If the end of the General Court’s 187th session precipitated a chaotic though predictable scramble to move the session’s most consequential bills, it was an even more challenging time for Gov. Deval Patrick.
After days of will-he-or-won’t-he speculation, Patrick took a deep breath and signed the “three strikes” bill, minus his “judicial safety valve” amendment, that denies parole to the most violent repeat offenders.
The governor’s objections to the bill, bolstered by Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Roderick Ireland’s reservations about the lack of sentencing discretion and increased workload for the already harried judges, did not sway lawmakers. Patrick had to content himself with a good, but not great piece of lawmaking, while managing to extract a “promise” from Beacon Hill leaders to revisit other criminal justice reforms next year.
Yet Patrick’s disappointment with the crime bill was tempered by the session’s more significant accomplishment, health care reform 2.0. The governor could scarcely contain himself over the passage of the cost containment bill. “This is more than a good bill; this is a great bill,” he said.
In the afterglow of the historic 2006 health care law, cost containment has long been regarded as the next major hurdle. The new legislation, notes The Christian Science Monitor, “returned Massachusetts to the vanguard of the heath care debate.”
The bill puts the onus on health care providers to assure that per person costs do not exceed the state’s gross product, currently under 4 percent, through 2017. After 2017, the rate drops to 0.5 percent. The estimated savings are $200 billion over the next 15 years.
The legislation also changes payment methodologies for Medicaid, state-funded health programs, and state employee health insurance programs. The plan also includes $60 million for a prevention and wellness trust to help health care providers design programs to combat chronic illnesses such as diabetes and paid for by a tax on health insurers and assessments on large hospitals.
The jockeying over the containment bill went down to the wire, giving rank-and-file legislators little time to digest, hence to disagree, with the fine print in the 350-page document. That prompted a protest vote from Rep. Todd Smola, a Palmer Republican, one of three western Massachusetts lawmakers to vote against the bill, who complained that lawmakers had very little time to study the complex legislation.
Smola has a point. What would lawmakers have said about the fact that the legislation does not include any specific enforcement mechanisms beyond the threat of investigation by the Attorney General’s office?
The absence of penalties could prove to be a major flaw; it remains to be seen if the negative PR of an investigation by the state’s chief law enforcement officer is enough to compel health care providers to meet the targets. In a preview of coming attractions, Partners Healthcare nemesis Paul Levy congratulates the hospital giant for preemptively getting around the reform bill.
Bay State officials weren’t the only ones trumpeting the virtues of cost containment this week. During his visit to Israel, former Corner Office denizen Mitt Romney doled out praise for the cost controls in the country’s health care system. However, he neglected to observe that health care spending in Israel is tightly controlled by the government.
Whatever its imperfections, cost containment legislation in Massachusetts provides another blueprint for national regulators to study to as they continue to tackle federal spending issues. And as Romney continues to run away from the Massachusetts reforms he championed — probably even faster in the wake of latest developments — Deval Patrick will be happy to step up and cheer about them.
–GABRIELLE GURLEY
BEACON HILL
Les Gosule, the crime bill’s chief backer, is jubilant over its passage, WBUR reports. The Globe also speaks with Gosule. Here is Gov. Patrick’s statement.
The Legislature also sends along bills dealing with electricity and jobs, NECN reports.
The former executive director of the Massachusetts Film Office sings the praises of the state’s film tax credit in a Globe op-ed. Meanwhile, Alan Wirzbicki argues further down the page that spending money on movies that portray Massachusetts in an unflattering light is a bad idea. CommonWealth has written extensively on the issue.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll breathes a sigh of relief after the Legislature pledges to oversee the decommissioning of the city’s coal-fired electric plant, which could cost $80 million, the Salem News reports.
Jorge Jaime, who received a $20,000 raise after being promoted from receptionist to public works foreman, testifies before a grand jury investigating Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
The Lynn pension fund bounces back, the Item reports.
The Globe argues that the city of Boston needs to do more to stop abuses of the police overtime system.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn calls the legislature back for a special session on pension reform, but deadlocked lawmakers say it’s a waste of time, Governing reports.
ELECTION 2012
Is Mitt Romney really a wimp? Mark McKinnon vs. Michael Tomasky duel in The Daily Beast.
A New York Times poll shows Romney behind in Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania.
Tea Party favorite Ted Cruz beats out the lieutenant governor of Texas to become the GOP’s candidate for Senate in the Lone Star State, the Associated Press reports. Cruz’s victory reinvigorates debate over the Tea Party’s future.
The Globe looks at what’s behind the presidential candidates’ avoidance of the climate change issue during the campaign so far.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
The Quincy Licensing Board will reconsider its granting of a license to a themed restaurant that features waitresses wearing revealing uniforms after the pastor of the nearby Catholic church protested the planned pub. The incident comes as CommonWealth recently detailed how the church is flexing its doctrinal muscle over local zoning, especially as it sells off its own property.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina argues against an across-the-board state sales tax on online purchases.
EDUCATION
The role of charter schools in the turnaround of the Lawrence school system is highlighted at a forum, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
HEALTH CARE
Cambridge-based Genzyme Corp. is suing its biotech rival Shire Human Genetic Therapies of Lexington in federal court for misrepresenting Genzyme’s treatment for a rare disease.
The mandate by the Obama administration that all insurance plans cover birth control begins today and the National Review declares it a “dark day for religious freedom.”
TRANSPORTATION
Lawmakers pass an earmark-laden transportation bond bill.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
The state said recent spraying killed 60 percent of the mosquito population in those areas but officials continue to find mosquitoes carrying the EEE virus.
US Reps. Ed Markey and William Keating remain “troubled” by the NRC’s response to their inquiry about the qualifications of replacement workers at the Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth during the recent lockout.
The state’s shark expert says a Truro swimmer was likely attacked by a great white shark, WBUR reports.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
A Quincy woman has been charged with defacing the bronze relief sculpture across from the State House commemorating the famed Civil War regiment of black soldiers.
Rep. Carlos Henriquez is arraigned in his assault and battery case. The judge in the case orders security video from Northeastern University seized.
Two individuals come forward to accuse a former employee at Beverly’s Landmark School of inappropriate contact in the 70s and 80s, the Globe reports.
At a Jamaica Plain public housing complex, drug dealers are posing as tenant organizers.
MEDIA
The Daily, News Corp.’s digital newspaper, is laying off 50 of its 170 workers, AllthingsD reports.
The Nieman Journalism Lab explores some tricky legal issues surrounding Twitter that may invite government intervention. Meanwhile, here’s Guy Adams on why his Twitter account was suspended after he criticized NBC’s tape-delayed broadcast of the Olympics.
About 600 cardboard cutouts of David Hasselhoff have been stolen since Cumberland Farms launched a promotion with the former Bay Watch actor, the Salem News reports.
Jonah Lehrer’s Imagine is being recalled from stores by its publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, after it was discovered that Lehrer fabricated quotes attributed to Bob Dylan, the Globe reports.