Rep. Tackey Chan - July 14, 2026

[00:00:00] Speaker A: State Representative Tacky Chan of Quincy is joining us for another Tuesday edition of Tacky Talk. Hey, Tacky, how are you? [00:00:06] Speaker B: Hey, Joe, good talking to you on a Tuesday. Again, scheduling has been a little bit tricky this week again as we close in the close of session, which is about 15 days or so away as we come to the end. So the audience may be prepared for maybe skipping a week or we the day won't be a day that we normally talk to each other. [00:00:29] Speaker A: That's right. So summertime, everything is off just a bit. Anyway, I'm having a hard time getting hold of people because I think a lot of folks are away. [00:00:37] Speaker B: Well, at least I return your phone call. [00:00:39] Speaker A: Always, always. And I appreciate that. So, yeah, last time we talked actually we were just on the verge of passing the economic development bond bill which passed. Right? [00:00:52] Speaker B: It did in the House and it's gone to the Senate. We expect the Senate probably debated next week. We are closing in the very end, of course, as a conference committee to remind folks that under the House and Senate rules this cycle, bills that move the conference committee can be reported out after July 31, but not other bills. So there's a lot of question marks over procedurally how this works because this is the first time we're doing this. Obviously you schedule a schedule a session and generally it's 24 hours notice. So for you all to know that, well, it's not necessarily have to be done this way, that if you file a conference report the day before you have 24 hours from the time filed to vote on said conference committee bill. So let's say it's filed at 7pm you have 7pm After 7pm the next day to vote on it. Doesn't mean you have to do it that way. I don't believe so. But the practice in this place that when the conference committee bill is filed, you have they will want to do it after the 24 hour mark on the next day. It is up, down vote. There is no amendments. So you know, you do not get to amend the bill. It is a straight in, straight out, up and down. We have some theoretical questions regarding what else could potentially happen on a comps reporting session. This technically is a formal session, but we'll cross that bridge if we actually see the bridge. [00:02:12] Speaker A: Right. [00:02:13] Speaker B: Speak as we go into the fall. But right now my office, I have been discussing strategically what's going to look like for the remainder of the year and we are anticipating maybe at least four, potentially four right now conference committees going past July 31st. [00:02:27] Speaker A: Wow. Okay. All Right. So how would this bill help economic development if it were to pass? [00:02:34] Speaker B: Yeah, it's about just under half billion dollars, give or take bond of which about 150 million of that is reauthorizations, meaning the past authorizations expired. So we don't give the governor the ability to just borrow at will. We set up an authorization time period which will expire after the time period, but she would no longer use the money. So certain things like technology bonds in the past have expired and all we did was do reauthorizations. It's a new bond, but not a new bond. So it's gotcha. [00:03:04] Speaker A: Okay. [00:03:04] Speaker B: And then we have various outside sections regarding, you know, clarifying some issues on, you know, LLCs and corpse and you know, some fee adjustments. Oops, got. I knocked the computer and I just reach over here because it's easier when you have pieces of paper in front of you. You know, we talk about some stuff such as a video game tax credit. That is not a new thing. Similar to film tax credit and the fuel tax credit. [00:03:31] Speaker A: Which one? [00:03:31] Speaker B: Techie. [00:03:31] Speaker A: I'm sorry? [00:03:32] Speaker B: Video game tax credit. Oh yes, very similar to the same idea. We create some discount utility rates for large employers that come into Massachusetts to assist them. You know, you guys don't know film tax credit is very dear to my heart. We've created a situation where it's right now one year reporting deadline. We create a two year reporting deadline. Unlike other tax credits, it is a post approval credit, meaning that you have to show all the work is done before you can receive the credit. Other tax credits is pre you apply for it before analysis begins. So it's a very unusual tax credit in the sense it's post. We did something that's important to us in the committee. CPA licensing, certified public accountants are having some workforce problems. So we did some minor changes to education. You still have to have some education in accounting. We did not get rid of that. But we reflect the fact that, you know, when this was first initiated, you know, getting a bachelor's degree was more rare than commonplace. So, you know, we also allowed substitute experience. If you're actually working in accounting with similar type fields, you can sit for an exam and substitution for some of the education requirements. [00:04:39] Speaker A: So okay, but they still have to take the exam. [00:04:40] Speaker B: So still have to take exam Home inspectors. We also workforce problem. We let license engineers to reduce their inspection service hours by 50 hours for the purposes of license qualification. So basically we still require qualifications of hours practice, but reduce the number because you're a licensed engineer. As we talked about mobile times, there's many sectors right now we're having workforce problem. And also as you guys know, I'm a technical update kind of guy. So these are two of the bills that we've been working committee regarding that stuff. And some stuff that isn't mean in the workforce is like nursing. You know, the. We don't do redundant testing for nurses that are already English proficient. So. Yep. You know, if you already speak English, why are we doing an English test? I mean this should have been done a long time ago. Yeah. [00:05:26] Speaker A: Waste of time and money, right? [00:05:27] Speaker B: Yeah, that's right. And then one of the other things that we talked about last time, which I'm looking for the sheet for right now is regarding. We discussed this last time out and we actually got an answer for you this time is regarding those small mechanical, smaller mechanical transport, AKA electric bikes. [00:05:47] Speaker A: Oh yes, yes, yes, yes. Oh good. Okay, great. [00:05:50] Speaker B: So that was actually incorporated as well where you now create a. Well, the proposal we have is create three categories of vehicles based on speed and where they're allowed to use said vehicle speed. So non motorized, non motorized can use sidewalks motorized, have to use the bike lanes. And of course if you reaches your speed limit, you're a road worthy vehicle. So we create some greater clarification that we are requiring helmets for micro powered and human powered devices, basically bikes and small electric bicycles. And we're requiring an age minimum of H16 for mechanized transportation similar to driver's licenses. You know, in the same idea. I've got paper all over the place [00:06:44] Speaker A: right now and this is the House version, just to be clear. [00:06:47] Speaker B: Yeah, the Senate has really tough, has done this yet. This, this is actually different from the governors in many ways because they're much more comprehensive. For example, we get into like you know, 0 to 20 miles. We talk about human powered vehicles and other mobility devices. So you like a mechanized wheelchair that's considered a 0 to 20 miles, 21 to 30 miles. We talk about E bikes that are much faster and other similar mopeds and, and those type of vehicles. 31 to 40 miles is kind of limited use. Motorcycles is basically next tier speed. And of course 41 and above is motorcycles and fully powered vehicles. [00:07:27] Speaker A: Yeah, that's, that's a regular motor vehicle at that point. Yeah, yeah. [00:07:31] Speaker B: And accessibility to different walkways. I know one of the biggest concern is sidewalks. So one enforcement component, you know, with human powered and mobile aid devices, we use sidewalks. So we're talking about bicycles and people in like wheelchairs and assisted mobility. But if you're like any kind of powered electric bike. You have to use the bike lanes or shared pathways and it can also be on the street. And then once you get past 21 miles an hour on a vehicle on a device, you have to be on the street. But the only one continue to be allowed to be using highways is motorcycles. [00:08:04] Speaker A: Motorcycles. Okay. [00:08:05] Speaker B: The only one allowed on highway. So it moves folks onto the street that are particularly 21 miles and above faster. [00:08:14] Speaker A: Right. [00:08:15] Speaker B: And given the fact that our bike lanes or whatnot, depending on the situation, you know, some of these 21 above can't fit on a bike lane. And you know, the enforcements can be a little bit confusing. So we do have a task force set up to try to help set up regulatory guidelines based on the statute or based on the proposed legislation. The Senate hasn't done anything yet. So it's not law yet, but it's all right. It's an idea that's out there. Obviously I said we need to consider this obviously be changes. So don't bank on this as being your final version if the Senate wants to go along. [00:08:46] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. And there are any kind of like registration requirements for these vehicles at all? [00:08:51] Speaker B: Yeah, the RV RMV registration for the faster, for the faster mobility components. Okay. You know, if you're, you know, we don't, we aren't. We're not registering a bicycle. [00:09:00] Speaker A: Oh, obviously. Right. Yeah. [00:09:01] Speaker B: Once you get to tier one, which is the 21 and above, the R and B has some say in that. [00:09:06] Speaker A: Okay. And insurance requirements too. [00:09:09] Speaker B: We're going to lead up to task force to work on being. Figuring that part out. I do understand what you're saying on that. So, you know, there's some, still some of the answer questions here, as you said, about insurance and enforcement and you know, better how to provide guidance for law enforcement, how to deal with this stuff at the local level. But. [00:09:28] Speaker A: Right. [00:09:28] Speaker B: This is kind of work in progress. Again, it may not happen. It depends on it. And again, the Senate may have totally different ideas. [00:09:35] Speaker A: Sure. [00:09:35] Speaker B: So we'll wait and see how this plays out. It may not. May or may not appear. I can't speak at all. And who's at least giving it a shot to try to create some guidance or at least some understanding of different tiers of motorized vehicles. [00:09:47] Speaker A: Yeah. This is, I mean, this is how, this is how laws are created. Right. It's. This is the process and it's a. [00:09:54] Speaker B: Sometimes you bring up a question the week before and I haven't answered a week after. [00:09:58] Speaker A: We love that. Thank you for that. Tag. We appreciate the research on that. [00:10:02] Speaker B: It does happen sometimes. Just happens to coincidentally work out. Your question had an answer. [00:10:08] Speaker A: Well, it's just because it's been unfortunately in the news with a lot of accidents with these vehicles. [00:10:14] Speaker B: Well, especially electric vehicle. Electric bike. Remembered it when it went to the rotary. [00:10:18] Speaker A: Yes, It's. [00:10:20] Speaker B: It's almost tunnel vision mentality. I mean, okay, look, we're Massachusetts drivers. I know our reputation, but I mean, there's a very degree of tunnel. Tunnel mentality regarding riding vehicles where road awareness is something you have to have around you. And I think all of us experience motorcycles zipping between you and lanes and. Oh, yeah, you know, coming out of nowhere to hit see in your mirror or not even see your mirror. They're just right by you and you get freaked out because it's like zoom by you. And particularly if traffic isn't moving quickly and they decide to try to ride between cars. [00:10:53] Speaker A: Right. Very dangerous. [00:10:55] Speaker B: Yeah, very dangerous. Same thing with scooters. You know that over 30 miles an hour. So, you know, it's, you know, you got to share the road. You have to be respectful to folks around the road. No one dominates road, but you got to be mindful of the fact that, you know, if you're a bicycle that's in the middle of a lane, that's slowing traffic down, even city traffic, because you're moving at 10 miles an hour, you know. You know, you got to figure out how to make this work, folks. I mean, it's, you know, I get it. It's. It's. Look, I mean, it's safer if everybody's aware of how to share world. [00:11:28] Speaker A: That's right. Yep. It's. But, you know, there are exceptions, obviously, unfortunately. [00:11:33] Speaker B: And you got, you know, got. You got parked cars everywhere too. I mean, one of the inches of most likely e bikes and bicycles is a car to opening. [00:11:42] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm curious. I wonder if it's a problem in like Amsterdam, where it's a big bike [00:11:47] Speaker B: culture there, but it's less cars. [00:11:49] Speaker A: Well, that's true. Yeah. [00:11:50] Speaker B: Europe, because the nature of a tightness of roads, they're not car cultures. And most people live in big cities. They don't have suburban communities like we do, where you have suburban communities that drive into major urban areas to work. Everyone said major urban area. [00:12:07] Speaker A: Right. Or they use public transportation. [00:12:09] Speaker B: Yeah, that is inside the major urban area. [00:12:11] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:12:11] Speaker B: So I mean, if you go to other big cities too, like in Asia, which are newer cities, relatively speaking, to Boston, you know, they. They do have suburban communities, but they have public Transit that takes them to the urban centers. Because that's. [00:12:26] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a different culture. [00:12:27] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a different culture. It takes them to urban centers and they pay more for public transportation per capita than we do, I mean. [00:12:33] Speaker A: Oh, yes, lots more. But it's excellent. [00:12:36] Speaker B: It's excellent because they pay a lot more money and there's almost. There is no government subsidies, right? [00:12:40] Speaker A: Yep. They pay for it fully. [00:12:41] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. They're privatized, so. I'm aware there's been moved attempt to privatize the MBTA in the past. I remember Bill Weld when it became a law. [00:12:49] Speaker A: Oh, I remember that. Yes. [00:12:51] Speaker B: Attempt to do that. Try to buy the tea for like $5.4 billion at a time. That didn't sell, of course. [00:12:56] Speaker A: No. [00:12:57] Speaker B: But I think most public doesn't realize that some of the systems that you experience in other countries in particular especially go to Asian countries. Those are privatized systems. They're not publicly run. However, they treat it like a utility in the sense that there is a board, like a utility company goes to a dpu. They have a similar situation some of these countries, like Japan has when I visited, when I did trip there in 2017, where the, the rates, the fares are regulated by the government and they treated. I wouldn't say it's the same as what we do in this country, but you know, the private company has to make a case for it. [00:13:33] Speaker A: Sure. [00:13:34] Speaker B: And they do that and the government is a shareholder. [00:13:37] Speaker A: Oh, okay. All right. [00:13:39] Speaker B: Yeah. Hong Kong financed the entire thing by having the government be the majority shareholder of a private company. So again, these were then at the onset of the creation of these public transportations in other countries, particularly Asian countries. You know, obviously our, our system was public transit. And the T is the oldest public transit in the country. That's right, yeah. Second Otis on the planet after London. And to privatize that, this deep end is pretty much a nightmare. [00:14:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:14:09] Speaker B: So. [00:14:09] Speaker A: Well, it's, you know, it's a big country here. We're really spread out. [00:14:14] Speaker B: Yeah, it is. And every system is non uniform. Every community or state, depending on how it is run, you know, has different public transportation operations, different ages and what is the price point and whether there's government subsidies involved. [00:14:31] Speaker A: Right. [00:14:32] Speaker B: If you took away government money from the mbta, you'll probably pay fares, you know, probably five to seven times more than what you're paying now. But you go to other countries and you know, you go to like Japan in particular, which is fascinating. Public transit when they visited on the work trip. Yeah. They pay a lot of money relative to their earnings to utilize public transit even though it's government regulated fares. But it is privatized entity and they have shareholders. So meanwhile I go to last trip to Hong Kong which I'm overdue because I've been. This is 2019. You know, the inner city components, the denser sections that have been there since the beginning is showing a lot of sign of aging. It is an island. [00:15:16] Speaker A: We know about that here. [00:15:17] Speaker B: Oh, it's starting to look more like downtown crossing than our last trip down because. [00:15:21] Speaker A: Is that right? [00:15:22] Speaker B: It's just they're underwater. It's like a very high water table. Tunnels. [00:15:27] Speaker A: It's an island. [00:15:28] Speaker B: It's an island. So I've noticed that if you move, you know, to the edges toward the airport, which is brand new stations, gorgeous. But as noticed last trip I was moving to the center of the city and I've used these ones before in the center of the city in my teens. They really are aging out. [00:15:46] Speaker A: Like Park Street. [00:15:46] Speaker B: Yeah, Park Street. It's starting to look more like Park Street. It really is. Still runs on time. Trains are great. But the nature of aging and being a high water table has taken its whole. I don't seem to collapse or anything but the idea that you can have a sparkling thing indefinitely, particularly on a high water table underground is not realistic. [00:16:09] Speaker A: Exactly. Yeah. So the governor signed the budget and she didn't veto anything. [00:16:15] Speaker B: Yeah. This is very surprising. I know it's an election cycle. Let's not, you know, beat around the bush on that. And obviously people's earmarks and other policy issues that are in the budget, you know, special interest to them, perhaps made sales while at home or not at home. It's hard to describe. Everyone's district is very different. And the governor is looking for re election this year too. And we did trim the budget. This here and there on her own priorities. And generally governors, if we trim their sections, you know, generally will respond in some way about our trimming sessions that she finds important. So we're actually very surprised. There's no my end vetoes amendments nor straight vetoes of anything in the budget. And she signed to the law. And as I said before, you know, we approved a one month budget for July which is now irrelevant because she signed the law. So you know, everything's going to get reconciled during the October reconciliation process with the conform. So yeah, I'm surprised as everybody else. [00:17:14] Speaker A: Yeah. So everything that was put in stands, including the city of Quincy allotments. Right. For. For local age. Yeah. [00:17:22] Speaker B: Local Aid, which I can't remember the numbers right now, but I think it's an area of $54 million because I think it's like 48, 47, something like that for chapter 70. Another like just under 20 million, like 19 and a half bit for unrestricted, which is they can do anything you want. So like over 50 million bucks, something like that. I can't do math in my head on the fly here. Sorry, guys. Probably it's like I try and do this from memory. Okay. I can't remember exactly, but it's, it amounts to something in the area like under 30% of the city budget. [00:17:54] Speaker A: Yeah, well, yeah, city budget's what, closing in on 500 million now. So. [00:17:59] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. So, you know, under 30% of the city budget is just located alone. Doesn't include things like the counseling aging, doesn't include the library. Does include veteran services, does include abatement reimbursement. So those are your folks that are getting abatement assistance because of a senior disability or veteran. You know, the state actually picks up a piece of that as well. We do pay pilot the Blue Hills in particular, where payment in lieu of taxes, I mean it's not like real property taxes, but it's something and you know, other types of costs like you don't see like MWA rate relief, we provide some assistance on your water, a sewer bill, but you never see it because it's not like cash in your hand. It's just that bill's actually going to be lower than it should be for those invisible assistance that we provide. So, you know, there's obviously a lot more money than just a local aid that, you know, when you start adding it together, you know, puts a, you know, a few more million dollars into the city budget. [00:18:57] Speaker A: Right, exactly. Yeah. So budget's done. So what happens over the next two weeks? [00:19:03] Speaker B: Well, right now we're waiting it out. So obviously the one that's chattering around the building is health care. We did a comprehensive health care bill last year in both the House and Senate, but could not survive conference committee. They had a far ranging issue from prescription drugs to community hospitals. It was monstrous, but it was monstrous over three different bills. So our expectations here was that there would be a monster bill, but one big monster bill as opposed to three different bills, you know, address the issue in one sweep. And we, we're waiting for that still. The Senate says something in primary care which I don't quite understand because community hospitals are right now the priority on survivability. I understand like Norwood for example, is trying to get the state to own the land. [00:19:45] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:19:45] Speaker B: Help with the cost of maintaining that hospital, which is very difficult to do a standalone. It's very expensive. And not just administration, but care. [00:19:55] Speaker A: That's why Quincy couldn't continue. Yeah, yeah. [00:19:58] Speaker B: And employee costs are a thing because you have a shortage. [00:20:01] Speaker A: Right. [00:20:01] Speaker B: So, you know, this is a bit of a, you know, this is a challenge for smaller hospitals with less revenue sources. So I don't have, I don't have, I don't have an answer for you. But we also think that community health centers are kind of, you know, in the bind because the big beautiful thing actually goes directly after your community health center. So if you're a man that can be healthcare person and you know, well, blink Republicans in Congress because they're getting ready for shock coming October 1st. And even this economic development bill, we try to provide some gap funding for community hospitals, healthcare centers and certain educational facilities. Try to do some gap, but we can't gap forever. [00:20:39] Speaker A: Right. [00:20:39] Speaker B: You know, there's, you know, we're trying to make attempts to see if we can, you know, soften the blow, you know, through this. But we may see, you know, don't be surprised if you see like a quick supplemental budget in 2027, depending on how much pain we feel from the feds to try to do some GAAP funding. [00:20:54] Speaker A: Oh, okay. [00:20:55] Speaker B: And hope for a different Congress and then see what happens. And again, it's not a uniquely Massachusetts issue. People think we're targeted. Yeah. I mean, let's be honest. He hates the delegation, the president, but the reality is that this is actually going to impact all the states and territories. [00:21:11] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Yes. Yeah. [00:21:13] Speaker B: And the question is every state territory is going to be different, how they want to manage the issue. [00:21:17] Speaker A: Yes. So there are different impacts too. [00:21:20] Speaker B: That's right. While we have actually a very high SNAP program. I love talking about SNAP because it's the one that people memory, recent memory, you know, other communities, you know, even more dependent snap, even though it may have lower number SNAP recipients because where the geography is maybe a big supporter for the local grocery industry. [00:21:40] Speaker A: Right. [00:21:41] Speaker B: So while 20% statewide SNAP supports our food markets, some places may be higher because of density issues. So, you know, the data sets you see state by state, but you need to drill down to the communities for sure. SNAP is an income based program. You know, once you start narrowing it down, you start to see the local economic impact on snap. So like in Quincy was like, I want to say it was like 16,000 applicants. [00:22:08] Speaker A: That sounds right. [00:22:09] Speaker B: Something like that. It's been a while since I remember this data. Yeah, but I, you know, remember that, you know, that's per applicant doesn't mean per family. [00:22:16] Speaker A: Right. [00:22:17] Speaker B: So someone may have households, which means that, you know, your neighbors may receive some form of SNAP. Given that high percentage of 102,000 people, you know, 16,000, 16%, let's call it 15. For easy math, 15% of folks are applicants, and then, you know, maybe half of them are families. So maybe, you know, 20% plus or 25%, you know, the city, you know, is receiving kind of SNAP benefit. It's a lot of which the odds are good that your neighbor may be a recipient. And, you know, like I said, you should be careful how you speak about others because you don't know the circumstances they're in when they're standing next to you. [00:22:52] Speaker A: Yeah, that's absolutely true. Yeah, I say it all the time. Don't ever wish to walk in someone else's shoes because you don't know where they're going. [00:23:00] Speaker B: Agreed. Agreed. So, you know, you guys all know I've been kind of, like, unable to clear straight answers regarding federal impacts, because until it actually hits, we don't actually have an answer for. [00:23:12] Speaker A: Great. And information is going to be kept close to the vest, I'm sure, with the elections coming up. [00:23:19] Speaker B: Well, yeah, because it's going to impact the midterm elections. What happens? And people don't realize it's not necessarily just the law that's been passed, but it's regulations that are implemented. So as the federal agencies implement the different parts of the, of their laws, those past, the past. That was done this past year in particular, you know, you, you don't know what it looks like to, you know, they issue those regs. So, for example, I mean, everyone was applying for Medicaid twice, regardless of your age or status. And, you know, I have questions. People ask me that question, well, why am I doing this again? I'm like, because the federal government's making you. It's not me. And it'd be very daunting. Some folks, particularly if, let's say you're much older and you don't have people assisting you. You know, it could cause you to lose your Medicaid benefits if they, you know, because it can be very scary. [00:24:05] Speaker A: Right. Because the requirements have changed. [00:24:07] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Fortunately for my mom, you know, I'm here to help her. Not everybody, you know, is able to do that. And we encourage people to do shine services and counselor, aging services and content. Aarp. [00:24:19] Speaker A: Yes. [00:24:19] Speaker B: You know, and other local services to help them out. But, you know, not everyone can get to it or reach it or, or deal with it. And some of it's put on the computer now, which also is intimating for certain people in different age brackets and if you don't speak English as a first language. You know, I went through this with mom's initial Medicaid application back in like 2014, 13. It was like, brutal. So a reapplication authorization process, you know, it's going to be difficult for a lot of folks, particularly those who are, you know, not English proficient, but also folks that are older. And you may have done it, okay, you know, when you were 65, but now you're, you know, closing on 80. And, you know, it's. It's not the same time. [00:24:57] Speaker A: It's a little different. [00:24:58] Speaker B: Yeah, it's different. And I think that's lost in bureaucrats. [00:25:03] Speaker A: Oh, boy. Well, stay tuned. October should be very interesting this year. [00:25:09] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And we won't be out of formal sessions, so. [00:25:12] Speaker A: Right. [00:25:13] Speaker B: Like I said, this is like an emergency that should have called or, you know, a lot of stuff we're gonna have to start dealing with in the fall, in the winter time after October 1st. And then, you know, take action after swearing in day next year, presuming I'm back next year. We never know how life is going to play out. But, you know, it could be. It could be, you know, a very rapid start, the next session. I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but, you know, we could find ourselves in a rapid start depending on our reaction to federal government. If we do have to worry about the federal government, the pacing would be very different. [00:25:45] Speaker A: It looks like the Iran war is back on full swing. [00:25:49] Speaker B: Yeah, we. I may not surprise. I mean, it's the Iranians and, you know, they don't trust us and we don't trust them. This ain't complicated. I mean, the president, you know, broke the first deal, which upset them, which again, president's profit, his administration changes. And then, you know, he did one strike and said, we're done. And then, you know, allowed a short war with Israel, Iran last year. And then, you know, he hit the nuclear facilities and said, we're done. And now we hit him again and, you know, and said, we're done. And then we hit him again. Again. How many times can you do something over and over again they can't trust you. Conversely, you can't trust them either. You know, where they say, well, we're not shooting at ships, then he's not Shooting your ships again, I mean, this is a quandary. Have two sides that literally do not trust each other because they keep doing things to each other, or we're actually innocent bystanders. In the case of cargo ships and the, you know, the Arab countries around it, it really just bear as targets. It's hard to trust them. And it's also creating some distrust among our Arab allies because, you know, it was a commitment that this would be quick and easy, and it didn't turn in that way. And they're, you know, they're in billions of dollars of damages collectively caused by Iran, which it's not like the US Is going out there to bail them out. Unless I'm missing a news article someplace. I know they're rich, but, you know, we instigate. And now just getting weird again. We, you know, you got to have two blockades yet again, which is wacky. There are ships not going into the strait. While the strait had some ships released and still many left. Many, many ships are not going into it because they're afraid they can't get back out. [00:27:31] Speaker A: Right. [00:27:32] Speaker B: Which is a problem for everything from fertilizer, aluminum, to natural gas and oil. Which means that the spot market on oil and natural gas hasn't quite account for the fact that people aren't going in. China's been hoarding oil for a long time. They're kind of holding out on needing more demand. And then you got, you know, Saudis who got this extra pipeline across to the other side of the country, but, you know, there's only so much capacity there. So, yeah, there's a. Again, the markets, particularly oil market, doesn't reflect the current situation. And I just don't understand how come it's not because we enlist all those factors of less ships going in. Even when the strip was open, not all the ships gotten out. And I know there's reduced demand globally, but there's a lot of demand still in developing nations for fossil fuels. You know, it's very confusing what's going on. And today's CPI report is 3.5, which is actually very good because they're anticipating 3.8, especially after the hot report last time out. [00:28:34] Speaker A: Right. [00:28:35] Speaker B: The PCE is floating like a 2.5. So that's a good sign, too. But that's also a sign of a volatile energy issue where, you know, at volume, energy prices in May going to June and now, you know, second half of June, it started stabilizing. It shows reduction in the cpi. This change, again, let's say August, things Get hot again. You know, we go September, does the CPI in August go up? It's going to be very inconsistent. And you know, Iran is very tactical thinkers. They're, they understand domestic politics in other countries. They, the regime does not care about their population, so it makes it easy to make decisions. [00:29:19] Speaker A: Right. [00:29:19] Speaker B: They are fragmented between the Republican Guard and the clergy government, which I'm sure they'll find a resolution eventually. And you know, don't be surprised to decide. The Iranians decide to cause chaos going into midterm elections where, you know, you and I will feel some more consumer pain on purpose as they try to muck around with the midterm elections. And we already know the Russians, the Chinese and the Iranians, North Koreans and others constantly hack our systems. And we all, well, I try not to, but you know, we all have social media accounts and they data mine by hacking and just mining out there, you know, so you don't actually have to crack meta. You put so much information Internet. With the advent of artificial intelligence, they just mine everything out there to create, you know, AI ads. It's not uniquely a first world ability to create AI and artificial ads. I mean, you know, people think it's like limited to just first world countries. No mean terrorist groups can utilize the same technology, so. Oh yeah, yeah, you could see some really awful advertising stuff coming up. [00:30:27] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean it's to the point now you, you don't know what you're seeing or hearing, if it's real or, or made up, you know, by AI. It's, it's, it's almost, it's, it's getting to that point now. [00:30:39] Speaker B: Absolutely correct. And you know, theories, actors, you know, people being, you know, whatever they are at home behavior, I mean, know, people should not be food enough believing that US adversaries and European adversaries or anti Japanese or anti Taiwan if they, you know, when their elections happen next, you know, and so forth and so forth. Their terror groups and other, you know, adversarial nations, you know, won't data mine your, your Facebook account, Twitter account or whatever accounts and then start creating advertising that feeds into your fears. And you know, that's the objective. Create fear and you know, you will respond accordingly. [00:31:19] Speaker A: Right, exactly. Yeah. I think the Secretary of State is holding a summit talking about these quote unquote far left terrorist groups that are, you know, a constant danger to, to this country. [00:31:32] Speaker B: No, yeah, I mean, that's absolutely correct. You know, as much people talk about, you know, you know, elections here, the reality is foreign influence is not. Neil, before we had computers, you know, you had communists and Nazis back in the Pre World War II period during the Great Depression, trying to rally causes, you know, against the democratic establishment. People forgot the Nazi party was a real thing in America. [00:32:05] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, that's, you know, they, they utilized what, what they had at the time, the flyers and radio and magazines, things like that. [00:32:14] Speaker B: And rallies in public areas. Right, yeah. I mean, prior to world. Started World War II, I mean, the Nazi party was a real thing that no one talks about anymore. So foreign interference isn't new, what I'm telling you. [00:32:26] Speaker A: Oh, right, no, yes, for sure. Yeah. [00:32:29] Speaker B: It just again, it keeps on evolving and changing with the population. And these folks study us to try to figure out what appeals to the demographic they want to target and then proceed to sow seeds of discontented doubt between us as people and neighbors to try to, you know, break up our solidarity. You know, that's what they do. And that's why I bring up the Nazi Party back in the 20s and 30s, which is clearly German, German government influence. But again, people back then didn't have like foreign newspapers. You couldn't like read the news overseas. You people, you know, didn't have access to information today, which you can do your own research what's going on in foreign countries. [00:33:09] Speaker A: Right. [00:33:10] Speaker B: And you guys are knowing. I've very much interested in foreign affairs when I have spare time to, to look at other people's News, particularly on YouTube, because you can get almost anything now and people's rebroadcasts. [00:33:22] Speaker A: Yes, it's a, it's a. The world is very small now, that's for sure. [00:33:27] Speaker B: Yeah. Remember the days when we had newspapers and you had to go to the foreign correspondence sections of the New York Times and the Globe? [00:33:33] Speaker A: Yes, of course, I remember that. Yes. [00:33:35] Speaker B: That was the extent of our foreign ability to get news. You have to pick up like the Economist or Time magazine or the New Yorker or any other things you can pick up in the library to read about what's going on in foreign affairs. [00:33:49] Speaker A: Time will tell. Right. Speaking of social media, what is the social media bill? I know the House has passed theirs. How about the media social? [00:33:57] Speaker B: Yeah, it's in conference committee. Because social media age limitation is wrapped up in the cell phone ban and. [00:34:02] Speaker A: Yep, that's right. [00:34:03] Speaker B: Remind folks you don't need the legislature to, to self abandon schools. They can do that on their own. [00:34:08] Speaker A: Yes, that's right. [00:34:09] Speaker B: We're working on that here. So it's kind of a redundant law depending on where you are. So that's in Congress committee right now. You know, the data privacy piece included some stuff on campaign honesty regarding advertising to try to. You can't really truly regulate it, but you try to bring greater attention to the issue about artificially created advertising and political campaigns and proper disclosure. As you've been seen in articles and now advertising, they will list at the bottom of the screen or a byline in news articles saying that AI helped generate part of an article, whether it be. [00:34:50] Speaker A: I've seen that. Yeah. [00:34:51] Speaker B: Or writing. And I think it's interesting because we use AI for research. Depending on AI, you can actually still find the source links. I've done that before and I just hit the link and try to read material where it came from. So it's interesting when moving to a world where trying to figure out how best to disclose to the public, even if it's like I won't name the commercial ad, but I mean, it's clearly not real. But they felt the need to sales artificially generated, even though the ad itself is ridiculous. There's no way this is real life. [00:35:24] Speaker A: Oh, I've seen some of them. Yeah. Some of the car companies I know are using it and yeah, we're not [00:35:28] Speaker B: going to promote them, but. [00:35:29] Speaker A: Oh, certainly not, no. Yeah. [00:35:30] Speaker B: But just pointing out that even if it looks fake, like legit fake, they are disclosing using artificial. [00:35:37] Speaker A: Yes. Right. Yep. Yep. Yeah. It's a whole new world for sure. [00:35:42] Speaker B: It is, it is. And I, you know, I don't again, I. We live through people photoshopping stuff and putting into ads. Long before we had access to the Internet. People forgot mud raking was in the days in it, you know, early 20th century, 1800s, where everybody could get a printing press, could write whatever they want. [00:36:04] Speaker A: That's right. [00:36:05] Speaker B: Just throw it out there and, you know, civility and politics is relatively late 20th century. And I won't say it's perfect, but I mean, it's far from the, you know, early 20th century and the 19th century and, you know, we'll see where the pendulum swings this time. [00:36:26] Speaker A: What's going on in the, in the district these days, Jackie? [00:36:30] Speaker B: It's been pretty quiet overall. Obviously, you know, I survived July 4th. I, you know, there's a Germantown event for families this Saturday. Actually, I did march through the Brigham nurses on their strike. Oh, last week I went on the day of the strike on Wednesday in the morning, you know, saw some folks out there standing with the nurses. The city actually has a lot of nurses. [00:37:00] Speaker A: Yes. [00:37:00] Speaker B: It was awesome. And then we, we're pretty quiet at this Point going into the, going into the end of the month on district related stuff. So you know, we're really kind of hyper focused right now and trying to get through the next 15 odd days of the session, trying to pivot quickly once we get notice of what's going on. And you know we discussed this a little before, earlier. I discussed this on every so often is that you know, when you get less than 24 hours notice, you know, staff and us and not just me, all the legislators need to make some very quick decisions strategically about where we need to be, what we need to do and whether or not, you know, we're going to take amendments on and not take amendments on as a committee chair. You know, when subject matters of mind makes an appearance, you know, do I want to get how engaged I need to be to address the issue? So it's, it's, it's a hurry up and hop. [00:38:00] Speaker A: Right. [00:38:00] Speaker B: Right when something pops. Yeah. Experience matters. I know you say this quite a bit but if you've been around a little while and you made your shared mistakes early on, you know you're better prepared for, you know when things just happen and you gotta respond quickly. [00:38:20] Speaker A: Yeah. Are there any like ceremonial formalities that happen on the last day of the session? [00:38:26] Speaker B: No, no. It's really every year we open the session. This is a formality, it's a ceremony. [00:38:31] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:38:32] Speaker B: But not the, not a close of a legislative session. And we don't parole, which means you shut the place down period. Now we still had 72 hour law that requires us to appear at least an informal session. I mentioned last call. I mean we could be finding ourselves moving very quickly, getting in the holiday season, me trying to move some smaller non controversial technical bills because that's all I do these days is technical bills. So you know we, you know like we talked to economic development bill. You know I got a couple pieces in regarding the CPA stuff that came out of committee. Same thing with the home inspectors that also came out of committee. And we got this bill coming up tomorrow regarding pets. We could talk a little bit more about next call once the debate is over. But you know I got two pieces near regarding battery technician licensing which is based on my research and industry is due as well as the technical correction on senior citizens having their pets in senior housing which was inadvertently left out when they did reorganization of the what is now called the executive office of livable communities which is what we know as housing. So again I don't have the most exciting stuff. [00:39:44] Speaker A: Well, they've started repaving C Street. That's a big state project that actually [00:39:49] Speaker B: is a city project. [00:39:50] Speaker A: Ah, but the state is helping. [00:39:52] Speaker B: I think that's correct. This is the, this is the misconception about that project. People keep having the city hired the state as a contract. The state is paying for it. $10 million of your state taxpayer money and grant monies is a combination of monies. Just paying for the contract project means it's not coming off a part of the city bond. It is city supervised. The state is the contractor. [00:40:17] Speaker A: Gotcha. Okay. But it started and it's been long awaited. I know. Yeah. [00:40:22] Speaker B: And I know the side works kind of cracked up. So hopefully they'll, they'll do that second set of repairs. The, they have the medium strip kind of lined up already with the barriers. That's city has been to plantings. I believe they want to. And they have new street lights up for a while as well as the traffic lights. So this has been a project that's been in discussion since like 2012. Preliminary discussions and we had, we were stimulated because of two fatalities, particularly coming out of the Adam Shore area where Germantown, Adamshore and Helsink intersection there at Palmer and C. Going downhill in particular because you can zip down there like 40 miles an hour before you can blink. So you know, it's everything from that area in Palmer all the way to Quinnshaw Drive. Queenslander Drive's right turn lane from C Street, I'm sorry C Street, onto Quinnisher Drive. I actually got that funding for that way back in my early days to put that right hand lane PG Foley asked me can it be done and you know, work worked on it for, for three years to see, you know, to make that funding happen. And it created an interesting hook that allowed the, the city to engage the state because that part was a state project. City, state combination project because C Street's city. And then the state is obviously going to arrive, you know, to actually hook the city. City could hook back the state as assistance for total C Street project. So it's pretty interesting work and you know, a lot of effort by the city to do this. I mean this is a city project. City put a lot of work into this for over a decade to make this project happen. And on a side note, you know, I'm aware that there's some speeding issues. Again, I know that coming off of San Berset it's dangerous. I have the same issue as you all in Marymount when I drive through there visiting folks and we brought attention to state police to, to See if they can figure out how to do timely appearances during certain random times of the day to try to bring traffic down. You never want to put a trooper or city cop regularly, all the time in the same place. Unless it's like a school crossing. You want them randomly appearing so people don't realize they're there until they get tagged. [00:42:44] Speaker A: Yes, that's the best way to enforce, you know, that way it's not predictable. [00:42:48] Speaker B: Yeah, you'd never want particular enforcement unless you're in a screw zone. [00:42:51] Speaker A: Obviously that's for safety first. Yeah. [00:42:54] Speaker B: So we're working on that too. I know some folks may or might have brought that up to me. [00:42:58] Speaker A: Very good. [00:42:59] Speaker B: Alrighty. [00:43:01] Speaker A: How do we get a hold of you, techie? [00:43:03] Speaker B: Well, we're obviously going to be around for 15 more days in the office. The staff is there. Today is virtual meeting day. Obviously when you see me at the home, there are no in person meetings and I do have actually a pickup call after this. This call as well. So. 6177-223706-17722-2370 Room 42 at the State House. T a c k e y.chan mahouse.gov Tacky Chan gov is the email stay representative Tacky Chan of this corresponding Instagram page. You can follow us there. As well as amazing melegislature.gov you can see our coming going on the state website as well as the the legislature's website as well as tacky chin.org which people actually do use as a contact page and resource and of course qatvatv.org you know you got a special request to Joe about talking about anything. Frankly, we don't care. You want to talk about something that's not politics, Happy to do so. [00:44:03] Speaker A: Yes, yes. A recipe for barbecued wings or something. Who knows? [00:44:06] Speaker B: Who knows? Whatever floats your boat, folks. If you want to talk about us to talk about something different. And we'll let the audience know that we had a request to do so so people won't be surprised. We welcome it. [00:44:18] Speaker A: Absolutely. Yeah, I'd love to hear from folks. All right, I will check in next week. Stay cool, Tacky. [00:44:24] Speaker B: You too. All be safe and be well.