Thursday, March 13, 2014
Senate Republican Caucus Seeks to Address Major Loophole within State Employee Travel Expense Regs
Today I distributed the following press release regarding a
bill that the Senate Republican Caucus is filing to close a loophole within the
state employee travel expense regulations:
Senate Republican Caucus Seeks to Address Major Loophole within State
Employee Travel Expense Regs
Every Government Entity Should be Held to the Same, High Standards
Boston- Confronting a situation that has recently been
highlighted by travel and other expenses incurred by commissioners and
employees at the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, Senate Minority Leader Bruce
Tarr (R-Gloucester), Assistant Minority Leader Robert Hedlund (R-Weymouth),
Senate Minority Whip Donald Humanson (R-Westfield), and Senator Richard Ross
(R-Wrentham), the Ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Ways and Means
are filing legislation this week that would further regulate expenditures made
by state employees.
Current law mandates all governing bodies that receive state
appropriations to follow strict travel expense guidelines. However, because the Massachusetts Gaming Commission
does not receive such appropriations, the commission has interpreted that the
regulations do not apply. The bill
authored by the Senate Republican Caucus, which is also available for
co-sponsorship by the members of the legislature, eliminates the wording of
“state appropriations” to make the regulation all-inclusive.
“Our state’s expense rules need to be clear, understandable,
and even-handed,” said Senator Bruce Tarr.
“These commonsense reforms achieve those goals and go a long way toward
preventing abuses and extreme expenses.”
With unclear travel spending regulations, which were
originally codified in 2004, outrageous expenditures may occur if left
unchecked. Recently, the Boston Business
Journal found employees of the
Massachusetts Gaming Commission to be lavishly spending during business trips
nationally and internationally. Their
review of over 700 credit card charges and expense reimbursements from May 2012
to the end of 2013 found employees of the commission spent nearly $85,000 on
airfare, $61,000 on hotel accommodations, and $37,000 on meals.
Compelled to address a number of problems with the current
law, the bill seeks to resolve the ambiguity of the state employee travel
reimbursement regulations by:
• clarifying
the reimbursement rules regarding lodging, entertainment, airfare, and other
travel expenses;
• applying
the state reimbursement rules to every state employee; and
• removing
the current distinction between managers and employees.
“These loopholes, if left unchanged, would at the very least
create a cloud of impropriety, and at the very worst, allow widespread abuse,”
said Senator Bruce Tarr. “With state
government continuing to evolve, this measure aims to instill confidence by
removing speculation to ensure state employees are spending precious dollars
appropriately.”
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Labels:
Massachusetts Gaming Commission