Baker wants municipal officials' input on regulations
Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday urged municipal officials to "fully and aggressively" weigh in during his administration's review of state regulations.
Baker said he had heard from educators, small business owners, the health care industry and others concerned about state regulatory policy more "than I heard from anybody in what I would think of corporate America over the course of the campaign."
"This is, from our point of view, not just about the so-called private sector," he said.
Baker signed an executive order on March 31 for a review of all regulations enforced by the executive branch. The order also keeps a moratorium on new regulations that was originally put in place for 90 days when Baker came into office.
Baker's suggestion to local officials to note the red tape they sometimes face came during a meeting with the Local Government Advisory Commission, a panel of officials from cities and towns.
Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito also outlined a "community compact agreement" they're hoping cities and towns sign and agree to develop self-selected best practices.
"Through this compact and through our ongoing conversation with cities and towns, we've asked them to identify what those regulations are so that our administration can look toward reviewing them and determining whether any of them can be sunsetted, and give the communities some relief from cost drivers," Polito said.
Each agreement will lay out the goals of the communities and the assistance from the state that will be offered to help them achieve best practices. Any community, regardless of population, will be eligible for technical assistance if it enters into a community compact.
Polito said agreements could carry a signing bonus of up to $5,000 as an incentive.
Baker's fiscal 2016 budget proposal includes $2 million in technical assistance for municipalities to develop the so-called best practices, and $650,000 to incentivize cities and towns to enter into the compact.
He also updated municipal officials on the state's application for federal disaster aid.
Baker said the federal government provided a full disaster declaration for the first winter storm over a two-day period in January. The Baker administration had asked for federal aid to cover a four week period in which the state was hit with nine feet of snow and four snowstorms.
Baker said his request was "unusual," but "our view was the month of February was unusual."
"I think that's a good place to start," Baker said of the federal government's declaration. "And we're going to review our options about what we might say in response to this."
That prompted Rocco Longo, the town administrator for Marshfield, to say he is still owed money from the Federal Emergency Management for Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and the winter storm Nemo that occurred in 2013.
"I'll ask about that one," Baker responded.
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