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by Abbie Goodman, MALSCE Chief of External Affairs
On Tuesday, November 6, 2018, Massachusetts voters can vote for candidates of their choice and decide on statewide ballot questions that can change state law. Polling places are open from 7:00 AM-8:00 PM statewide on Election Day. Early voting is available for this election beginning October 22, 2018 and ending November 2, 2018. If you are unable to go to the polls or vote early, absentee ballots are easily available before the election. Before you vote, you’ll want to review the list of candidates for your area, do some research on where they stand, and review the ballot questions. For more information see this link on the Secretary of State’s website.
A candidate for office in Massachusetts won her primary election by 137 votes – so every vote can make a difference.
The Board of Registration cancelled its September 27, 2018 meeting. The next meeting will be on October 25, 2018. The agenda for this meeting is posted on this link.
Issues for discussion on October 25 include:
Board Counsel Legal Report:
Closed Quasi-Judicial session pursuant to G.L. c. 30A, s. 18
Executive Session pursuant to G.L. c. 30A, §21(a) (1) to discuss character, rather than competency of Licensee A.A.
Review of Applications
Correspondence:
These are pending issues in the Division of Professional Licensure
Additional resource links:
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250 CMR –version as finalized through the Secretary of State’s office as of 2-10-2017 |
See: https://www.mass.gov/lists/statutes-and-regulations-engineerland-survey Scroll down on that webpage to separate sections of 250 CMR |
In July 2018, Governor Charlie Baker filed a $583 million supplemental spending plan to close the 2018 fiscal year. The legislature acted on the bill during informal session, passing it on October 15, 2018. The final bill appropriates a total of $540.35 million and can be found here; it includes:
The bill also spends down the state's surplus from fiscal 2018, which ended on July 1. Massachusetts collected an estimated $1.2 billion more in tax revenue than it had expected last fiscal year, leaving an estimated $200 million in funds that were not earmarked for any purpose after about $1 billion was put in the state “rainy day" fund.
This is not the full list of key results from the September 4, 2018 primary elections, so be sure to check your local media outlets on other state, county and legislative races that will also be on the ballot for November 6.
MALSCE is actively supporting H4420, An Act Relative to Public Safety in Excavation. This bill is currently in the House Ways & Means Committee. Abbie Goodman has had several meetings with legislative leaders about this bill in recent weeks to advocate for this bill to move during this current informal session, which ends on December 31, 2018. This bill would allow land surveyors to access Dig-Safe information earlier in a project, when the project is in preliminary design. Specific, accurate utility location information at the design phase of projects will promote more efficient design and construction of facilities and protect the general public, utility company assets and the lives of contractors. It also will help to reduce the number of construction change orders for public and private sector projects, saving money during construction and improving construction site safety.
Please contact your Massachusetts State Representative to urge positive action on H4420 this session.You can find your current State Representative (Representative in the General Court) by entering your home address on this state site: https://www.sec.state.ma.us/wheredoivotema/bal/myelectioninfo.aspx
Opportunities to Serve on Boards and Commissions
Professional Engineers, Professional Land Surveyors, Registered Architects and other Design Professionals living in and licensed in Massachusetts are sought after to serve on certain public boards and commissions created under state law or by regulations. This is an opportunity to participate directly in government, by providing your professional expertise to help shape public policy for the benefit of residents. For more on serving and how to apply, see this link: https://www.engineers.org/get-involved/public-boards-commissions
Important: To be recognized as a MALSCE member you must login using your MALSCE assigned username and password.
Registration is processed through the MALSCE associated website, www.engineers.org. MALSCE is supported by the staff of The Engineering Center Education Trust.
Please note: Altering your name or contact information during registration may overwrite your record in our membership database and prevent you from receiving your member benefits.
If you have additional questions regarding registration, please contact us at 617/227-5551 or malsce@engineers.org.