Five Things you should know today July 25, 2012

by: Rob "EaBo Clipper" Eno

Wed Jul 25, 2012 at 05:47:28 AM EDT

The Senate yesterday passed a bill requiring the state's home day car providers to join a union.  Because nobody takes advantage of workers like working moms.  This had absolutely nothing to do with a new stream of campaign contributions for Democratic politicians in Massachusetts at all.

There is no word on whether during the next session the legislature will debate requiring Cub Scout Den Mothers to unionize.

2. The House is in formal session

The state's House of Representatives is in one of its final four formal sessions of the year today.  Nobody however really knows what they'll take up as the most controversial bills are not out of conference committee yet.  This includes the bill which would allow the Government to set payment rates for private health care services.

House leadership is doing it's best to impersonate Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberst, insisting that the bottle bill is a tax.  The State House News Service is reporting.

"We view it as a tax in the House and the speaker and the House have been clear with their opposition to increases in taxes," Rep. Joseph Wagner, who was appointed on Tuesday as his branch's lead negotiator on the economic development bill, told the News Service early Tuesday afternoon.

In light of the House's position on the bottle bill, Wagner, who helped write the House proposal and co-chairs the Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, went further to suggest that the bottle-bill expansion probably does not belong in bill intended to spur economic growth.

Wagner, along with Reps. Brian Dempsey and Kevin Kuros, were named as House negotiators on the jobs bill Tuesday morning, while the Senate late Tuesday named Sens. Gale Candaras, Stephen Brewer and Richard Ross to begin talks in the final week of formal sessions.

4. Beware tourists on bicycles

If the thought of oblivious tourists walking on the streets of Boston while you are trying to get from appointment to appointment isn't enough to set you over the edge, the Mayor wants to make you fell better.  He will do so by adding 400 touristy rental bicycles to the streets of Boston.

5. It's eat a Chick-Fil-A day

Today is national eat Chick-Fil-A day.  If you want to make a stand for the free speech rights of business owners.  Head out to the Burlington Mall and purchase a moist chicken sandwich.