TARR IN THE NEWS 7.7.25

 

TARR IN THE NEWS | 7.7.25

'Lawmakers deny Tarr bid to shine light on more public payroll records'

By Sam Drysdale of State House News Service | Gloucester Daily Times 

Excerpt below: 

"BOSTON — Massachusetts House negotiators have again discarded a Senate-backed proposal to require quasi-public agencies to make their payroll data publicly available.

Senate Republican Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R- Gloucester, has pushed for the reform for years, aimed at increasing transparency at several dozen agencies that receive taxpayer funding but operate largely out of public view.

The Senate adopted Tarr's amendment to its fiscal year 2026 budget to require quasi-public entities to post their employees' payroll data on the comptroller's website. For the second year in a row, however, the Senate-backed proposal died quietly in conference committee negotiations with the House.

"This is a tremendous missed opportunity. We should be looking for every opportunity to add transparency to this budget," Tarr told the News Service.

About a dozen of quasi-state agencies voluntarily reported 2024 payrolls to the state comptroller's website.

Tarr has a bill (S 220) on the topic as well and it received a hearing before the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight at the end of June."

To read the full article, visit: https://www.gloucestertimes.com/.../article_d44e46d4-3de6...