Dykema Votes for Fiscal Management and Public Safety Legislation
While many Holliston residents were at the America in Bloom Ceremony, Rep. Carolyn Dykema was at the state house voting on two issues that are "fundamental to the welfare of our citizens."
Submitted by the Office of Carolyn Dykema
Wednesday night Rep. Carolyn Dykema (D- Holliston) joined her colleagues on both sides of the aisle in passing a bill to improve state fiscal management practices and make important changes to the Commonwealth's criminal statutes.
"These pieces of legislation address two critical issues for our Commonwealth: fiscal discipline and public safety," said Dykema. "One bill will result in more disciplined fiscal management, better long term financial planning, and better cash flows of the towns I represent. The other will limit access to parole for the state's most violent repeat offenders and protect the public. These two issues are fundamental to the welfare of our citizens and represent and important step forward."
An Act to Improve the Administration of State Government and Finance includes provisions that formalize performance management and measurement standards,require perfomance management information be provided to the legislature for more informed budgeting, and require five-year prospective budget estimates to facilitate longer term planning.
The bill also changes the payment schedule for state payments to towns from quarterly to monthly which will improve local cash flows.
The update to the crime statutes includes provisions that eliminate the possibility for parole for the most violent, repeat offenders who have been sentenced to threeyears or more in state prison more than twice. It also strengthens oversight and provides for a more formal framework around how parole decisions are made. Other provisions seek to address concerns around prison overcrowding by shortening"mandatory minimum sentences" for non-violent drug offenses, and protects "good samaritans" from prosecution who seek medical assistance for drug overdose victims.
Karen Adamson
2:09 am on Sunday, July 22, 2012
I'm so disappointed in how this was handled. It has taken so very long, in fact months to get this bill out of the secret conference committee. The legislature has done nothing but drag it's feet. The legislature let it drag on and on sooooooo long that Governor Patrick can veto it, and there will not be enough time for the legislature to override. It is disappointing.
Dykema should really be apologizing to Melissa's family for this taking so long. 12 years is awful. It's another example of how this legislature needs a lot of changes.
Ann Green
2:09 am on Sunday, July 22, 2012
I would appreciate a) a translation of the jargon which purports to explain the benefits of this legislation and how exactly it will save taxpayers' money and b) an explanation as to why it took over a decade to pass Melissa's Law.
SJohnson
11:26 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
Fiscal management. Isn't this bill 4 years late? What has she done for the last 4 years? Oh, that's right, Dykema wasn't campaigning to keep her seat. It's amazing what politicians will do during an election year.
Iron Mike
11:26 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
Hilarious! Democrats taking credit for 'fiscal discipline and public safety'?
Our state is #49 MOST EXPENSIVE to do business in, - $102 Billion in DEBT [your share $15.5K] - and the Governor won't agree to get EBT Card freeloaders and illegals OFF the system... WHERE is the 'discipline'?
And WHERE is any squeak of outrage from Mz Dykema? She goes along with every bit of the ooey-gooey liberal fooey that Deval Patrick oozes. A pedophile on the gaming commission? Crickets! 160,000 illegals? Crickets! Wait now for the Probation Dept indictments! That scream of outrage you DON'T hear is Mz. Dykema.
Dear God, - dear Voters, - instead of a liberal activist; - can we please have a principled Representative elected this November? Please!
Charles. Garbarino
11:26 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
Melissa's Law should have been passed years ago. I can recall the case of Melissa. The problem has been that our Representative Carolyn, has spend more time with raising our taxes and fees, than addressing "Melissa's" legislation on paroled, repeat criminal offenders. These are the same criminals who, have been allowed back on the streets to prey on innocent victims like Melissa. It is the “Liberal Agenda” up close and personal, in your face, when it strikes your family! We as voters should have learned by now and made better choices in who represents us...
Marty Lamb is the candidate who would have done differently. Melissa’s family would say that our liberal legislature has not addressed the problem of “Melissa” or any other crime victim families who have been murdered by repeat offenders. I know that Marty Lamb, who I will vote for, would have keep Melissa’s Law on the “Front Burner” and had it passed years ago.
Representative Carolyn Dykema has failed Melissa and her family, and has been part of the problem, not the solution. Vote for Mart Lamb in November!
Kelly Roney
11:52 am on Monday, July 23, 2012
See, the Tea Party isn't even happy when they agree with you.
Crime is low in Massachusetts, especially violent crime. Yet the Tea Party extremists want it to be as low as it is in red states. Oh, wait, crime and violent crime are much lower here than they are in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, etc.
Massachusetts has an excellent credit rating, due entirely to the fiscal management of Democrats. Democrats in government maintained that rating in the worst recession in 80 years, and Massachusetts now has the 3rd largest rainy day fund in the nation.
According to Forbes Magazine, Massachusetts has the number one quality of life in America. It is expensive to do business here, but Forbes also says:
"One bright spot in the northeast is No. 18 Massachusetts thanks to the dynamic Boston economy which is strong in growth industries like healthcare, education and technology. Business and living costs are among the highest in the country, but the state ranks first overall in quality of life and has one of the most educated labor forces in the U.S."
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2011/11/22/the-best-states-for-business/2/
Marty Lamb and his supporters want us to go backward into the past. Carolyn Dykema favors practical solutions that make our district and state even better than they already are.
Iron Mike
1:31 pm on Monday, July 23, 2012
Roney: “Crime is low in Massachusetts, especially violent crime.”
Tell that to the family of Matt Denice – killed less than a year ago by an illegal alien – an illegal protected by Deval Patrick and the Democratic majority in the State House. Patrick had the nerve to call it a 'DUI matter'.
I find it both odd and revealing that the 'inclusive left' quickly assumes that everybody who is fed up with the failures of tax-and-spend-and-borrow-and-tax left wing politics in Massachusetts is somehow automatically in the 'Tea Party'. Such branding reveals subtle racism and elitism. Maybe not so subtle.
There are only four industries left in Massachusetts. Fishing [Obama's EPA is killing it], the Colleges [price is doubling], Health Care [ObamaCare is squeezing it and raising prices] – and BIG GOVERNMENT – the one (1) industry Democrats keep building.
It's time to CUT GOVERNMENT, and bring back real industry. Mz Dykema is part of the PROBLEM. Marty Lamb is part of the cure!
Karen Adamson
5:07 pm on Monday, July 23, 2012
Dykema has nothing to brag about. This bill has taken months to get out of the secrect conference committee. The legislature let it drag on sooooooo long that the Governor can veto it and there will not be enough time for the legislature to override. It is disappointing.
I feel bad for Melissa's parents. It should not have taken 12 years to pass this bill. The legislature left this until the very last minute so the Gov can veto and the legislature cannot override.
I think it is very premature for Dykema taking a victory lap on the crime bill. She knows the legislature has been stalling on this bill for so long that the Governor can veto and kill it. Due to the legislative session ending there will not be time to override.
Charles. Garbarino
6:09 pm on Saturday, July 28, 2012
Carolyn Dykema is part of the liberal left that coddles criminals. Not only was Melissa been victimized and murdered, but many others have taken place. Take Woburn officer Jack Maguire. The 60-year-old Maguire was shot during a raging blizzard on Dec. 26, 2010, during a robbery of the Kohl’s department store. His assailant, Dominic Cinelli, 57, was killed during the exchange. Cinelli had been on parole since 2009 despite his three (3) life sentences for a variety of offenses.
If you don’t find that outrageous, you are not paying attention.
There is a wake of victims out there that have been coddled by our Liberal Democratic Majority in the State House. Heard on the radio yesterday, that Governor Patrick will not sign a bill to have required I.D. verification to register a motor vehicle. That means that the killer of Matt Denice walked into a registry branch as an illegal alien, with no license, paid the registration fee and was handed valid license plates to put on his killing machine. I am sure Carolyn Dykema feels exactly as the governor does. It’s a “Party Thing” to coddle criminal aliens who kill real, everyday people. We need big changes in the Commonwealth and that is why we need Marty Lamb to do the job. Mary would be a refreshing voice who would stand up for victim rights like Melissa. It should have never taken 12 years to pass this legislation. Marty Lamb will do better for us.