Archives Beacon Hill Beat By Curt Lovelace April 2003 Editions. Compiled  from staff reports, wire services, and the State House News Service.

Tuesday April 1, 2003
Finneran Bill Would Cut Governor Out of Legislative Bonus Approval

House Speaker Thomas Finneran on Monday offered legislation that would allow the House and Senate alone to adjust the premium pay of their members. Under Finneran's legislation, which aides say will be debated by the House on Wednesday, the House and Senate could adjust the bonuses members receive for leading committees by making rule changes rather than by sending a bill to the governor's desk. Finneran aides say Gov. Mitt Romney was able to create new leadership posts and set the pay of his own top aides, and they should be able to do the same. The change is part of a committee modernization package that would formally create a House Committee on Medicaid. Finneran has tapped Rep. Daniel Keenan (D-Southwick) to lead that committee and proposes paying Keenan $15,000 on top of his constitutionally-set legislative base salary of $53,380.

Finneran is also proposing the elimination of the Joint Committees on Local Affairs, Counties and Federal Financial Assistance. He would replace them with a Joint Committee on Homeland Security and Federal Affairs and new House Committee on Local Affairs and Regional Government. For changes in the joint committee structure to take effect, senators must agree.

Only the Joint Banks and Banking Committee has remained in its current form over the past 145 years, Finneran says, noting there used to be a Joint Committee on Parishes and Religious Societies. The House admitted Finneran's bill and referred it to the Joint Public Service Committee Monday. The Senate received the Finneran bill, but did not admit it before adjourning. To be properly placed before the Legislature and its committees for public hearings, bills need to be admitted first in both branches.

Medical Marijuana Bill Gets Hearing

Legislation to jump-start a 12-year-old law legalizing the use of marijuana for therapeutic purposes and to expand the medical conditions for which it could be prescribed was aired Monday before the Health Care Committee. A 1991 law was designed to allow the substance to be prescribed to cancer patients because its use is believed to alleviate the nausea and other side effects of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. It could also be used legally to decrease the ocular pressure of those who suffer from glaucoma and decrease airway problems for those with asthma. But the state Department of Public Health (DPH) never established the marijuana research program because there was no source of the substance authorized by the federal government. One of the two bills heard Monday would permit a patient over age 18 to possess a limited amount of pot grown under certain conditions. The bill, filed by Rep. Frank Smizik (D-Brookline), would also make it available to those suffering from AIDS, multiple sclerosis or Crohn's disease, epilepsy and other chronic or painful conditions.

"There's no logical reason not to do this," said Sen. Charles Shannon, a Winchester Democrat who sponsored the second bill expanding legalized use to AIDS patients. "As a former police officer, I can assure you that I'm not in favor of any widespread use of marijuana." Opposition to similar bills in the past has come from those who worry that legalizing marijuana will lead to abuse and that a safe supply of the substance must be guaranteed. The state DPH has not yet taken a position on the bills.

Senate Committee Chairman Richard Moore (D-Uxbridge) said the panel would take no action on the bills until April 14 at the earliest.

Romney Plan for 'Blocking Payments' Off the Table

Realizing that its plan to collect "Blocking Payments" from neighboring states which operate casinos, the Romney administration on Monday abandoned its plan to negotiate millions from casino operators in neighboring states and threw its support behind a new proposal to build three slot machine parlors in Massachusetts. Romney aides said auctioning off five-year licenses for three slot machine houses could bring the short-term benefit of $300 million a year to help protect education and health programs from budget cuts, while not committing Massachusetts to the long-term problems associated with casino gambling, such as crime, corruption and gambling addiction.