April 13,2003
Dear Colleagues:
As you may know, the Governor has submitted proposed legislation concerning the reorganization of higher education to legislative leaders and other interested parties. A final version of the legislation will be submitted to the Legislature on May 1st under the provisions of Article 87 of the state's constitution. Article 87 gives the Legislature veto power over the Governor's organization of the executive branch of government. If they do not vote on it, the Governor can implement the proposals 60 days after submission (July 1, in this case). The Legislature cannot amend the legislation. If the Legislature votes it down, then the Governor cannot implement it.
The proposed legislation, 110 pages in length, is posted on the MSCA website . Click on Proposed Reorganization Legislation, or go directly to http://www.mscaunion.org/news/reorgleg.pdf. Please not that this is an Adobe Acrobat PDF file, so you will need the Adobe Acrobat reader installed on your computer in order to view the document. Hard copies of the legislation can be found in each chapter office.
MTA is conducting an analysis of the legislation. When it is completed, this analysis will be made available to the entire membership. I will post some futher detail about the legislation on the MSCA website, for those members who are interested.
The Sunday Globe reported the general consensus that the Governor's reorganization proposals -- higher education and otherwise -- will go down to almost certain defeat unless they are substantially modified prior to May 1st. Nonetheless, we must be vigilant about insuring defeat of the higher education proposals. I intend to take nothing for granted until the Legislature's vote is taken.
The budget crisis is a far more serious matter right now. Later this week I will send a message about our action plan and other activities related to it.
Sincerely,
Pat Markunas MSCA President
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