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Page 12 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, September 9, 2022 Beacon Hill Roll Call By Bob Katzen GET A FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO MASSTERLIST – Join more than 22,000 people, from movers and shakers to political junkies and interested citizens, who start their weekday morning with MASSterList—the popular newsletter that chronicles news and informed analysis about what’s going on up on Beacon Hill, in Massachusetts politics, policy, media and influence. The stories are drawn from major news organizations as well as specialized publications selected by widely acclaimed and highly experienced writers Keith Regan and Matt Murphy who introduce each article in their own clever and inimitable way. MASSterlist will be e-mailed to you FREE every Monday through Friday morning and will give you a leg up on what’s happening in the blood sport of Bay State politics. For more information and to get your free subscription, go to: https://lp.constantcontactpages. com/su/aPTLucK THE HOUSE AND SENATE: There were no roll call votes in the House or Senate last week. This week, Beacon Hill Roll Call reports local representatives’ roll call attendance records for the 2022 session. The House held 165 roll calls in 2022. Beacon Hill Roll Call tabulates the number of roll calls on which each representative was present and voting, and then calculates that number as a percentage of the total roll call votes held. That percentage is the number referred to as the roll call attendance record. The vast majority of the 153 repESTATE TAX PORTABILITY which extended the due date from 2 years to 5 years. This five year period applies in the situation where an estate tax return would not otherwise be required to be filed for the decedent’s estate. If the husband were to die in E state tax portability was introduced into law on December 17, 2010 as part of The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act. Massachusetts has not adopted portability. Encourage your elected officials to pass legislation authorizing it at the state level. Portability allows the federal unused exemption amount for one spouse to be passed to the surviving spouse. A Federal estate tax return would have to be filed even though no federal estate tax is due. If one spouse dies and leaves $5million to his or her spouse, there is an unlimited marital deduction so no federal or Massachusetts estate tax will be paid. If a federal estate tax return is filed within 5 years from the time of death, you can preserve the DSUE (Deceased Spouse Unused Exemption) for the surviving spouse. The due date for filing an estate tax return to avoid any late filing or late payment penalties if a tax is actually owed is 9 months from the date of death. Congress has given taxpayers more time to file a federal estate tax return in order to preserve the portability election. Revenue Procedure 2022-34 was promulgated this year 2022 leaving $5million to his wife, there would be no estate tax to be paid on that $5million. If his wife had $10million in her own name she would then end up with a $15million estate. If the wife were to also die in 2022 there still would be no federal estate tax, even though her estate would have been valued at $15million at the time of her death. The 2022 federal estate tax exemption is $12.6million. Therefore, the husband’s DSUE of $12.06million is added to the wife’s $12.06 federal estate tax exemption resulting in a total federal exemption for the wife of $24.12million. Consequently, none of her $15million estate would be subject to federal estate tax. It is therefore important to know when to file a federal estate tax return when the first spouse dies. The federal exemption is slated to be reduced to $6.2million beginning on January 1, 2026, unless congress extends the higher exemption amounts. Preserving a $12.06 portability election now might come in very handy several years down the road when a surviving spouse dies at a time when the federal estate tax exemption is much lower. You would want to lock in the higher federal estate tax exemption now. Joseph D. Cataldo is an estate planning/elder law attorney, Certified Public Accountant, Certified Financial Planner, AICPA Personal Financial Specialist and holds a master’s degree in taxation. resentatives are not in the House chamber during a session because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most are watching the session from their Statehouse office, home or business and voting remotely. Here’s how the remote voting system works: Eight appointed monitors are required to be present in the House chamber and are each given the task of recording the votes of approximately 20 members who are watching the session remotely from their homes or business offices. Each monitor has their 20 members on a conference call and fills out a form indicating how each member voted. The sheets are given to the court officers who then give them to the House Clerk who verifies that the correct totals have been recorded on the sheet and that the sheet is signed by the monitor. The assistant clerk records the yeas and nays in the roll call computer, which activates the green (voted “Yes”) or red (voted “No”) lights on the electronic roll call board. Members participating remotely then have the opportunity to see on the broadcast how they are recorded so that they can verify that their vote is recorded accurately. The tally is then displayed on the roll call board and the presiding officer announces the totals and the result of the vote. If a member wants to speak on an issue under consideration, they leave the conference call temporarily. Using a different telephone, they call into a line that patches them into the debate. Their voice is then heard in the House chamber and by those watching the broadcast online. In the House, 94.1 percent (144 representatives out of 153) did not miss any roll calls and have 100 percent roll call attendance records while 5.9 percent (nine representatives out of 153) have missed one or more roll calls. The representative who missed the most roll calls is Rep. David LeBoeuf (D-Worcester) who missed 12 roll calls (92.7 percent attendance record). Rounding out the nine representatives who have missed roll calls are Reps. Joan Meschino (D-Hull) who missed six roll calls (96.3 percent attendance record); Nika Elugardo (D-Jamaica Plain), Michael Moran (D-Brighton) and Alice Peisch (D-Wellesley) who each missed four roll calls (97.5 percent attendance record); Colleen Garry (D-Dracut) who missed three roll calls (98.1 percent attendance record); and Reps. Patrick Kearney (D-Scituate), Tami Gouveia (D-Acton) and John Rogers (D-Norwood) who each missed one roll call (99.3 percent attendance record). Beacon Hill Roll Call contacted these nine legislators and asked each one for a comment on his or her attendance record. Only two responded: Reps. Peisch and Meschino. Rep. Peisch:“I was traveling for a significant family event that had been scheduled for some time. Had I been able to vote, I would have voted in the affirmative. At the time, I submitted a statement to the House Clerk for publication in the journal indicating my absence and how I would have voted.” Rep. Meschino: “I missed one day of formal session and roll call votes while traveling for a special family celebration.” Reps. LeBoeuf, Elguardo, Garry, Kearney, Gouveia, John Rogers and Michael Moran did not respond to repeated requests for a comment. REPRESENTATIVES’ 2022 ROLL CALL ATTENDANCE RECORDS The percentage listed next to the representative’s name is the percentage of roll call votes on which the representative voted in 2022. The number in parentheses represents the number of roll calls that he or she missed. Rep. Paul Donato 100 percent (0) Rep. Steven Ultrino 100 percent (0) ALSO UP ON BEACON HILL $2.9 BILLION IN TAX RELIEF PENDING (H 5260) – Gov. Charlie Baker filed a $1.6 billion supplemental budget to close out the books on fiscal year 2022. A key section sets aside $2.9 billion of the state’s projected surplus to be returned to taxpayers based on the recent “discovery” of 62F, a 1986 law approved by the voters. That law requires that tax revenue above a certain amount collected by the state go back to the taxpayers. It is estimated that the 1986 law would return $2.9 billion in fiscal year 2022 revenue to Massachusetts taxpayers. Last week, the Department of Revenue informed Auditor Suzanne Bump that it believes that $2.9 billion is required to be returned to taxpayers. If the auditor certifies that figure by a Sept. 20 deadline, the money will be returned to taxpayers. Baker's office said that even with the money being returned to taxpayers, the state will still have a fiscal year 2022 surplus of $2.3 billion. “The more time the auditor allows for the certification process, the more time she allows for outside influence by those who do not want credits sent back to the taxpayers,” said Paul Craney, spokesperson for Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. “There is also a very strong argument to be made that since the speaker and Senate president failed to pass their tax relief package, taxpayers need this money as soon as possible to help with the rising cost of inflation. Back to school shopping is well underway and soon enough families across the state will be thinking about rising home heating costs. They need this money more than ever.” “In 1986, Citizens for Limited Taxation (CLT) put forth this ballot question with the expectation that Massachusetts taxpayers would one day need this law,” said Chip Ford, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation. “Any required credit should not be delayed as a refund next year, as the original intent when CLT drafted it was to get the money back to the taxpayers expeditiously. With inflation still surging, delay will only devalue the amount returned to the taxpayers.” AUTO INSURANCE BILLS SENT TO A STUDY COMMITTEE – Last week, several bills affecting auto insurance rates, surcharges and premiums were sent to a study committee where bills are rarely actually studied and are essentially defeated. It is a way to kill a proposal without holding a vote on the bill itself. Here are some of the bills that were sent off to a study committee. FEES FOR PAYING AUTO PREMIUMS IN INSTALLMENTS (H 1127) – Would prohibit auto insurance companies from charging a fee for processing an electronic payment by a customer without first giving written notification. “I filed this legislation on behalf of a constituent who was charged a processing fee for paying his automobile insurance bill electronically but was never notified by the insurer that such a fee existed,” said sponsor Rep. Brad Jones (R-North Reading). “[The bill] will add an extra layer of consumer protection and promote greater transparency by requiring insurance providers to notify consumers in writing if they charge a fee for processing an electronic payment. I’m disappointed this bill was placed in a study order, but I plan to re-file it for the upcoming session so consumers will be able to make a more informed decision on how they choose to pay their bills.” PROHIBIT EXPIRED INSPECTION STICKER FROM BEING A SURCHARGEABLE OFFENSE (H 1128) – Would prohibit driving with an expired inspection sticker from being counted as a surchargeable offense. Under Bay State law, surchargeable offenses can lead to temporary higher insurance premiums. In additional the state will immediately suspend or revoke a learner’s permit or driver’s license for 60 days if a driver has accumulated seven surchargeable offenses or moving violations within a 3-year period. A driver with three surchargeable offenses within a 2-year period will have their license or learner’s permit revoked in 90 days unless he or she completes a BHRC | SEE PAGE 14

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