This legislation would add law enforcement councils to the definition of public employer in GL 258:1, the statute governing claims and indemnity procedures for public employees.
An Act relative to smart meters
This legislation establishes ratepayer rights which include requiring utility companies to provide ratepayers with a choice of the type of utility meters to be installed and operated on their places of residence or business, the ability to retain and operate an “electromechanical analog meter” on an ongoing basis at no cost, and the right to replacement of a wireless meter with a non-transmitting electromechanical meter at no cost.
An Act establishing a board of hoisting machinery regulations
This bill was filed on behalf of the International Union of Operating Engineers of Local 4 and proposes a board of hoisting machinery regulations, much like the boards for Electricians, Plumbers and Gas Fitters, and Pipefitters and Sprinkler Fitters.
The proposed Board will involve professionals in the industry to oversee the hoisting licensing process, implement state licensing laws, regulations and policies, and oversee requirements for training, exams, and appeals. Creating a Board for Hoisting machinery regulations will make the hoisting industry safer for the those who work in the field and for the community that surrounds these operations.
An Act to Reform the Healthcare Cost Benchmark
Each year, the Health Policy Commission (HPC) board establishes a health care cost growth benchmark for the next calendar year. Unless modified by the HPC, the health care cost growth benchmark is equal to the growth rate of the “potential gross state product.” While the process involves input from economists and other experts, the Secretary of Administration and Finance and House and the Legislature jointly determine the growth rate of the potential gross state product.
For more than a decade since the law’s inception in 2012, the potential gross state product has always been determined to be 3.6% despite varying future and past measures of the state’s gross domestic product. This bill reforms the reference benchmark that is used to inform HPC’s health care cost growth benchmark to be based on historical state economic growth rather than an arbitrary process. A historical growth rate in gross state product would be calculated using the most recent ten-year period and would serve as the default health care cost benchmark subject to HPC modification and approval.