BHB: March 2003 Archives

Archives

Beacon Hill Beat By Curt Lovelace

March 2003 Editions. Compiled from staff reports, wire services, and the State House News Service.

Monday is a busy day for legislators, with several committee meeting to hear testimony on numerous bills. Following news reports that Big Dig officials have failed to recover $1 billion in Big Dig cost overruns, the Senate committees on Post Audit and Oversight, Transportation Committee, Long Term Debt will hold public hearings today and Wednesday with project officials, Bechtel Parsons executives, top state regulators, Romney administration officials and others. Expected at today's hearing are Mass. Turnpike Authority Chairman Matthew Amorello, General Counsel Kurt Dettman, General Counsel Michael Powers, Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, Inspector General Gregory Sullivan, Treasury official Jeff Stearns, Abbie Goodman, American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts, and Mary Richards, Massachusetts Organization of State Engineers and Scientists. Wednesday expects to draw Bechtel's Project Manager Matthew Wiley, Engineering Manager Anthony Lancellotti, Romney Chief of Commonwealth Development Douglas Foy, Secretary of Transportation & Construction Daniel Grabauskas, Auditor of the Commonwealth A. Joseph DeNucci and Turnpike officials.

State Treasurer Timothy Cahill kicks off a before the Government Regulations Committee hearing on all gaming bills on a cautionary note. Cahill, who oversees the state Lottery, will warn lawmakers not to rush into gaming expansions that threaten a reliable source of local aid. The new treasurer recently instituted expedited keno drawings to generate more Lottery revenue and he may discuss other proposals to boost sales. The hearing is a prelude to the April 15 House debate on all gaming bills.

The issues are the same, but the dynamics are changed. Massachusetts is in the midst of its worst fiscal crisis in decades and is increasingly surrounded by states that are generating significant revenues through casinos, slot machines and other forms of gaming. Many in Massachusetts say the state should legalize more forms of gaming and take a cut of the major wagering that would occur. Critics warn the state should steer clear of casinos and the social problems that go along with excessive gambling, and should instead focus on boosting its knowledge-based industries. Owners of the state's racetracks are eager to see the state expand gaming opportunities, which they believe could significant boost business. The agenda includes a bill filed by committee co-chairman Sen. Michael Morrissey (D-Quincy) at the request of a constituent that would legalize gambling pools for the Super Bowl and NCAA basketball tournament

Proposals affecting the uniform commercial code, limited liability companies and corporations are before the Commerce and Labor Committee today. Some are comprehensive and complex rewrites of the state's business laws that have been years in the crafting and are based on like provisions in other states. Others are narrower in scope. In addition to bills designed to protect shareholders in the age of electronic shareholder meetings, there is another that would prevent the Commonwealth from investing in companies that move abroad in order to avoid paying taxes here. That proposal is contained in a bill relating to corporate whistleblowers and filed by Sen. Cheryl Jacques (D-Needham).

Land bills are up for consideration at today's State Administration Committee hearing. Among them are bills for property transfers in Gardner, New Salem, Worcester, Middleton, Taunton, Belchertown, Grafton, Boston, Lynn and Canton. Also before the panel are two unrelated bills likely to attract attention. One sets April 6 as Annual Tartan Day to celebrate the contributions of the nation's Scots and Scottish-Americans. The other actually designates an official state tartan. John R. Austin designed the Bay State Tartan and, if lawmakers give the go-ahead, this state will join others like California and Connecticut that have their own tartans. The two bills may advance to the House floor on Wednesday of this week since the speaker of the Scottish Parliament, Sir David Steele, will be a guest that day of House Speaker Thomas Finneran.

Rep. Brian Knuuttila, a death penalty supporter, shook his head in disappointment. Despite the backing of a Republican governor, an increase in the state's murder rate, and ongoing terrorism threats, not one supporter of capital punishment testified Thursday before the Legislature's Criminal Justice Committee. The normally passionate and divisive annual hearing turned into a lopsided and strangely businesslike affair. "I'm just a little disturbed," Knuuttila, a Gardner Democrat, said. "Abortion and death penalty are sometimes the only things people who work for a living can get their arms around, when it comes to government. That, and taxes. So I'm surprised we didn't have people on the other side arguing for it."

Over a six-hour hearing, murder victims' family members joined religious, political and academic leaders, decrying the death penalty as costly, barbaric, and unfair. They called it a violation of human rights, compared it to tactics used by Saddam Hussein, and said it amounted to state-sanctioned murder. Not one supporter pled their side. The Senate Republican Leader, Brian Lees, was at his Springfield district office. Rep. Michael Ruane (D-Salem) a stalwart death penalty backer, was "out of town," a spokeswoman said.

Gov. Mitt Romney, who one week before Election Day held a press conference calling the death penalty a "defining issue" that "transcends politics", was "in his office, in budget meetings," a spokeswoman said.

With one member calling it a "big mistake," the state pension board on Thursday rejected Gov. Mitt Romney's proposal to give the pension fund $180 million worth of surplus state property instead of cash. Board members voted unanimously to send Romney and Beacon Hill legislative leaders a letter indicating their "strong opposition" to the proposal. Romney included the plan in the $22.9 billion state budget bill he filed in late February. Administration officials said they need the cash to balance the state budget.

The list of properties includes a 7.9-acre Chestnut Hill waterworks site in Brighton, the sprawling former Boston State Hospital site, and numerous wetlands located along Rte. 6 in Barnstable and Provincetown. But it appears the proposal is dying. Ralph White, a union representative on the Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, said House leaders are "very resentful" that they have to develop an alternative way of raising $180 million or cutting accounts by the same amount to replace Romney's plan.

A former Democratic gubernatorial candidate, leading HMO executive and former Senate budget chief are among a group of civic leaders appealing to Beacon Hill leaders to postpone the scheduled April 1 elimination of taxpayer-funded health benefits for 50,000 low-income chronically ill people. Members of the Civic Leaders Committee to Save MassHealth on Thursday delivered a letter to Gov. Mitt Romney and legislators asking them to preserve MassHealth Basic, which was cut by the Legislature and Gov. Jane Swift to help balance the state budget. Critics of the move say it may balance the state's books but it will shift and add costs elsewhere in the health care system. Committee members include former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steven Grossman, Tufts Health Plan CEO Harris Berman, and former Senate Ways and Means Committee Chair Chet Atkins, now with ADS Ventures. Committee members are appealing for a 90-day delay to give leaders time to hammer out a plan to pay for MassHealth Basic and address growing deficits in the pool that pays health care providers who treat uninsured patients.

Ending rounds of behind-the-scenes debate, the House voted 145 to 0 Wednesday to express support for US troops battling in Iraq. Earlier versions of the Republican-sponsored resolution were blocked by liberal Democrats who objected to language explicating the war's rationale and praising President Bush's leadership. House Speaker Thomas Finneran called the final resolution a "compromise." The opening of the session was marked by shows of patriotism. House members observed a moment of silence for the troops, sang America the Beautiful, and heard an opera student sing the Lord's Prayer.

Any lawmaker hoping to increase spending in next year's state budget would also have to cut spending by an equivalent amount under a rule House leaders plan to push during debate today. The so-called Holland amendment, named for a former state representative, would require proposals to increase spending by more than $100,000 to be accompanied by a proposal cutting spending by an equal or greater amount. House leaders say the rule will impose fiscal discipline as the state grapples with a $3 billion budget shortfall. It may also serve to limit the volume of budget amendments and increase the number of amendments earmarking appropriations included in the House Ways and Means Committee budget.

Gov. Mitt Romney on Wednesday unveiled the proposed guidelines he will use when considering requests for clemency. Drafts of criteria he wants the Advisory Board of Pardons to use when reviewing applications for pardons and commutations were distributed to Governor's Council members for review and comment at their regular Wednesday meeting. Chief Legal Counsel Daniel Winslow said the draft represents the first review of the guidelines used by the board since just after Gov. William F. Weld took office in 1991. Winslow said the guidelines would apply to any applicants "now in the chute."

The proposed changes come as the new governor prepares to make his first nomination to fill a seat on the seven-member Parole Board that also serves as the Advisory Board of Pardons. That nomination will be subject to the council's "advice and consent," or approval.

A new bill filed by Gov. Mitt Romney will allow Massachusetts companies with foreign parents to take legitimate tax deductions for interest and royalty expenses while preventing inappropriate deductions. The so-called carve-out for businesses operating under tax treaties with the United States was approved as a Senate amendment to a bill intended to close tax loopholes and balance this year's state budget. But Romney says the language was mysteriously dropped during hectic deliberations.

"During the rush to enact the tax reform initiatives, the amendment appears to have been dropped," Romney wrote in a letter to legislators. The amendment, Romney said, is similar to one adopted in New Jersey, which passed legislation that served as a model for the bill crafted in Massachusetts. It affects sham transactions, or those implemented for the primary purpose of tax avoidance. The new Romney bill was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee on Monday.

The House is holding up nearly a half a billion dollars in Medicaid-related savings proposals offered by Gov. Mitt Romney and a top administration official says the plans need to be approved immediately to realize the savings beginning in July. At an informational hearing Tuesday before a Medicaid task force created by House Speaker Thomas Finneran, Douglas Brown, acting commissioner of the state Division of Medical Assistance, said Medicaid needs three to four months to effectuate proposed changes by July 1 in a $6 billion program that serves nearly 1 million residents. "Medicaid is not a nimble entity," said Brown. "We really need legislation almost immediately on this."

But even though Romney filed his proposal Feb. 27, or nearly a month ago, it has not even received a bill number yet, much less a public hearing, and is languishing in the House clerk's office. The immediate hang-up is not over the details of the proposal, though those will likely prove controversial as well, but over whether to refer the bill to the Joint Health Care Committee or to a House Medicaid Committee that Speaker Thomas Finneran has proposed but which does not exist because the House has not yet amended its rules.

Any additional briefs or material relating to misconduct charges against Superior Court Judge Maria Lopez must have been filed by the close of business Tuesday. Lopez has been accused by the Commission on Judicial Conduct of violating both the law and the Code of Judicial Conduct in her handling of a high-profile case involving the kidnap and attempted rape of an 11-year-old boy. Retired Housing Court Chief Justice E. George Daher presided over last December's disciplinary hearings and heard closing arguments last month. His recommendations are due to be filed with the CJC by Apr. 24.

Lawmakers in the Massachusetts House are wrangling behind the scenes over a Republican resolution intended to express support for US troops fighting in Iraq. Republican lawmakers said Monday that several liberal Democrats have thwarted their attempts to advance the non-binding resolution. Democratic foes said they support a resolution backing US troops, but contend the wording of the GOP measure also expresses support for President Bush's decision to cease diplomacy and go to war. The resolution has stalled during two informal House sessions.

Both sides say they are scrambling for an accord that is mutually agreeable. But if the disagreement persists, the dispute could spill onto the House floor during a formal session planned for Wednesday, plunging lawmakers into a debate over foreign policy that neither side says it wants. Republicans have been quietly circulating several drafts of the resolution, and Democrats have sent around an alternate, signed by 20 legislators. Republican leader Bradley Jones (R-North Reading) said he may push the GOP resolution on Wednesday.

Resolutions introduced during informal sessions require lawmakers' unanimous approval. During a formal session, they could be approved by a roll call vote.

The pro-forma measures usually congratulate Girl Scout troops, school sports teams, or a local teacher's retirement. Occasionally, they are used to express the House's stance on issues of greater national or international concern.

Citing the impact of previous rounds of budget cuts, justices and clerk magistrates on Monday afternoon told members of a House panel to reject Gov. Mitt Romney's plans to cut appropriations and merge and close courts. The panel of lawmakers appointed by House Speaker Thomas Finneran, including many who also practice law, intends to make recommendations to the House Ways and Means Committee before that panel releases its fiscal 2004 budget on April 23, 2003. Romney says his plan targets waste, duplication, and patronage in the courts, and shifts control over court personnel and funding from state lawmakers to court managers themselves. The plan calls for closing eight of the 69 district courthouses, which Romney says are overstaffed and underutilized. The closings would save $3.5 million, he said.

But during a hearing Monday, judges and clerk magistrates from Boston Municipal Court, West Roxbury District Court and Orange District Court all objected to Romney's proposals. "The governor hasn't a clue," said Orange District Court Chief Justice David Ross, whose court would be shut down and merged with one 25 miles away in Greenfield under Romney's proposal. Ross said the Orange court serves a region with many poor residents, limited transportation options and high unemployment.

Plans for a new $75 million chemistry and biology lab on the Amherst campus will be cancelled unless Gov. Mitt Romney reverses his decision and approves a multimillion dollar bond for the University of Massachusetts, the university's treasurer said Monday.

Romney aides say the governor wants to review the building plans and the bonds and "won't be bulldozed" into making a hasty reversal. The Amherst campus labs are among a slate of projects that the university's treasurer said will die unless the $371 million bond is authorized to be issued by the administration. The bonds have cleared the Legislature in prior legislative sessions.

Stephen Lenhardt told a House committee hearing that the bond would also pay for a $271 million, 2,000-student dormitory on the Boston campus, a $9 million parking garage on the Lowell campus, $2 million in repairs on the Dartmouth campus, and other smaller projects. The bond is crucial to the future of the projects, he said. "If he doesn't approve it, we're croaked. There's nothing we can do," Lenhardt told the House Committee on Long-Term Debt.

Three weeks ago, in an unexpected decision, Romney suspended the bond, citing concerns that there was scant documentation explaining the projects, located on four campuses. Last week, he launched a review of the state's bond spending and a spokeswoman said Monday he is sticking to his review."There are many unanswered questions regarding the UMass bond sales and a very loose association between the university's capital spending plans and the projects covered by the bond offering," Romney spokeswoman Nicole St. Peter said. "We're not going to be bulldozed into approving hundreds of millions of dollars in spending without adequate oversight."

House and Senate budget writers are in Lowell today when the local aid accounts will be scrutinized. Invitations have gone out to the Massachusetts Municipal Association and several city and town officials are expected to attend. Gov. Mitt Romney cut local aid by $232 million in his budget. House leaders, who have questioned restructuring-related savings figures in Romney's budget, are warning of a cut of between $500 million and $1 billion to the roughly $5 billion local aid account.

Administration and Finance Secretary Eric Kriss has warned he believes a $1 billion cut, which House budget chief John Rogers (D-Norwood) has suggested is possible, would lead to "municipal failure." In addition to the size of the local aid cut, municipal officials want the Legislature to move on a package of non-monetary changes intended to make running local government easier.

House Speaker Tom Finneran's Task Force on the Courts plans two meetings this week. Today, the panel chaired by Rep. Eugene O'Flaherty (D-Chelsea) conducts a public hearing. Judge Kathleen Coffey from West Roxbury District Court will testify. Employees from courthouses targeted for closure by the Romney administration may be in attendance. Romney wants to close courthouses in Ipswich, Natick, Orange, Clinton, Ware, Uxbridge, Winchendon, and Charlestown to save $3.5 million. He says those courthouses are underutilized. The task force is chaired by Rep. Eugene O'Flaherty (D-Chelsea) and includes Rep. Christopher Fallon (D-Malden) and Rep. Scott Brown (R-Wrentham).

This is Week Two of the House Committee on Long-Term Debt and Capital Expenditures' hearings during which Gov. Romney's agency heads are being asked to update the status of capital projects within their purview. On Monday morning, Chancellor of Higher Education Judith Gill appears and the afternoon is reserved for University of Massachusetts officials. University President William Bulger is not expected to testify. The Romney administration recently put the brakes on a $370 million UMass bond bill that administration officials say included tens of millions of dollars in capital projects that are not listed in the university's five-year capital plan.

After a four-hour debate, the House on Thursday voted 116-21 to approve a resolution stating that Matthew Patrick (D-Falmouth) was duly elected in November, despite a judge's ruling calling for a new election. Patrick narrowly defeated Republican challenger Larry Wheatley and then prevailed in a recount.

But Wheatley says the election was poorly run and marred by voting irregularities. During the debate, House Democrats turned back Republican attempts to call for a new election or send questions of jurisdiction to the Supreme Judicial Court. Republicans say the issue is not resolved and may well be revisited in the courts.

House leaders have moved up the date for floor action on Gov. Romney's proposed $22.9 billion budget for the coming fiscal year. The House Ways and Means Committee will release its version of the spending bill on Wednesday, April 23 with debate scheduled to begin one week later on Apr. 30. Proposed amendments will be due in the office of the House Clerk by 5 pm on Friday, Apr. 25. The change lands the budget's release and the amendment-writing marathon smack in the middle of Spring vacation week but is aimed at accommodating a Senate request that the House finish work on its bill by May 10. Both branches appear eager to get the new budget back onto Romney's desk by the July 1 start of the new fiscal year.

Now that the war has begun, state transportation, public health and public safety officials are absorbing intelligence information at the State Emergency Operations Center in Framingham, also known as "The Bunker." The center was activated Thursday morning due to the start of the war and concerns about the potential for retaliation in Massachusetts and the United States. Officials at the center represent the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, the State Police, the National Guard, Department of Public Health, Fire Services, MassHighway, MBTA and the Executive Office of Transportation and Construction.

Thursday March 20, 2003
Local Aid Cuts Would Lead to Municipal Failure: Romney Aide

Gov. Mitt Romney's top budget aide told members of a House committee Wednesday that a $1 billion local aid cut, which House leaders say might be necessary, would result in "municipal failure." Eric Kriss, state Secretary of Administration and Finance, said the administration considered a local aid cut of that size before it proposed a $232 million cut that results in an average decrease in state aid to municipalities of 5 percent. House Ways and Means Chairman John Rogers said recently that prudent municipal managers should prepare for a 10 to 20 percent cut in local aid, which accounts for about $5 billion of the state's $23 billion budget. "You take a billion-dollar local aid cut, they're under water," said Kriss. "I'm not sure that's manageable in a lot of cases."

The House last year proposed deep local aid cuts before replenishing local aid accounts by raising taxes by $1.2 billion. Kriss made his comments during testimony before the House Committee on Long-Term Debt and Capital Expenditures. He also pleaded with lawmakers who have questioned Romney's claim to be able to extract $2 billion in budgetary savings to give the governor a chance. "Let us manage," Kriss told committee members. "Let us do this and we will turn in these numbers."

The Boston Fire Department sent a ladder truck to the State House around noon Wednesday because a valve in the boiler room overheated, according to spokesman Lt. Richard Powers. At 12:15 p.m., it was announced on the State House public address system, which serves only parts of the building, that smoke had been investigated and it was okay for people to come back into the building. That was news to many in the building, who were never asked to leave. "Security is really working well," Administration and Finance Secretary Eric Kriss said sarcastically after hearing the announcement. Kriss and many others attending a committee hearing were clueless about the goings on or any evacuation.

The Romney administration asked lawmakers Wednesday to safeguard a key affordable housing program during the fiscal crunch by paying for it with borrowed money instead of cash. The two-year-old Affordable Housing Trust Fund was designed to receive $20 million over five years from the state budget. But Romney administration officials say that with lawmakers trying to close a $3 billion budget shortfall, the prospects of money in the state budget are slim.

Jane Wallis Gumble, the director of the Housing and Community Development Department, asked the Legislature's Housing Committee to pay for the trust fund this year with bonds. "The governor is committed to funding it, to keep it functioning," she said. Lawmakers raised few objections with the proposal. Sen. Jarrett Barrios (D-Cambridge) said he reluctantly supports the proposal but would rather the fund be paid for directly by the Legislature.

The status of the 3rd Barnstable District House seat remained somewhat cloudy Wednesday - the eve of an expected House vote to officially seat Matthew Patrick (D-Falmouth) for a second term. The House is poised to vote on a resolve stating that Patrick was elected on Nov. 5 and should be officially seated. Patrick narrowly defeated Republican Larry Wheatley of Barnstable but Wheatley has challenged the outcome based on several Election Day irregularities. A Superior Court judge on Dec. 30 ordered a new election but Speaker Thomas Finneran and other Democratic leaders have argued that the State Constitution makes the House itself the final arbiter in such situations.

Wheatley on Wednesday asked another Superior Court judge to enforce the court order but the judge opted instead to wait and see what the House does today and what steps the losing candidate then takes. "Assuming that the House seats him (Patrick) tomorrow, the issue is moot," Secretary of State William Galvin said Wednesday afternoon. Galvin insists the Constitution clearly gives the House final jurisdiction over who should be seated following an election and Wheatley, he said, has never argued that he himself won the election.

House Republican Leader Bradley H. Jones Jr. of N. Reading expressed outrage at Tuesday's recommendation from a special House committee that Rep. Matthew Patrick (D-Falmouth) should be officially seated as the representative of the 3rd Barnstable District. Patrick won re-election last November by just 17 votes. Republican Larry Wheatley of Barnstable appealed and a Superior Court judge more than two months ago ordered a new election. But Speaker Thomas Finneran named a special panel to determine if the House itself should be the final arbiter of its members' elections. They decided Tuesday that Patrick, who has been serving in the job since Jan 1 but was never sworn in, should take the oath of office. The full 160-member House votes on that recommendation Thursday. If the vote follows party lines, then the lone opponents of seating Patrick will be the 23 Republicans.

The lone Republican on the special committee was George Peterson of Grafton. He did not sign the report and he joined House Republican Leader Bradley Jones Tuesday afternoon in accusing Finneran and other House Democrats of abusing both their power and the process.

Republican candidate for the 3rd Barnstable district, Larry Wheatley, has scheduled a press conference for noon on the steps of the Superior Court in Barnstable. He will be discussing his next step since the window for the appeal process has expired and a date has not been set for a new election.

The Romney administration on Tuesday tightened security in Massachusetts to its highest level since just after the Sept. 11 attacks of 2001 to protect large public meeting places, and transportation, financial and historic locations from terrorist assault. With the nation on Orange Alert as it edges toward war with Iraq, Gov. Mitt Romney and top state public safety officials said the security plans follow the recommendations of the US Department of Homeland Security to harden defenses at locations that are considered possible terrorist targets.

Romney and other officials declined to disclose specific locations but said the plan, dubbed "Operation Liberty Shield," will heighten security most visibly at Logan Airport, where security patrols will be increased and cars will be stopped for more stringent inspections. Unlike the last Orange Alert, in early February, extra State Police and National Guard troops are being deployed. Romney said the state will seek to judiciously select resources - such as a National Guard helicopter - to beef up security as needed. Current plans do not call for a broad-based National Guard deployment, Romney said. "We want to make sure that where we are using scarce public safety resources, they are actually enhancing the safety of our citizens," the governor said at a midday news conference with leaders of the State Police, National Guard, Department of Public Health and other agencies.

With the prospect of war already driving gas prices up, several interest groups testified before the Taxation Committee Tuesday in opposition to a bill that would increase the state gas tax by 10 cents. Members of the committee said they are aware of the public sentiment against new taxes, and are proceeding "cautiously" with regards to any such proposal. The committee co-chair was more poignant in his assessment of a bill that would lower the gas tax by 10 cents. After several individuals testified that they would support the measure, Rep. Paul Casey said only "true supply side economists" could see the value in reducing the tax. The Winchester Democrat questioned how any "reasonable person" would recommend the measure given the state's fiscal crisis.

Tuesday March 18, 2003
Oversight Hearing To Explore Options For 'Filthy' Power Station

Legislators may have had the day off Monday to attend roasts and other St. Patrick's Day festivities, but they have a full schedule today. The members of two legislative committees band together this morning for an oversight hearing on recent changes in clean air regulations directly affecting PG&E's Salem Harbor Power Station. The new rules require the so-called "filthy five" power plants to reduce emissions by 2004. Salem officials worry that if the plant should close, Salem could lose 13 percent of its tax revenues, and residents would lose their jobs along with a source of their power.

Supporters of the rules say plant emissions are at dangerous levels. Gov. Mitt Romney recently asserted that the emissions are killing people, a charge some lawmakers want to further explore.

The joint committees on Energy and Government Regulations are conducting the oversight hearing, which is sure to attract many from the power industries and the environmental movement. Romney has been invited to the hearing but will not be attending. Gina McCarthy, a top Department of Energy and Telecommunications official, and David O'Connor, commissioner of the Department of Energy Resources, are expected to testify for the administration.

Freshman legislators, new members of the Commerce and Labor Committee and other interested parties are invited to a Tuesday briefing during which officials from the Associated Industries of Massachusetts will talk about legislative issues affecting business.

AIM officials are concerning about reports that the Legislature may retreat from tax cuts intended to spur economic development and are wary of new mandates on businesses during these difficult economic times. Committee Chairman Michael Rodrigues (D-Westport) said AIM requested the session in order to inform and educate members about its priorities. "If any organization that has a lot of legislation before my committee requests such an appearance, I'd be happy to coordinate it," he added.

The Public Safety Committee holds a public hearing Tuesday on issues affecting police. Among the raft of bills scheduled, there are measures to provide for HIV testing for at-risk police officers, to authorize the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Environmental Law Enforcement to issue motor vehicle citations, to establish a domestic violence fatality review team, and a bill to make it unlawful and a violation of the oath of office for police to use racial gender, ethnic or religious slurs.

More than 200 lawyers and judges from across Massachusetts plan to meet with legislators today to advocate for increased funding for court programs. The Massachusetts Bar Association believes Gov. Romney's $22.9 billion state budget plan will lead to "devastating cuts" in the courts. Romney believes many courts are overfunded, based on caseload data. The association and the Committee for Public Counsel Services has lined up some heavy hitters from within the judiciary to join the lobbying. Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Margaret Marshall and Chief Justice of Administration and Management Barbara Dortch-Okara are scheduled guest speakers, as well as Massachusetts Bar Association President Joseph P.J. Vrabel; William J. Leahy, chief counsel for the Committee for Public Counsel Services, and Boston Bar Association President Joseph L. Kociubes.

The State House is closed for business today, which doubles as St. Patrick's Day and Evacuation Day. The latter holiday, the legal reason for the holiday, celebrates the anniversary of the day the British were evacuated from Boston in 1776. It was the first major victory of the colonists during the Revolutionary War and its anniversary is a legal holiday for state workers.

Beginning what supporters hope to make a frontline issue this year, several lawmakers will push Tuesday to toughen accounting standards that critics say allow companies to escape taxation by shifting profits out of state. The accounting bill - introduced by Rep. Paul Demakis (D-Boston) and Sen. Stanley Rosenberg (D-Amherst) - would require corporations to adopt "combined reporting." The practice will prevent companies from shifting profits out of Massachusetts to avoid taxes here, and could generate tens of millions of dollars in new revenue, the lawmakers say.

Since 1970, corporate excise revenues have fallen from 16 percent to 4 percent of total tax revenue in Massachusetts, the lawmakers say. The lawmakers, who also include Rep. Ruth Balser (D-Newton) and Rep. James Marzilli (D-Arlington), plan to hold a news conference on their bills Tuesday. Marzilli is the sponsor of several bills that would require corporate tax disclosure and Balser is sponsoring legislation to require businesses located in Massachusetts to pay corporate excise taxes on the full amount of profits they earn from sales in other states. Similar bills have died in recent years, but given the state's need for revenue, sponsors believe the bills will be looked at in a new light.

This week's legislative hearings on Gov. Romney's $22.9 billion state budget proposal begin Tuesday in Lynn. Members of the House and Senate Ways and Means committees will hear from officials in the public safety arena, from the state's district attorneys, and from Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Margaret Marshall. Observers expect discussions of homeland security efforts and the brewing battle over how much is spent on the courts and who decides who it is spent.

Rep. Angelo Scaccia (D-Boston) plans to push new gas taxes at a Taxation Committee hearing Tuesday on mostly fuel and motor vehicle-related bills. His bill would hike the tax per gallon to 31 cents from 21 cents. Another bill would drop the tax by a dime. Other bills regulate excise taxes on commercial motor vehicles and exempt photocopies provided by libraries from the sales tax. Sen. Susan Fargo (D-Lexington) is pushing for the reimbursement of the gas taxes paid by Massachusetts turnpike toll payers. Rep. Bruce Ayers (D-Quincy) hopes to exempt fraternal organizations from taxes on the sale of alcoholic beverages. The full listing of bills on the agenda, which also features legislation intended to prevent road tax evasion, can be found at http://www.state.ma.us/legis/comm/dlmar18.htm.