Treasurer Candidate Goldberg Calls For New Fiscal Reform Policies

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Nicholas Handy, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

Democratic nominee for State Treasurer Deb Goldberg has called for the creation of a non-partisan legislative fiscal agency and fiscal reform policies to better predict spending and enhance transparency in state government.

This agency would help to predict the costs of new legislation and provide multi-year budget forecasts, key components in a series of policies designed to enhance accountability, transparency, and public trust in state government with responsible fiscal planning.

“Creating widespread economic opportunity for Massachusetts families will require sound fiscal management,” said Goldberg. “That means understanding in tangible, concrete terms the challenges we face today, the solutions we’ll need tomorrow, and the costs we’ll incur in the years ahead.”

Goldberg’s plan, “Open, Accessible Government that Works for People,” is the first of several policies that Goldberg plans to release in the coming weeks.

Reforming Government

In addition to creating a fiscal agency, Goldberg is also calling for a series of reforms that would promote good government practices.

The reforms include: establishing a non-partisan legislative fiscal agency, developing multi-year budget forecasts, requiring “clawback” provisions, and bringing the state government up to speed on technology to make state budget proposals more user-friendly.

“Taxpayers expect elected officials to spend every dime of their money wisely, and they deserve nothing less,” reads the introduction to Goldberg’s plan. “Deb believes that disciplined, commonsense reforms of our budget and legislative processes will better inform policymakers and restore trust in the people they represent. The building block of a Commonwealth with greater economic opportunity is to invest in people. But doing so requires understanding in tangible, concrete terms the challenges we face today, the solutions we will need tomorrow, and the costs we will incur in the years ahead.”

Gubernatorial Candidates Respond

After Goldberg announced her reforms and desire to create a new agency, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley was quick to throw her support behind the initiatives, pledging to help implement them if she is elected, while also calling out her Republican opposition Charlie Baker.

"Transparency and accountability are key for state government to work efficiently for our residents in a 21st century economy," said Coakley. "The Big Dig financing plan that Charlie Baker wrote showed state government at its worse, and I hope that Charlie will join Deb and I in pledging to implement these new reforms to avoid missteps like that in the future that leave Massachusetts paying a tab decades later.”

Baker’s campaign is quick to point out that Baker has been advocating for greater transparency, accountability and better budgeting, since day one, something that Coakley is just now getting behind.

"We’d like to congratulate the Attorney General, who has been on Beacon Hill for the past eight years, for her new-found interest in what Charlie has been advocating for since day one, but the fact is, he is the only candidate in the race with experience lowering taxes, reducing wasteful spending and reforming state government,” said Tim Buckley, Campaign Manager for Martha Coakley.