08/01/2008
Legislative session ends
The Massachusetts Legislature ended formal sessions on July 31 -- actually 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 1. Informal sessions will continue to the end of December and a new Legislature elected in November will be sworn in in January. New laws can be passed during "informal sessions," but action requires unanimous consent and no request for a recorded roll call vote. There is a chance that the legislature could reconvene in a special session before the end of 2008 if developments require it, but special sessions are unusual. Special sessions are potentially dangerous because they are almost uncontrollable and can go far afield of their original purpose.
The Beacon Hill Report will become more infrequent over the next few months but I will provide a more comprehensive review of the session just completed as recent actions are completely digested, as well as a look at what to expect in the months ahead. There will be a lot of action on the regulatory front as the administration seeks to enact through regulation what they could not push through the Legislature.
CORI (victory)
The House refused to take up the compromise CORI legislation that was reported from the Judiciary Committee late in the session. The bill would have further restricted employer access to criminal record information about prospective employees. NFIB took an active role in opposing the bill saying that transparency was important to the protection of employee safety and business success. Hundreds of NFIB members contacting their legislators in the last week of the session in response to an Issue Alert also encouraged legislators to put the issue over to next year. Thank you.
Mental health mandate expansion (partial victory)
Massachusetts has a mental health parity law that requires unlimited coverage of biologically-based mental health conditions. Legislation to expand unlimited coverage to all mental health issues, including even relationship issues, passed the House and would have meant a substantial increase in health insurance premiums. After a concerted and intense lobbying effort by business groups, the Senate limited the expansion to four specific non-biologically based conditions, including post traumatic stress, eating disorders and substance abuse addictions. The amended bill prevailed as the session wound down. Insurers say they can manage the benefits and most of these conditions are currently covered as associated with a biological condition, limiting the premium increase. Small business owners avoided another significant health insurance premium increase (2-4 percent) with enactment of the compromise bill.
Nurse ratio bill (victory, for now)
The House and Senate were unable to reach agreement on a bill that would involve the state in establishing nurse/patient ratios. The Senate version required hospitals to submit nurse work assignment plans while the House would have required hospitals to abide by state established ratios. If a compromise can be reached, action could be taken in informal sessions, but the two sides are apparently not close and the money involved (some say as much as $200 to $400 million in added costs for hospitals) is substantial.
Health insurance (not a victory)
Legislation to provide new funding for the state's new health insurance law is on the governor's desk. First the good news: The governor's proposal to increase the $295 fair share contribution to an amount that increased revenue 500 percent to $38 million per year was deleted from the bill. But the Legislature authorized taking $35 million from the Medical Security Trust Fund -- the account which is funded 100 percent by employers through a $16.80 per employee assessment on unemployment insurance and is earmarked for health insurance for unemployed workers and their families -- and applying it to health care funding. The Legislature also changed the annual reporting requirement to determine employer liability for fair share contributions to quarterly. This change will result in a significant increase in administrative burdens for small business owners, in double payments in 2008-09 for those companies paying a fee this year, and in thousands of companies (especially those with part-time and/or seasonal employees) that were exempt this year being liable for a fair share contribution in 2008-09. When combined with promised regulatory changes, the number of companies paying the fair share contribution in 2008-09 is expected to increase significantly.
And in D.C.
The U.S. Senate is debating S. 3268, the Stop Excessive Energy Speculation Act that seeks to mitigate the impact of speculators on crude oil markets. NFIB supports amendments to the bill to increase offshore and onshore domestic production of oil and natural gas. But a vote on the supply issue is likely to be delayed until September at the earliest. NFIB supports comprehensive energy legislation to facilitate production of oil, natural gas, and coal in an environmentally-friendly way, to encourage conservation, and to encourage development of renewable and alternative energy sources. The cost of natural gas, gasoline, propane, diesel, and fuel oil is the second most pressing problem for small businesses. NFIB will continue to press Congress for meaningful relief from the current energy crisis.
The House lobby team is looking for H-2B visa stories. Please contact me if you are willing to share your experiences.
