Impact of cut to Quinn Bill could have been eased
NEW BEDFORD Mayor Scott Lang is correct when he states that the Legislature should have phased out Quinn Bill funding “rather than all of a sudden coming in with a dramatic cut.’’ Your article “Quinn Bill funds gutted in budget’’ (Metro, July 1) neglected to mention that I, along with my Republican colleagues in the Senate, offered a budget amendment in May that would have phased out the program.
The approach we took called for eliminating the program for all future police officers, while funding the program at 90 percent and then ratcheting down funding as it is phased out. The path the Legislature instead took is unfair to the police officers who made the financial and personal sacrifices to further their education, as allowed under law, and is unfair to cities and towns who bargained with police unions in good faith and have now had the rug pulled out from underneath by the state. Town officials, police officers, and citizens should know that there was another approach put forward during debate on this issue.
Senator Robert Hedlund, Minority whip Republican of Weymouth, Boston 