The next Wednesday April 20 there will be another Insider Budget Briefing featuring Noah Berger, President of Mass Budget and Policy Center who, after he and his staff have had almost a full week to review the House Ways and Means Budget, — and maybe some of the amendments that have been filed, will provide us with a fact based analysis.
If you haven’t had a chance to review the Mass Budgets latest report documenting the Fiscal Fallout from years of budget cuts on local aid and human services you should.
Press coverage on the Fiscal Fallout report was extensive in the print and electronic media.
Joining him will be Colleen Corona, Chair of the Board of Selectmen in the Town of Easton, who will give us some stories about how the long series of cuts have affected her community and her colleagues from other towns in the Commonwealth.
BREAKING DOWN THE BUDGET
Noah Berger, President of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center
Colleen Corona, Past President of the Massachusetts Selectmen's Association; Chair, Board of Selectmen, Town of Easton; Leadership Team, One Massachusetts
• How we got here: What short and long-term decisions created the budget deficit that Massachusetts is currently dealing with?
• House Ways & Means Analysis: What are the major cuts that went into the budget and how will they affect our communities? How will local budgets be impacted?
Join us Wednesday, April 20th at 3:30pm in the 2nd Floor Conference Room at SEIU 615.
Tuition for this event is $10, and covers a light dinner from Falafel King and take-home materials. The fee may be waived upon request for those unable to pay.
Please register by Friday, April 15th to Carmen Arce-Bowen at carmen@realclout.org or 617-275-2833.
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I don’t know if I will be attending this year, as the total cash flow for a household is dependent on my work as a self-employed professional – and those who hire me depend on me to get work done before deadline. And as some know, besides no paid sick days or vacation, we don’t qualify for a dime of subsidy for health insurance “or anything else”.
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p>Mind you, I am grateful I worked my way through graduate school, and have the ability and credentials to do work I happen to love (well, that I love most days despite its often stressful nature.) But it does mean that I advocate and ‘politik’ on my own dime and so have to be balanced in what I choose to do.
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p>Interesting that House Ways and Means will now do a public roll out but in a tiny, airless hearing room (A-1 is not known for good ventilation, dress lightly if you plan to go) – still an improvement, so good for Chairmen Dempsy. I hope legislating via outside section is kept under control, too.
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p>Does the Speaker still plan to have a “closed caucus of the entire House” to discuss the FY 12 budget? Inquiring minds, several of them, want to know. After all, the House could act “as if” the Open Meeting law applies to the House and start regaining trust from the public.
Finneran used it, with great success.
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p>Briefly, if you put in an earmark, you must show where in the budget (line, chapter, verse) that money would come from. Kept the budget ceiling the same as what was issued, and tamped down frivolous shiny amendments, doomed to fail and meant to impress the bumpkins back home with your ‘clout’.