Monthly Archives: July 2021

The confusing success of ‘Black Widow’ and the populism of the Emmys – KCRW

Posted: July 23, 2021 at 4:17 am

Marvel Studios superhero spy thriller Black Widow opened last weekend to the tune of $215 million in global revenue. Those earnings come partly due to the films dual release in theaters and on Disney+ the same day. Disney boasted that the $30 upcharge raked in $60 million, with domestic theatrical screenings clearing $80 million.

While the release initially appears to be a success, a closer look at variables like box office dropoff and multi-person viewing at home amounted to a muddled narrative. Further confounding the data is the pandemic, which makes it difficult to know how many viewers opted to stay home rather than go to the theater, and vice versa. With these different factors, its unclear what long-term effect(s) the dual theater-PVOD model has on the film industry.

On the TV side, nominees for the 2021 Emmy Awards were announced on Tuesday. The confusing and far-flung list of nods has left many scratching their heads, with only 12 shows receiving more than single-digit nominations. Prestige shows, like HBOs Mare of Easttown and Netflixs The Queens Gambit, received a fair share of recognition, but so did less typical popcorn fare like Netflixs Emily in Paris and Disney+s The Mandalorian, which earned 24 nominations, including Best Drama. Meanwhile, critical favorites like Showtimes The Good Lord Bird were snubbed.

The shake-up is partly due to a newly democratized Emmys voting system, allowing all Television Academy members to cast their ballots for an unlimited number of nominees in a broader range of categories. As a result, a slew of major and minor cast members from shows like Netflixs The Crown and the filmed version of Broadways Hamilton on HBO have crowded the major acting categories.

These nomination trends may indicate that Academy members are watching the same cluster of heavily-advertised shows that have received more media attention, rather than branching out to shows and actors that could greatly benefit from nominations.

The recent trend towards populist voting has sparked a movement over the past few years to try to streamline the system and get voter committees to commit to watching a certain number of shows towards a more representative breadth of nominees. This years nominees may finally push the Academy in that direction.

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The Left is on another planet if it thinks a billionaire tax will work – Telegraph.co.uk

Posted: at 4:17 am

WhatsApp founders Brian Acton and Jan Koum make a good case study. They launched a product that 2.5bn people use to freely communicate worldwide, generating $5bn (3.6bn) to $10bn in annual revenue. The pair pocketed $15bn upon selling to Facebook. Did they deserve it? Its an unimaginable sum, but as Nobel Prize winning economist William Nordhaus has explained, transformative innovators like this are only capturing a tiny slither of the total productive value to customers.

Investors clearly think top CEOs matter a lot too. With technology and tastes changing quickly, firms prospects can hinge on a few decisions over whether to adopt risky new products or overhaul corporate practice. Observe the diverging fortunes of BlackBerry and Apple.

When CEOs resign, get poached, or die, in fact, companies valuations shift in pronounced ways, suggestive of executives potential multiplicative impacts on businesses profitability. In 2013, Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts left to join Apple, having overseen Burberrys market valuation growing from 2bn to 7bn. Burberrys share price fell 7pc.

It stands to reason that failure to compensate existing executives sufficiently harms value too. In 2019, Namal Nawana, then CEO of UK medical devices firm Smith and Nephew, resigned, saying his 1m plus base salary wasnt enough. Under him, the companys value had grown so much that even if his personal impact was just 1pc of it, the uplift was 10 times his base pay. His resignation wiped off 1.4bn in value.

These instances dont reflect random stock volatility either. When CEOs experience unexpected family deaths distracting them from their jobs, stock prices shift.

Those with skin in the game then think founders and CEOs make a substantive difference to companies fortunes, even if the Left-wing populist doesnt.

So what would abolishing billionaires achieve? The risks are clear: though not everyone is money-driven, confiscation will disincentivise at least some of the socially productive activity driving high wealth.

With so much of billionaires current wealth locked in businesses (just 2pc is in private property, such as houses and yachts), high-net wealth taxes would force firm sales, encourage more consumption, and incentivise billionaires to give more to tax-exempt, often political, causes. Why is this economically more desirable than reinvestment in productive business assets?

And for what public revenue gain? Confiscating all but a billion each from the top 10 British billionaires would have funded 2020 UK government spending for one and a half months. A more realistic annual wealth tax would be shot with exemptions to avoid harming asset rich, cash poor farmers and other essential businesses.

Wealth taxes were scrapped in most of Europe, in fact, as they became symbolic gestures, raising, on average, just 0.2pc of GDP, as millionaires and billionaires fled and carve-outs piled up. What would that sum pay for? The royal yacht and a few infrastructure projects?

The Lefts anti-wealth populism sells the public a pig in a poke. Economists have previously calculated that 83pc of the global Forbes billionaire list made money from productive activities, not political connections. Talk of abolishing billionaires runs aground on the historical experience of taxing wealth, let alone the implications of much cruder, blanket confiscation of resources.

Ryan Bourne is the author of Economics In One Virus and an economist at the Cato Institute

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Lexington The rise of Ron DeSantis – The Economist

Posted: at 4:17 am

Jul 24th 2021

RONALD REAGANs tub-thumper for Barry Goldwater in 1964, Barack Obamas silky-smooth Democratic Convention speech of 2004: the political annals are replete with moments when a significant new talent announced itself. Could it be that in February Ron DeSantis of Florida produced another? The scene was a press conference in Tallahassee. The subject under discussion was the Republican governors view that conservatives are discriminated against by social and mainstream media companies. Dont say it isnt so, he told the assembled reporters: You can whiz on my leg, but dont tell me its raining.

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Mr DeSantiss phrase, now available on a range of conservative merchandise, expressed the dominant Republican view of big tech and the media: both knowing and dismissive. And he was able to utter it with rare authority. Mr DeSantis, who is second only to Donald Trump in popularity among Republicans, owes his rise not only to his record of sticking it to the liberal media but also, more impressively, to his knack of being vindicated almost whenever he has done so.

Having entered the Republican gubernatorial primary as a little-known House member, he launched a campaign so sycophantically pro-Trump that he became a figure of fun for the national media. He proceeded to win the former presidents endorsement and the primary. That put him in a fight against Andrew Gillum which the polls gave him little chance of winning, especially after he was accused of making a racist dig at his black opponent. He denied the charge and won that one, too. Whereupon, instead of becoming the divisive, ineffective governor he was predicted to be (including by some of his former congressional colleagues), he swung amenably to the centre. He raised teachers salaries, launched an effort to protect the Everglades, took a relaxed view of medical marijuanaand watched his ratings climb. When covid-19 struck last year, Mr DeSantis was one of the most popular governors in the country, an impressive feat in one of Americas most polarised states.

His management of the pandemic has since cost him much of his non-Republican support. Defying the public-health experts in his own administration, he refused to introduce a state-wide mask mandate and, after an initial month-long lockdown, pushed for Floridas businesses and schools to get back to normal even as the virus raged through the state. Retreating into a kitchen cabinet dominated by his chief-of-staff and his wife, Casey DeSantis, a popular former television journalist who oozes the charisma that the bullocking governor lacks, he was said to have shunned the experts entirely. He was widely criticised (including in this column). Yet it must be acknowledged that, again bucking his critics, he got most of the big calls right.

He did a better job of protecting care-homes than several of his media-beloved Democratic counterparts, including Andrew Cuomo of New York. He was dead right on schools. The mask mandates imposed by Floridas local authorities largely compensated for his own reticence on the issue. No doubt Floridas outdoors lifestyle helped, too. Yet the net result is a death toll that puts the state in the middle of the national pack and, after the haranguing Mr DeSantis received, this has been interpreted on the right as his greatest, media-crushing vindication yet. Its cocaine to the base, says a grudging Republican admirer of the governor. In the event that Mr Trump does not run for re-election in 2024, 40% of Republicans say they would pick Mr DeSantis instead.

This has got conservative donors excited. Many loathe Mr Trump but fear that their preferred alternativesincluding Mike Pence, Nikki Haley or just about anyonecould not retain the former presidents diehard followers. Mr DeSantis, whose presidential ambition is no secret, is the first alternative to hint that he could. His name is being cheered raucously at right-wing populist gatherings even as Mr Pences is jeered and the politically discombobulated Ms Haley goes unmentioned. Ifas that and much else suggestsconservatives are still committed to Trump-style populism, Republican elites are beginning to hope that Mr DeSantis might be the man to smooth its rougher edges.

That at least seems plausible. His string of unheralded successes suggests he is an astute politician. He is plainly intelligent. Most of the rights faux populists (a group that also includes Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and the debutant J.D. Vance) are alumni of Harvard or Yale; Mr DeSantis has degrees from both. Admiring former acolytes of the governor (a small bandhe has a reputation for being beastly to his staff) say he made his decisions on the pandemic after immersing himself in public-health policy, as well as politics. He would surely be better than Mr Trump.

That is setting the bar pretty low, however. And the beguiling idea of Mr DeSantis as a shy pragmatist and secret wonk could also soon seem out-of-date. An anti-government wrecker in the House, turned Trump populist, turned moderate governor, whose re-election campaign is now hawking Dont Fauci my Florida mugs, the governor appears to have no firm convictions of any kind. This makes it hard to imagine him channelling the wild enthusiasms of Mr Trumps supporters in a productive way.

Indeed, the closer he gets to national power, the more he is pandering to them. He has in recent months engineered a series of dire state laws, including bans on mask mandates, vaccine passports, critical race theory, the right of social media companies to suspend politicians and certain kinds of political protest. It remains to be seen how many of these measures will survive legal scrutiny. But even if none does, they constitute the record he wants to run on. The governor is an able politician and so far a winning one. But his rise does not augur an improved version of Trump populism so much as its triumph.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline "The rise of Ron DeSantis"

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Treasury official: Tax deal would help make globalization work – Finance and Commerce

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The Biden administration made its case on Wednesday for why multinational corporations should support an international tax agreement aimed at cracking down on tax shelters, with a top official arguing that the deal would restore order to globalization and blunt the forces of protectionism and populism that have posed a threat to business in recent years.

The comments, by Itai Grinberg, a Treasury Department official who is representing the United States in the negotiations, offered a new rationale for the agreement, which would entail the largest overhaul of the international tax system in decades. If enacted, the deal would usher in a global minimum tax of at least 15% and allow countries to impose new taxes on the goods and services of the largest and most profitable corporations regardless of where the companies are based.

But the Biden administration sees the agreement as more than an end to the race to the bottom on corporate taxes that has been a boon to tax havens.

We believe this deal is part and parcel of restoring the foundation for the continued success of the liberal international economic order as we have known it over the last 75 years, Grinberg, the Treasurys deputy assistant secretary for multilateral tax, told the National Association for Business Economics.

The Biden administration has been pushing for the agreement as part of its plan to raise taxes on companies in the United States without making them less competitive around the world and to get dozens of countries to drop new digital services taxes that have targeted American technology companies. More than 130 countries have signed on to a framework of the deal, which is being negotiated through the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Although large companies have been anxious about the prospect of higher taxes, Grinberg argued that they had more to gain from a tax agreement. He suggested that a lack of clarity and consensus in the international tax system was leading to greater double taxation that, if left unchecked, could cause corporations to pull back cross-border investment.

The effect of those diminished transactions would spread well beyond big companies and their shareholders, because the activity of multinationals is the backbone of the success of globalization, Grinberg said. And none of that would be good, because although it certainly has its flaws, globalization has brought benefits not just for multinational corporations but for people in the United States and around the world.

The Biden administration has argued that its international tax proposals would bring more fairness to the United States and to economies around the world. They would do so, it says, by putting an end to a system that allows corporations to pay less tax than middle-class workers and by giving nations more tax revenue that they could spend on infrastructure and other public goods. Grinberg said this would be in the interest of corporations, arguing that the sense of unfairness was creating a landscape that is problematic for global businesses.

Could globally engaged multinational business succeed if economic populism, protectionism and anti-immigrant sentiment were to become the order of the political day? he said.

Much remains to be done between now and October, when international negotiators hope to complete the pact. Ireland, Estonia and Hungary have yet to join the agreement, and their resistance could block the European Union from moving ahead with the plan.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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Uncertainty is vital to democracies: Authoritarians want predictability, and flourish in it – The Times of India Blog

Posted: at 4:16 am

There has been an avalanche of recent books about the degrading of democracy, the whys and now-whats of this backslide. Is democracy really facing an existential crisis? What is democracy anyway, and is there any firm framework to judge its crisis that is not partisan?

Indeed, there is. Democracy Rules by political philosopher Jan-Werner Mller is a primer on the first principles of democracy. He proposes a hard border for democratic conflict it cannot compromise the equal standing of all citizens, it cant say that some people are second-class citizens or cannot participate in the national community. By this definition, democracy can accommodate all kinds of disagreement and polarisation and friction, but not the deliberate othering or disenfranchising of any group.

Unlike those who believe the sky is falling on our heads, Mller doesnt think we are on the brink of fascism while authoritarian populism in Brazil, Hungary, Poland and the US has threatened democracy, he says that the mass mobilisation and militarisation of 1930s is absent now. Indeed, all these governments invoke democracy frequently.

But its easy to spot fake democrats populist leaders who claim to speak for the real people or the silent majority, implicitly saying that those who do not support them are not real people and are beyond the pale of consideration. While all parties speak to their own supporters, a base that they forge through their rhetoric and platforms, populists seek to comprehensively cast out certain groups from membership.

There are family resemblances in their style of governance nationalism (with racist or religious or ethnic overtones), the hijacking of the state for partisan loyalists, and weaponising the economy to secure power.

With a propensity for crony capitalism, they need to keep a grip on the judiciary and political system, he writes. In Hungary, for instance, Viktor Orbn promised German automobile makers Chinese conditions with pliant unions, he changed civil service law claiming that liberal left had occupied the levers of the state and had to be purged, he moved in to control courts and media. They also often simulate sovereignty, with a studied performance of collective self-assertion.

Liberals who deplore this tend to place the blame on the masses, suggestible and swayed by demagogues. In fact, no authoritarian populist has come to power without elite collaboration, says Mller. But rather than blaming the masses as liberals tend to do or the powerful few as others tend to do, we need institutional answers.

The critical infrastructure of democracy since the 19th century, says Mller, are political parties and the media. They should not be instrumentalised by other forces, they must remain open arenas for arguments and contests. Both these intermediaries the media and political parties are now troubled, he acknowledges, and suggests ways to renew their missions.

At the core, says Mller, it is institutionalised uncertainty. An election is not the sole and final word; it reveals the balance of political forces at a given time. A democratic opposition takes on the government without delegitimising the system, the government recognises the role of the opposition, knowing that their positions can be flipped. A leader cannot use force or the tax system to destroy the opposition; election losers gracefully accept defeat, knowing that it is limited and temporary. This uncertainty is crucial, says Mller. Whatever it is, democracy can never be predictable.

Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Market freedom and its big bang of competition – Mint

Posted: at 4:15 am

It was mounted on the scale of another tryst with destiny, the 1991 shift of our mixed economy in favour of the free market. As Victor Hugo once said, No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come," said Manmohan Singh, to bookend his budget speech of 24 July 1991 as Indias finance minister, I suggest to this august House that the emergence of India as a major economic power in the world happens to be one such idea." It echoed a Nehruvian call to shape our future in a way that would make success inevitable. Scarcity amid poverty all around should have flagged failure, if not clunky overpriced cars sold as a privilege, but it took a couple of shocks to shift our economic strategy. The prospect of vehicles going without fuel, after a Gulf-war oil flare-up exhausted our dollar stash for imports, had exposed self-sufficiency as a flawed policy, even as the Soviet cave-in bared the weak-incentive jinx and low-efficiency trap of an over-centralized economy. It was clear we needed our resources allocated less by the state and more by market devices, with free prices acting as signals for a dynamic interplay of demand and supply to do that job. The idea of market freedom as a betteror less fallibleway ahead for India seemed unstoppable. Like an open mind, an economy once opened could never be shut, could it?

The reforms of 1991 were big bang alright. If the rupee had to sweat and productivity to rise, the state had to cede space for the profit motive of private enterprise to play a lead role in our economy. Over-centralization of economic processes had proven counter-productive, said Singh. We need to expand the scope and area for the operation of market forces. A reformed price system can be a superior instrument of resource allocation than quantitative controls." The centrepiece of his 1991-92 budget was a deflation of our bloated state. So, a tighter rein on the Centres fiscal gap, backed by a plan to curb profligacy (effected in 1997) and offload public-sector units (by and by), was to go with a dramatic dropping of entry barriers. Abolished industrial licences threw open all but 18 industries to new businesses, with private players allowed to explore novel areas and the cost of capital given some flexibility. On the external front, trade restrictions were eased, with our currency reset for a partial float, even as we laid East India Companys ghost to rest by allowing joint ventures with up to 51% foreign equity in 34 markets, drawing an influx of money. Exposure to global rivalry was its actual rationale, a policy-spur aimed at gaining a competitive edge. As Singh said, It is essential to increase the degree of competition among firms in the domestic market so that there are adequate incentives for raising productivity, improving efficiency and reducing costs."

Thirty years on, that edge over competitors has not proven too sharp, though various other clamps have since been eased, Indian allocative efficiency has risen, and opening up has left us better off, overall. While our market reforms worked, they did not do well enough, alas, to perpetuate themselves. Capital is freer, but jobs are scarce and labour markets remain rigid. Wealth got created, but gross inequities persist. Startups bustle, but the economy had lost verve even before covid. Today, our market needs to be robustly rivalrous for it to emerge as once envisioned. Yet, visible-hand guidance of investment is back, even as import barricades creep up, regulation tightens in some spheres, and oligarchic anxieties arise. All said, we mustnt let the spirit of competition get stifled again, lest our second tryst ends in a whimper.

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IECC BOARD / MONTHLY MEETING | WSEI Freedom 92.9 FM | The Best Country in America – Freedom 92.9

Posted: at 4:15 am

(OLNEY/NEWTON) The Illinois Eastern Community College Board of Trustees met for its regular monthly meeting in July this past Tuesday night in Olney. The Board : adopted an operating fund budget for Fiscal Year 2022 worth just over $34.3 million the budget included $30,240,879 in the Education Fund and $4,065,771 in the Operations & Maintenance Fund : approved the payment of all bills as presented : approved the $208,300 bid from Grunloh Construction for the Natatorium remodeling project at Lincoln Trail College : approved updates to the 2021-2022 IECC Catalog : adopted a Human Subject Research Policy for compliance with accrediting agencies : approved agreements with the CAISA organization and the SAFE organization to provide counseling when and if needed with employees and/or students within the IECC District : and made various personnel moves accepted resignations from Linda Shidler as Director of Academic Success Center at OCC, from Dana Hart as District Coordinator of Employment & Benefits, Rebecca Carmack as Vocal/Instrumental Music Instructor at LTC, and Tracy Chastain as Custodian at OCC approved the change of employment status for Brandi Rich-Beard from Student Services Specialist at OCC to Advisor/Recruiter at OCC, for Jonathan Leach from District TRIO Upward Bound Counselor to District Retention Coordinator at WVC, for Laurel Taylor from Director of Business & Finance Workforce Education to Associate Dean of Business & Industry at FCC, and Tosha Baker from District Coordinator of TRIO Upward Bound to Marketing Business Management Instructor at WVC and approved the hiring of Cassandra Goldman as District Program Director of the International Student Program, Kimberly Wellen as an English Instructor at FCC, Clare Roosevelt as a Nursing Instructor at WVC, Julie Dehart as a Health Sciences Specialist in the Medical Laboratory Technician Program at FCC, Cole Carter as a Broadcast Services Secialist at WVC, Nickie Daniel as a District Office Assistant, Collyn Jewell as Maintenance Groundskeeper at LTC, and Brittany Longbons as a Student Services Specialist at FCC : the next regular monthly meeting for the Board of Trustees will be August 17th at Wabash Valley College in Mt. Carmel.

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One in three face no action in Scotland after refusing to pay criminal fines – The Scotsman

Posted: at 4:15 am

According to figures obtained by the party via a Freedom of Information request, around 39 per cent of people who refused to pay fines in 2018/19 faced no further action from the justice system.

This number rose to 40 per cent in 2019/20, with the majority of cases in 2020/21 ongoing due to Covid-19 and court backlogs.

The Scottish Conservatives said these figures showed the reality of the SNPs soft-touch justice system, adding it was at odds with a statement from deputy first minister John Swinney in Holyrood earlier this year.

The Covid recovery secretary said during a justice debate that safeguards are built into the operation of fiscal fines, which are not mandatory penalties.

Mr Swinney said: Anyone who is offered a fiscal fine as an alternative to prosecution may refuse such an offer by giving notice to the court to that effect.

"In such an event, the refusal is treated as a request by the alleged offender to be prosecuted for the offence, in which case the procurator fiscal decides what action to take in the public interest.

Reacting to the figures, Scottish Conservative community justice spokesperson Russell Findlay said the number not penalised for refusing to pay fines exposed the sham of Mr Swinneys comments.

He said: These shocking new figures show the reality of the SNPs soft-touch justice system, which routinely betrays crime victims.

"This exposes the sham of John Swinney's claim, made to the Scottish Parliament, that rejection of these fines is likely to result in prosecution.

The message this sends is clear alleged offenders know they can break the law with impunity as they won't pay the price under this SNP Government.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said decisions around further action were for the Crown Office to take.

The spokesperson said: Use of non-court disposals for less serious offending is a long-standing and recognised part of the Scottish justice system, which the Scottish Parliament has legislated to provide powers for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) to use.

"Decisions in individual cases as to whether to offer a non-court disposal and the action taken if such an offer is not taken up is entirely a matter for the independent Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

Figures released by the COPFS for the past three financial years show the vast majority of fiscal fines issued are paid and cases resolved. A total of 18,705 fines were issued in 2019/20, with 180 charges from that pool marked no further action.

A COPFS spokesperson said: Procurators Fiscal deal with every case on its own individual facts and circumstances.

Effective and appropriate prosecutorial action is not limited to court proceedings and an offer of an alternative to prosecution is an effective response to certain types of minor crimes.

The Procurator Fiscal will decide what is the most appropriate action to take, whether criminal proceedings or an offer of an alternative to prosecution.

Where an alternative to prosecution is not accepted, the Procurator Fiscal will decide whether further prosecutorial action is appropriate in the individual case circumstances.

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Beacon Hill Roll Call: July 12 to July 16, 2021 – The Recorder – The Recorder

Posted: at 4:15 am

Beacon Hill Roll Call records the votes of local representatives and senators from the week of July 12 to July 16.

The House, 150 to 0, and the Senate, 40 to 0, approved and Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law a bill that authorizes $200 million in one-time funding for the maintenance and repair of roads and bridges in cities and towns across the state. The $350 million package, a bond bill under which the funding would be borrowed by the state through the sale of bonds, also includes $150 million to pay for bus lanes, improvement of public transit, electric vehicles and other state transportation projects.

Public transportation is a public good, said Senate Transportation Committee Chair Sen. Joe Boncore, D-Winthrop. The $350 million investment is among the largest Chapter 90 bond bills to date and represents the Legislatures commitment to safe roads, reliable bridges and modernized transit infrastructure.

The longstanding state-municipal partnership established under the Chapter 90 program is critical to helping cities and towns meet their transportation infrastructure needs, said GOP House Minority Leader Brad Jones, R-North Reading. Todays agreement continues the House and Senates ongoing commitment to support this important road and bridge program.

A Yes vote is for the bill.

Rep. Natalie Blais Yes

Rep. Paul Mark Yes

Rep. Susannah Whipps Yes

Sen. Joanne Comerford Yes

Sen. Anne Gobi Yes

Sen. Adam Hinds Yes

Gov. Chalie Baker signed into law a $47.6 billion state budget for fiscal year 2022, which began on July 1. The governor and the Legislature were mostly on the same page since the Legislature approved the budget unanimously by a 160 to 0 vote in the House and a 40 to 0 vote in the Senate. Baker did disagree with the Legislature on some spending and he vetoed close to $8 million from the package approved by the Legislature. He also vetoed a section that further delays implementation of a charitable giving tax deduction approved by voters in 2000. The Legislature will soon act on overriding some of the vetoes, which takes a two-thirds vote of each branch.

The budget makes historic investments in our communities, schools, economy and workers as Massachusetts emerges from the pandemic, Gov. Baker said in a message to the Legislature. As we continue in our economic recovery, we are focused on supporting those communities that have been hardest hit by COVID-19, and this budget will complement our $2.9 billion proposal to invest a portion of Massachusetts federal funds in urgent priorities that support communities of color and lower-wage workers.

Baker continued, By working with our legislative partners to carefully manage the commonwealths finances and by reopening our economy, we now expect to make a $1.2 billion deposit in the Stabilization Fund through this budget, bringing the balance to $5.8 billion, an increase of over 400 percent since we took office. We are able to responsibly grow our reserves without raising taxes, while continuing to make historic investments in our schools, job training programs and downtown economies.

The Public Health Committee held a virtual hearing on legislation that would repeal the current law that allows parents to exempt their children on religious grounds from any required school vaccinations unless an emergency or epidemic of disease is declared by the Department of Public Health.

Current state law requires students to be immunized against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, measles, poliomyelitis and other communicable diseases designated from time to time by the Department of Public Health. It allows exemptions in cases where a doctor certifies the childs health would be endangered by a vaccine or in cases where the parent or guardian states in writing that vaccination or immunization conflicts with his or her sincere religious beliefs.

Sponsor Rep. Andy Vargas, D-Haverhill, said that several other states, including Connecticut, New York and Maine, have removed non-medical exemptions for childhood vaccines.

Above all the lessons learned through the pandemic, perhaps the most powerful one is that, whether we like it or not, Americans, Massachusetts residents and human beings have a responsibility for the health and safety of one another, Vargas said. As lawmakers, we have to reason with the facts, listen to trained experts, trust the science and make tough decisions to stop preventable death and illness. We learned this the hard way during the pandemic.

This measure would usurp the right of parents to control the health care of their own children and empower the state to intrude into the exclusive concerns of the family, Catholic Action League Executive Director C.J. Doyle told Beacon Hill Roll Call. It would also coerce the consciences and violate the religious freedom rights of orthodox Catholics and other pro-life citizens, who find the use of fetal tissue or cell lines from aborted children, used in the production or testing of numerous vaccines, to be morally objectionable. In any conflict between a constitutional right and a compelling state interest, the American legal tradition has always held that the government should make a reasonable accommodation for the sincerely held religious beliefs of citizens. Rep. Vargas bill repudiates that tradition and prohibits that accommodation.

The Higher Education Committee held a virtual hearing on a bill that would prohibit public and private colleges from withholding a students entire academic transcript if the student owes the school money for any loan payments, fines, fees, tuition or other expenses. The measure would allow schools to withhold from the transcript only any academic credits and grades for any specific course for which that students tuition and mandatory course fees are not paid in full.

Supporters said currently schools can withhold a students entire transcript even though it might be just one course for which the student has not paid. They said this means that these students cannot use any credits to transfer to more affordable institutions or to obtain employment.

Higher Education institutions are supposed to be vehicles of opportunity, economic mobility and promises of a better future, said sponsor Rep. David LeBoeuf, D-Worcester. Continuing to foster adverse practices that disproportionally penalize low-income students go against these principles and the principles of the commonwealth. It is our responsibility to make sure those who pursue higher education are not saddled with debt or denied advancement opportunities because of limited financial resources. This bill begins to address this issue by eliminating a counterintuitive practice that has no place in Massachusetts.

Another measure heard by the Higher Education Committee bill would allow college student-athletes to earn compensation from the use of their name, image or likeness without affecting that students scholarship eligibility. Other provisions allow a student-athlete to obtain representation from an agent for contracts or legal matters; require agents to have specific credentials, verify their eligibility through a public registration process and keep detailed records; and require colleges to establish a Catastrophic Sports Injury Fund to compensate student-athletes who suffer severe long-term injuries.

Just two weeks ago, after years of delay, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) finally began allowing college athletes to earn compensation from the use of their name, image or likeness, said Senate sponsor Sen. Barry Finegold, D-Andover. I had originally introduced my athlete compensation bill last session, but I believe this bill is all the more important in light of the NCAAs recent policy shift. My proposed bill would codify the NCAAs rule change into Massachusetts law and provide additional clarity both for athletes and higher education institutions as they figure out how to comply with the NCAAs guidelines. We need to act now.

Even though the NCAA has updated (its) policy, this legislation would ensure that Massachusetts student athletes constitutional rights can never be infringed upon again in the commonwealth, said Rep. Steven Howitt, R-Seekonk, House sponsor of a similar bill (H 1340). It is important for the commonwealth to join the 24 other states who have already signed similar bills into law.

The Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee held a virtual hearing on legislation that would require EMS personnel to provide emergency treatment to a police dog and use an ambulance to transport the dog injured in the line of duty to a veterinary clinic or veterinary hospital if there are not people requiring emergency medical treatment or transport at that time.

Co-sponsor Rep. Steven Xiarhos, R-Barnstable, spent 40 years on the Yarmouth Police Department and was the officer who sent a team of highly trained officers on a mission to find and arrest an armed and violent career-criminal in April 2018. He and sponsor Sen. Mark Montigny, D-New Bedford, filed the bill in response to the tragic events on that day when Police Sgt. Sean Gannon was shot and killed and his K-9 partner Nero was severely injured and had to be rushed to the animal hospital in the back of a police cruiser. Nero survived.

Xiarhos said he will never forget the sight of K-9 Nero being carried out, covered in blood and gasping for air.

Despite the paramedics present wanting to help save him, they could not legally touch K-9 Nero as current Massachusetts law prohibits helping a police animal wounded in the line of duty, Xiarhos said. Instead, the police officers placed K-9 Nero in the back of a police cruiser and drove him to the closest veterinary hospital.

These incredible animals risk their lives to work alongside law enforcement in dangerous situations, Montigny said. It is only humane to allow for them to be transported in a way that reflects their contributions to our commonwealth. Sgt. Gannon was a native son of New Bedford and therefore his K-9 partner Nero is part of our communitys extended family. We hope that this never has to be used, but it demonstrates the respect for the crucial work these animals do.

The Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure held a virtual hearing on a measure that would require all applicants for a new or renewal of a license to be a hairdresser, barber, cosmetologist, electrolysis, manicurist or massage therapist to complete, in person or online, one hour of domestic violence and sexual assault awareness education as part of their educational requirements to be licensed in their field.

Domestic violence and sexual assault are life-threatening issues in our communities, which were only exacerbated by COVID-19, said the bills sponsor Rep. Christine Barber, D-Somerville. Nearly one in three women statewide have experienced rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner. As legislators, we have a duty to provide resources and support to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Salon professionals often build trusting personal connections with clients and are uniquely positioned to see the details of their clients bodies, as they work directly with their skin, hair, heads and hands. Their unique role puts them in a position to observe potential signs of domestic violence or sexual assault and has the potential to minimize violence and save lives.

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Beacon Hill Roll Call: July 12 to July 16, 2021 - The Recorder - The Recorder

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Increasing the normal minimum pension age for Pensions Tax – GOV.UK

Posted: at 4:15 am

Who is likely to be affected

Individual members of registered pension schemes who do not have a protected pension age but take scheme benefits before age 57 after 5 April 2028 or those who would like to have taken a benefit but who now will not be able to. However, members of the firefighters, police and armed forces public service schemes will not be affected by this increase.

Scheme administrators of registered pension schemes will need to modify their systems to accommodate for these changes.

This measure increases the normal minimum pension age (NMPA), which is the minimum age at which most pension savers can access their pensions without incurring an unauthorised payments tax charge unless they are retiring due to ill-health, from age 55 to 57 in 2028.

A consultation on the implementation of the increase and a proposed framework of protections for pension savers who already have a right to take their pension at a pre-existing pension age. This was launched on 11 February 2021 via a Written Ministerial Statement (WMS) by the EST. The consultation closed on 22 April 2021 and received 142 responses.

This measure supports the governments agenda around fuller working lives and has indirect benefits to the economy through increased labour market participation, while also helping to make sure pension savings provide for later life.

The NMPA was introduced in 2006 and it increased from age 50 to age 55 in 2010. In 2014, following the consultation on Freedom and Choice in Pensions, the government announced it would increase the NMPA to age 57 in 2028 to coincide with the rise of state pension age to 67.

Following the consultation on a proposed framework of protections this measure will legislate for the increase in NMPA.

The increase in NMPA will have effect on and after 6 April 2028.

Registered pension schemes must not normally pay any benefits to members until they reach NMPA. Tax legislation provides that from 6 April 2010 the NMPA is age 55 (before 6 April 2010 it was age 50). Sections 165(1) and 279(1) Finance Act 2004.

Registered pension schemes are also not permitted to have a normal pension age lower than age 55 and this applies equally to individuals in occupations that usually retire before 55 (for example, professional sports people).

Although the legislation provides the minimum age at which benefits can be taken, the rules of a scheme will state what benefits can be taken and the age at which they can be taken from. The age at which they can be taken from can be higher than NMPA.

If a registered pension scheme does pay benefits to a member before the NMPA unauthorised payment charge liabilities may arise unless the benefits are paid on ill-health grounds, or the member had a right on 5 April 2006 to take benefits before the NMPA. An individual may have a right to take benefits before the NMPA where this is not dependent on anything else or somehow qualified for example requiring employer or trustee consent. Where certain conditions are met these individuals may take their benefits earlier than age 55 without a tax charge. This is known as the individuals protected pension age. Paragraphs 21 to 23 Schedule 36 Finance Act 2004.

If an individual has a protected pension age, the tax rules provide that it replaces the prevailing NMPA for all purposes of the pensions tax legislation except for the lifetime allowance reduction that may apply where the protected pension age is less than 50 and benefits are taken before NMPA. This means, subject to that exception that when taking benefits from the relevant registered pension scheme, the tax rules apply to the member based on their protected pension age rather than the prevailing NMPA.

A consultation on the implementation of the increase to NMPA and a proposed framework of protections for pension savers who already have a right to take their pension at a pre-existing pension age concluded on 22 April 2021 and received over 145 responses.

Following the consultation, legislation will be introduced in Finance Bill 2021-22 regarding the framework of protections and the increase to the NMPA from age 55 to 57.

This measure is not expected to have an Exchequer impact within the scorecard period. Impacts from the implementation date onwards will be subject to scrutiny by the Office for Budget Responsibility and will be set out at a future fiscal event.

This measure is not expected to have any significant macroeconomic impacts.

This measure will impact individuals approaching retirement age who will be affected by the 2-year increase in the NMPA.

Customer experience is expected to remain broadly the same as this measure does not significantly alter how individuals interact with HMRC.

This measure is not expected to have an impact on family formation, stability or breakdown.

This measure will impact men and women equally as the NMPA is the same for both genders. Whether individuals are affected will depend on the circumstances of their scheme.

This measure will impact older individuals more than younger ones. This is because it is raising the pension age and those closer to this age will be immediately impacted more than those who are 10+ years away as they will have ample time to adjust and financially plan.

It is not anticipated that there will be any particular impact on other groups sharing protected characteristics.

This measure is expected to have a negligible impact on businesses administering registered pension schemes.

One-off costs for businesses will include familiarisation with the changes and could also include updating systems to reflect changes to the national minimum pension age. Additional one-off costs could also include training staff of changes, legal and consultation advice and managing a potential communication increase from customers.

There are not expected to be any continuing costs.

Customer experience is expected to stay broadly the same as this measure does not significantly alter how pension schemes interact with HMRC.

This measure is not expected to impact civil society organisations.

Minimal changes will need to be made to the online guidance on GOV.UK. This will be handled as part of the routine end of year updates at nil cost.

Other impacts have been considered and none has been identified.

The measure will be kept under review through communication with affected taxpayer groups.

If you have any questions about this change, contact Steve Darling on Telephone: 03000 512336 or email: pensions.policy@hmrc.gov.uk.

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Increasing the normal minimum pension age for Pensions Tax - GOV.UK

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