Bob Katzen in his weekly Beacon Hill Roll Call column notes a few items that the HOUSE was asked to consider last week. Most made pretty good sense if you ask me.

REQUIRE ROLL-CALL VOTE TO APPROVE TAX HIKES Would prohibit the House from approving any tax hikes without a two-thirds majority on a roll call vote. It would also allow the House to approve tax hikes only up to 30 days prior to the deadline for filing nomination papers to run for a seat in the Legislature.

Supporters of the rule said this would ensure that voters know how their legislators vote on any tax hikes

Opponents of the rule said the amendment goes too far and would make it very difficult for the House to consider tax hikes even during an emergency. They argued it also sets a bad precedent to restrict the time period during which a bill can be considered.

How’s that for OPEN Gov’t? Why let the voters know how YOU voted on a Tax Hike if a Voice vote (like on the budget) will do.

24 HOURS TO READ LEGISLATION : Would require 24-hour notice, not including weekends and holidays, between the release of a bill from an executive session or the Rules Committee and its consideration on the House floor. The 24-hour rule could be suspended for an emergency if waived by a two-thirds vote.

Supporters of the rule said this will prevent bills from being rushed onto the House floor and voted upon without legislators having time to read them

Opponents of the rule said committee chairs should have the power to adapt to individual circumstances and not have their hands tied. They noted legislators are often going from hearing to hearing to testify on several bills and cannot wait for hours at each hearing

To hell with waiting, dinners and Sox Games to go to..You mean we are supposed to READ what we actually vote on?

ADOPT LOCAL-AID RESOLUTIONS BY MARCH 15 (S 6) rule that would require the House and Senate to annually adopt by March 15 resolutions stating the minimum amount of local aid the state will give each city and town for that fiscal year.

Amendment supporters said many towns craft their budgets at town meetings in March and April and need to know as soon as possible how much they will receive from the state. They argued it is unfair and irresponsible to expect communities to assemble their budgets without this information.

Opponents said the Legislature should inform cities and towns as soon as possible but should not have its hands tied by some arbitrary date

Tough Luck Mayors and Managers, we will make you wait and let city/town workers and teachers get upset at you. Hey, It’s only money!

All went down to DEFEAT along PARTY Lines and all were submitted by REPUBLICANS. Looks like the HOUSE has learned very little from the last elections and will continue to tuck it to the public and forget about working for the betterment of the whole.

Jan 25 CC Packet

After some request directed to Councilors and the Manager to have the City Council Packet available to the public on Friday, The Managers office has decided that you can request a hard copy and pick it up on Friday after 6:00 otherwise it will be available on-line on Monday morning for those of us who can wait. I find the on-line version a lot easier to use. I have no issue with waiting because I think Councilors who do this as a part time job deserve the weekend to look at it before the general public.

It should be noted that this Administration is the first to have this available On-Line and that neither the Lowell School Dept. or the Dracut Board of Selectman or Dracut School Dept. make their packet available on-line to the public. Supt. Santoro at the Greater Lowell Tech School does post the agenda and packet.

I attached this weeks packet and it includes a response to City Councilor Patrick Murphy’s motion that appeared around the same time a City Bank was complaining that the City didn’t use local banks enough and had moved some funds.

Part of the response reads:

Councilor Murphy’s motion expresses a desire to recognize the importance of local banks to the overall local economy by establishing a local preference in the investment policy. To the spirit of
the motion, the investment policy could be amended to include a local bank preference in Section B,
“Objectives” . A proposition could be introduced that as long as the safety, liquidity and yield
(“SLY”) are satisfied, then preference could be made for investments in local banks, to the extent
allowed by law.

As for procuring banking services, one geographical component is already included in the RFP, that
being, that a branch must be located in Lowell, with preference for one close to City Hall. We must
be cognizant, as with any procurement, that the criteria are not so restrictive that it directs our
business to one particular bank.

George Kouloheras was a Lowell Legend, a feisty school committee member who was a strong advocate for Vocational Education and has passed away at the age of 97.

Rob Mills in The Sun today has a nice story including this: LOWELL — His decades-long career on the Lowell School Committee was already over in 2004 when George Kouloheras was driving down Merrimack Street and saw a man getting ready jump off the bridge over the Concord River.

Kouloheras, 92-years-old at the time, stopped his car, got out, and grabbed a 44-year-old homeless man from behind as he was about to make a suicide attempt. I got him down and sat on him,” Kouloheras told The Sun at the time.

I remember stories where I just shook my head about some of his actions: Tackling a fellow member during a meeting (Dan Kane), refusing to call Mary Ann Sullivan by her maiden name and champion English as the official language of Lowell. He always made headlines and angered many but his dedication to the City children was non matched.

The picture shows a young george and Thanks to richardhowe.com for the photo.