As summer begins, the pace on Beacon Hill continues to be
governed by a number of high profile conference committees.
Conference committees are appointed to forge compromise after the
House and Senate pass different versions of the same bill. At press
time, the committee charged with brokering a deal on the Fiscal
Year 2013 State Budget completed its work, while committees
continue to work towards compromise on legislation on habitual
offenders, foreclosure and health care reform.
STATE BUDGET
On June 28, 2012 the House and Senate voted to approve the
fiscal year 2013 state budget, which Governor Deval L. Patrick has
10 days to review. The budget provides $560.9 million in funding
for the Trial Court. Additionally, the Trial Court was granted
transferability giving the Court Administrator flexibility needed
to manage the trial courts business and administrative operations.
Additionally, the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation
received $12 million for fiscal year 2013.
HABITUAL OFFENDER LEGISLATION
Both the House and Senate took up habitual offender legislation
late last year. While the Senate version included crime reforms,
such as a reduction in the school zones from 1,000 feet to 500
feet, the House version passes solely habitual offender
language.
FORECLOSURE
Two versions of foreclosure legislation were recently passed by
the House and Senate. The Senate version contains a significant
portion of the MBA's proposal. The MBA continues to meet and
educate legislative leaders on the benefits of the MBA's mandatory
mediation proposal. Recent meetings were held with House Chairman
Michael Costello and Senate Chairman Anthony Petrucelli to push the
MBA proposal.
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
Since Patrick filed his health care reform legislation a year
and a half ago, the MBA has been involved in the debate. With a
vested interest in the medical malpractice portions of the bill,
the MBA has met with other interested parties, such as the
Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys and the Massachusetts
Medical Society. We have had numerous meetings with Legislative
leadership in both branches. The meetings with MATA and MMS
resulted in a historic compromise on language on physician
apologies that was included in both bills. While each branch
included the apology language, they also included harmful language
on expert witnesses and the interest rate on judgments. The MBA's
legislative efforts were successful in getting the expert witness
language removed from both versions of the bill and the interest
rate language from the Senate bill. MBA lobbying efforts remain
focused on removing interest rate language while the bill is in
Conference Committee.
The full formal portion of the legislative session ends on July
31. Both branches will continue to meet informally for the
remainder of the year, however it takes just one vote in an
informal session to stop a matter from progressing. n