June 17, 2009
(BOSTON) — Just one week after passing landmark pension reform, the Legislature tonight continued its aggressive reform agenda by filing final legislation that completely overhauls the state’s transportation system. The consensus bill dissolves the Turnpike Authority and consolidates multiple agencies into a unified, independent agency, eliminating waste and producing billions of dollars in short- and long-term savings. The new agency would begin operating November 1, 2009. The Senate and House are expected to approve the legislation tomorrow in formal sessions and send it to the Governor for his signature.

In a key development, the final bill requires all active and retired MBTA workers to join the state’s Group Insurance Commission (GIC) by January 1, 2010 — the earliest date the GIC could accommodate given the challenge of moving up to 10,000 employees and retirees. An earlier proposal for an actuarial study was dropped during conference negotiations due to new information from a Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation report that verifies significant savings under GIC.

“Since November, when all we were hearing about was a gas tax, the Senate has insisted that we cannot simply throw new revenue into a broken transportation system … we need to reform the system first,” Senate President Therese Murray said. “Now, along with the House, we have delivered on the promise of Reform before Revenue. This is a landmark occasion for the Commonwealth, which has never seen such a dramatic restructuring of its transportation system. We will all benefit from this major reform for decades to come.”

“This bill eliminates the antiquated and inefficient transportation structure in Massachusetts,” House Speaker Robert DeLeo said.  “It also brings considerable cost-savings. In a very short time, we have delivered on our promise to reform our transportation and pension systems, and I look forward to further action on ethics reform and the budget soon.”

“This consensus bill contains all the best provisions from the three original proposals by the Senate, House and Governor,” said Senator Steven Baddour, Senate chairman of the Joint Committee on Transportation. “By focusing on transparency, efficiency and reform, we have produced a bill that establishes the fair and cost-effective transfer of workers and puts the citizens of the Commonwealth first with long-term savings. We also create immediate savings in employee health care benefits and ensure the payment of existing bond covenants. This is a comprehensive bill that meets the necessary requirements of all interested parties, the result of which will bring dramatic and meaningful changes to our transportation system.”