Legislative Reports
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[ State ]
July 5, 2008
The final month of formal sessions could feature action in the House and Senate on another mountain of legislative proposals being pushed in both branches. Lawmakers are expected to advance yet another mini-budget and a series of capital spending bills totaling more than $10 billion in the areas of higher education, the environment, transportation, bridge repair and “general government” needs. Lawmakers could act in July on bills toughening penalties for sexual assault of children, promoting biofuels and “green jobs” and investing in broadband expansion, and pushing safer alternatives to toxic chemicals and “solutions” to global warming. Lawmakers are
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[ STATE ]
July 5, 2008
Secret talks between the Patrick and Bush administrations over a waiver that will dictate whether Massachusetts continues to receive hundreds of millions of dollars for health care spending continue under a two-week extension. State and federal government officials will say very little about the waiver on the record, citing the confidentiality of negotiations, and the waiver process appears to include little in the way of public access, even though
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[ NATIONAL ]
July 5, 2008
For the sixth straight month, the national economy lost jobs, down 62,000 in June, with construction, manufacturing, and business services suffering the biggest blows. The unemployment rate remained at 5.5 percent. Education, health services, government, and leisure and hospitality all showed gains. Average hourly earnings climbed 6 cents, 0.3 percent, during June. The number of unemployed was 1.5 million higher than June 2007, reaching 8.5 million. The unemployment rate stayed steady across ethnic lines, except for Hispanics, who saw an increase. Analysts called the losses the results of soaring energy prices and employer concerns
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[ STATE ]
July 5, 2008
The House voted 133-19 at 12:29 pm and the Senate 29-5 eight minutes later to approve a $28.22 billion state budget that assumes federal approval of $600 million in state health care requests, spends hundreds of millions of dollars from planned tax increases and the state's rainy day stabilization fund, and boosts scores of budget accounts that lawmakers described as critical priorities.
As the Legislature was putting finishing touches on the spending bill, Gov. Deval Patrick announced
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[ STATE ]
June 26, 2008
The Senate unanimously endorsed a compromise energy bill that the House will likely approve on Thursday and Gov. Deval Patrick will likely sign, promoting energy conservation and fostering growth in renewable sources, but stopping short of including House-backed tax credits for energy-saving cars and climate-control equipment.
The 98-page conference committee report instructs the state to meet at least 25 percent of its electric load with demand-side resources like energy efficiency
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[ STATE ]
June 26, 2008
Former Gov. Mitt Romney scored successor Gov. Deval Patrick’s education reform proposals Tuesday, charging Patrick with weakening support for charter schools by trying to establish “readiness schools.”
“How are they like a charter school? Well, they’re not. Because he of course gave into the two constituencies that opposed charter schools,” Romney said at a state Republican Party fundraiser.
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[ NATIONAL ]
June 26, 2008
By Tom Donohue, President and CEO - US Chamber of Commerce: It's been a year since a hard fought, bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform plan collapsed in the United States Senate among much rancor and finger-pointing. The emotionally charged debate rifted the nation, dividing communities and citizens and bringing protestors of all viewpoints out into the streets.
Although immigration is no longer on the front burner of the national debate--and comprehensive reform has been left for dead in Congress--we continue
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[ NATIONAL]
June 26, 2008
Every business has to balance workload with staffing levels, and knowing when to make a new hire is always an important decision.
Fortunately, your options for finding the help you need, when you need it, rather than having to make a long-term hiring commitment, have opened up. Virtual assistants can help you get your work done without increasing your payroll.
The term virtual assistant applies to a well-established, but still relatively unfamiliar, type of worker who--due in large part to the drop in the price of both high-speed Internet connections and high-tech equipment over the past several years--is able to work on your assignments from any location using his or her own equipment and workspace.
Virtual assistants cover the full range of standard business needs--from administrative functions to legal assistance, marketing, technology, and other areas.
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[ NATIONAL ]
June 26, 2008
A free, new toolkit by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), contains information on setting up a drug-free workplace program
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[ STATE ]
May 30, 2008
Rep. Carl Sciortino’s effort to secure ballot access in the wake of his allegedly stolen nomination signatures is headed to the state Appeals Court. Sciortino (D-Medford) told the News Service Thursday that he filed an appeal Wednesday after a second Suffolk Superior Court judge turned down his request to have his name placed on the ballot. Sciortino filed 114 certified nomination signatures with the state by Tuesday’s 5 pm deadline, 36 short of the required 150. He says a 12-page batch of 72 certified Somerville voter signatures was stolen from his State House office sometime between April 28 and May 6. “I know exactly where they were in my office,” he said. “They were not misplaced or misfiled. They were stolen.” Sciortino said that at the advice of Judge Linda Giles, who rejected his ballot access request last Friday, he spent part of Memorial Day obtaining sworn affidavits from individuals who he said signed the nomination papers that he alleges
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