26

Page 26 THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, JunE 27, 2025 BEACON | FROM PAGE 25 sentative or senator. The Office of Fiscal Analysis would prepare tax revenue and expenditure forecasts and reviews and analyze the fiscal impact of proposed legislation. “Massachusetts is an outlier,” said Kempthorne. “Nearly all states have nonpartisan research and analysis capacity to encourage better bill drafting, analysis and decision making. The absence of that capacity here helps account for our Legislature’s poor performance.” The second proposal (HD 4303) would make major changes to the current legislative pay stipend system under which all 40 senators and 108 of 160 representatives receive an additional stipend, above their $82,046 base salary, for their positions in the Democratic and Republican leadership, as committee chairs, vice chairs and the ranking Republican on some committees. The current Senate stipends range from $30,207 to $119,631 while the House ones range from $7,776. to $119,631. All of the positions are appointed by either the Senate President, House Speaker, Senate Minority Leader or House Minority Leader. The bill would change the range of the stipends for representatives and senators to a new range of $16,409 to $61,533. It would also reduce the number of legislators who receive stipends. CORL cites other changes it proposes in the stipend system including only providing stipends for positions that involve significant work; condition stipends for committee chairs on their bringing all bills to their full committees for public debate, mark-up and a public vote; give stipends for leadership and Ways and Means positions only if the committee chairs meet those conditions described above; and provide a new stipend to all committee members for the significant work of participating in public debates and mark-ups. Supporters of the bill say that the current system gives leadership extraordinary control over legislators’ pay. They say that their new bill would replace the current system with a less costly and less leadership-controlled stipend system that rewards performance, rather than loyalty. “In no other state are so many legislators dependent on their chamber leader for a large share of their pay,” said former Rep. Jonathan Hecht. “One hundred and forty nine of the 200 members of the legislature are now in so-called ‘leadership positions,’ put there by the House Speaker, Senate President, or the House and Senate Minority Leaders, with a $5 million account to boost their pay. Most of these stipends were created in the last 25 years, and reward little or no work.” “One of the questions that we are considering is whether to take ... one or both of these issues to the ballot,” said former State Rep. and Revenue Committee chair Jay Kaufman. “There’s some significant consequences to doing that, but we’re actively weighing it.” Also in attendance at the - LEGAL NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE - Notice is hereby given by A.G. Quealy Towing, Inc., 26 Garvey St., Everett, MA,02149 pursuant to the provisions of G.L. c. 255, Section 39A, that on or after 7-12-2025 the following Motor Vehicles will be sold to satisfy the garage keeper’s lien thereon for storage, towing charges, care and expenses of notice and sale of said vehicles: P.O. Box 490558 Everett, MA 02149 YEAR 2005 2011 2008 2020 2013 2009 2018 2017 2009 2012 2017 2013 2019 2010 2007 MAKE Mercury Jeep Hyundai Suzuki Toyota Hyundai Dodge Ford Hyundai Toyota Nissan Lexus 2017 GMC Ducati MODEL Mariner Patriot Silver Mercedes-Benz E-Class Black Ford Escape Silver ELANTRA Red GSX-R 600 RAV4 ACCENT White Journey Explorer Gray ELANTRA Camry Altima Black RX 350 Black Sierra 1500 1098 S Red VIN# 4M2YU56Z85DJ21301 1J4NT4GB2BD142545 WDBUF87X68B245420 1FMCU9G67LUA43534 KMHDH4AE3DU714730 JS1GN7EA892102491 2T3BFREV3JW834339 KMHCT4AEXHU364092 3D4GG57V89T571201 1FMHK8D87CGA34018 KMHD84LF6HU428267 4T1BF1FK1DU657826 1N4BL4EV9KC228064 2T2BK1BA7AC031134 1GTV2NEC3HZ131897 ZDM1XBEW77B003165 Signed, Alan G. Quealy, owner A.G. Quealy Towing, Inc. June 27, July 3, 11, 2025 event was long time editor and first-time director Aaron Singer who is the producer and director of “Shadows on the Hill,” an upcoming documentary that he says asks why common-sense bills don’t pass the Massachusetts Legislature. “This project began as an investigation into why legislation reforming Daylight Savings Time keeps failing,” said Singer. “But once I started talking to people on Beacon Hill, it became clear how much representatives fear going against leadership. A supermajority co-sponsored an act to prevent wage theft; how does that not pass?” Singer continued, “I have deep empathy for rank-andfile lawmakers under intense pressure to fall in line, but they have a responsibility to loudly call out how undemocratic the system is. Otherwise, their role in the process will never change and their constituents will be denied the representation they’re owed.” BAN USE OF CELL PHONES IN SCHOOLS (S 381) – The Education Committee held a hearing on several bills which would ban student use of cell phones during classes except when expressly directed by a teacher. “An increasing number of countries, states and municipalities have banned mobile phones in schools,” said Sen. John Keenan (D-Quincy) who filed one of the proposals. He noted that he filed the measure, to ensure that the commonwealth protects children in classrooms and optimizes the learning environment for students.” PROHIBIT USE OF NATIVE AMERICAN MASCOTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS (S 312) – Another bill heard by the Education Committee would prohibit public schools from using an athletic team name, logo or mascot which is associated with Native Americans. The bill bans the current and future use of any of these mascots. Any school that does not comply with this law would not be eligible for discretionary state education grants. “This bill is long overdue,” said Sen. Jo Comerford (D-Northampton). “Native Americans are sovereign peoples—not mascots, not caricatures. The continued use of Native imagery in school mascots is dehumanizing. It perpetuates harmful stereotypes and has been shown to cause psychological harm, especially for Native youth.” In 2024, a similar bill was approved by the Education Committee and was sent to the House Ways and Means Committee where it died from lack of further action. ELIMINATE THE ADDRESS OF CANDIDATES ON THE BALLOT (SD 2982) - Sen. Jake Oliveira (D-Ludlow) proposed a late-filed bill that would remove the home street address of candidates for elected office from ballots and nomination papers. The measure would allow only the city or town in which the candidate resides to be listed. The measure was filed in response to a shooting in which Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were killed. Oliveira said that Massachusetts is “an extreme outlier” as the only state that prints candidate addresses on ballots. He noted that 44 other states list only party affiliation on a public ballot, and five list a candidate’s home municipality, precinct or ward but not a full street address. “Only Massachusetts includes the information that we have on our ballots,” said Oliveira. “We need to do everything that we can to protect one another, protect our staff and protect our family, and this is a step in the right direction.” EXPAND THE BOTTLE BILL (S 2245) The Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy’s hearing included a measure that would expand the bottle bill to include containers as small as nips and as large as one gallon; more types of beverages such as water, energy drinks and iced tea; an increase in the deposit from 5 cents to 10 cents; an increase in the handling fees paid to retailers and redemption centers; an exemption for retailers of less than 2,000 square feet from the requirement of accepting containers for redemption; and a provision that would direct unclaimed deposits in excess of $70 million to the re-established Clean Environment BEACON | SEE PAGE 28

27 Publizr Home