|
Help save yourself
— join CLT
today! |
CLT introduction and membership application |
What CLT saves you from the auto excise tax alone |
Ask your friends to join too |
Visit CLT on Facebook |
CLT UPDATE
Friday, April 24, 2015
FY2016 "austere" House budget
proposes 'only' $1B spending increase
|
The $38 billion state budget put forward by House
Democratic leaders on Wednesday is even more austere than the one
proposed by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, even though it makes
modestly larger investments than the governor in areas like local
aid and early education.
While the bottom line is sure to grow when debate
begins in the House in less than two weeks, House budget chief Rep.
Brian Dempsey said the 2.8 percent growth in proposed spending,
despite an estimated 4.8 percent increase in tax revenues, reflects
the desire to be "cautious" just months removed from having to trim
more than $760 million in spending to keep the current fiscal year
budget in balance.
Dempsey, a Haverhill Democrat, said the House was
able to increase local aid by $16 million more than Baker and boost
other accounts higher than the governor recommended in part by
allocating less to public defenders, sheriffs and higher education
and by funding non-pension retiree benefits such as health care with
debt service reversions, rather than through the operating budget.
While steering clear of using state reserve
funds, the House budget (H3400) defers nearly $457 million in
Medicaid payments until fiscal 2017. That move appears to free up
money for spending now and postpone choices about spending
reductions until at least this time next year.
The House is also counting on slot machines at
the new Plainridge Park Casino, due to open this summer, to produce
$104 million for local aid, about $20 million more than budgeted by
Baker....
MassHealth amounts to about 40 percent of the
overall state budget, a $15.3 billion program requiring $400 million
in additional spending in fiscal 2016 even after factoring in more
$665 million in savings and deferred expenses within the program.
State House News Service
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Similarities, and key differences between House, Baker budgets
Along strict party-line votes, House Democrats
granted the Ways and Means Committee the power to bundle budget
amendments and gave House lawmakers a little more than 48 hours to
file amendments to the $38 billion spending bill released Wednesday.
The order adopted on a 120 to 35 vote sets the
stage for the budget debate that will start Monday, April 27, when
the 160 members of the House will be able to suggest changes and
vote on various aspects of the bill drafted by House Ways and Means.
On Wednesday, the House voted down five
amendments to the order completely along party lines, which
Assistant Ways and Means Chairman Stephen Kulik attributed to the
satisfaction Democrats have with the process that has been used in
recent years as well....
Republicans sought to diminish the ability of
Ways and Means to bundle lawmakers' proposals into "consolidated"
amendments, unsuccessfully attempting to require two hours' time to
review them, to ban them outright or to ban votes on multiple
consolidated amendments at once.
Rep. Shaunna O'Connell, a Taunton Republican
often at odds with her colleagues, said the consolidated amendment
process requires lawmakers to ask for budgetary items behind closed
doors and discourages floor debate.
Joining O'Connell in her dissent, Rep. Geoff
Diehl, a Whitman Republican, asked, "Why are we going out of our way
to make this budget go so quickly?"
Democrats rejected Republican amendments to
extend the amendment deadline from Friday to next Wednesday, and to
require a supermajority to send an amendment to be studied unless
the sponsor agrees.
The House regularly dispatches proposals it
disfavors by adopting a further amendment to study the policy before
it is implemented - a process Republicans have dubbed the "inoculator"
because it protects Democrats from recording up-or-down votes on
issues that could be used against them politically.
State House News Service
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
House sets ground rules for FY16 budget debate
House leaders unveiled a $38 billion budget
Wednesday that would hold the line on taxes and fees, make modest
new investments in early education programs, and suspend a
controversial antiprivatization law for the MBTA with an eye toward
efficiency.
Facing a projected $1.8 billion fiscal gap,
Speaker Robert A. DeLeo said the proposed budget makes “targeted
investments” while showing that “we’re living within our means.” The
budget would increase state spending by 2.8 percent, less than in
recent years.
In the broadest strokes, the Democratic
legislative leaders’ plan hews to Governor Charlie Baker’s proposed
spending blueprint — providing additional money for K-12 education
and aid to cities and towns, and making a significant push to slow
the growth of state health care spending.
But, officials said, it reins in some of the
Republican governor’s spending proposals for sheriffs’ departments,
public defenders, and higher education. And it undoes several of
Baker’s cuts....
“It’s really different priorities,” said
committee Chairman Brian S. Dempsey, explaining the shifts between
the governor’s and House’s proposals for the fiscal year beginning
July 1....
As with many previous spending plans, the budget
relies, in part, on one-time revenues that are difficult or
ill-advised to reproduce every year. Those total $456 million and
include $300 million in capital gains tax revenue that would
normally land in the state’s rainy day fund. Fiscal watchdogs
discourage use of such funds.
Overall, said Eileen McAnneny, president of the
business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, Wednesday’s
budget is fiscally responsible and holds the line on spending. She
praised its efforts at MBTA reform — which include the Pacheco law
suspension, audits of the T’s finances and maintenance, and efforts
aimed at streamlining procurement.
But, she added, the budget does some things “that
cause us concern,” such as using the money intended for the rainy
day fund.
Much of the $38 billion budget is devoted to
relatively fixed costs. Dempsey said 40 percent of it goes to
Medicaid, the state-federal health plan for poor and disabled
people, costs of which have been increasing at a high rate in recent
years.
His plan lines up with Baker’s efforts to reduce
ballooning state health care costs through, among other measures,
making sure everyone using Medicaid is actually eligible and pushing
off some payments from the new fiscal year to the next one.
The Boston Globe
Thursday, April 16, 2015
House releases $38b budget, holds line on taxes, fees
Following the governor’s lead, the House Ways
and Means Committee today released a budget that is focused
mainly on keeping the state afloat. While there are some small,
targeted funding increases, the biggest initiative is the effort
to close Massachusetts’ $1.8 billion budget deficit.
Despite the array of tools states have to
fill a gap like this — spending cuts, new taxes, increased fees
— the House proposal relies overwhelmingly on short-term fixes,
meaning that the state would likely face another large deficit
next year....
In the coming weeks, the full House of
Representatives will have the opportunity to vote on the Ways
and Means Committee’s proposal, and to offer amendments. After
that, it’s the Senate’s turn to build a budget.
Is there still room for big changes?
There’s little reason to expect anything
dramatic in the Senate budget. Given the deficit, the lack of
appetite for sizeable spending cuts, and the fact that the
Senate can’t propose tax increases on its own, there are just
too many constraints. No bold vision can pass through this
gauntlet.
The Boston Globe
Thursday, April 16, 2015
What’s in the House budget?
With new revenues materializing for the first
time from slot machine gambling, House Democratic leaders on
Wednesday proposed a $38 billion budget for fiscal 2016 that
Speaker Robert DeLeo said makes targeted new investments in
early education, substance abuse prevention and behavioral
health.
The spending plan developed by the House Ways
and Means Committee and its chairman Rep. Brian Dempsey hews
closely to the blueprint outlined in March by Gov. Charlie
Baker, squeezing more than $700 million in savings from
MassHealth in large part by pushing off expenses into the
future....
Though the budget totals about $100 million
less than the Republican governor's first state budget proposal,
increasing spending from fiscal 2015 by just over $1 billion, or
2.8 percent, that bottom line is sure to grow as the bill moves
through the House....
House leaders also opted against adopting
Baker's recommendations to increase certain state employees'
contribution to their health care through the Group Insurance
Commission to 25 percent, up from 20 percent. The governor's
plan would apply to employees hired before July 1, 2003.
The House Ways and Means Committee released
the bill Wednesday, and lawmakers have until Friday to review it
and propose amendments in advance of the House's annual budget
debate scheduled to begin April 27. The Senate plans to unveil
and process its own budget proposal in May.
State House News Service
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
House leaders steer clear of reserves with $38 Billion budget
At first glance the House budget proposal for
fiscal 2016 is almost as remarkable for what it doesn’t
contain. There are no new taxes or fees (a welcome trend under
House Speaker Robert DeLeo). But for the first time since 2007
the House also has no plans to dip into the rainy-day fund to
balance the budget.
Of course the fact that it hasn’t been
raining, fiscally speaking, for years never seemed to trouble
lawmakers or former Gov. Deval Patrick. But ending this risky
budget-balancing strategy represents a measure of fiscal
discipline that taxpayers ought to welcome.
In rolling out their $38 billion plan
yesterday DeLeo and House Ways and Means Chairman Brian Dempsey
(D-Haverhill) focused on the areas they’ve targeted for more
spending (i.e., local aid, addiction treatment, the court
system). The House also proposes doubling the investment in the
state’s witness protection program, to $188,000, which is a step
in the right direction.
But the elephant in the room was the giant
crater in the budget — by Gov. Charlie Baker’s estimate, $1.8
billion — and you don’t solve a structural deficit like that by
spending more on, say, full-day kindergarten programs.
A Boston Herald editorial
Thursday, April 16, 2015
House strives for balance
Hewing closely to Baker's blueprint, Dempsey
and his committee proposed modest increases from the governor's
budget to local aid accounts and programs to expand early
education, mental health services, and opioid abuse prevention.
But like Baker, and for the first time in eight years, the
budget proposal recommends leaving the "rainy day" fund
untouched.
Although not ideal, according to Dempsey,
House leaders have also embraced Baker's request to defer
hundreds of millions of dollars in MassHealth expenses
— $457 million in the House budget
to be exact — until fiscal 2017 to
dull the impact of spending pressures from Medicaid while the
new administration explores a long-term solution to controlling
health care costs.
"This budget makes some targeted investments,
but we still stay within our means," DeLeo said.
State House News Service
Friday, April 17, 2015
Weekly Roundup - Impolitic politics (and budgets)
With the legislative pipeline clogged,
Massachusetts House members are targeting the $38 billion state
budget with the hopes of moving their priorities to Gov. Charlie
Baker's desk this summer.
Lawmakers filed nearly 1,100 amendments to
the House Ways and Means Committee's budget, which was released
last Wednesday and will be debated beginning Monday, April
27....
If past is prologue, most of the nearly 1,100
amendments filed before Friday's deadline will be discarded
during backroom talks among House members, with those favored by
top members of House Speaker Robert DeLeo's team being tacked
onto the spending bill and becoming eligible for conference
talks later in the budget cycle with the Senate....
The leaders of last year's failed attempt to
override a court's decision that granted the state custody of
Justina Pelletier — Republican
Reps. James Lyons and Marc Lombardo —
have both filed amendments that are sure to spark heated debate
if they are taken up on the floor.
Lombardo has proposed language that would bar
local aid to cities and towns that fail to enforce immigration
law, including those that declare themselves a "sanctuary city."
State House News Service
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
House budget bill a catch-all for lawmakers' priorities
|
|
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
Greetings activists and supporters:
Governor Charlie Baker has filed his budget, and
last week the House filed its own, each for $38 Billion and change.
Both propose what is termed an "austere" budget, proposing an
increase in spending of "only" an additional $1 Billion over this
current year's budget. The proposed House budget calls for a 2.8
percent growth in spending. Estimated tax revenue currently
filling state coffers has increased by 4.8 percent.
The Boston Globe further reported:
"The House will
debate the budget, and it is likely to be amended and pick
up millions of dollars of legislators’ pet projects. The
Senate will then propose and pass its own, and the two
chambers will reconcile their competing spending plans for
the fiscal year."
The State House News Service reported:
"While steering
clear of using state reserve funds, the House budget (H3400)
defers nearly $457 million in Medicaid payments until fiscal
2017. That move appears to free up money for spending now
and postpone choices about spending reductions until at
least this time next year."
This is called kicking the can down the road
— that almost half a billion
dollars will need to be made up next fiscal year. The
Baker administration in the meantime hopes to find a long-term
solution to controlling rising Medicaid costs.
The Boston Globe reported:
"As with many
previous spending plans, the budget relies, in part, on
one-time revenues that are difficult or ill-advised to
reproduce every year. Those total $456 million and include
$300 million in capital gains tax revenue that would
normally land in the state’s rainy day fund. Fiscal
watchdogs discourage use of such funds.
Overall, said Eileen
McAnneny, president of the business-backed Massachusetts
Taxpayers Foundation, Wednesday’s budget is fiscally
responsible and holds the line on spending. She praised its
efforts at MBTA reform — which include the Pacheco law
suspension, audits of the T’s finances and maintenance, and
efforts aimed at streamlining procurement.
But, she added, the
budget does some things “that cause us concern,” such as
using the money intended for the rainy day fund.
So, while the proposed budget doesn't again raid
the "rainy day" stabilization fund, it diverts $300 million that
otherwise would be banked away in it for "rainy days" and spends it.
According to the
US Inflation Calculator:
"The latest
inflation rate for the United States is -0.1% through the 12
months ended March 2015 as published by the US government on
April 17, 2015."
For whatever that's worth
— anyone who shops, pays bills,
recognizes that the official government Consumer Price Index is a
hoax.
This means that the state budget as proposed
would grow 2.9 percent greater than inflation as determined
by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of
AUSTERE:
"stern and cold
in appearance or manner; somber, grave; morally strict;
markedly simple or unadorned; giving little or no scope for
pleasure."
The proposed FY16 budget doesn't propose spending
as much more than past state budgets —
but continues to increase spending, by another billion
dollars.
I don't call that "austere," do you?
H3400
House Ways & Means FY16 Budget
|
 |
 |
|
Chip Ford |
|
|
|
|
|
State House News Service
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Similarities, and key differences between House, Baker budgets
By Matt Murphy
The $38 billion state budget put forward by House Democratic leaders
on Wednesday is even more austere than the one proposed by
Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, even though it makes modestly larger
investments than the governor in areas like local aid and early
education.
While the bottom line is sure to grow when debate begins in the
House in less than two weeks, House budget chief Rep. Brian Dempsey
said the 2.8 percent growth in proposed spending, despite an
estimated 4.8 percent increase in tax revenues, reflects the desire
to be "cautious" just months removed from having to trim more than
$760 million in spending to keep the current fiscal year budget in
balance.
Dempsey, a Haverhill Democrat, said the House was able to increase
local aid by $16 million more than Baker and boost other accounts
higher than the governor recommended in part by allocating less to
public defenders, sheriffs and higher education and by funding
non-pension retiree benefits such as health care with debt service
reversions, rather than through the operating budget.
While steering clear of using state reserve funds, the House budget
(H3400) defers nearly $457 million in Medicaid payments until fiscal
2017. That move appears to free up money for spending now and
postpone choices about spending reductions until at least this time
next year.
The House is also counting on slot machines at the new Plainridge
Park Casino, due to open this summer, to produce $104 million for
local aid, about $20 million more than budgeted by Baker.
The budget for higher education in the Ways and Means proposal would
increase by $26.3 million over fiscal 2015, but falls about $7.8
million shy of what Baker proposed in his first state spending
blueprint.
Public state universities warned early this month that without an
additional $9 million for collective bargaining contracts, students
on the nine campuses would likely face higher fees or the reduction
the academic programs.
"I think that's unfortunate to hear that from state universities,"
Dempsey said. "I'd like to hear them say occasionally they'd look at
their expenses and maybe before they jump to raise fees they'd look
at maybe some kind of consolidation. I think that's really their
responsibility."
Dempsey said the Legislature has increased funding for state
universities by $34 million over that last two years, and House
leaders proposed another $5 million increase for fiscal 2016.
"I don't believe that we ought to be taking the default position
that because we're not able to increase it that automatically means
that fees are going to go up. I think we all have a responsibility
to look at the expense side of the equation. I'm hoping that they do
that," Dempsey said.
Vincent Pedone, a former state representative who is now the
executive officer of the State University Council of Presidents,
said he recognized the pressure to produce a balanced budget and
credited the House with doing "yeoman's work" to move close to a 50
percent split in funding between the universities and the state.
"There is, however, a looming $9 million collective bargaining
obligation that if left unfunded does not continue the trend of
moving us closer to that equitable split between the students and
the state," Pedone said, adding that the campuses want to work with
lawmakers and feel confident their concerns are being heard.
Dempsey also explained the decision to scrap Baker's proposal to
require all state employees hired before July 1, 2003 to chip in 25
percent of their health care premiums, a spike from 20 percent that
would put all 45,000 state employees on an even playing field.
The Group Insurance Commission recently made changes to its plans,
increasing the cost of co-pays and deductibles for state employees
by $160 million. "We did not think that given that recent change by
the GIC that it made sense to now add another cost," Dempsey said.
Dempsey, along with House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Majority Leader
Ronald Mariano, recently made an ethics filing disclosing that he
receives state health insurance and therefore has a financial
interest in Baker's proposal to increase cost sharing.
Geoff Beckwith, executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal
Association, cheered the $34 million in increase in unrestricted
local aid, the 10 percent increase for regional school
transportation funds and the full funding of special education aid
for local schools.
"This is a good budget for cities and towns," Beckwith said. "This
budget makes progress on a number of major local aid and education
aid accounts, including restoring $18.6 million for kindergarten
development grants. In total, this budget builds on what the
governor proposed and makes more progress on local aid and for that
we're very appreciative and we hope to continue that progress during
the budget debate."
Noah Berger, president of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy
Center, said he was similarly pleased to see increases in education
funding, especially to help move over 800 children off the waiting
list for early education programs.
Berger, however, said the bill provides only "short-term solutions
to long-term problems" by diverting some capital gains taxes away
from reserves to support spending and by pushing off major
MassHealth expenses into fiscal 2017.
MassHealth amounts to about 40 percent of the overall state budget,
a $15.3 billion program requiring $400 million in additional
spending in fiscal 2016 even after factoring in more $665 million in
savings and deferred expenses within the program.
George Bachrach, president of the Environmental League of
Massachusetts, was also dismayed by the budget proposal from House
leaders, saying it takes a step backward from his group's effort to
increase funding for environmental programs and parks to at least 1
percent of the state budget.
"While we all agree budgeting in the post-recession economy
continues to be a challenge, there's frugal and then there's harmful
- and, on the issues of environmental protection, this budget goes
in the wrong direction," Bachrach said.
Al Norman, executive director of Mass Home Care, said the Ways and
Means budget cut four key elder home care accounts to $4.7 million
below Baker's recommendations, including a 30 percent cut for
congregate housing and a 12 percent cut to Meals on Wheels.
"It's a smart investment to expand funding for community care, and
it attracts extra federal matching money. We need to focus on some
of the most complex care clients who need a robust system of
supports in order to avoid institutional care. This is what the
Governor's funding level would have allowed us to do," Norman said.
State House News Service
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
House sets ground rules for FY16 budget debate
By Andy Metzger
Along strict party-line votes, House Democrats granted the Ways and
Means Committee the power to bundle budget amendments and gave House
lawmakers a little more than 48 hours to file amendments to the $38
billion spending bill released Wednesday.
The order adopted on a 120 to 35 vote sets the stage for the budget
debate that will start Monday, April 27, when the 160 members of the
House will be able to suggest changes and vote on various aspects of
the bill drafted by House Ways and Means.
On Wednesday, the House voted down five amendments to the order
completely along party lines, which Assistant Ways and Means
Chairman Stephen Kulik attributed to the satisfaction Democrats have
with the process that has been used in recent years as well.
"On the Democratic side there was certainly no instructions or
anything that went out to people about how to vote today, but I
think the vote indicates that people are pleased with the process we
have during budget week," Kulik told the News Service.
Republicans sought to diminish the ability of Ways and Means to
bundle lawmakers' proposals into "consolidated" amendments,
unsuccessfully attempting to require two hours' time to review them,
to ban them outright or to ban votes on multiple consolidated
amendments at once.
Rep. Shaunna O'Connell, a Taunton Republican often at odds with her
colleagues, said the consolidated amendment process requires
lawmakers to ask for budgetary items behind closed doors and
discourages floor debate.
Joining O'Connell in her dissent, Rep. Geoff Diehl, a Whitman
Republican, asked, "Why are we going out of our way to make this
budget go so quickly?"
Democrats rejected Republican amendments to extend the amendment
deadline from Friday to next Wednesday, and to require a
supermajority to send an amendment to be studied unless the sponsor
agrees.
The House regularly dispatches proposals it disfavors by adopting a
further amendment to study the policy before it is implemented - a
process Republicans have dubbed the "inoculator" because it protects
Democrats from recording up-or-down votes on issues that could be
used against them politically.
"Democrats are the party of no," said Marty Lamb, a chairman of the
Massachusetts Taxpayers Best Ally PAC in a statement after the vote
Wednesday. "Let the people see the process. Stop debating amendments
behind closed doors. Taxpayers deserve better."
House Rules Chairman William Galvin was out of town Wednesday for a
"personal reason," according to an aide, and the majority party's
arguments were carried by Kulik and Rep. Paul Mark, a Peru Democrat
and the committee's vice chairman.
Kulik argued that Ways and Means staff needs the time next week to
analyze budget amendments, and said members can always extract an
amendment from a consolidated amendment and discuss it on the House
floor if they desire. He said much of the information about the
budget process is now online.
After Mark argued that he will be able to file amendments in a
timely manner even as he represents a spread-out rural district with
limited telecommunications capabilities, Rep. Marc Lombardo, a
Billerica Republican, summed up the Democrats' argument as, "Too
bad; suck it up."
Last year, after the House and Senate agreed early to local aid
numbers, the budget order precluded amendments concerning local aid.
No such agreement was made this year.
The Boston Globe
Thursday, April 16, 2015
House releases $38b budget, holds line on taxes, fees
By Joshua Miller
House leaders unveiled a $38 billion budget Wednesday that would
hold the line on taxes and fees, make modest new investments in
early education programs, and suspend a controversial
antiprivatization law for the MBTA with an eye toward efficiency.
Facing a projected $1.8 billion fiscal gap, Speaker Robert A. DeLeo
said the proposed budget makes “targeted investments” while showing
that “we’re living within our means.” The budget would increase
state spending by 2.8 percent, less than in recent years.
In the broadest strokes, the Democratic legislative leaders’ plan
hews to Governor Charlie Baker’s proposed spending blueprint —
providing additional money for K-12 education and aid to cities and
towns, and making a significant push to slow the growth of state
health care spending.
But, officials said, it reins in some of the Republican governor’s
spending proposals for sheriffs’ departments, public defenders, and
higher education. And it undoes several of Baker’s cuts.
For instance, Baker proposed a cut to the trial court that sparked
outcry from judicial leaders, who warned of massive layoffs. The
plan from the House Committee on Ways and Means includes a boost of
about $15 million in funding, which court officials lauded.
And Secretary of State William F. Galvin had publicly worried that
Massachusetts would not be able to hold its 2016 presidential
primary with the funding Baker’s budget allocated. The House budget
offers more funding for the elections division administration.
“It’s really different priorities,” said committee Chairman Brian S.
Dempsey, explaining the shifts between the governor’s and House’s
proposals for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
Perhaps the biggest policy change embedded in Dempsey’s plan is a
five-year suspension, for the beleaguered T but not the rest of
state government, of a law analysts say is designed to curb
outsourcing of services by creating an onerous process to do so.
That proposal could well prompt outcry from MBTA workers, who
benefit from the statute known on Beacon Hill as the Pacheco Law,
after its primary sponsor, Senator Marc R. Pacheco of Taunton.
“What we saw demonstrated over the course of the winter months cries
out for a change in the status quo and that’s exactly what we are
proposing,” Dempsey said, referring to public transit delays and
disruptions.
Pacheco said that when people tie the law bearing his name to the
T’s winter failures, it’s “misleading.” He said the shortfalls at
the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority were management
failures and unrelated to whether services were done by public
employees or were outsourced. And he said the law, which requires a
review of the savings from proposed outsourcing before it’s
initiated, simply protects the taxpayer.
Among the new investments proposed in the House plan, small in the
sweep of a $38 billion budget, are $10.1 million targeted at
substance abuse prevention and treatment, including new beds in
recovery programs. There are also new efforts at addressing
homelessness.
And there is $5 million for new early education child care vouchers
to move an estimated 833 kids in low-income families off a wait list
for subsidized education and care, praised by one advocate as “a
good move.”
Not everyone was happy with the budget though.
Lew Finfer, an organizer at the Youth Jobs Coalition, decried some
cuts in funding for a youth jobs program and an antigang violence
grant program.
If the budget were to stand, “it means a significant number of youth
will not have jobs this summer,” he said.
As with many previous spending plans, the budget relies, in part, on
one-time revenues that are difficult or ill-advised to reproduce
every year. Those total $456 million and include $300 million in
capital gains tax revenue that would normally land in the state’s
rainy day fund. Fiscal watchdogs discourage use of such funds.
Overall, said Eileen McAnneny, president of the business-backed
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, Wednesday’s budget is fiscally
responsible and holds the line on spending. She praised its efforts
at MBTA reform — which include the Pacheco law suspension, audits of
the T’s finances and maintenance, and efforts aimed at streamlining
procurement.
But, she added, the budget does some things “that cause us concern,”
such as using the money intended for the rainy day fund.
Much of the $38 billion budget is devoted to relatively fixed costs.
Dempsey said 40 percent of it goes to Medicaid, the state-federal
health plan for poor and disabled people, costs of which have been
increasing at a high rate in recent years.
His plan lines up with Baker’s efforts to reduce ballooning state
health care costs through, among other measures, making sure
everyone using Medicaid is actually eligible and pushing off some
payments from the new fiscal year to the next one.
The House budget’s math also relies on the savings from an early
retirement incentive bill, meant to entice 4,500 state workers to
head for the exit. Both the House and the Senate have passed
versions of that legislation, though they have not yet been
reconciled.
The House will debate the budget, and it is likely to be amended and
pick up millions of dollars of legislators’ pet projects. The Senate
will then propose and pass its own, and the two chambers will
reconcile their competing spending plans for the fiscal year.
Once a bill reaches Baker’s desk, he’ll have a number of options,
from signing it into law to vetoing all or part of it.
The Boston Globe
Thursday, April 16, 2015
What’s in the House budget?
By Evan Horowitz
Following the governor’s lead, the House Ways and Means Committee
today released a budget that is focused mainly on keeping the state
afloat. While there are some small, targeted funding increases, the
biggest initiative is the effort to close Massachusetts’ $1.8
billion budget deficit.
Despite the array of tools states have to fill a gap like this —
spending cuts, new taxes, increased fees — the House proposal relies
overwhelmingly on short-term fixes, meaning that the state would
likely face another large deficit next year.
What’s in the House budget?
The state budget is a far-reaching document, laying out how much
money Massachusetts will spend on hundreds of different programs
funded through state government, everything from public schools to
public transit, health care, the courts, and beyond.
Today’s budget was put together by the House’s budget-writing
committee (called the Committee on Ways and Means). And to a large
degree, it follows the contours of the proposal Governor Charlie
Baker unveiled last month.
Many of the short-term fixes that the governor introduced have
reappeared here, to do the hard work of filling the deficit and
balancing the budget. This includes:
● Using money that was supposed
to go into the rainy day fund
● Putting off necessary health
care payments until the year is up
● Offering a tax amnesty for
people who haven’t filed returns in the past
How does the House budget differ from the governor’s?
While there aren’t any glaring differences — no big tax cuts under
dispute or major spending initiatives to fight over — there are some
differing points of emphasis.
Some of it amounts to smoothing out parts of the governor’s
proposal. After the state’s top judge complained that the governor’s
approach might lead to widespread layoffs in the court system, the
House chose to increase funding. And to placate concerns about
whether there would be enough money to manage the 2016 presidential
primary, the Secretary of State’s Office was given a larger outlay.
But elsewhere there are some more pointed choices.
● Housing. Both the governor and
the House would increase the amount of money available to fight
homelessness and help more people in Massachusetts find secure
housing. But while the House wants to accomplish this via rental
assistance, including vouchers to help people pay for apartments,
the governor was more narrowly focused on catching those at greatest
risk of becoming homeless.
● Early Education and Care.
Getting low-income kids off a wait list and into early education and
care programs has been a multi-year priority, and the House budget
includes $5 million to further this goal — which budget-writers
estimate will help 833 children. Another $8 million is set aside to
help improve the quality of early education programs. Neither of
these was included in the governor’s budget.
● Tax breaks. Alongside his
budget, the Governor introduced a plan to eliminate a controversial
tax break for film companies and use the money to expand a separate
tax break that helps low-income workers and their families. This
isn’t part of the House Ways and Means proposal.
What happens next?
In the coming weeks, the full House of Representatives will have the
opportunity to vote on the Ways and Means Committee’s proposal, and
to offer amendments. After that, it’s the Senate’s turn to build a
budget.
Is there still room for big changes?
There’s little reason to expect anything dramatic in the Senate
budget. Given the deficit, the lack of appetite for sizeable
spending cuts, and the fact that the Senate can’t propose tax
increases on its own, there are just too many constraints. No bold
vision can pass through this gauntlet.
The few initiatives in the House version give a sense for how tight
these limits there. Take the early education increase. Moving 800
kids off the wait list may be a good thing, but there are 20 times
as many kids waiting (a total of 16,000). Or, for another example,
consider the Department of Children and Families, which is just
emerging from a string of crises and failures. The money being
devoted to fix DCF is largely being used to keep up with the
agency’s growing needs, with little left over to forge a long-term
solution.
Budgets don’t have to be like this. They can speak to the long-term
needs of the state, with a vision of where we want Massachusetts to
be in 10 years, or 30. But it’s hard to focus on the big, long-term
needs when so much energy is required simply to close the annual
budget gap.
State House News Service
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
House leaders steer clear of reserves with $38 Billion budget
By Matt Murphy
With new revenues materializing for the first time from slot machine
gambling, House Democratic leaders on Wednesday proposed a $38
billion budget for fiscal 2016 that Speaker Robert DeLeo said makes
targeted new investments in early education, substance abuse
prevention and behavioral health.
The spending plan developed by the House Ways and Means Committee
and its chairman Rep. Brian Dempsey hews closely to the blueprint
outlined in March by Gov. Charlie Baker, squeezing more than $700
million in savings from MassHealth in large part by pushing off
expenses into the future.
The House Ways and Means Committee budget also calls for two new
audits of the MBTA's finances and state-of-good repair program, and
would suspend for five years the so-called Pacheco Law application
at the MBTA - the law puts conditions on the ability of state
agencies to contract with private vendors to provide government
services.
Though the budget totals about $100 million less than the Republican
governor's first state budget proposal, increasing spending from
fiscal 2015 by just over $1 billion, or 2.8 percent, that bottom
line is sure to grow as the bill moves through the House.
House leaders said they would not dispute Baker's characterization
of the budget requiring solutions to a $1.8 billion shortfall, and
Dempsey's budget proposal, like Baker's, for the first time since
2007 does not draw from the state's rainy day, or stabilization
fund.
The plan would also accelerate payments toward the state's
underfunded pension liability by $228 million, including the roughly
$50 million need to cover added pension costs resulting from an
early retirement program that is still being debated.
"This budget makes some targeted investments, but we still stay
within our means," DeLeo said.
The budget produced by House leaders does not address Baker's
proposal to expand an income tax credit for low-income families by
eliminating the $80 million film tax credit. Baker filed that
proposal separate from his budget, and Dempsey said that even though
there is strong support for doubling the earned-income tax credit,
it would require finding an additional $65 million in the budget to
pay for the expansion, which is expected to cost $145 million
annually. Those proposals are pending before the Legislature's
Revenue Committee.
"We see broad support for the film tax credit, and we'll let the
committee do its thing," Dempsey said.
House leaders also opted against adopting Baker's recommendations to
increase certain state employees' contribution to their health care
through the Group Insurance Commission to 25 percent, up from 20
percent. The governor's plan would apply to employees hired before
July 1, 2003.
The House Ways and Means Committee released the bill Wednesday, and
lawmakers have until Friday to review it and propose amendments in
advance of the House's annual budget debate scheduled to begin April
27. The Senate plans to unveil and process its own budget proposal
in May.
Dempsey, in a briefing, said the Ways and Means budget goes beyond
the governor's recommendations for increases in local aid, boosting
unrestricted aid to $980 million, as proposed by Baker, and
increasing Chapter 70 aid for schools to $4.5 billion, a $108
million increase from this year and $2.9 million more than sought by
Baker.
The local school aid would increase per pupil spending by $25 across
the state. The budget proposal also adds $5 million for regional
school transportation and $8.3 million for special education,
totaling a $16.2 million increase in local aid accounts over the
governor's budget.
The increased local aid, according to Dempsey, relied in part on
$105 million in anticipated slot revenue from a new gaming parlor in
Plainville due to open later this summer.
"I think there's some reasonable areas there. Increase to regional
school transportation is good. Local aid numbers look reasonable.
Obviously, we'll pick it apart over the next week before we go in to
debate and we'll and get to the nitty gritty of what it's all about.
We always want to do more with local aid, but there are
limitations," said Rep. Todd Smola, the ranking Republican on Ways
and Means.
The budget is balanced, in part, on savings within the $15.3 billion
Medicaid budget, including $209.5 million saved through an
eligibility redetermination process and $456.8 million in "cash
management" solutions, which defer payments until fiscal 2017.
Dempsey said pushing the payment of bills into the next fiscal year
is "not ideal," but a solution House leaders were "comfortable with"
until the Baker administration has more time to evaluate the
program. The Ways and Means budget would continue to fund
chiropractic services through MassHealth at $600,000, a benefit
Baker had proposed to eliminate.
With so much of the focus over the first four months of the year on
the MBTA's poor winter performance and management, Dempsey's budget
increases state support for the MBTA and MassDOT by $70 million.
The budget also funds independent audits of the MBTA's asset
maintenance strategy and its finances, and calls for an annual
report on projected and real savings from the new procurement rules.
Emphasizing his commitment to early education, DeLeo highlighted his
decision to include $5 million in additional funding for child care
vouchers that would help move an estimated 833 children off the
waiting list for early education programs.
The budget proposal also includes $18.6 million for kindergarten
expansion grants, though Dempsey said House leaders are interested
in phasing out the program as kindergarten classrooms are gradually
incorporated into the Chapter 70 funding formula.
Describing the issue of substance abuse as one that's personal to
him, DeLeo also said he heard Wednesday morning from a friend on the
South Shore who lost her 30-year-old brother to substance abuse.
"I seem to hear more of these stories on a daily basis," he said.
The Ways and Means budget would add 75 new short-term beds for
substance abuse patients transitioning from acute care to
residential recovery, 75 new residential recovery beds, $2.5 million
to expand access to Vivitrol and a $500,000 pilot for support
services for newborns exposed to drugs.
The budget also provides new funding for adult community mental
health services, would restore funding for 700 families for child
and adolescent mental health services cut in Baker's budget, and
maintains financial support for 671 inpatient mental health beds,
including 45 at Taunton State Hospital. Rep. James Miceli said the
House bill also increases funding for Tewksbury Hospital above
levels proposed by Gov. Baker.
Responding to sharp criticism from top court officials directed at
Baker's budget, the Ways and Means proposal provides $17.3 million
more for the Trial Court than the governor in an attempt to avoid
layoffs.
"If we did not do that, you would see over 500 layoffs in the trial
courts across the Commonwealth and we looked very carefully at that.
Staffing levels, compared to 2003, are down by about 2,200
employees. There are some staffing challenges and we thought it
important to restore that," Dempsey said.
Dempsey said he also found Secretary of State William Galvin's
feedback on Baker's budget "compelling," and boosted the budget for
elections by a couple million dollars without which Galvin said he
would not be able to hold a presidential primary election in
Massachusetts next March.
The budget bill also recommends an additional $4.5 million for
salary increases for assistant district attorneys and public
defenders to improve retention of staff lawyers.
A new class of State Police cadets would be funded through the
committee's proposed budget, which would also double funding for
witness protection.
The Ways and Means Committee agreed with Baker's recommendations to
allocate $20 million in new spending on homelessness prevention
programs, but rather than create a new fund as called for by the
governor spread the money through existing programs. The budget
proposal also allocates an additional $8 million for 737 new rental
assistance vouchers.
The University of Massachusetts would see its budget restored to
pre-emergency budget cut levels with an additional $7.8 million,
while the state universities would receive a modest $5.6 million
increase and community colleges would get a 3 percent budget boost
of $9 million.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, April 16, 2015
A Boston Herald editorial
House strives for balance
At first glance the House budget proposal for fiscal 2016 is almost
as remarkable for what it doesn’t contain. There are no new
taxes or fees (a welcome trend under House Speaker Robert DeLeo).
But for the first time since 2007 the House also has no plans to dip
into the rainy-day fund to balance the budget.
Of course the fact that it hasn’t been raining, fiscally speaking,
for years never seemed to trouble lawmakers or former Gov. Deval
Patrick. But ending this risky budget-balancing strategy represents
a measure of fiscal discipline that taxpayers ought to welcome.
In rolling out their $38 billion plan yesterday DeLeo and House Ways
and Means Chairman Brian Dempsey (D-Haverhill) focused on the areas
they’ve targeted for more spending (i.e., local aid,
addiction treatment, the court system). The House also proposes
doubling the investment in the state’s witness protection program,
to $188,000, which is a step in the right direction.
But the elephant in the room was the giant crater in the budget — by
Gov. Charlie Baker’s estimate, $1.8 billion — and you don’t solve a
structural deficit like that by spending more on, say, full-day
kindergarten programs.
So the House, wisely, has aligned its plan with Baker’s in several
areas — including an early retirement incentive for state workers, a
tax amnesty, and reduced spending on the biggest budget-buster, the
MassHealth program. The latter could deliver up to $800 million in
savings.
And of course this year there is simply no avoiding the problems at
the MBTA. Like Baker, the House increases funding slightly for the
T’s operating budget. But DeLeo and Dempsey go on to propose a
policy game-changer for the transit agency — a five-year suspension
of the Pacheco Law, a needlessly restrictive statute that
discourages privatization of public services.
There is so much more required to fix the T. But suspending Pacheco
— beloved by organized labor, making any weakening of it a
nonstarter for many Democrats — is a crucial step, and the House
leadership deserves credit for taking it on.
State House News Service
Friday, April 17, 2015
Weekly Roundup - Impolitic politics (and budgets)
Recap and analysis of the week in state government
By Matt Murphy
Anyone who loves combing through roll call votes will have plenty in
a little over a week when the House begins debate on a fiscal 2016
budget. Ways and Means Chair Rep. Brian Dempsey, the gravelly-voiced
maestro of state budgeting, detailed House leadership's plan to
spend $38 billion next fiscal year, a hair under (about $100
million) what the Republican governor proposed spending in his first
budget document.
The House budget proposal, despite the state's growing economy and
4.8 percent expected revenue growth, takes a "cautious" approach
toward next year with just about $1 billion in new spending, up 2.8
percent from the current year. This year's state budget was off by a
lot on the expense side, and a conservative approach to spending
next year might prevent that from reoccurring or at least make
supplemental spending affordable.
Hewing closely to Baker's blueprint, Dempsey and his committee
proposed modest increases from the governor's budget to local aid
accounts and programs to expand early education, mental health
services, and opioid abuse prevention. But like Baker, and for the
first time in eight years, the budget proposal recommends leaving
the "rainy day" fund untouched.
Although not ideal, according to Dempsey, House leaders have also
embraced Baker's request to defer hundreds of millions of dollars in
MassHealth expenses — $457 million in the House budget to be exact —
until fiscal 2017 to dull the impact of spending pressures from
Medicaid while the new administration explores a long-term solution
to controlling health care costs.
"This budget makes some targeted investments, but we still stay
within our means," DeLeo said.
As Baker prepares to file legislation "probably ... maybe" next week
to overhaul the management of the MBTA, Dempsey's budget takes some
small steps toward reforming the T, including a five-year suspension
of the "Pacheco Law" to make privatizing services and operations
easier. That's looking like another point of contention between the
House and Senate — the law is named for Senate President Pro Tempore
Marc Pacheco.
State House News Service
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
House budget bill a catch-all for lawmakers' priorities
By Andy Metzger and Michael Norton
With the legislative pipeline clogged, Massachusetts House members
are targeting the $38 billion state budget with the hopes of moving
their priorities to Gov. Charlie Baker's desk this summer.
Lawmakers filed nearly 1,100 amendments to the House Ways and Means
Committee's budget, which was released last Wednesday and will be
debated beginning Monday, April 27.
Lawmakers have had few other opportunities to debate their
priorities this year.
House and Senate leaders are hung up on a prolonged debate over
internal rules and there have been few formal sessions. Nine of the
12 laws approved since the 2015-2016 session began in January
establish special sick leave banks for state employees.
Major bills filed by Gov. Charlie Baker approved by the House to
close the midyear budget gap, increase spending some areas of state
budget and advance an early retirement program were largely
unchanged during debate.
"It's been a slow start. There's no doubt about that," Rep. Todd
Smola, the ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee,
told the News Service. Smola said the budget is a good place to
tweak state laws, and noted that the annual spending bill debate
delves into policy every year, but he hopes it's limited.
"I would hope we would avoid anything extensive in terms of major,
major policy changes," the Warren Republican said, adding, "It's
always a vehicle for policy."
Legislation authorizing spending throughout state government will
offer an opportunity to debate the entirety of state programs from
reforming the MBTA, which plans to spend more than $2 billion in
fiscal 2016, to earmarks for local projects worth tens-of-thousands
of dollars apiece.
More than a dozen lawmakers filed amendments that reference the MBTA
and nearly a dozen amendments reference the Department of Children
and Families — the social work agency
rocked by revelations in 2013 it had lost track of five-year-old
Jeremiah Oliver.
If past is prologue, most of the nearly 1,100 amendments filed
before Friday's deadline will be discarded during backroom talks
among House members, with those favored by top members of House
Speaker Robert DeLeo's team being tacked onto the spending bill and
becoming eligible for conference talks later in the budget cycle
with the Senate.
Rep. Frank Smizik, a Brookline Democrat, wants to restore funding
for the state climatologist, a position that has not yet been
filled. Several Democrats backed an amendment that would increase to
$22 million, up from $17 million, funding for legal assistance.
Lawmakers on the left and right have offered proposals to protect
state revenues from being gobbled up by Olympics organizers. Rep.
Geoff Diehl, a Whitman Republican, filed language that would
prohibit any state spending or obligation for the potential 2024
Summer Games except transportation infrastructure. Rep. William
Straus, a Mattapoisett Democrat, proposed requiring market rates for
use of state advertising space by the Olympics. According to a
spokeswoman for the United Independent Party, Diehl's language
"mirrors" the statewide ballot question proposed by former
gubernatorial candidate Evan Falchuk.
Rep. James Murphy, a Weymouth Democrat, filed an amendment to expand
the nine-member Pension Reserves Investment Management Board to
include representatives from the Associated Industries of
Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Association of Contributory
Retirement Systems.
Rep. Stephen Howitt, a Seekonk Republican, has proposed a budget
rider that would allow breweries to refill growlers
— large bottles that hold several
servings of beer. A proposal by Minority Leader Brad Jones would
alter state regulations banning bars from holding a happy hour,
allowing for three consecutive happy days in the early part of a
given week. Current Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission
regulations permit discounted drinks only on a weekly basis.
Budgets also provide the stage for policy debates that transcend the
spending and management of state tax dollars. Last year, the often
raucous House budget debate quieted for debate over whether state
lawmakers should step into a child custody dispute.
The leaders of last year's failed attempt to override a court's
decision that granted the state custody of Justina Pelletier
— Republican Reps. James Lyons and Marc
Lombardo — have both filed amendments
that are sure to spark heated debate if they are taken up on the
floor.
Lombardo has proposed language that would bar local aid to cities
and towns that fail to enforce immigration law, including those that
declare themselves a "sanctuary city."
The ability to deliver local aid to their communities is a source of
pride for lawmakers who often carry requests from local officials
that rely on state aid to balance their budgets. Multiple
municipalities have declared that they will not enforce immigration
law within city lines, even though police fingerprint data is
regularly routed through the federal government.
Lyons will attempt to learn more about the rigged hiring scheme
undertaken at the probation department, which resulted in three
convictions of former department officials.
Several Democratic state representatives were called during the
trial as witnesses and prosecutors labeled Speaker Robert DeLeo as
an unindicted co-conspirator to the patronage scheme. Lyons wants an
independent commission to study the hiring scheme, which steered
jobs to candidates favored by lawmakers.
Rep. Kay Khan, who is House chairwoman of the Committee on Children,
Families and Persons with Disabilities, filed an amendment focused
on improved training that she hopes will strengthen a 2014 law
banning the shackling of pregnant inmates.
The Newton Democrat told the News Service that even after the law
passed pregnant women were shackled at the state's correctional
facility for women in Framingham and at county facilities.
"I think training is what's really important here," said Khan, who
said a lack of seatbelts in transport vans is also an issue.
Rather than take up budget amendments separately, the House Ways and
Means Committee frequently bundles proposals into consolidated
amendments, which in recent years have been replete with earmarks.
Lawmakers can remove an amendment from a consolidated package and
seek support for it on its own.
Rep. Shawn Dooley, a Norfolk Republican, is seeking $500,000 for an
artificial turf field at King Philip High School. In a "technical
amendment," House Ways and Means Chairman Brian Dempsey has
earmarked $125,000 for business groups and a boxing program in his
area. Rep. Timothy Madden, a Nantucket Democrat, wants $50,000 to
bring broadband to the island of Chappaquiddick off Martha's
Vineyard.
Not all of the earmarks adopted by the House make it through the
House-Senate conference committee, which negotiates the final
version of the budget to be delivered to the governor. In years
past, former Gov. Deval Patrick used his line-item veto powers to
zero out certain earmarks.
Baker's budget proposal did not include earmarks, and an
administration official said the governor's office will reserve
individual judgments until the final budget has been sent to the
governor.
Rep. Adrian Madaro, an East Boston Democrat elected this year,
touted his pursuit of earmarks in a press released headlined,
"Adrian Madaro Hits the Ground Running, Files $300,000 in Budget
Amendments for Eastie during His First Week in Office."
Madaro's amendments would fund police patrols of a beach that looks
out at Logan Airport, the development of an opioid treatment program
and money for a program bringing farm produce to low-income
families.
|
| |
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes
only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
Citizens for Limited Taxation ▪
PO Box 1147 ▪ Marblehead, MA 01945
▪ 508-915-3665
BACK TO CLT
HOMEPAGE
|