Priorities at the State House

As the school year winds down, so too does our current legislative session at the State House, which began in January 2009 and concludes next month.  Before we finish, it is useful to reflect on our priorities.  Have our priorities been the right ones?  What should we try to achieve in the next few weeks?  What are the most pressing issues?  Over the long term, what challenges should we as elected officials and as a society be seeking to address? 

Amidst the daily barrage of one hundred emails and a dozen phone calls on myriad, specific issues, the mind of the elected official can blur.  It’s easy for a legislator or the entire State House to become reactive rather than pro-active, focused on the trees while missing the forest.  The challenge involves constantly raising the question of priorities:  which issues should take precedent?  What are high priority challenges we are facing as a state, as towns, as communities, as businesses, as families, and as individuals? 

A brief survey of issues that the Massachusetts House of Representatives has been addressing should, I believe, reflect the priorities of its legislators and, more importantly, of its citizenry.  I wonder if you share the priorities that have been the focus of attention at the State House since January 2009.  I have reservations about some of them, but overall find them good.  They are listed below in roughly chronological order. 

• Ethics reform, in which we strengthened rules and penalties against activities that could undermine the public’s trust in elected officials.
• Pension reform that removed the ability of state employees to manipulate the pension system and unfairly boost their retirement benefits.
• Transportation reform that streamlined management and saved $250 million through employee benefit reductions.
• The Fiscal Year 2010 budget. 
• Reconfiguring the special US Senate election, subsequent to Senator Kennedy’s passing.
• Establishing better pandemic flu policies and procedures, in light of the H1N1 virus.
• Education reform, providing tools to improve our underperforming schools and close the achievement gap. 
• The safe-driving bill, to ban texting while driving and impose more scrutiny on seniors’ ability to drive safely.
• An anti-bullying bill, mandating that schools develop anti-bullying policies and procedures.
• Providing more tools for towns and cities to lower their costs – the Municipal Relief bill. 
• Expanded gambling, including slot machines at racetracks, and resort casinos.
• The Fiscal Year 2011 budget.
• Criminal recordkeeping reform, so that people with a history of youthful indiscretion are not punished indefinitely and can instead get back to work as part of society.
• Saving lives by preventing children from operating or riding ATVs (all terrain vehicles).

Among this list are many worthwhile and necessary legislative solutions, some of which are long overdue and the majority of which support the public good and residents in our state.  I also believe that there are many challenges that we are facing within our state that deserve increased attention:

• Creating a better business environment for job creation and economic growth.
• Streamlining the state’s economic development departments and agencies.
• Reducing health care costs for small businesses and individuals.
• Starting to save $500 million annually for future health care liabilities for state and municipal employees who will be retiring over the next thirty years.
• Dedicating $1 billion annually in revenue toward fixing the 500+ crumbling bridges and thousands of miles of roads that need repairing around the Commonwealth.
• Finding a revenue source in excess of $250 million annually to pay down the Big Dig debt while preventing Turnpike tolls from rising. 
• Partnering with the private sector to create child care options for the 25,000 mothers who can’t access or afford child care, which prevents them from working.
• Reforming and cleaning out the patronage-laced Massachusetts Department of Probation.
• Forcing our federal elected officials to pass a comprehensive immigration reform law.

If we, as a legislature and state government, are going to earn the public’s trust and work towards effective, transparent government, we have considerable work to do.  These are complex issues, and it will take significant time and energy to craft viable solutions to them; there are no easy answers.  In order to overcome party politics and work towards realistic, practical solutions to these issues, it will also take courage. 

It will require courage to withstand the pressure that comes from special interests and lobbyists.  We must also be candid with citizens — all of you — about the financial realities surrounding our biggest challenges.  Will we have the fortitude to recognize that we have been living beyond our means — families and government — and that we are on a path that is not sustainable?  Are we brave enough to put forth bold ideas that could jeopardize one’s ability to get re-elected, but which are necessary to help create jobs, allow families to restore the wealth they have lost, reduce cynicism toward government, allow for collaboration and public-private partnerships, reduce the blame-game and finger-pointing, and help citizens participate in public service and their government?

Many of you are frustrated by the morass in Washington DC and the scandals on Beacon Hill.  You are fearful about your own employment and financial outlook.  Let’s envision a better future by channeling our frustrations and anxieties toward useful purposes, innovative solutions, and smart choices in the public policy arena.  I’m ready to work with you.  Please contact me if you want to be part of the effort. 

Tom Conroy is state representative for Lincoln, Sudbury, and Wayland and can be reached at Thomas.Conroy@state.ma.us or 617-722-2460.