[EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is based on the Legislature's original budget as submitted to the Governor. As of our deadline, final negotiations were still underway.]
By Senate President Therese MurrayIn a continued effort to improve public health and ensure the health of our children, the fiscal year 2008 budget provides $9.9 million to provide children and adolescents with the Rotavirus and Meningococcal Conjugate vaccines. The Centers for Disease Control recommend these vaccines as necessary childhood vaccinations because the diseases can have serious and sometimes fatal consequences.
The funding included in the FY08 budget will allow Massachusetts to provide the Rotavirus vaccine to more than 70,000 infants, and the Meningococcal Conjugate vaccine will be ready for 100,000 adolescents.
Adding these vaccines will give Massachusetts the designation of Universal Select in recognition of the state's commitment to providing a wide range of childhood immunizations.
Continuing our effort to better serve the health and well being of our most vulnerable citizens, the FY 2008 budget also includes:
Specifically for Cape Cod health care projects, the fiscal year 2008 budget provides:
(Senator Murray, D-Plymouth/Upper Cape, is the first female President of the Senate in Massachusetts history.)
As we continue to discuss family values in this country, the means by which government can play a role in providing stability comes into question. But too often there remain gaps in the system. Recently I have been introduced to one such gaping hole; the lack of mental health services for children in child care.
The Child Care Network of Cape Cod & the Island links parents to reliable child care. With over 396 early education and care programs on the Cape servicing families, the Child Care Network works with both providers and families to provide high quality child care at an affordable price. These programs help provide support to families that need child care.
In June 2006, the Department of Early Education and Care offered a competitive Behavioral Issues grant for training and consultation services to all programs and providers in Massachusetts. A $1 million dollar grant was made available to be distributed among six providers with low-income populations. The goal was to enhance the ability to address the social and emotional needs of children exhibiting significant behavioral difficulties and to reduce the need for expulsion from early care and education programs.
The funding was to be used either for on-site coaching, mentoring and training by a qualified behavior specialist or for instructional material for early education staff. These efforts would promote continued education opportunities for early education and care providers' staff to improve quality of care. Grants would be conditionally renewed in the years to come.
Although Cape and Islands Child Care Network collaborated with PACE/Child Care Works to submit a proposal for the competitive Behavioral Issues grant for mental health services, it was not funded. In fact, none of the awarded grantees serve the Cape. This exclusion meant some Cape and Island child care services had to reduce or eliminate parts of their care, such as a social worker or behaviorist. Additionally, due to revenue constraints this year, the Department of Early Education and Care has chosen not to renew grants for Fiscal Year 2008.
In the next budget cycle, I will be seeking legislative approval of an earmark (which ensures that the funds are spent on the project) to restore the Behavioral Issues Grant.
Additionally, I will seek language that guarantees adequate geographical coverage. For government to fulfill its role in addressing family values, it must be ready to close the holes in the system and must be committed to keeping them closed. For far too many working families, those gaps have grown wider.
(Representative Turner, D-Dennis, is a member of the Legislature's Joint Public Health Committee.)
Given the number of recalls over the past months of products from pet food to tooth paste made outside of the United States, there are mounting questions about the safety of food imported from China and other countries.
Americans are increasingly concerned about the safety of the food they eat. I believe consumers have a basic right to know where their food is coming from. The ability to make informed choices is necessary for consumer safety and our overall public health.
That is why I am filing legislation to require that in Massachusetts meat, fresh produce and fish are labeled with their country of origin.
Studies have found that the typical food item in a United States supermarket today has traveled between 1,500 to 3,500 miles from farm to store, with sales of imported foods doubling over the past decade. Labels currently tell shoppers where their seafood came from, but there is no such information regarding meat, produce or nuts.
Europe and the majority of other industrialized nations already require country of origin labeling. An increasing number of states also have passed legislation requiring products to carry these labels.
Requiring country of origin labeling will help to reduce risk and preserve consumer confidence in the foods that they are eating. Critics argue that the complexity of mandatory labeling will result in significant costs to the consumer. However, studies show that this would amount to less than one-tenth of a cent per pound of food.
The necessity for state legislation is a result of a lack of enforcement and implementation of labeling standards by the federal government.
As a result of aggressive lobbying by meat and grocery interests, Congress has been pressured to hold off the enforcement of a five-year-old law requiring country-of-origin labeling on meat and produce as well as fish. The labeling law was enacted as part of the 2002 Farm Bill requiring country-of-origin labeling on beef, pork, lamb, seafood, peanuts and fresh fruits and vegetables,. However, for all products but seafood the implementation deadline has been postponed by Congress twice and now is scheduled for September 30, 2008.
Hopefully this issue will be resolved over the coming months as the U.S. Congress re-visits the Farm Bill. In the meantime I am urging state action to ensure that the citizens of Massachusetts know where their food is coming from.
(Senator O'Leary, D-Cummaquid, represents the Mid and Lower Cape and Islands and is a member of the Legislature's Joint Public Health Committee.)