Conservative Happenings

Friday, July 24, 2015

POLL: CLINTON TRAILS THREE REPUBLICAN CONTENDERS IN KEY STATES

If this news doesn’t have Joe Biden, Al Gore, or Elizabeth Warren seriously considering entering the presidential race — and serious Democrats urging them to do so — then nothing will. According to a Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll, Hillary Clinton trails Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, and Scott Walker in Colorado, Iowa and Virginia.

Two of the three Republicans Clinton trails are neither well known nor in possession of a well known name. Thus, the poll results should be viewed mostly as a referendum on Hillary.

This assessment is confirmed by Clinton’s favorability ratings. In Virginia, they are 41-50. In Colorado, they are 35-56. In Iowa, where Clinton has been a fairly constant presence, they are 33-56 — a tribute to her skill as campaigner.

Clinton runs ahead of these numbers against the three GOP hopefuls, but behind all three. Against Rubio, she trails by 8 points in Colorado and Iowa and 2 in Virginia. Against, Walker she is down 9 points in Colorado, 8 in Iowa, and 3 in Virginia. As for Bush, he of the burdensome family name, Clinton is 5 points down in Colorado, 6 down in Iowa, and 3 down in Virginia.

Clinton is losing ground. In April Quinnipiac, Clinton didn’t trail in of these match-ups against the three Republicans, and she was ahead in five of the nine.

Naturally, Clinton is suffering as a result of the various revelations and scandals of the past several months. According to Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University poll, she has lost ground on the question of her honesty.

In addition, she has lost ground on the question of being a strong leader. It’s difficult to look like a strong leader when you’re unwilling to face the press or answer other than softball questions.

Ominously, perhaps, for Clinton, Quinnipiac’s Brown points out that “Vice President Joseph Biden, who is considering a 2016 run, does better than Clinton on honesty and on caring about voter needs, always a key Democratic strong point.”

Donald Trump fares even worse than Clinton among those polled in the three swing states. But the GOP won’t be saddled with Trump as its nominee. And the poll tends to confirm what common sense tells us — voters aren’t holding Trump against Rubio, Walker, or Bush.

The real Trump problem lies in the possibility that he will run as a third candidate. As poorly as she’s faring, Clinton might well carry the three states polled by Quinnipiac pretty handily in a three-way race involving Trump.

Via: Powerline

Thousands ruled ineligible for Mass. Medicaid

Tens of thousands of people have been removed from the state's Medicaid program during the first phase of an eligibility review, according to figures from Gov. Charlie Baker's administration obtained by The Associated Press.

BOSTON (AP) — Tens of thousands of people have been removed from the state's Medicaid program during the first phase of an eligibility review, according to figures from Gov. Charlie Baker's administration obtained by The Associated Press.

The eligibility checks, required annually under federal law but not performed in Massachusetts since 2013, began earlier this year as part of Baker's plan to squeeze $761 million in savings from MassHealth, the government-run health insurance program for about 1.7 million poor and disabled residents.

At $15.3 billion, MassHealth is the state's single largest budget expense.

Based on the results of the redetermination process so far, the state was on track to achieve the savings it had hoped for in the current fiscal year without cutting benefits for eligible recipients, said Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders.

The first phase of the process involved letters sent to 503,286 Medicaid recipients over the first six months of the calendar year notifying them of the need to reapply for benefits, according to numbers provided to the AP by the Executive Office of Health and Human Services.

Final figures were not expected until Aug. 1, but of the nearly 293,000 applications processed through late June, 78 percent remained eligible for Medicaid based on income. Of those deemed ineligible, the majority will have access to subsidized private insurance through the state's health connector, though about 5 percent, according to Sudders, would not qualify for subsidized coverage.

The results of the eligibility redeterminations to date, Sudders said, were in line with the typical rate of change in the Medicaid population and she did not believe it had deprived deserving residents of coverage.

Via: The Herald News

Starbucks stock pops on earnings beat, buyback news

The coffee chain reported quarterly earnings and revenue that beat analysts' expectations on Thursday. (Tweet This)

Starbucks posted fiscal third-quarter earnings of 42 cents per share on $4.88 billion in revenue. Analysts forecast Starbucks would report earnings of 41 cents a share on $4.86 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

After the earnings announcement, the company's shares rose over 5 percent in extended-hours trading. The coffee giant is trading well above its $57 all-time high at current extended-hours levels.

The company also announced on Thursday that it would be repurchasing 50 million shares as part of its buyback program. This is in addition to the 11 million shares that were available for repurchase as of June 28, 2015, the company said.

Starbucks expects full-year revenue growth of 16 to 18 percent. Global comparable store sales growth will remain in the mid-single digits.

This is a breaking news article. Check back on CNBC's website for updates to this story.

Via: CNBC

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Connecticut State Employees Win Settlement Protecting their Right to Refrain from Paying for Union Politics

Class-action settlement also ensures that nonunion employees who objected to subsidizing union politics will receive dues refunds

Hartford, CT (July 17, 2015) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, eight state employees have reached a class-wide settlement with several state officials and the Connecticut State Employee Association (CSEA)/SEIU Local 2001 union that protects their right to opt out of paying dues for union politics. The agreement covers 215 state workers and ensures that employees who resigned from the union and objected to paying dues for union politics but did not have their objections honored will receive refunds pursuant to the terms of the agreement.

In Connecticut and other states without Right to Work laws, employees can be forced to pay union dues or fees to keep their jobs. However, the Foundation-won Supreme Court precedent Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson established that nonunion civil servants are due certain procedural protections of their right to refrain from paying dues or fees for activities unrelated to workplace bargaining, such as union political activism.

Via: NRTW

Castro: In America, geography has consequences

Where you live matters. A child born today in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood in St. Louis can expect to live 18 fewer years than a child born just 10 miles away in Clayton. Why? Because poverty presents obstacles that, too often, prevent families from getting ahead no matter how hard they try.

Imagine you are a child growing up in a struggling community. Your parents might not be able to find good jobs because local businesses are hurting and there aren’t any public transit options that can connect them to the other side of town. Your family can’t afford quality housing so your apartment is full of hazards that are making you sick, resulting in more time in the emergency room and less time in the classroom. You aren’t allowed to play outside because the local playground isn’t safe from crime, impacting your health and well-being.

A ZIP code should never prevent people from reaching their aspirations. That’s why the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has taken an important step to promote greater access to quality, affordable housing for all Americans. We published a final rule updating the process by which local communities use HUD funding to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing — a key provision of the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

When this landmark law was passed 47 years ago, it boldly declared that all Americans deserve an equal chance to access safe, affordable housing near quality schools, transportation and jobs — no matter who they are, what they look like, how they worship or where they are from. As part of this effort, the Fair Housing Act required local governments and states that receive HUD funding to use it to promote fair housing and expand access to opportunities. That’s why we’ve published this rule, to simplify that process and provide better partnership to local leaders working to put opportunity within reach of every resident they serve.

In this age of limited resources, communities are often operating without the data and tools they need to chart the landscape of opportunity in their area and craft locally tailored plans to achieve their goals.

HUD’s new effort will provide these resources. It will empower mayors, county officials, and community members with publicly-open data and tools to eliminate the barriers that block many Americans from getting ahead in life. As a former mayor, I know how valuable these resources are for communities.

During the pilot phase of this effort, local leaders in the Twin Cities region used the information to plan investments in housing and infrastructure where they are needed most. In Chicago, transit agencies are expanding service between high-poverty neighborhoods and job centers. In upcoming years, cities across the nation will be able to use these tools to ensure that every family’s destiny is determined by their effort and talent, not by where they were born.

Via: Detroit News

Pelosi urges DOJ probe into group targeting Planned Parenthood

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday joined calls for a federal investigation into the California-based anti-abortion group that sparked the Planned Parenthood hidden camera controversy.

“Let’s have an investigation of those people who were trying to ensnare Planned Parenthood in a controversy that doesn’t exist,” Pelosi said Thursday in her first public remarks about Planned Parenthood since the first undercover video surfaced last week.

A long-time abortion rights champion, Pelosi dismissed accusations that Planned Parenthood has raked in profits from its fetal tissue donation program.

“Planned Parenthood has said that they have done nothing illegal,” she said. “They do not ever charge, which would be illegal, for fetal tissue. They have only defrayed the cost of mailing that to someone, which is not breaking the law.”

She also criticized the selectively edited videos released by the Center for Medical Progress, pointing to the “disparities" between actual film and edited versions.

Her remarks come one day after White House press secretary Josh Earnest also defended the women’s health provider.

Planned Parenthood, which receives several hundred million dollars in federal funding, is now facing new attacks from Republicans, who say they have more momentum than ever to defund the group.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has also ordered congressional investigations into Planned Parenthood’s practices, as well as a half-dozen governors.

Pelosi dismissed the GOP’s attacks against Planned Parenthood, which she said “has been going on for a long time.”

She said government investigators should, instead, focus on the legality of the Center for Medical Progress’s political activity, backing an effort by several House Democrats who have called for a Department of Justice probe.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Wednesday that she would review “all information” available before deciding to launch a full investigation.

Via: The Hill

Illegal Alien Crime Wave in Texas: 611,234 Crimes, 2,993 Murders

Confessed hammer killer Juan Francisco De Luna Vasquez

The murder of Kathryn Steinle on the Embarcadero in San Francisco by an illegal alien is the most familiar example of a crime committed by an alien. But an unreleased internal report by the Texas Department of Public Safety reveals that aliens have been involved in thousands of crimes in Texas alone, including nearly 3,000 homicides.

PJ Media obtained an never-before-released copy of a Texas DPS report on human smuggling containing the numbers of crimes committed by aliens in Texas. According to the analysis conducted by the Texas Department of Public Safety, foreign aliens committed 611,234 unique crimes in Texas from 2008 to 2014, including thousands of homicides and sexual assaults.

That means that the already stratospheric aggregate crime totals would be even higher if crimes by many illegal aliens who are not in the fingerprint database were included.

Confessed Texas killer Juan Vasquez

The Secure Communities initiative is an information-sharing program between the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice. Presumably, both departments would have data on the number of fingerprint searches conducted that revealed a criminal act involved an alien.

Texas has been ground zero in illegal alien crossings into the United States. The Texas DPS report shows that in the Rio Grande Valley, 154,453 illegal aliens were apprehended in 2013.

Via: PJ Media

Thursday, July 23, 2015

REPORT: 87 PERCENT OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO REMAIN IN U.S.

An estimated 87 percent of illegal immigrants in the United States will not face a threat of deportation from the U.S. and have “a degree of protection” due to President Obama’s executive actions on immigration enforcement, the Migration Policy Institute concludes in a new report.

The MPI report, issued Thursday, highlights the impact of the new policy guidance on immigration enforcement on the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. — namely the Obama administration’s move to replace the Secure Communities program with the Priority Enforcement Program (PEP).

“MPI estimates that about 13 percent of unauthorized immigrants in the United States would be considered enforcement priorities under these policies, compared to 27 percent under the 2010-11 enforcement guidelines,” the report reads. “The net effect of this new guidance will likely be a reduction in deportations from within the interior of the United States as DHS detention and deportation resources are increasingly allocated to more explicitly defined priorities.”

MPI further estimates that the priority shift will reduce interior deportations from the U.S. by 25,000 annually.

It speculates that there are 1.4 million illegal immigrants with criminal convictions that would make them priorities for enforcement — lower than the 3 million MPI estimated under the 2010-201 guidelines.

“While much of the attention to the president’s executive action announcement has focused on the deferred action programs, which MPI has estimated could grant relief from deportation to as many as 5.2 million unauthorized immigrants, implementation of the new enforcement priorities is likely to affect about 9.6 million people,” Marc Rosenblum, report author and the deputy director of MPI’s U.S. immigration policy program, said.

The report comes as sanctuary cities are in the national spotlight following the murder of Kathryn Steinle, allegedly by a multiple deportee, multiple felon illegal immigrant who was released from custody due to San Francisco’s sanctuary policy of not honoring immigration detainers.

Administration officials have argued that PEP will help to encourage more sanctuary jurisdictions to comply with detainers. Republicans have had harsh criticisms of PEP saying it will result in more criminal immigrants in the U.S.

“By defining its ‘priorities’ to exclude large categories of illegal immigrants, including those who have already been ordered deported or those who illegally reenter after having been deported, PEP ensures that countless more dangerous aliens will be released into U.S. communities—allowing otherwise entirely preventable crimes, including some of the most violent and egregious, to occur,”

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)

80%

said earlier this month of PEP.

He added, “Immigration enforcement is not supposed to be a game of Russian roulette where we release habitual immigration violators into U.S. communities and hope and pray they don’t go on to commit additional criminal offenses.”

Via: Breitbart

Obama’s Illegal Aliens: Importing Deadly Third World Diseases

Even as exotic new diseases and nearly eradicated old ones keep popping up across the nation, the Obama administration is unconcerned, or some would say, recklessly indifferent, to the public health threat that Third World illegal aliens pose to the American public

This isn’t an observation from would-be GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump or some wild-eyed rube—it’s a devastating criticism that comes from two public health experts at the government’s own Centers for Disease Control (CDC). It comes as deadly diseases surface or make a comeback in the U.S. Among those ailments are tuberculosis, pneumonia, paralysis-causing acute flaccid myelitis, dengue fever, swine flu, and enterovirus D68.

The two patriotic U.S. government employees, CDC Logistics Management Specialist George Roark and CDC Public Health Advisor William Adams were revealed to have complained in a series of emails June 9 last year about Obama rolling out a very long red carpet for people who have no right to be here and no desire to obey America’s laws. This was around the time the Obama administration was trying to cover up the concentration camp-like facilities in which it was detaining Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs).

Their comments were contained in an email exchange obtained by good-government group Judicial Watch in which the two officials rightly trashed President Obama for allowing a flood of sick young illegals into the United States.

In the email exchange between Roark and Adams, Adams wrote that “no country in the world would allow” Obama’s massive influx of unwanted foreigners.

Adams answers that “in ten years or less, they’ll all be voting ... Commander’s intent ... “

Shooting from the hip, Roark characterizes Obama as “the worst pres[ident] we have ever had ... he truly is ‘the amateur’ but a Marxist too.”

Via: Canada Free Press

School board member accused of stealing Michelle O’s lunch money

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. – A Prince George’s County school board member is under investigation after she allegedly lied about her income to secure free school lunch for her child.

Lyn Mundey resigned from the board June 1, and her resignation takes effect August 24, but ABC 7 News reports several of her constituents want her gone immediately.

“To take advantage of the system when there are people out here that really need it is ridiculous, it’s sad,” resident Brenda Payne said.

The news site obtained an email from a federal investigator to the suburban Washington, D.C. school district authored in April identifying Mundey as one of multiple Government Accountability Office employees who are allegedly scamming the federal government’s free and reduced price lunch program.

The email states that Mundey, who works as a GAO management analyst, was among several of the agency’s employees “receiving free lunch despite earning salaries much greater than the 133 percent of the poverty rate” required to qualify for the special lunch program.

The email alleges Mundey reported “no income at all in 2011 and 2012,” which infuriated local resident Lee Krulisch.

“I mean that’s a criminal act to me to falsify information,” he said.

Ernest Tuck, another Upper Marlboro resident, seemed to agree.

“There are so many people in the country that need it and so I think it’s terrible,” he said.

ABC 7 News reports that Mundey called into the newsroom about an hour before the story posted around 7:30 p.m. Monday to defend herself.

“She denies any ethical violations, claims she put money in her daughter’s lunch account and said she is unaware of an investigation,” the news site reports.

ABC 7 News confirmed Mundey is the subject of a criminal investigation by the Prince George’s County state’s attorney over the alleged lunch program scam.

The Washington Post reports Mundey was appointed to the school board by the county’s executive, Rushern L. Baker III in August 2013 to fill a seat vacated by Carletta Fellows, who resigned the month prior after only six months on the board.

At the time, Baker said Mundey, a single mother of a high schooler, “will bring a new level of energy and commitment, plus an inspiring story of focus and determination that I am confident will resonate with our students, parents, faculty and staff.”

“Ms. Mundey is invested in our schools as a parent, alumni and true advocate for public education,” Baker said in a 2013 statement.

Mundey graduated from the district’s Bowie High School before gaining a degree from the University of Maryland.

“I am a single parent and I know a lot of families in my district that look like mine,” Mundey said when she was appointed, according to the Post. “I want to assist those parents in any way that I can as they try to get what we all want a quality education for our children.”

Via: EAG

Is Obamacare preventing access to hospitals in conservative states?

It’s been a year and a half since the Affordable Care Act — also known as “Obamacare” — brought sweeping reforms to the U.S. healthcare system, but the results aren’t all uniformly positive, and can differ greatly depending on which hospital you go to.

In fact, there has been a growing divide nationwide between hospitals that are suddenly making nice profits and those that are desperately turning to public donations to stay open, according to a Reuters report.

As it turns out, some hospitals that are accepting federal money to expand Medicaid are getting paid, allowing patients that were uninsured to get regular care, but in states that didn’t expand Medicaid — most notable, those in conservative areas that opposed Obamacare like Georgia — the Affordable Care Act hasn’t been helping public hospitals at all. So while Obamacare may not be actively preventing access to healthcare in those states, rejecting some of the key aspects of it is indirectly.

The public exchanges the government has established along with 14 other states have allowed previously uninsured people in all parts of the country to start getting health coverage for the first time in a long while, but poor people in many states aren’t seeing any difference.

In fact, nearly four million uninsured Americans with low incomes who live in states that didn’t expand Medicaid would have qualified for coverage had the states not avoid expanding Medicaid, and hospitals in these states often have to rely on bond markets to fund themselves. And they are probably going to feel the financial pain as time goes on, which will limit available health care for people.

The Affordable Care Act has caused the number of Americans with health coverage under Medicaid to increase by 21 percent to 71.1 million, and nonprofit hospitals in states that expanded Medicaid had 13 percent less bad debt on average.

So it appears that ACA appears to be working on a large-scale level. In conservative states that voted against Medicaid, however, not so much.

Via: Morning Tickler

[VIDEO] CBS This Morning Presses De Blasio from Left on Uber, Economy

Liberal New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio sat down for a friendly interview on Thursday’s CBS This Morning and the three hosts repeatedly pushed him from the left on a variety of issues ranging from his fight with Uber to his relationship with Pope Francis on climate change and income inequality

. The majority of the interview focused on de Blasio’s ongoing fight with ride sharing company Uber, and his efforts to regulate it like taxis and CBS’s Charlie Rose complained ”it seems like Uber whenever it's challenged simply gets its way in the end.”

After the New York major whined that Uber was allegedly contributing to congestion and pollution throughout the city which, in his view, demanded the city regulate the company, Norah O’Donnell wondered “why did you cave?” and allow Uber to expand.

Later in the segment, Rose touted de Blasio’s recent meeting with Pope Francis where the two discussed climate change and rather than press his guest on the liberal views the two share the CBS host merely asked de Blasio to “ [t]ell us about” the meeting.

After de Blasio called Pope Francis the “strongest moral voice in the world” Rose eagerly wondered “what is his impact on climate change?” and gave the New York City mayor another opportunity to tout his liberal views.Rose then pointed out how the pope “raised questions about income inequality...And, in fact, about capitalism per se.”

Nowhere in the segment did Rose or his CBS co-hosts bother to press de Blasio on his liberal views regarding climate change or “income inequality” and whether not his solutions would damage the economy. Instead, Rose wondered how the mayor could push Hillary Clinton far enough to the left in order to earn his endorsement:

So what does Hillary Clinton have to do to convince you to support her because that’s been one of the issue you say you’re waiting and seeing?

De Blasio stressed the need for liberal cities to provide mandatory paid sick leave and an raise their minimum wages which Rose found the perfect time to ask yet another lefty question: “Will there be $15 minimum wage in New York?”

The New York mayor argued that he was “working toward” a $15 minimum wage which prompted Norah O’Donnell to wonder “why not endorse Bernie Sanders?”

In the past, CBS This Morning has done its best to help tout the liberal agenda of de Blasio. During an appearance on May 20, the three hosts gave him an unchallenged platform as Charlie Rose declared him one of the “leaders of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.”

Via: CBS This Morning

The Export-Import Bank Needs To Stay Dead.

The Export-Import Bank is dead. Let’s keep it that way.

This hoary relic of the Great Depression has been plagued with corruption and fraud. Its lending practices primarily benefit a handful of wealthy American mega-corporations and, far too often, unsavory interests abroad.

Ex-Im’s charter expired on June 30, but special interests continue to press Congress to revive it. Lawmakers wishing to keep this monument to crony capitalism dead and buried can draw some valuable “how-to” lessons from past successful efforts to resist wasteful special-interest pleadings.

In 1988 Congress established the BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) Commission to close unnecessary and expensive military bases. For years, successive administrations had treated basing decisions as political bonbons, keeping certain bases open for their friends, while closing others.

Congressmen and senators were unwilling to bear the weight of making rational closure decisions themselves. Voting to close a base in one’s home state carried severe political risk. And if politicians in one state voted to close a base in another state, the congressmen and senators from that state would likely return the favor.

Local economies often grow dependent on military bases. So even if keeping a base open was fiscally irresponsible (from a federal perspective) and wholly unnecessary for the nation’s security, the parochial interests of constituents usually trumped national interests for congressmen and senators.

Enter, the BRAC process. It allowed lawmakers to escape voting on individual base closures. Instead, they would cast a single, up-or-down vote on a package of closures recommended by non-political and military experts. With this arrangement, members could reassure their constituents that they were acting in the best interest of the nation, not targeting a hometown base for closure.

Creating the BRAC Commissions process required strong congressional leadership, the same type of leadership that is desperately needed now to fight the favoritism and cronyism that pervades Washington.

Lawmakers should also look back to how they were finally able to ban “earmarks” four years ago. “Earmarking” was the appropriations practice that allowed members of congress to “bring home the bacon” by directing federal funds to friends and supporters back home. Over 70 percent of Americans believed earmarks were wasteful and should be discontinued. Privately, many members of congress agreed. But when a public vote was taken in the Senate in 2010, the proposed ban on earmarks failed 39 – 56.

Via: Daily Signal

California ranks 38th in kids' well-being

Parents struggling to earn a living, the effects of poverty and astronomical housing costs all drag down California's children to the point that an annual national survey ranks the Golden State 38th in the nation in overall child well-being.

And, the benefits of the economic resurgence aren't evenly filtering down, leaving the state's children 49th in the nation in economic well-being, according to the 2015 Kids Count Profile released late Monday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

"That's really alarming for the future of our state," said Jessica Mindnich, director of research for the Oakland-based advocacy group Children Now, which analyzed California data for the survey.

Nearly one in four children, or 23 percent, lives in poverty. And the toll may be even higher in Silicon Valley. Even three minimum-wage jobs together would fall $10,000 short of what it takes to support a family of three in the valley, said Dana Bunnett, director of the San Jose-based advocacy group Kids In Common.

The same disparity appears in the Kids Count rating for education, where California landed 38th among the states. It ended up in the bottom quarter in part because in 2013, 54 percent of the state's eligible children were not attending preschool, a 2 percentage point decline from 4 years earlier. And on national tests, nearly three-quarters of California fourth graders had not reached proficiency in reading, and nearly the same proportion of eighth graders lacked proficiency in math.

However, in one bright spot, the survey found that in 2012, the percentage of high school students who did not graduate on time fell to 18 percent, compared with 29 percent four years earlier.

While some of the data may not be the latest available in the state, the Kids Count survey chose the most recent year for which all states had data.

The most encouraging development the survey found was in health -- a vast improvement that surveyors attribute to the state's early and full embrace of the Affordable Care Act.

The percentage of California children without health insurance fell to 7 percent in 2013, a four percentage-point drop in five years. Likewise the rate of child and teen deaths fell, from 24 per 100,000 to 20.

Mindnich credits that to California embracing the federal Affordable Care Act and moving toward insuring all children.

She believes that education similarly will improve, with the state projecting it will reach pre-recession funding levels for schools soon. "I think we are well-positioned to see kids doing better five years down the road."

Via: San Jose Mercury News

MASSACHUSETTS: Tax collections beat estimates, state budget 'in good shape,' Deval Patrick's finance director says

BOSTON — With tax collections running over original estimates by $524 million and mid-year spending levels down, this year’s state budget is in “good shape,” according to the Patrick administration’s director of finance, who says he expects the state Senate this week to add spending to next year’s proposed $36.25 billion annual budget.

During an investor conference call Monday ahead of planned state borrowings, Executive Office of Administration and Finance Director of Finance Rob Dolan described state budgeting efforts for fiscal 2015 as “boilerplate” compared to last spring’s debate over new taxes and transportation investments.

Gov. Deval Patrick’s proposed fiscal 2015 budget totals $36.37 billion, a 4.9 percent increase in spending. The House-approved plan calls for $36.32 billion in spending and the Senate Ways and Means Committee has offered a $36.25 billion bill, which senators plan to begin debating on Wednesday.

“We do expect them to add additional spending on the floor,” said Dolan.

After noting the similar bottom lines on the three budgets, Dolan said, “This year is much more boilerplate. From a bottom line perspective there is not that much of a difference.”

The House, Senate and Patrick generally agree on increased funding levels for education and local aid next year, as well as investments of $140 million in transportation and $163 million to reduce the state’s unfunded public pension liability, Dolan said.

With less than two months left in fiscal 2014, Patrick and the Legislature have so far agreed to $208 million in mid-year spending, with a $145 million supplemental budget nearing the governor’s desk.

Dolan said the $353 million in supplemental fiscal 2014 spending to date is a “little below” previous years - $441 million in fiscal 2013 and $540 million in fiscal 2012 - but served notice that another mid-year spending bill is in the works.

“We do typically file a year-end supplemental bill that takes care of any year-end bill paying needs. So we’re probably going to be teeing that up in the next month or so,” he said.

Dolan identified casino revenues as an example of non-tax revenues that state officials are monitoring. State officials originally forecast $83 million in casino licensing fees being available this fiscal year, but are now assuming that two resort casino licenses will be awarded in fiscal 2015, which begins July 1.

One significant unsettled budget issue involves the handling of larger, one-time tax settlements. Patrick and Senate leaders support a change in state law that would make $200 million in settlement funds available this fiscal year while the House supports making that change in fiscal 2015. Under current law, $421 million in tax settlement funds this fiscal year will be steered to the rainy day fund, Dolan said.

Documents made available in connection with the investor call show the state’s stabilization fund balance fell from $2.335 billion in fiscal 2007 to $670 million in fiscal 2010 before hitting a recent high of $1.65 billion in fiscal 2012 and then dipping to a projected balance of $1.36 billion on June 30, 2014.

According to deputy assistant treasurer Drew Smith, the Massachusetts Treasury expects to have issued $2.2 billion in new money bonds in fiscal 2014, $800 million in revenue anticipation notes and $628 million in refunding bonds. The Treasury on Wednesday is scheduled to price $200 million in federally taxable general obligation bonds and has a $500 million general obligation bond sale targeted for June 11.

Nolin Greene, senior debt analyst at the Treasury, said per capita income growth in Massachusetts from 2012 to 2013 was 2.4 percent, a growth rate that was “about in the middle” among states keeping per capita income here - $56,923 - at 128 percent of the national average. North Dakota passed Massachusetts, pushing the Bay State down to third among states for per capita income.

Via: MassLive

Friday, July 24, 2015

Thursday, July 23, 2015

An estimated 87 percent of illegal immigrants in the United States will not face a threat of deportation from the U.S. and have “a degree of protection” due to President Obama’s executive actions on immigration enforcement, the Migration Policy Institute concludes in a new report.

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