The Commonwealth of
Massachusetts
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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SO MUCH OF THE message from
His Excellency the Governor
returning WITH RECOMMENDATIONS OF AMENDMENTS
SECTIONS 17, 30, 53 AND 86
OF the General Appropriation Bill
for Fiscal Year 2008
(see House, No.
4141)
[as relates to
Attachments C TO F, INCLUSIVE]
[returned UNDER article LVI of the
constitution
as amended by article xC, section 3
of the Amendments to the Constitution].
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July 12, 2007.
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DEVAL L. PATRICK
GOVERNOR
TIMOTHY P. MURRAY
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
|
Executive Department
State House · Boston 02133
(617)
725-4000
|
ATTACHMENT C
July 12,
2007.
To the Honorable Senate and
House of Representatives:
Pursuant to Article LVI, as amended by
Article XC, Section 3 of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts, I am returning to you for amendment Section 17 of “An Act
Making Appropriations for the Fiscal Year 2008 for the Maintenance of the Departments,
Boards, Commissions, Institutions and Certain Activities of the Commonwealth,
for Interest, Sinking Fund and Serial Bond Requirements and for Certain
Permanent Improvements.”
Section 17’s purpose is to authorize
the Division of Unemployment Assistance (“DUA”), in furtherance of the health
care reform act (the “Act”), to share information that businesses shortly will
begin filing with DUA concerning employer-sponsored health insurance. Because
of statutory confidentiality rules, see M.G.L. c. 151A, § 46, such information
sharing requires express legislative authorization.
I support such information sharing
where, as here, it is necessary to further the administration and enforcement
of the Act. I have two concerns, however, with Section 17’s language. First,
as presently worded, Section 17 only authorizes DUA to share information with
the division of health care finance and policy (“DHCFP”), and I am informed
that DUA also needs to share information with the commonwealth health insurance
connector. Second, because of the omission of the word “information,” Section
17 does not, even as to DHCFP, convey the authorization intended.
For these reasons, I recommend that
Section 17 be amended by striking out the current language and inserting in place
thereof the following:-
SECTION 17. Subsection (c) of section 46
of chapter 151A of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by
adding the following clause:-
(7) to the division of health care
finance and policy, information under an interagency agreement for the
administration and enforcement of sections 6B, 6C and 18B of chapter 118G and
for the administration of the fair share employer contribution requirement
under section 188 of chapter 149; and to the commonwealth health insurance connector
authority, information under an interagency agreement for the administration
and enforcement of chapter 111M, chapter 118H, chapter 151F and chapter 176Q.
Respectfully
submitted,
DEVAL
L. PATRICK,
Governor
DEVAL L. PATRICK
GOVERNOR
TIMOTHY P. MURRAY
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
|
Executive Department
State House · Boston 02133
(617)
725-4000
|
ATTACHMENT D
July 12,
2007.
To the Honorable Senate and
House of Representatives:
Pursuant to Article LVI, as amended by
Article XC, Section 3 of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts, I am returning to you for amendment Section 30 of “An Act
Making Appropriations for the Fiscal Year 2008 for the Maintenance of the
Departments, Boards, Commissions, Institutions and Certain Activities of the
Commonwealth, for Interest, Sinking Fund and Serial Bond Requirements and for
Certain Permanent Improvements.”
Section 30 of this bill is intended to
make changes to Section 47 of Chapter 265 of the Massachusetts General Laws,
which requires anyone convicted of a sex offense involving a child or a
sexually violent offense to wear a GPS device that tracks their location within
certain excluded zones. As enacted, the legislation would (1) shift the
responsibility for defining the exclusion zone from the Commissioner of
Probation entirely to the Court and (2) delay notice to the local police when
the GPS detects that a probationer has entered an excluded zone.
With respect to shifting the
responsibility for defining the exclusion zone from the Commissioner of
Probation entirely to the Court, the probation officers who work daily in the
region where their probationers live are best equipped to determine what zones
should be excluded. Therefore, having the Probation Department recommend
exclusion zones which the Court may accept or amend allows for a meaningful
determination of the geographic exclusion zone.
With respect to delaying notice to the
local police when the GPS detects that a probationer has entered an excluded
zone, the purpose of the GPS system is to provide instant notification to
responsible parties that a probationer has entered an excluded zone. Under
current law, the local police are notified immediately upon the GPS detecting
that a probationer has entered an excluded zone. Under the proposed
legislation, upon receiving a GPS signal that a probationer has entered an
excluded zone, a probation officer would need to contact the probationer to
determine why he is in the excluded zone, which would defeat the purpose of the
system of ensuring that the local police have immediate notice. In the time
that it would take a probation officer to undertake even a brief investigation
to determine why the probationer has entered the excluded zone and then notify
the local police, the probationer already could have committed one or more
crimes and the purpose of the GPS system would have been defeated.
For these reasons, I recommend that
Section 30 be amended by striking out the current language and inserting in
place thereof the following:-
SECTION 30. Section 47 of chapter 265 of
the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the second
sentence and inserting in place thereof the following 2 sentences:- The
probation department shall recommend geographic exclusion zones, including, but
not limited to, the areas in and around the victim’s residence, place of
employment and school and other areas defined to minimize the probationer’s
contact with children, if applicable. The court shall accept or amend these
recommended exclusion zones and include them as conditions of probation.
Respectfully
submitted,
DEVAL
L. PATRICK,
Governor
DEVAL L. PATRICK
GOVERNOR
TIMOTHY P. MURRAY
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
|
Executive Department
State House · Boston 02133
(617)
725-4000
|
ATTACHMENT E
July 12,
2007.
To the Honorable Senate and
House of Representatives:
Pursuant to Article LVI, as amended by
Article XC, Section 3 of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts, I am returning to you for amendment Section 53 of “An Act
Making Appropriations for the Fiscal Year 2008 for the Maintenance of the
Departments, Boards, Commissions, Institutions and Certain Activities of the
Commonwealth, for Interest, Sinking Fund and Serial Bond Requirements and for
Certain Permanent Improvements.”
Section 53 directs the Comptroller to
transfer $150 million to the General Fund from the Health Care Security Trust
Fund. I support the purpose of this section, which is to ensure that the
General Fund balance is adequate to meet the fiscal year 2008 appropriations
made in this bill.
However, because of the appropriation
vetoes and reductions that I have made today, the amount of this transfer may
be reduced to $111,456,757. This reduction has the additional benefit of
increasing the balance in the Health Care Security Trust Fund that Section 54
will transfer to the new State Employee Benefits Trust Fund, to begin funding
the Commonwealth’s substantial liability for our retirees’ health care
expenses.
Therefore, I recommend that Section 53 be
amended by striking out the figure “$150,000,000” and inserting in place
thereof the following figure:- “$111,456,757”.
Respectfully
submitted,
DEVAL
L. PATRICK,
Governor
DEVAL L. PATRICK
GOVERNOR
TIMOTHY P. MURRAY
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
|
Executive Department
State House · Boston 02133
(617)
725-4000
|
ATTACHMENT F
July 12,
2007.
To the Honorable Senate and
House of Representatives:
Pursuant to Article LVI, as amended by
Article XC, Section 3 of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts, I am returning to you for amendment Section 86 of House Bill
No. 4141, “An Act Making Appropriations for the Fiscal Year 2008 for the Maintenance
of the Departments, Boards, Commissions, Institutions and Certain Activities of
the Commonwealth, for Interest, Sinking Fund and Serial Bond Requirements and
for Certain Permanent Improvements.”
This section directs the Executive
Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) to establish an electronic health
records task force to link information between various state offices that
utilize health records, from MassHealth to commonwealth connector programs. As
written, the role of the task force is unclear and could be construed to
conflict with federal and state legal requirements.
I, therefore, recommend that Section 86 of
House Bill No. 4141 be amended by striking out in the first sentence of
subsection (a) the following words “provide a structure that enables the state
to act in a leadership role in the development of state and federal standards
for, and in the implementation and use of,” and inserting in place thereof the
following words:-
make recommendations to the secretary of
health and human services with respect to
I further recommend that Section 86 of
House Bill No. 4141 be amended by striking out in clause (1) of subsection (c)
the word “develop” and inserting in place thereof the following words:-
study the advisability of
Finally, I recommend that Section 86 of
House Bill No. 4141 be amended by striking out clause (3) of subsection (c) and
inserting in place thereof the following clause:-
(3) make a recommendation by December 31,
2008, to the secretary of health and human services as to the advisability and
feasibility of an electronic health records system.
Respectfully
submitted,
DEVAL
L. PATRICK,
Governor
