By Chris Cassidy
STAFF WRITER
—
Time is running out on a Saturday night deadline for gridlocked state lawmakers to reach a compromise on a casino gambling bill.
But they also face the politically risky prospect of returning home to their districts without acting on a series of other prominent bills, ranging from a sales-tax holiday to health care breaks for small businesses.
North Shore lawmakers expect to spend their Saturday night locked in a down-to-the-wire, session-ending frenzy on Beacon Hill this weekend. No one knows yet how it will end — or who the winners and losers will be.
"I just want to get our health care bill passed," said state Rep. Mary Grant, D-Beverly. "That's my priority."
Grant hopes the Legislature will approve a bill that allows small businesses to buy health insurance as a group, which supporters believe will help contain costs. The House and Senate have passed different versions of the bill and must now approve the reconciled version.
Rep. Ted Speliotis, D-Danvers, is waiting on a bill that he said would address the "root cause of the Danversport explosion." The bill would require operators of commercial boilers to be licensed. It was just released from the House Ways & Means Committee yesterday.
"I'd like that bill moved along," he said.
Rep. Joyce Spiliotis, D-Peabody, is still hoping for action on her bill to create a Commission on the Status of Women in Essex County. Spiliotis said it would address complaints she's heard from women in their 50s and 60s who are discriminated against or moved out of a job they've held for years because of their age.
"Right now, they have no place to go," she said. The bill passed the House yesterday.
Meanwhile, North Shore Republicans blasted state leaders for leaving such a logjam of consequential bills to the last 48 hours.
"I'm always disappointed at the way the Legislature ends its sessions," said state Rep. Brad Hill, R-Ipswich.
Part-time legislators in New Hampshire spend five months taking on most of the same responsibilities that full-time Massachusetts politicians have nearly two years to tackle, Hill said.
"Even with 19 months, we can't seem to act on legislation until the end, which is wrong for the state and wrong for the citizens of the state."
Hill estimates about 100 constituents in his district would be directly affected by the outcome of the casino gambling debate.
One of his bills, to define dangerous dogs by their actions and not their breed, has been languishing in the House in some form for the last five years, he said.
Health care cost containment and economic development are two pieces of legislation that Sen. Bruce Tarr is disappointed that lawmakers haven't finalized yet. The Legislature's procrastination on a proposed August sales-tax holiday won't leave business owners much time to publicize the event, if it passes, he said.
"I've rarely seen a time when so many pieces of legislation that should be a priority have been in limbo," Tarr said.
Senate Majority Leader Fred Berry, however, said that for better or worse, that's the way legislative compromises happen.
"Everyone says, 'Why didn't you do it in May?'" Berry said. "(To use) a sports analogy, if the clock's running out on the game, all of a sudden you're willing to take chances and willing to make deals and give up your principles a little to try to find a medium that will work. As the clock ticks down, you get a lot of things done."
Yesterday, the Senate passed a bill Berry co-sponsored that requires Massachusetts health insurers to provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of autism. That bill now heads to the governor's desk.
Others, lawmakers hope, will soon be on the way.
"My suspicion is we'll be there until midnight," state Rep. John Keenan said.
Staff writer Chris Cassidy can be reached at ccassidy@salem news.com.
