplemental budget, the economic stimulus package, welfare reform, and, the ticket-topper, the health care reform that has consumed stakeholders and policy wonks for much of the fall.

And, speaking of prospective ticket-toppers with an eye on the end of autumn, Attorney General Thomas Reilly gave no quarter to a California-bound Gov. Romney, in Arnold Schwarzenegger's state to accept the chairmanship of the Republican Governors Association.

On Tuesday, Reilly jabbed laconically at the man whose job he seeks, sending a message to Romney about his travel: "I'm focused on things that matter to the people of Massachusetts. It's become a distraction really. So at some point, make up your mind. Come or go. Stay. Run. Whatever. Just do your job."

On Thursday, other Democrats joined the popular chorus shouting down Romney's travels. In front of the State House, lawmakers and party officials said Romney has "dissed" the state instead of staying to help it work through economic woes.

In response, Romney communications chief Eric Fehrnstrom turned the tables, wondering why Democrats had little to say when former Gov. Michael Dukakis traveled as chair of the Democratic Governors Association, and why Democrats have been unable to finish work on a job creation bill this year. And Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey pointed to an unemployment rate below the national mean.

While Romney's plans for 2008, 2006, and - heck - next week kept the chattering classes distracted, other matters bubbled.

-- The Legislature's leaders announced plans to cancel a retroactive tax boost that would have affected 48,000 taxpayers who sold assets for profit in early 2002. Legislative leaders said their amendment would be similar to one that Romney laid out, and would call for rebates over four years to roughly 157,000 taxpayers who realized capital gains between May and December 2002.

-- The conference committee process commenced, getting "underway," according to Senate President Robert Travaglini, at a Monday night dinner between him and House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi. Travaglini said the dinner gave each man "a sense" of the other's plans for the process, and that the Senate was open to returning in a special session this calendar year if "significant progress" is made in any of the committees.

-- State utility regulators gave the nod to a 2.1 percent rate increase for Bay State Gas users, adding to a 28 percent commodity rate increase earlier in November that hit customers for $65 per month. The new rate adds an average $2.24 to the monthly bill residents pay. The company had sought a 4.3 percent hike. Department of Telecommunications and Energy officials said they plan to investigate claims that the company's decision to decrease staffing levels has contributed to a decline in service.

-- The School Building Authority, with say-so over funding for school improvement and construction projects, said forthcoming regulations would cut down on the scope and size of reimbursements municipalities can receive.

-- Low-income Lawrence families protested pending rent increases they said could force them out of their homes. And new numbers showed home sales sagging while the condominium market hummed.

And, into the Executive Branch breach left by the governor's absence stepped temporary acting governor Healey, who assumes the Corner Office when Number One is out of state. Increasingly, as the conventional wisdom teeters on the brink of outright dismissal of the possibility that Romney will run for re-election, the media and the Democrats fasten on Healey - as administration figurehead, as newsmaker, and as political target. Witness her October joust with Reilly over in-state tuition rates for children of undocumented immigrants or her growing prominence as the administration's law-and-order spokeswoman.

For Healey, the brightening klieg lights furnish an opportunity to bolster those ghastly poll numbers. But, should the glare get much brighter - and most expect it to, and soon - she won't be able to duck so easily behind answers like the one she gave this week to governor's councilors who pressed her over the abandonment of a juvenile court nominee. "These decisions are the governor's," Healey said later.

Maybe, but they reflect increasingly on Healey. And, sooner or later, Romney as a re-election candidate could be gone for good and if that happens the questions, if not the decisions, will be left to her.

While predictions scrap with rumors to battle uninformed guesses over when Romney will announce his plans - before the self-imposed Last Day of Fall deadline? In concert with a health care agreement? -Democrats remain dogged in their insistence that they are committed to taxpayer interests.

Speculation has Democrats delaying movement on a health care plan in efforts to stymie Romney's efforts to incorporate into his national profile an image as a difference-maker. If the Legislature reconvenes in a December 20 post-conference committee special session, that bill would be one of several lawmakers can take up, or not. But a dilatory strategy could simply gift Romney with an attention-grabbing victory down the line. Of course, coinciding with the Last Day of Fall, a health care plan could also jibe nicely with a Romney announcement, allowing him to stamp victory on a substantial policy achievement. Unless something unexpectedly dramatic occurs, the governor's desk across which such legislation would travel is still Romney's until January 2007.

STATE'S UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE SHOWN TO BE HIGHEST IN NATION
The state's $671 per employee unemployment insurance rates more than double the $315 national average, a report from the state Department of Unemployment Assistance said. The state's Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund should post a $490 million balance by year's end, pulling the fund out of the red and opening the door to the possibility of lower rates, lawmakers said. The fiscal crisis earlier in the decade depleted a fund that held $2 billion in 2000, they said. The governor and business groups have pushed lawmakers to lower rates.

MRI BILL DIVIDES HEALTH CARE FIRMS AND LAWMAKERS
A bill that would curb the proliferation of magnetic resonance imaging technology earned the support of existing MRI machine owners, but drew outrage from doctors, who would be forbidden from sending patients to facilities in which they hold direct or indirect interests. Both sides staked claim to keeping costs down and preserving quality care.

BOARD OF ED VOTE SUSPENDS ACTION FOR STRUGGLING SCHOOLS
The state Board of Education split 4-4 on whether to accept three school improvement plans in New Bedford and Springfield filed by schools the board has deemed "underperforming." That tie prevents the plans from moving forward, despite Education Commissioner David Driscoll's endorsement. The board is on the verge of a major discussion of its legal responsibilities regarding school accountability.

BULGER PENSION BOOST OKAYED BY SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE
Former Senate and University of Massachusetts President William M. Bulger returned to the front pages, when his fortified $208,000 annual pension received the go-ahead from Suffolk Superior Court Judge Ernest B. Murphy. In a neat bit of Boston coincidence, or perhaps not, Murphy on the same day filed papers seeking to freeze the assets of the frequently Bulger-critical Boston Herald, until he collects his libel judgment from the paper in a case decided earlier this year. Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly and Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill quickly condemned Murphy's decision on Bulger's pension, saying it could set an expensive precedent for other high-level state employers, and the taxpayers.

YOUTH PROGRAM BUDGET CUTS LEAD TO SOCIAL ILLS, REPORT SAYS
The millions of dollars in funding cuts for state youth programs have had a discernible effect, a Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center study reported on Monday. Such spending reductions during the recent fiscal crisis topped $400 million, the report said. The Department of Social Services served almost 1,000 more children between 2001 and 2004, but real dollars spent by the state on DSS tumbled from $77.3 million in FY '01 to $68.3 million in FY '04, according to "Kids, Cuts and Consequences." Coinciding with those numbers were jumps in both teen pregnancy and teen smoking, the report said.

PERSONNEL FILE: . . . Secretary of State William F. Galvin appointed Michelle K. Tassinari as new director of the state Elections Division, filling a spot officials said had lain vacant for years. Tassinari, who has handled legal questions at the division since 1998, will oversee all state and county elections. While the division has been director-less, Galvin has been acting as director . . . Worcester Mayor Timothy Murray, elected last month to a third term, said he is running for lieutenant governor next year, joining a handful of other candidates . . . Steven D. Pierce was named Wednesday as the next chief justice of the Housing Court. The former House minority leader, Pierce is also a former aide to Gov. William Weld and Acting Gov. Jane Swift, a former executive director of the Mass. Housing Finance Agency, and a former gubernatorial candidate . . . Another judge, Plymouth Juvenile Court Judge Robert F. Murray apologized for "inappropriate conduct" toward two female court employees last year. He was suspended for a year, fined $50,000, and forbidden from sitting in any Plymouth County court.

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