September 2009

In this Issue:

Greater Boston Chamber Policy News

The Chamber’s 2009 legislative agenda is focused on four goals: strengthening Greater Boston’s workforce, making the region’s business climate more competitive, strengthening critical industries, and fixing Greater Boston’s infrastructure. Issues related to all four goals are currently before state government. The Chamber is working with member companies, government leaders, and other business groups to advance those issues, as outlined below.

Charter Schools: Chamber testifies in support of raising the cap on Charter Schools  

On Thursday the Chamber testified at a hearing of the Joint Committee on Education in support of lifting the cap on Charter Schools.  The Chamber strongly believes that education is the key to competitiveness and job creation.  Charter Schools are critical to expanding the talent pipeline that will help sustain Greater Boston’s economy.  

At the hearing, the Chamber urged the committee to recommend legislation that will ultimately lift the cap on charter schools and expand opportunities for students throughout the Commonwealth.  The Chamber supports Governor Patrick’s proposal to increase the cap to 18% in the lowest performing districts.  Increasing the cap would provide the most impact for parents and students looking for additional high quality choices.

Additionally, the Chamber supports educational models that challenge the status quo in order to improve the education system across the Commonwealth.  Innovation and creativity are critical to success, as are greater flexibility in class schedules, curriculum, budget and other academic decisions.  Because the state should encourage methods that turnaround underperforming schools quickly, the Chamber supports the Governor’s proposal do to so in H4164, An Act Establishing Readiness Schools.  H4164 also establishes mechanisms to create new innovative schools throughout the Commonwealth, an effort the Chamber supports.

The Chamber also urged the Legislature to act soon on these charter school proposals, to ensure that Massachusetts can claim federal “Race to the Top” funds.

As this debate develops, the Chamber will continue to work for raising the charter school cap and increased educational innovation.
 

Data Privacy: Regulation date extended and amendments released

The Chamber continues working to streamline and improve the state’s new data privacy regulation [201 CMR 17.00] – a sweeping set of provisions which will impact the customer security practices of every company doing business in Massachusetts.  Undersecretary Barbara Anthony and her OCABR staff have actively engaged the business community in order to evaluate and address concerns relating to this important regulation.  On Aug 17, the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation (OCABR) filed amendments to the regulation.  In addition to delaying the regulation’s effective date from January 1, 2010 to March 1, 2010, the revised regulation addressed a number of issues for which the Chamber had been advocating, including:

·         Applying a technology neutral and technical feasibility standard to all security requirements, enabling companies to utilize a variety of next-generation technologies and methods to meet their data protection requirements.

·      Enabling companies to employ a risk-based and scalable approach to data security (consistent with the enabling legislation and applicable federal law), thereby avoiding a much more costly and cumbersome one-size-fits-all approach to compliance faced by many small- and medium-sized companies.

·      Clarifying the definition of “personal information” to exclude non-financial account numbers such as those used by utilities and other such service providers.

·         Requiring back-up tape encryption on a prospective basis only, and allowing companies to apply discretion and feasibility standards when transporting older tapes.

·         Enabling companies to apply a reasonability standard to the amount of personal information they collect from customers, and the length of time they retain such information.

·         Revising a mandatory paper and electronic inventory requirement, instead calling for companies to perform a risk assessment and identify which records contain personal information so that they can handle and protect that information.

The Chamber will continue to work with state leaders and member companies on this regulation in the weeks and months ahead.  
 

For more information on the Chamber’s policy agenda, contact Jim Klocke, executive vice president, Tim Sweeney, director of public policy, or Sarah Lanning, assistant director of economic development.

Inside the Chamber

On September 9, Senator Ben Downing, chair of the Joint Committee on Revenue, addressed the Chamber's Government Affairs Committee. He discussed a number of important bills relating to state tax policy, including combined reporting, that the Revenue Committee oversees.

Upcoming Chamber Policy and Government Affairs Events

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