Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Massachusetts CDC Budget (State Public Health Laboratory Institute) Update

Quick budget update. (See previous post for details.) My friends and I have been hitting the State House and getting co-signers for Rep. Campbell's amendment. So far, we have Kane of Shrewsbury, Pignatelli of Lenox, Gentile of Sudbury, Balser of Newton, Keefe of Worcester, D'Emilia of Bridgewater, Khan of Newton, Koczera of New Bedford, Cantwell of Marshfield, Ultrino of Malden, Provost of Somerville, Barber of Somerville, Garballey of Arlington, Hecht of Watertown, Malia of Boston, Ashe of Longmeadow, Sannicandro of Ashland, Ayers of Quincy, Linsky of Natick, Benson of Lunenburg and Schmid of Westport, Stanley of Waltham/Lincoln, Smizik of Brookline, Dubois of Brockton and East and West Bridgewater, and Devers of Lawrence. If one of these is your legislator, please call and thank them.

That's the highest number of supporters we have ever had. We're going to continue to shake the trees for more until the deadline on Friday.

Unfortunately, given the undemocratic structure of the House, the only thing that really matters is the opinion of the top leadership. That mean Speaker DeLeo and Ways and Means Chairman Dempsey. In the next step, they look at all the amendments submitted by members and put the ones they like in the Omnibus Amendment. That always passes, so if we are in it, we win. If not, we lose. Our numbers may push them in the right direction, but sometimes, they cannot be swayed. We will keep our fingers crossed.

Please call your legislator (http://www.wheredoivotema.com/bal/MyElectionInfo.aspx) and ask them to sign on to Campbell's Amendment 1036. Also, call DeLeo (617-722-2500) and Dempsey (617-722-2990) and ask them to include it in the Omnibus Amendment.

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