| State House News Service Articles and Special Offer
Read these hot-off-the-press articles below courtesy of the State House News Service and check out their special offer for BBA Members.
The State House News Service is widely recognized by insiders as the best way to keep informed on the issues, activities and newsmakers of Beacon Hill. With Internet technology, it's become a desktop State House news bureau at an excellent price. Now, through special arrangement, that price is even lower for BBA members.
All members who subscribe to the News Service through the BBA will receive a five percent discount off the weekly rate of $58. Subscribers who pay a full year in advance will see another 10 percent taken off the special BBA rate, making the total discount 15 percent.
Sign up now for a month-long free trial subscription and then continue it with your BBA discount.
The BBA is the only legal association to offer this discount...if you need to follow state government and politics, you need the State House News Service.
AUTISTIC WORKERS COULD BRING TAX BREAKS FOR EMPLOYERS
Companies that hire people with Autism Spectrum Disorders would receive an income tax credit of 50 percent per employee over the first year of employment, declining in subsequent years, under a bill the Revenue Committee vetted Wednesday. Elizabeth Avery, a 43-year-old who has Asperger Syndrome and is unemployed, said the incentive would help youngsters and older people. She said she has been unemployed for about two years, and blamed her difficulty finding a job in part on gaps in her résumé. “I do want to work,” she said, “and I know I do have the intelligence.” Rep. Barbara L’Italien’s bill (H 3908) would offer a 50 percent credit on the employee’s gross wages, shaved 10 percent every year until the fifth. L’Italien said autism diagnoses have exploded over the past decade, from one in every 10,000 to 1 in 122. Her proposal, she said, would help people who are aging out of the state’s special education system.
COST CONTROL BILL EXPECTED TO DRAW HEALTH CARE HEAVYWEIGHTS
The Committee on Health Care Financing expects senior officials from across the spectrum of health organizations to testify on Senate President Therese Murray’s bill aimed at controlling health care costs. Murray is expected to testify first on her bill (S 2526). Also expected to offer testimony are Connector Authority Executive Director Jon Kingsdale, Secretary of Health and Human Services JudyAnn Bigby, Massachusetts Association of Health Plans President Dr. Marylou Buyse and representatives of Health Care for All, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, the Consumer Health Quality Council and the Massachusetts Prescription Reform Coalition. Murray’s bill would commit $25 million a year until 2015 to transition to an electronic medical records system. It would also ban gifts from pharmaceutical companies to physicians; authorize UMass Medical to increase medical student class sizes and expand primary care initiatives; increase tuition incentives and toughen penalties to encourage UMass Medical students to work in primary care in-state for four years; establish a primary care workforce development and loan forgiveness grant program for residents and nurses at community health centers, community hospitals, and other facilities; offer increased affordable housing assistance for professionals in "underserved regions;" require insurers to recognize nurse practitioners and physician assistants as primary care providers; double to four the number of physician assistants that physicians in medically underserved areas may supervise; create a loan forgiveness/incentive program for nursing graduates who commit to work as faculty for a specific number of years (number not included in bill summary); require clinical labs to report infectious diseases under their specimens, under Department of Public Health regulations; and authorize the Division of Insurance to investigate the costs of medical malpractice coverage for health care providers.
|
