Reform law reflects venerable values

From The Beacon, Summer 2011

The constitutions of the United States and Massachusetts are based on the same fundamental premise of checks and balances. Our nation’s founders intended that it should be hard to pass a new law and easy to prevent legislative proposals from moving forward. This principle is deeply ingrained in our political and governmental system, and we are all witness to this every day, especially when we hear about the latest impasse in Washington, D.C.

New legislation will be enacted easily if it is non-controversial and seen by all parties as being for the common good. If, however, the legislation is hotly contested and highly controversial, the American governmental system makes the journey to enactment a steep and challenging climb. Ultimately, such measures will pass only after public opinion crystallizes enough to form a mandate for action that provides the final push.

We all know that municipal health insurance reform was won only after a steep and challenging climb, a years-long journey that was propelled by strong and powerful leadership, with a path paved by a supportive public. It was a long time coming, but passage of the Municipal Health Insurance Reform Act of 2011 demonstrates that our system can produce real reform and the status quo can be forced to yield to important change.

This month, we are able to celebrate this major success as a victory for cities and towns, taxpayers, and municipal employees.

Communities will have the strong tools they need to save up to $100 million in avoided health insurance costs, and they will use the savings to protect services – essential services – such as police and fire protection, quality schools and everything in between.

Taxpayers will see more of their scarce property tax dollars going directly to essential services, where those dollars belong.

Employees will have the voice and role in the process that they have sought, and they will see the savings used to protect their jobs. Thousands of jobs will be saved for hardworking municipal workers, including teachers, firefighters, police officers, public works employees, librarians, and many others.

Because of this success, we have many to thank.

First, there would have been no reform bill without the extraordinary leadership of local officials in every corner of the state. This journey began in city and town halls across Massachusetts. Without you, and your dedicated colleagues on the MMA Board of Directors, this issue would still be an idea, not a reality.

It is impossible to overstate how crucial it was for the House of Representatives to stand up and stand firm in passing a powerful reform bill by an overwhelming vote of 113-42 in April. Speaker Robert DeLeo called for action in his inaugural speech this year, and the House followed his lead in spite of vocal and intense opposition from those who would protect the status quo. His leadership, and the extraordinary work of House Ways and Means Chair Brian Dempsey and Vice Chair Stephen Kulik, provided a defining moment in the legislative process. With the House vote, it became clear to all on Beacon Hill that reform was on its way.

Senate President Therese Murray and Senate Ways and Means Chair Stephen Brewer and Vice Chair Steven Baddour continued their hard work on this issue, as they have for several years, devoting countless hours in search of common ground. They advanced the issue, determined to pass legislation this year.

Key legislators aided this process throughout, including the chairs of the Joint Committee on Public Service, Rep. John Scibak and Sen. Katherine Clark, as well as budget conferees Rep. Vinny deMacedo and Sen. Michael Knapik.

It is instructive to note that the entire debate shifted a couple of years ago, when important civic organizations, led by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation and the Boston Foundation, leaned in and provided a strong public voice for reform. They made it clear that municipal health insurance reform was not a labor-management dispute; it was a taxpayer issue that was of importance to everyone in Massachusetts. Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, the Massachusetts High Tech Council, the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, Stand For Children, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, and many others joined the coalition for reform.

Of course, Gov. Deval Patrick has earned our abiding appreciation as well. Throughout the year, Gov. Patrick was constantly striving for a reform law we could all be proud of, one that would give cities and towns real and meaningful relief while including a voice for labor in the process. Key members of his administration, especially Administration and Finance Secretary Jay Gonzalez, devoted countless hours to advance this vision.

The result of all of this work, both on and off Beacon Hill, was a strong and clear legislative outcome that produced powerful and meaningful reform for cities and towns, the most significant municipal reform legislation that has been enacted in the past 30 years.

In talking with Speaker DeLeo moments after the governor signed the bill into law on July 12, I noted that it was, in my opinion, a special moment for all those who made the reform possible. This was not an abstract public policy matter; this was a grueling process that required a huge effort to overcome great resistance in order to achieve a lasting public benefit. I described the day as an “Athenian Oath moment.”

In ancient Greece, public service was revered as a noble endeavor, and the values were reflected in the Athenian Oath, which states, in part, that “we will fight for the ideal and sacred things of the city, both alone and with many. … We will transmit this city (community) … greater and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.”

This famous oath encompasses the venerable and timeless value of civic responsibility, calling on us to do our best today in order to build a better tomorrow.

Sure, passage of municipal health insurance reform demonstrates that our American system of checks and balances can produce real results. But the new law does more than that – it demonstrates that sometimes our system can transform itself from a cacophony of discord to a symphony of agreement when we all act for the greater good.