The gang on Beacon Hill is hip-deep in budget negotiations, but there are still plenty of other stories leaking out from under the golden dome these days. Let’s consider a few.
Perhaps the biggest story in recent memory broke Wednesday with the announcement that Kinder Morgan is dropping plans to build a $3.3 billion natural gas pipeline through western Massachusetts and part of southern New Hampshire.
Senate President Stan Rosenberg called the move a “game changer,” and right he is. It’s also a huge win for the people who have opposed the project from day one, most of whom are probably still celebrating what has to be a pretty sweet victory.
And, while I hate to rain on that parade, it’s important to remember the current moratorium on new natural gas hookups remains in effect, and likely will until someone finds a way to get new gas supplies in here, which not going to be a take-it-easy proposition.
Don’t look now, but the state’s Bottle Bill may be headed for the recycling bin.
There is a bill in the Legislature that would basically end the Commonwealth’s five-cent bottle deposit law as we know it, and knock the redemption amount down to one cent, but only for one year, after which the plan is to phase it out.
Not surprisingly, the bill is being pushed by the bottle and grocery industry under the Trojan horse premise that it would help create a single recycling stream, rather than the current redeemable and non-redeemable system.
“It came out of committee favorably, but I don’t sense a lot of support for it in the Legislature,” 1st Franklin state Rep. Steve Kulik said. “I think the industry sees an opening here coming off the defeat of last year’s bottle bill expansion ballot question.”
Word is that the measure has the support of Gov. Charlie Baker, but it has to get to him first, which seems unlikely with the Democrats still holding a super-majority in both the House and Senate.
If you are fortunate enough to live in this state and make a lot of money, get ready, because Beacon Hill Democrats believe they’ve found a new way to pay for education and road repairs.
A constitutional amendment has been proposed which would add an additional 4-percent tax surcharge onto any income over $1 million per year. As Rosenberg explains it, the first million anyone makes would be taxed at the regular rate, with anything over that subject to the additional four percent, a hike which would impact only about 19,000 taxpayers statewide.
“The people who worked to draft this wanted some very specific conditions attached, including the mandate that the money be earmarked specifically for education and transportation,” Rosenberg said.
This is pretty obviously a way to try and back door the Commonwealth into the so-called “progressive” tax system liberals have long coveted, but it won’t be easy to get there, as it has to pass two consecutive constitutional conventions. That seems like an extreme long-shot, given how poorly similar proposals have fared, and with good reason, because this is simply a bad idea.
I know demonizing rich people is an effective political strategy, and I’ve never understood why. When did it suddenly become a bad thing to be successful in this country? The centerpiece of the American Dream used to be if you worked hard, you got to enjoy the fruits of that labor. Now, wealth is something to be redistributed to those who did nothing to earn it.
This state already takes billions out the pockets of its citizens every year, but still can’t seem to find a way to fully pay for the really important stuff like education and transportation infrastructure. Yet, there still seems to be plenty of money for bloated bureaucracy and employees pulling in six figures of public money to do a whole lot less than they would otherwise get in the dreaded private sector.
I doubt this has much chance of passing, but in the event that it does go to the convention floor, I’d love to see one representative or senator with the temerity to suggest that maybe the Commonwealth should make the best use possible of the money it already gets before it sticks its hands into the pockets of people whose only crime is having had more success than their neighbors.
Chris Collins, who worked in local radio in a number of capacities, has observed political life in Franklin County for years. He also is a former staff reporter for The Recorder and a Greenfield native.