Vaccine Requirements:

Criteria for Immunity for College Students:

Definitions:

Certificate of immunization has been revised to allow NPs and Pas to sign and date the form or letter.  Also requires month and year of administration as well as the type/name of vaccine administered in both electronic and hard copy documentation.

Additional information can be found at www.mass.gov/dph/imm

Proposal to cap executive compensation at non-profits

On Tuesday, March 2^nd the agenda for a Judiciary Committee's public hearing included a bill (S.1745) filed by Senator Montigny that would place an arbitrary cap of $500,000 on the annual compensation that certain non-profit organizations could pay to its "senior" management team. 

Senate President's economic development legislation – MA HEFA and MA Development Issue

On February 8^th Senate President Murray filed a comprehensive economic development package (S.2270), seeking to streamline the economic development process and improve access to capital for small businesses.  The bill includes a provision that would eliminate Mass Development's ability to issue tax-exempt bonds on behalf of colleges, universities and other non-profit organizations, making MA HEFA the only state agency with the authority to provide tax-exempt bonding services to AICUM members.  After consulting with CFO's from many AICUM member institutions, AICUM testified in opposition to this proposal at a public hearing held on February 23^rd at the State House, arguing that the competition that currently exists between MA Development and MA HEFA for the tax-exempt bond work is a critical factor in keeping costs and fees low. 

Meetings are on going

Allowing state colleges to be renamed as universities

On March 4^th the Joint Committee on Higher Education gave its approval to redrafted legislation (H.449) that would allow Massachusetts public state colleges to be renamed as universities simply by virtue of a vote of their Boards of Trustees.  AICUM previously submitted written testimony to the Committee requesting that any changes to the current rules and procedures for evaluating a request by a college to be designated as a "university" be extended to independent colleges as well.  We will continue to advocate for such equal treatment as the bill continues to move through the legislative process, with the next stop likely to be the House Committee on Ways & Means.  Commissioner Freeland has also suggested that the "equal treatment" can be handled through regulations.  We will continue to follow this bill closely. 

State Budget

The House Committee on Ways & Means continues to analyze Governor Patrick's budget recommendations and the Committee will be finalizing its own recommendations by the end of this month.  AICUM has already met with the Ways & Means budget analyst to ask that they go beyond what the Governor has appropriated for need-based financial aid.  We will be meeting with House Ways & Means Chairman Murphy and submitting written budget requests shortly.