State House News: You knew this was coming...
...we are our own worst enemy sometimes.
REVENUES
The fiscal situation has increased pressure on revenues, most recently manifest on Friday when the Mass. Turnpike Authority Board advanced a toll hike worth $90 million and $100 million, effective next spring. Some doubt Patrick’s broader plan, to consolidate transportation agencies and transfer billions in debt, as simply a way of shifting costs, with little real upside. Patrick has publicly criticized the idea of raising the state’s 21-cent-per-gallon gas tax, although it is unclear what impact the recent plummet in oil and gas prices will have on the dynamics of that idea, pushed by some lawmakers and Pike board members as a more equitable solution. Proponents of expanded gambling pounced on the state’s Nov. 4 vote to ban dog racing by calling for slot machines at the state’s four racetracks, two of which will likely be decimated by the removal of their live racing privileges, set to expire on Jan. 1, 2010. Casinos are also likely to re-emerge as a partial funding solution, and Mohegan Sun last month leased 152 acres in Palmer, near the Mass. Turnpike, as a potential casino site. The administration has also renewed its push to allow cities and towns to levy their own taxes on meals and lodging. Another potential stream of new revenues comes from the state’s expansion of health coverage, where employers have criticized requests for “fair share” contributions to the complicated balancing act. The governor could take another crack at upping gun license fees as well, after a failed attempt to do so in a July supplemental budget. The effort was thwarted after a loud outcry from gun rights advocates and supportive lawmakers, several of whom are licensed to pack pistols of their own. But with the recent outcry over the death of an 8-year-old boy who shot himself while handling an Uzi – Attorney General Martha Coakley has predicted changes in the gun laws as a result – a new opportunity to squeeze out new revenue may have presented itself.
As individuals and as clubs SAFETY FIRST as it affects us ALL.
Granted, no system or activity is fool proof or 100% safe. Fools are way too clever. The world IS a dangerous place and an enjoyable place, but not without risk. Nobody, no law, no mechanism, can protect you better than you and your brain. When they become disconnected…@#it happens.
The problem is that this is mASSachusetts and your elected officials don't deal with reality until it suits them and their purposes. Until then, they ignore the facts of life and go merrily on their way as it suits them to do otherwise.
This IS the political reality we live in today and until we stand united to change it...so it will be.