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CLT UPDATE
Friday, May 26, 2017
Senate budget concluded for
holiday weekend
|
The Senate on Tuesday night adopted an
amendment more than doubling the Registry of Deeds fee that
funds the Community Preservation Act Trust Fund, a step
aimed at rejuvenating the collapsing partnership.
When Gov. Paul Cellucci signed the Community
Preservation Act into law in 2000, it was with the promise
of state matching funds from the CPA Trust Fund to preserve
open space, renovate historic buildings and parks, and build
new playgrounds, affordable housing and athletic fields.
During the first six years, the state
matched 100 percent of what each municipality raised by its
property tax surcharge, but state matching funds have fallen
or remained flat in eight of the last nine years....
The Senate adopted a Creem amendment (# 286)
to raise the deeds fee from the $20 it has been since 2000
to $45, which Creem said would allow municipalities that
have adopted the CPA to receive a state match of roughly 30
percent in 2018 and "hopefully for years after that."
State House News Service
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Senate boosts deeds fee from $20 to $45 to fund CPA
agreements
The Senate on Wednesday stuck with its plan
to levy a tax on all short-term room rentals, such as those
offered through the Airbnb online portal, an initiative the
chamber's chief budget-writer said would raise $18 million
in new revenue.
During budget deliberations, the Senate
dismissed an effort by Senate Republicans to limit the
proposed tax to those who rent a property for 30 days or
more.
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, of
Gloucester, said he did not object to taxing people engaged
in the rental business, and he argued taxing everyone who
rents a room even for only one night a year is the "most
extreme" version of the tax.
"When we're talking about someone who is
offering their home, or a subcomponent thereof, for a
shorter period of time and does it incidentally, they don't
appear to be someone who is engaged in the business of
providing public accommodation," Tarr argued....
Westport Democrat Sen. Michael Rodrigues
contended that as soon as someone rents their place for
someone to stay short-term they are engaged in the lodging
business.
"You're renting for money, for revenue. You
are generating revenue. You are engaged in the business,"
Rodrigues said....
The Senate rejected Tarr's amendment on a
voice vote....
In his budget, Gov. Charlie Baker proposed
applying the room tax to people and businesses that provide
150 days or more of short-term rental accommodations.
State House News Service
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Senate rejects measure to limit tax on short-term rentals
After adopting a new rule earlier this year
requiring a recorded vote to reject bundles of amendments,
the Massachusetts Senate opted on Wednesday to instead
reject amendments resolved during the behind the scenes
bundling process with individual voice votes.
The Senate whipped through roughly 75
amendments, rejecting each on individual voice votes after
Senate President Stanley Rosenberg informed the members they
would be taking up amendments that had been part of the
bundling process and the chamber largely emptied of
senators.
State House News Service
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Senator avoid roll call on rejected amendment bundle
Piling on more spending despite struggling
tax collections, the Massachusetts House on Wednesday gave
initial approval to a $45.462 million bill that adds
spending to the fiscal 2017 budget....
With two months left in the fiscal year,
revenue connections are running $462 million behind
projections. The Baker administration has not outlined a
course of action to address the fiscal 2017 budget
difficulties. May tax collection numbers are due out in
early June.
State House News Service
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
House approved $45.5 Mil in additional FY 2017 spending
State senators yesterday killed a proposal
that would have given Massachusetts consumers the
traditional sales tax holiday this summer, following the
House, which had earlier declined to sign off on an
annual sales tax reprieve.
Now, it’s true that the state’s revenue
picture isn’t pretty — but lawmakers always seem to find the
extra $25 million they need to fund pet spending
initiatives. When it comes time to use some of that cushion
for the benefit of taxpayers, however — well, suddenly
Beacon Hill is populated by swarms of born-again fiscal
conservatives....
The holiday has been especially welcome over
these past eight years, since Beacon Hill increased the
sales tax by 25 percent as a fix to get through the Great
Recession. Taxpayers assumed the 6.25 percent rate was
temporary. Lawmakers knew otherwise.
Of course there is a “cost” associated with
a sales tax holiday, in forgone tax revenue....
That’s less than half the amount of spending
House lawmakers added onto their version of the $40 billion
budget last month. And senators spent a good chunk of
yesterday’s session stuffing their own version with added
pork.
In years past, lawmakers waited until the
last minute to approve an August sales tax break. We urge
them to do so again this year, even if it’s only for one
day.
Because killing it two years in a row will
make it that much easier to kill it forever.
A Boston Herald editorial
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Oh, give ‘em a break!
Meanwhile, while Democrats on Beacon Hill
are talking up the possibility of tax hikes to offset a
looming deficit, state Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, wants
the Legislature to go in the opposite direction.
The minority leader proposed amendments to
the Senate version of the budget that would reduce both the
income and sales tax to 5 percent, and set a date certain
for a summer sales-tax holiday. Unlike their recent pay
raise, legislative leaders have deemed the tax holiday
unaffordable once again this year.
The Salem News
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Weekly Column
By Nelson Benton
Despite tight finances that may force
lawmakers to make wholesale budget revisions, senators on
Wednesday night were in a giving mood, adding spending
measures for anniversary celebrations in Peabody, Amesbury,
Mendon and Westfield as well as a soccer program in
Lawrence, a winter tourism campaign in Hull, the MetroWest
Food and Music Festival and a theater in Hyde Park.
As they make their way through hundreds of
amendments to a $40.3 billion spending plan built on shaky
revenue estimates, state senators have added millions of
dollars in new spending including earmarks they say support
important local programs.
By 1:30 p.m. Thursday, senators added $35.9
million in spending to their fiscal 2018 budget, according
to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. Doug Howgate, the
foundation's director of policy and research, said earmarks
accounted for about $24.7 million of the spending by his
tally.
On Wednesday evening, the Senate adopted
dozens of amendments adding funds to the proposal fiscal
2018 budget and dedicating that money for local programs.
Encountering little resistance, the amendments were adopted
on voice votes, often after a short speech from the sponsor
explaining what need it would meet.
State House News Service
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Senate loads up on earmarks despite tight fiscal picture
The state Senate on Thursday night approved
a $40.8 billion state spending plan that includes several
types of new taxes and fees. But amid significant
uncertainty about state revenue, lawmakers could be forced
to alter that plan soon.
The Senate’s fiscal 2018 budget includes a
tax on short-term room rentals, like Airbnb, that lawmakers
believe would raise $18 million in new revenue. It also
includes a new assessment on businesses designed to help pay
for the state’s sharply increasing health care costs, a
measure the governor as well as House lawmakers have also
called for.
The House passed its own version of the
budget earlier this year with its own version of those two
levies. A conference committee will now hammer out
differences before a final version heads to Governor Charlie
Baker, who can sign it or veto all or portions of it....
But looming over budget debate is the fact
that the state is woefully behind in revenue collection for
the current fiscal year, which ends in June. As of April,
the state had collected $462 million below what lawmakers
anticipated.
That means the plan the Senate passed for
next year could be based on unrealistic projections and
might have to soon be downsized. Lawmakers are expected to
deal with that potential shortfall during the conference
committee....
As the budget debate neared an end Thursday
night, Eileen P. McAnneny, president of the Massachusetts
Taxpayers Foundation, noted how much the disappointing
revenue collections influenced budget crafting.
“The more important questions is what
adjustments, if any, will budget writers make in conference
committee to deal with the anticipated revenue shortfalls,”
said McAnneny, who leads the state budget watchdog group.
As they finalized the spending plan this
week, senators whizzed through hundreds of amendments, many
of which earmarked small pots of money for pet projects in
their districts.
The Senate added $50.67 million in spending
to the budget during the three days of floor debate,
including at least $24.7 million for earmarks, according to
the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.
The Boston Globe
Friday, May 26, 2017
Senate OK’s $40.8 billion state budget
With most bills still in committee five
months into the new session, the Senate this week loaded up
its annual budget bill with policy proposals, creating major
areas of disagreement with the House as the budget heads
into conference.
A Senate budget analysis released Friday by
the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation estimates total line
item spending in the bill at $40.84 billion, compared to
$40.83 billion in the House budget and $40.91 billion in
Gov. Charlie Baker's budget, which was filed in January.
Those bottom lines compared to $39.62 billion this fiscal
year, MTF said.
According to MTF, the Senate added 150
policy sections to its budget through floor amendments,
adding to 111 policy sections already in the Senate budget.
The 261 Senate policy sections compares to 156 in the House,
MTF said....
"A substantial downgrade to revenue is
likely, and if it occurs, will require major spending
reductions to plans approved by the House and Senate," MTF
concluded.
State House News Service
Friday, May 26, 2017
MTF: Senate pivoted to policy in face of spending restraints
Despite on ongoing revenue slump, the
Massachusetts House on Wednesday packed on $45.5 million in
fiscal 2017 spending.
Tax collections 10 months into the fiscal
year are running nearly half a billion dollars behind budget
projections and a plan to address the difficulties has yet
to emerge from the Baker administration, which says it has
been planning to address the situation and monitoring
revenue collections.
The supplemental budget (H 3718), which
surfaced from the House Ways and Means Committee Wednesday
morning, was shipped by the House to the Senate early
Wednesday afternoon on a 152-1 vote after House budget chief
Brian Dempsey outlined its appropriations and said many
states are struggling with sluggish tax collections....
Tax collections with two months left in
fiscal 2017 are running $462 million below benchmarks.
State House News Service
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
House adds $45 Mil in spending despite budget difficulties
The House on Wednesday voted to prevent the
use of inmate labor beyond the borders of Massachusetts over
the objections of Republicans who argued that existing law
addresses the issue and questioned why it was a priority.
Massachusetts prisons and jails have never
sent inmates to work on projects in another state, lawmakers
said. Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson sparked
controversy in January when he proposed sending inmates in
his jail to help construct President Donald Trump's proposed
Mexican border wall....
After close to three hours of debate, the
bill (H 3034) passed on a 120-35 vote. Rep. Susannah Whipps
of Athol was the only Republican to vote yes, and Reps.
Brian Murray of Milford and Jonathan Zlotnik of Gardner were
the Democrats who voted no. The bill now moves to the
Senate.
State House News Service
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
House votes to preventing out-of-state use of inmate labor
Massachusetts House leaders indefinitely
postponed a planned vote Wednesday on legislation
recommended by Democrats as a response to President Donald
Trump's illegal immigration crackdown.
The bill would prevent state resources from
being used to execute agreements with U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement to train state and local law enforcement
to act as federal immigration agents.
On Twitter, Republican Rep. Marc Lombardo of
Billerica credited the "calls, emails, & strong voice" of
opponents to the "sanctuary state bill" for getting it
temporarily tabled....
"We're disappointed. We thought that this
was a very good step forward," said Marion Davis,
communications director for the Massachusetts Immigrant and
Refugee Advocacy Coalition. She told the News Service, "We
feel that it's important for the House to take a strong
stand that Massachusetts resources should be used for
Massachusetts people, not to implement a federal deportation
agenda."
A spokesman for House Speaker Robert DeLeo
confirmed that many House members had questions about the
bill (H 3033) and said it was referred to the House Ways and
Means Committee "to provide more time." ...
The postponed legislation would prohibit any
state money from being used to implement what is known as a
287G agreement with Immigration and Customs and Enforcement
to train local law enforcement or correction officers in
immigration law.
"Really, they become deputized ICE agents,"
Cabral said during a recent discussion of the bill with his
House colleagues on the Trump working group.
State House News Service
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Mass. House pulls back bill aimed at countering Trump
The walls crumbling literally and
figuratively around them, senators did their best to pretend
everything was purple ties and punch this week as they sped
through their annual budget debate and marched off into
Memorial Day weekend.
The exercise dominated activity on Beacon
Hill, while off campus Joe Biden was bopping about town,
Hillary Clinton and Mark Zuckerberg were advising the newest
college graduates and the world was coming to grips with the
latest terror attack in England.
The final vote on the $40.4 billion budget
bill may have come just in the nick of time, following a
loud bang and falling debris from the ceiling, like a bad
omen for things to come.
"It sounds like we need to get out of here,"
Senate President Stanley Rosenberg said, perhaps half
joking, before calling for the vote. The Senate chamber will
soon, supposedly, undergo structural renovations.
The finalizing of the Senate budget,
however, sets the stage for a month, and maybe more of
negotiations with the House over not just spending, but
projections for economic and revenue growth in the coming
year that have been called into questions by months of
troubling signs....
Over the course of the three days (one
longer than it took the House) and consideration of 1,031
amendments, the Senate took just 35 roll call votes, all but
one of which was unanimous....
White House budget director Mick Mulvaney
said the $1.6 billion in Trump's budget for the wall would
be put toward "bricks and mortar," but don't expect inmates
from Massachusetts to be cleaning the concrete off their
trowels anytime soon.
The House voted, essentially along party
lines, to ban inmate labor outside the borders of
Massachusetts. The legislation filed by Rep. Antonio Cabral,
of New Bedford, was aimed at Bristol County Sheriff Thomas
Hodgson, who suggested he might offer up his prisoners as
labor to build Trump's border wall.
House Republicans blasted the Democratic
leadership for wasting their time on legislation that was
unnecessary, as no inmates have ever been used a labor out
of state, and Hodgson said it showed "once again that
personal political agendas are more important than keeping
our citizens and legal residents safe."
The other Trump-inspired bill on the House
docket Wednesday - a measure that would have banned state
tax dollars from being used to "deputize" local law
enforcement as immigration agents - was unceremoniously
yanked off the agenda.
State House News Service
Friday, May 26, 2017
Weekly Roundup — The title of
which the clerk shall read
|
|
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
The Senate is done with its budget for Fiscal Year 2018,
which begins on July 1. Voting into late Thursday
evening got them an early start on a long holiday
weekend.The Senate started on Tuesday with its Ways and
Means Committee recommendation of $40.3 Billion. It
ended late Thursday growing it to $40.8 Billion. Their
budget is based on the usual bogus "revenue projections"
from the same cabal of "economic experts" that so far is
half a billion dollars wrong on its last projection for this
fiscal year. The state is now scrambling to balance
this year's budget. As
of April, the state had collected $462 million less
than last year's "expert" predictions.
The State House News Service reported today:
A Senate
budget analysis released Friday by the Massachusetts
Taxpayers Foundation estimates total line item spending
in the bill at $40.84 billion, compared to $40.83
billion in the House budget and $40.91 billion in Gov.
Charlie Baker's budget, which was filed in January.
Those bottom lines compared to $39.62 billion this
fiscal year, MTF said.
The House on Wednesday added another $45 million in
spending to this current year's budget that's
already out-of-balance.
Unless a sudden $500 million extra is found beneath their
sofa cushions or under someone's bed before the end of June.
Regardless of an inconvenient reality, next fiscal year
their plan is to again increase spending by an additional
billion dollars.
This is how fiscal crises are created. Fiscal
crises always lead to tax hikes. They know this too,
or should considering how much they think they're
worth.
The Legislature's first order of business in January was
to rush through their obscene pay grab, which cost
— our money spent from tax
revenue collected from us, not "forgone"
— actually cost the
state $18 million that could have been spent elsewhere.
But $20 million left in taxpayers' pockets by a mere sales
tax "holiday" instead of sucked into the state's black hole
is "not affordable." It's affordable only if it
benefits the pols — then
anything and everything is affordable.
There were a number of amendments that went nowhere.
Chip Faulkner pointed out that even the moderate,
watered-down pro-taxpayers amendments that would have been
glacially implemented nonetheless were rejected.
One of such proposed that the income tax rate would have
been reduced to 5.05% on January 1, 2018, then
— finally
— back down to 5.0% on January
1, 2019. That would be sixteen years after
the voters ordered it to be returned to 5% on the 2000
ballot. Even this symbolic sop to abused voters and
taxpayers was defeated.
Another moderate amendment proposed that the sales tax would
have been reduced to 5.8% on August 1, 2017, further reduced
to 5.4% on August 1, 2018, and finally rolled back to 5.0%
on August 1, 2019. As with anything that benefits
taxpayers, it too was spurned.
The Senate
more than doubled the Registry of Deeds fee so the state
could better contribute its promised share to the Community
Preservation Act.
Note how this works:
Legislators conjure up another "great idea." To sell
it, the Legislature promises to generously fund their great
idea
—
in the case of the CPA a 100% match
—
in order to entice municipalities to convince property
owners to vote to increase their own taxes in order to get
the "free" state money. Over time the state withdraws
its support, spends the money in other directions, until
now-dependent municipal governments demand the state live up
to the promise. The Legislature steps in and raises
taxes
—
even if to only meet a match of just 30% or its original
promise. Everyone's satisfied
—
except the beleaguered, abused taxpayers who pay out of one
pocket or the other.
|
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Chip Ford
Executive Director |
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State House News Service
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Senate boosts deeds fee from $20 to $45 to fund
CPA agreements
By Colin A. Young
The Senate on Tuesday night adopted an amendment
more than doubling the Registry of Deeds fee
that funds the Community Preservation Act Trust
Fund, a step aimed at rejuvenating the
collapsing partnership.
When Gov. Paul Cellucci signed the Community
Preservation Act into law in 2000, it was with
the promise of state matching funds from the CPA
Trust Fund to preserve open space, renovate
historic buildings and parks, and build new
playgrounds, affordable housing and athletic
fields.
During the first six years, the state matched
100 percent of what each municipality raised by
its property tax surcharge, but state matching
funds have fallen or remained flat in eight of
the last nine years.
The state match for next year is projected to be
15 percent, a record low, Sen. Cynthia Creem
said. "What was billed as a state-local
partnership is no longer that," she said.
The Senate adopted a Creem amendment (# 286) to
raise the deeds fee from the $20 it has been
since 2000 to $45, which Creem said would allow
municipalities that have adopted the CPA to
receive a state match of roughly 30 percent in
2018 and "hopefully for years after that."
Since the CPA took effect, 172 cities and towns
have adopted it (49 percent of municipalities
and 60 percent of the state's population),
raising $1.75 billion to create and support more
than 10,600 affordable housing units, 4,440
historic preservation projects, almost 1,750
local parks and recreation projects, and
conservation of 26,200 acres of open space,
according to the Community Preservation
Coalition.
State House News Service
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Senate rejects measure to limit tax on
short-term rentals
By Andy Metzger
The Senate on Wednesday stuck with its plan to
levy a tax on all short-term room rentals, such
as those offered through the Airbnb online
portal, an initiative the chamber's chief
budget-writer said would raise $18 million in
new revenue.
During budget deliberations, the Senate
dismissed an effort by Senate Republicans to
limit the proposed tax to those who rent a
property for 30 days or more.
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, of
Gloucester, said he did not object to taxing
people engaged in the rental business, and he
argued taxing everyone who rents a room even for
only one night a year is the "most extreme"
version of the tax.
"When we're talking about someone who is
offering their home, or a subcomponent thereof,
for a shorter period of time and does it
incidentally, they don't appear to be someone
who is engaged in the business of providing
public accommodation," Tarr argued.
Westport Democrat Sen. Michael Rodrigues
contended that as soon as someone rents their
place for someone to stay short-term they are
engaged in the lodging business.
"You're renting for money, for revenue. You are
generating revenue. You are engaged in the
business," Rodrigues said. Crediting millennials
for the trend, Rodrigues said "non-traditional
lodging" is now 15 percent of the market and
growing in Massachusetts.
The Senate rejected Tarr's amendment on a voice
vote.
In his budget, Gov. Charlie Baker proposed
applying the room tax to people and businesses
that provide 150 days or more of short-term
rental accommodations. House Speaker Robert
DeLeo has tasked Rep. Aaron Michlewit with
developing a plan to tax and regulate the
industry. The first hearing on the subject is
scheduled for June 5 in Lenox.
State House News Service
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Senator avoid roll call on rejected amendment
bundle
By Michael P. Norton and Matt Murphy
After adopting a new rule earlier this year
requiring a recorded vote to reject bundles of
amendments, the Massachusetts Senate opted on
Wednesday to instead reject amendments resolved
during the behind the scenes bundling process
with individual voice votes.
The Senate whipped through roughly 75
amendments, rejecting each on individual voice
votes after Senate President Stanley Rosenberg
informed the members they would be taking up
amendments that had been part of the bundling
process and the chamber largely emptied of
senators.
"Now I know what it's like to speak in Congress
with all the empty chairs," Sen. James Welch
said, rising to offer brief comments on a
prescription consumer protection amendment that
he had already withdrawn. Senate Minority Leader
Bruce Tarr and Sen. Eric Lesser were also there.
While Rosenberg said the rejected amendments
were resolved during the "bundling process," an
aide pointed out that since the amendments in
question were not part of a single bundle, there
was no need for a recorded vote.
Despite tight finances that mean the Senate's
fiscal 2018 budget may be reworked substantially
during negotiations with the House, the 38
members of the Senate have filed more than 1,000
amendments to their $40.3 billion fiscal 2018
budget and are trying to dispense with them all
as quickly as possible.
Senate budget deliberations resumed Tuesday at
10 a.m. and senators are due back at 1:30 p.m.
following a lunch break.
State House News Service
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
House approved $45.5 Mil in additional FY 2017
spending
By Katie Lannan
Piling on more spending despite struggling tax
collections, the Massachusetts House on
Wednesday gave initial approval to a $45.462
million bill that adds spending to the fiscal
2017 budget.
The bill (H 3718) includes $14 million for the
Department of Transportation, $15 million for
the Department of Correction, $15 million for
the Executive Office of Administration and
Finance, and $1.5 million for the Department of
Conservation and Recreation.
Rep. Paul Mark of Peru has filed the only
amendment to the bill so far, which would
earmark $100,000 for "furnishings and equipment
for a Greenfield Senior Community Center."
With two months left in the fiscal year, revenue
connections are running $462 million behind
projections. The Baker administration has not
outlined a course of action to address the
fiscal 2017 budget difficulties. May tax
collection numbers are due out in early June.
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
A Boston Herald editorial
Oh, give ‘em a break!
State senators yesterday killed a proposal that
would have given Massachusetts consumers the
traditional sales tax holiday this summer,
following the House, which had earlier declined
to sign off on an annual sales tax
reprieve.
Now, it’s true that the state’s revenue picture
isn’t pretty — but lawmakers always seem to find
the extra $25 million they need to fund pet
spending initiatives. When it comes time to use
some of that cushion for the benefit of
taxpayers, however — well, suddenly Beacon Hill
is populated by swarms of born-again fiscal
conservatives.
Until last year taxpayers had come to expect the
annual break from the sales tax, whether
confined to one day or stretched over a weekend.
Retailers pull out all the stops. Folks who had
planned to drive over the border to tax-free New
Hampshire to buy a laptop instead hit up a local
store.
The holiday has been especially welcome over
these past eight years, since Beacon Hill
increased the sales tax by 25 percent as a fix
to get through the Great Recession. Taxpayers
assumed the 6.25 percent rate was temporary.
Lawmakers knew otherwise.
Of course there is a “cost” associated with a
sales tax holiday, in forgone tax revenue. Sen.
Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester), who sponsored the
Senate budget amendment that went down
yesterday, put the estimate at $20 million,
though state Department of Revenue reports
indicate it was closer to $25 million in the
most recent years it was offered.
DOR also estimated indirectly-raised revenue —
higher income tax withholdings, for example,
from stores that bump-up staffing — at $2.5
million in 2015, for a net weekend loss to the
commonwealth of $22.5 million.
That’s less than half the amount of spending
House lawmakers added onto their version of the
$40 billion budget last month. And senators
spent a good chunk of yesterday’s session
stuffing their own version with added pork.
In years past, lawmakers waited until the last
minute to approve an August sales tax break. We
urge them to do so again this year, even if it’s
only for one day.
Because killing it two years in a row will make
it that much easier to kill it forever.
State House News Service
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Senate loads up on earmarks despite tight fiscal
picture
By Katie Lannan
Despite tight finances that may force lawmakers
to make wholesale budget revisions, senators on
Wednesday night were in a giving mood, adding
spending measures for anniversary celebrations
in Peabody, Amesbury, Mendon and Westfield as
well as a soccer program in Lawrence, a winter
tourism campaign in Hull, the MetroWest Food and
Music Festival and a theater in Hyde Park.
As they make their way through hundreds of
amendments to a $40.3 billion spending plan
built on shaky revenue estimates, state senators
have added millions of dollars in new spending
including earmarks they say support important
local programs.
By 1:30 p.m. Thursday, senators added $35.9
million in spending to their fiscal 2018 budget,
according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers
Foundation. Doug Howgate, the foundation's
director of policy and research, said earmarks
accounted for about $24.7 million of the
spending by his tally.
On Wednesday evening, the Senate adopted dozens
of amendments adding funds to the proposal
fiscal 2018 budget and dedicating that money for
local programs. Encountering little resistance,
the amendments were adopted on voice votes,
often after a short speech from the sponsor
explaining what need it would meet.
The Quincy church where Presidents John Adams
and John Quincy Adams are buried lacks a
sprinkler system, and the church has sold some
of its historic silver to pay the hundreds of
thousands of dollars for needed electrical
upgrades, said Sen. John Keenan, who secured
$25,000 for safety improvements at the building.
The Waltham Tourism Council is in line for
$75,000 to support its events including an
annual steampunk festival, which Sen. Michael
Barrett described as a major driver of tourism
and economic activity.
A Dr. Seuss museum opening next month in the
author's hometown of Springfield could see
$100,000 from the state for its "interactive
bilingual operations," and $25,000 was approved
for an "emergency relocation" of the Millville
town hall after the Army Corps of Engineers last
summer deemed its historic building unsafe for
use.
The Legislature typically adds spending to the
budget proposed by the governor, and lawmakers
often take the opportunity to steer resources to
their local priorities. The House included
scores of earmarked spending in the budget it
approved in late April.
Some of the amendments adopted Wednesday had
been targets of Gov. Charlie Baker's midyear
cuts in the past.
Sen. Don Humason said the $50,000 for
Westfield's Thunderbolt Council to host an
annual airshow was cut last year, and Sen.
Barbara L'Italien said the $30,000 for a
Lawrence entrepreneurship program targeting
Spanish speakers met the same fate. Both
earmarks were added again this year.
Baker in December cut $98 million in spending
from the fiscal 2017 budget, citing soft revenue
growth and underfunding of certain accounts.
Those cuts included $67 million in earmarked
spending.
Revenue collections are trailing benchmarks by
$462 million so far this fiscal year. Several
lawmakers have said next year's revenue
estimates may need to be reduced when a
conference committee works out the final 2018
budget, creating some questions about where
final spending levels will land.
Before signing this year's budget, Baker issued
vetoes in 301 line items and slashed 497
earmarks worth $60.6 million. The Legislature
reversed $231.6 million in vetoes and let about
$35.5 million in spending reductions stand.
Baker said at the time he was not trying to send
a message to lawmakers that earmarks should be
avoided on principle, but said he turned to them
as a place to reduce spending and, in some
cases, saw them as excessive additions for
programs and departments that he said were
already adequately funded.
The Boston Globe
Friday, May 26, 2017
Senate OK’s $40.8 billion state budget
By Laura Krantz
The state Senate on Thursday night approved a
$40.8 billion state spending plan that includes
several types of new taxes and fees. But amid
significant uncertainty about state revenue,
lawmakers could be forced to alter that plan
soon.
The Senate’s fiscal 2018 budget includes a tax
on short-term room rentals, like Airbnb, that
lawmakers believe would raise $18 million in new
revenue. It also includes a new assessment on
businesses designed to help pay for the state’s
sharply increasing health care costs, a measure
the governor as well as House lawmakers have
also called for.
The House passed its own version of the budget
earlier this year with its own version of those
two levies. A conference committee will now
hammer out differences before a final version
heads to Governor Charlie Baker, who can sign it
or veto all or portions of it.
Baker also proposed a more narrow version of the
short-term room rental tax, extending the
state’s occupancy tax only to people who provide
rentals 150 days or more. The House is
developing a plan to tax and regulate that
industry.
But looming over budget debate is the fact that
the state is woefully behind in revenue
collection for the current fiscal year, which
ends in June. As of April, the state had
collected $462 million below what lawmakers
anticipated.
That means the plan the Senate passed for next
year could be based on unrealistic projections
and might have to soon be downsized. Lawmakers
are expected to deal with that potential
shortfall during the conference committee.
“It’s going to be a rough budget conference,”
said Senate President Stanley C. Rosenberg, as
he exited the chamber around 9:30 Thursday
night. “We’re going to have to figure out and
hope that the revenues reported at the end of
May are continuing to head in the right
direction.”
Senate minority leader Bruce Tarr gave a speech
on the Senate floor praising the bipartisan
cooperation of the chamber. In the hall after
the vote, he said the budget made “significant
steps” toward improving government oversight and
controlling spending but will likely have to do
more to address the shortfall.
“This is about trying to find ways to slow the
rate of growth in state spending so that we
match the revenue that we can reasonably expect
to get,” Tarr said.
As the budget debate neared an end Thursday
night, Eileen P. McAnneny, president of the
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, noted how
much the disappointing revenue collections
influenced budget crafting.
“The more important questions is what
adjustments, if any, will budget writers make in
conference committee to deal with the
anticipated revenue shortfalls,” said McAnneny,
who leads the state budget watchdog group.
As they finalized the spending plan this week,
senators whizzed through hundreds of amendments,
many of which earmarked small pots of money for
pet projects in their districts.
The Senate added $50.67 million in spending to
the budget during the three days of floor
debate, including at least $24.7 million for
earmarks, according to the Massachusetts
Taxpayers Foundation.
Amendments they passed include money for the Dr.
Seuss museum in Springfield, downtown
revitalization in Framingham, the Cranberry
Health Research Center at UMass Dartmouth, and
an expansion to the Brockton senior center.
The spending plan includes more for the
University of Massachusetts system than the
House and governor’s budgets and also funnels
more money to services for terminally ill
children and their families.
—Material from
the State House News Service was used in this
report.
State House News Service
Friday, May 26, 2017
MTF: Senate pivoted to policy in face of
spending restraints
By Michael P. Norton
With most bills still in committee five months
into the new session, the Senate this week
loaded up its annual budget bill with policy
proposals, creating major areas of disagreement
with the House as the budget heads into
conference.
A Senate budget analysis released Friday by the
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation estimates
total line item spending in the bill at $40.84
billion, compared to $40.83 billion in the House
budget and $40.91 billion in Gov. Charlie
Baker's budget, which was filed in January.
Those bottom lines compared to $39.62 billion
this fiscal year, MTF said.
According to MTF, the Senate added 150 policy
sections to its budget through floor amendments,
adding to 111 policy sections already in the
Senate budget. The 261 Senate policy sections
compares to 156 in the House, MTF said.
While governors have traditionally frowned on
the addition of budget amendments earmarking
spending for local projects, earmarks accounted
for the bulk of the $52.1 million added to the
Senate budget through floor amendments. Senators
put 305 earmarks, totaling $30.3 million in
spending, in the budget through amendments,
according to MTF, which said the amendment
spending was covered in part by $47 million in
savings tied to restricting film tax credit
eligibility.
"The Senate debates focused more on policy
initiatives than new spending, a likely result
of softening revenue collections," the
foundation reported on Friday, saying budget
reconciliation will likely be "complicated" by
the possibility that revenue supports for the
House and Senate budgets will be lowered given
recent collection trends.
"A substantial downgrade to revenue is likely,
and if it occurs, will require major spending
reductions to plans approved by the House and
Senate," MTF concluded.
State House News Service
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
House adds $45 Mil in spending despite budget
difficulties
By Michael P. Norton
Despite on ongoing revenue slump, the
Massachusetts House on Wednesday packed on $45.5
million in fiscal 2017 spending.
Tax collections 10 months into the fiscal year
are running nearly half a billion dollars behind
budget projections and a plan to address the
difficulties has yet to emerge from the Baker
administration, which says it has been planning
to address the situation and monitoring revenue
collections.
The supplemental budget (H 3718), which surfaced
from the House Ways and Means Committee
Wednesday morning, was shipped by the House to
the Senate early Wednesday afternoon on a 152-1
vote after House budget chief Brian Dempsey
outlined its appropriations and said many states
are struggling with sluggish tax collections.
One appropriation in the bill, for $15 million,
is needed to enable the Department of Correction
to pay its employees in June, Dempsey said. "We
believe it's important to move forward on that,"
he said.
The bill also includes $14 million to pay
road-clearing bills left over from the winter
and $15 million to meet state human service
provider contract obligations.
A $1.5 million appropriation will help ensure
staffing and the timely opening of public pools
run by the Department of Conservation and
Recreation.
While tax collections have been trailing
estimates for months, with revenue performance
problems dating back to the Obama
administration, Dempsey said during floor
remarks that he believes sagging receipts stem
from people who are waiting to make business
decisions based on the assumption that Congress
will pass a major tax reform bill, which is a
legislative priority for President Donald Trump.
Tax collections with two months left in fiscal
2017 are running $462 million below benchmarks.
Income taxes are $335 million below benchmark,
mostly in connection with taxes associated with
returns, bills and quarterly payments, a problem
that Dempsey said is evident in more than 27
states.
April collections in those states are running
6.5 percent below April 2016, he said,
speculating that certain taxpayers are deferring
income, accelerating pension contributions, and
taking first quarter losses because it's
advantageous for them to do so for tax purposes.
"That indicates that the hope that there is
going to be a significant tax package coming out
of Wahsington has resulted in a bit of a holding
pattern with respect to high income earners,
corporations, businesses and the like," he said.
While Trump and Congress are considering a major
overhaul of federal tax laws, reform legislation
has yet to gain traction.
"When you look at what is happening, and it's
very concerning, it is happening nationally and
it is happening, we believe, because there is a
wait-and-see approach with respect to what may
happen with regards to a tax package out of
Washington," Dempsey said.
Sales taxes are running $39 million below
projections this fiscal year, primarily in
connection with motor vehicle sales. Dempsey
said there has been an escalation in delinquent
auto loans and that has made it much more
difficult to obtain an auto loan today than it
was last year. He said there was "much more
caution" by financial institutions, which he
said may be countering some of the positive
impacts associated with low unemployment.
And the state's relatively low jobless numbers,
Dempsey said, are also colored by the fact that
many people are working part-time and therefore
are not spinning off the same amount of taxes
that full-time workers do.
Twenty percent of annual state tax collections
are received in May and June, Dempsey said,
telling colleagues that House leaders plan to
work closely with the Baker administration and
the Senate to "make sure that we put out a
conference report that takes into consideration
all of the things that we're seeing with respect
to not only the numbers that we're seeing for
the current fiscal year but but how that
translates into FY '18."
State House News Service
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
House votes to preventing out-of-state use of
inmate labor
By Katie Lannan
The House on Wednesday voted to prevent the use
of inmate labor beyond the borders of
Massachusetts over the objections of Republicans
who argued that existing law addresses the issue
and questioned why it was a priority.
Massachusetts prisons and jails have never sent
inmates to work on projects in another state,
lawmakers said. Bristol County Sheriff Thomas
Hodgson sparked controversy in January when he
proposed sending inmates in his jail to help
construct President Donald Trump's proposed
Mexican border wall.
"It makes it very clear what can and cannot be
done," Rep. Antonio Cabral, the bill's sponsor,
told the News Service. He said, "This is really
about state money being spent on state programs,
and that's really the message."
Minority Leader Brad Jones, a North Reading
Republican, said the bill sought to solve a
problem that did not exist and that the
Legislature should instead be addressing
"existing, ongoing, real-life, today problems"
that affect cities and towns.
"Quite frankly, I'm somewhat stunned that this
has become one of the priority bills to do," he
said.
On votes that closely tracked party lines,
Democrats defeated two separate bids by Jones to
gather more information about out-of-state
inmate labor. His attempt to send the bill to
the Ways and Means Committee for an analysis of
potential cost savings or avoided expenses was
rejected 36-113. A Jones amendment creating a
commission to study the bill's cost and
effectiveness was shot down 38-117.
After close to three hours of debate, the bill
(H 3034) passed on a 120-35 vote. Rep. Susannah
Whipps of Athol was the only Republican to vote
yes, and Reps. Brian Murray of Milford and
Jonathan Zlotnik of Gardner were the Democrats
who voted no. The bill now moves to the Senate.
Rep. David Vieira, a Falmouth Republican, read
aloud a section of state law that allows work
release programs "within the commonwealth" and
another allowing inmates to provide services for
"municipalities within the county," saying those
provisions would make it illegal for a sheriff
to send inmates beyond state borders.
"This is much ado about nothing," he said. "Our
laws already protect it."
Rep. Ruth Balser of Newton countered that the
Legislature often takes steps to make things
explicit even though they can be implied. She
said Hodgson's proposal gives the Legislature a
"real reason" to act and "save the step of
someone suing that sheriff" if his plan came to
be.
Hodgson said in a statement Friday that passing
the bill -- and another that had been teed up
for Wednesday targeting his office before a vote
was postponed -- would "show once again that
personal political agendas are more important
than keeping our citizens and legal residents
safe."
The House had planned to take up another Cabral
bill preventing state money from being used to
execute agreements where state and local law
enforcement are trained to act as federal
immigration agents, but Democratic leaders
postponed the vote after members raised a number
of unspecified questions about the bill.
Cabral, who also sponsored that bill (H 3033),
said its possible some adjustments will be made
to the legislation by the Ways and Means
Committee, but he would not specualte on how
soon it could resurface for debate. "It's
probaby good that it's not done in the same
session so we don't mix the issues," Cabral
said.
Cabral said the decision to hold the bill was
made before House Democrats caucused on
Wednesday, and he was not clear on the specific
questions raised by members prompting the delay.
"I'm sure they have questions because there is a
lot of misinformation and alternative facts. It
has nothing to do, as the opponents would have
you beleive, with sanctuary cities," Cabral
said.
—Matt Murphy
contributed reporting
State House News Service
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Mass. House pulls back bill aimed at countering
Trump
By Matt Murphy
Massachusetts House leaders indefinitely
postponed a planned vote Wednesday on
legislation recommended by Democrats as a
response to President Donald Trump's illegal
immigration crackdown.
The bill would prevent state resources from
being used to execute agreements with U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement to train
state and local law enforcement to act as
federal immigration agents.
On Twitter, Republican Rep. Marc Lombardo of
Billerica credited the "calls, emails, & strong
voice" of opponents to the "sanctuary state
bill" for getting it temporarily tabled.
Filed by New Bedford Rep. Antonio Cabral, the
bill was one of two that House Speaker Robert
DeLeo of Winthrop had scheduled for debate on
Wednesday that had been recommended by the
Judiciary Committee and a special House working
group tasked with crafting responses to
President Trump's policy agenda.
"We're disappointed. We thought that this was a
very good step forward," said Marion Davis,
communications director for the Massachusetts
Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. She
told the News Service, "We feel that it's
important for the House to take a strong stand
that Massachusetts resources should be used for
Massachusetts people, not to implement a federal
deportation agenda."
A spokesman for House Speaker Robert DeLeo
confirmed that many House members had questions
about the bill (H 3033) and said it was referred
to the House Ways and Means Committee "to
provide more time."
The House advanced another bill that would
prevent sheriffs from offering state inmates as
labor outside of Massachusetts. Also filed by
Cabral, the legislation was a direct response to
Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson's
suggestion that he would offer to use prisoners
from his facilities to help build a wall along
the border with Mexico.
The postponed legislation would prohibit any
state money from being used to implement what is
known as a 287G agreement with Immigration and
Customs and Enforcement to train local law
enforcement or correction officers in
immigration law.
"Really, they become deputized ICE agents,"
Cabral said during a recent discussion of the
bill with his House colleagues on the Trump
working group.
Bristol and Plymouth County sheriffs, along with
the Department of Correction, have signed 287G
agreements with ICE, according to Cabral, but
have not yet sent any correction officers to
South Carolina for training.
Federal authorities also prohibit federal tax
dollars from being spent to implement the
program, which Cabral said would have the effect
of making any agreement unenforceable.
Gov. Charlie Baker on Wednesday reiterated his
opposition to using state prisoners for
out-of-state labor, but on the immigration
enforcement issue he referred back to the policy
in place under his predecessor.
"On the second piece, Massachusetts under Gov.
Patrick put in place the ability for the DOC,
the Department of Correction, to do the kind of
analysis and the work with federal immigration
officials for dangerous, violent criminals who
are inside our prison system and if they
determine that they are, in fact, here illegally
they work with the feds to have them removed
from the country and that's a policy that Gov.
Patrick put in place and its a policy that I
support," Baker said.
—Andy Metzger
and Stephanie Murray contributed reporting
State House News Service
Friday, May 26, 2017
Weekly Roundup —
The title of which the clerk shall read
By Matt Murphy
The walls crumbling literally and figuratively
around them, senators did their best to pretend
everything was purple ties and punch this week
as they sped through their annual budget debate
and marched off into Memorial Day weekend.
The exercise dominated activity on Beacon Hill,
while off campus Joe Biden was bopping about
town, Hillary Clinton and Mark Zuckerberg were
advising the newest college graduates and the
world was coming to grips with the latest terror
attack in England.
The final vote on the $40.4 billion budget bill
may have come just in the nick of time,
following a loud bang and falling debris from
the ceiling, like a bad omen for things to come.
"It sounds like we need to get out of here,"
Senate President Stanley Rosenberg said, perhaps
half joking, before calling for the vote. The
Senate chamber will soon, supposedly, undergo
structural renovations.
The finalizing of the Senate budget, however,
sets the stage for a month, and maybe more of
negotiations with the House over not just
spending, but projections for economic and
revenue growth in the coming year that have been
called into questions by months of troubling
signs.
Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday pointed to next
week's release of May revenue collections as a
clarifying moment when leaders will have a
better idea of how fiscal 2017 will end up, and
what it could foretell for fiscal 2018.
"It's going to be a rough budget conference,"
Rosenberg said following passage of the Senate
budget, which only added to the choices that
will have to be made as the body loaded the bill
with policy proposals, tax adjustments and
spending that don't jive with the House's
version.
The lack of disposable state income may have
made some choices easier this year, but senators
found enough money for earmarks - $30 million in
fact - to ensure that things like the new Dr.
Seuss museum in Springfield and a steampunk
festival in Waltham got a piece of the pie.
Those are also likely to be among the first
items on the chopping block, if not in
conference than by Gov. Baker's veto pen. The
Senate also voted to eliminate parole fees,
increase taxes on flavored cigars, and scale
back the film tax credit, which House defender
and Majority Leader Ron Mariano called an
"attack" on job creation policy.
The Senate even found time for a public reading
of "Casey at the Bat."
Over the course of the three days (one longer
than it took the House) and consideration of
1,031 amendments, the Senate took just 35 roll
call votes, all but one of which was unanimous.
"First time in a long time, when the majority
party and the minority party are hard to
distinguish," lamented Massachusetts Fiscal
Alliance Executive Director Paul Craney.
The state budget wasn't the only spending
document that had people on edge this week.
With President Donald Trump overseas on his
first foreign trip, the White House sent
Congress a fully fleshed out $4.1 trillion
budget that provided state Democrats and the
Republican governor plenty of material to
compile a list of gripes longer than the
president's ties.
While Trump proposed to increase military and
border security spending, including $1.6 billion
for a border wall with Mexico, it was the
proposed cuts to food stamps, Meals on Wheels,
the Environmental Protection Agency, medical
research and Medicaid that had state officials
slack-jawed.
Gov. Baker singled out cuts to the National
Institutes of Health and Medicaid as
particularly troubling for Massachusetts. The
"Taxpayer First Budget" calls for Medicaid
spending growth to be slowed by $610 billion
over the next decade, and that reduction would
fall on top of the $800 billion already proposed
to be shaved from the program by the House's
Obamacare repeal bill.
"Obviously, we're going to continue to make the
case that this is not the right way to go, not
just for the people here in the commonwealth,
but for people generally," Baker said, worried
about how the reduced federal support would
cripple state finances or force the state to
pull back on coverage for nearly 2 million Bay
State residents.
Fortunately for Democrats and Baker, Trump's
budget, much like the governor's annual budget
on Beacon Hill, would likely undergo a
substantial rewrite if Congress is to pass a
budget at all. Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a
Republican, called the bill "dead on arrival."
But more about that wall for a second.
White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said
the $1.6 billion in Trump's budget for the wall
would be put toward "bricks and mortar," but
don't expect inmates from Massachusetts to be
cleaning the concrete off their trowels anytime
soon.
The House voted, essentially along party lines,
to ban inmate labor outside the borders of
Massachusetts. The legislation filed by Rep.
Antonio Cabral, of New Bedford, was aimed at
Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, who
suggested he might offer up his prisoners as
labor to build Trump's border wall.
House Republicans blasted the Democratic
leadership for wasting their time on legislation
that was unnecessary, as no inmates have ever
been used a labor out of state, and Hodgson said
it showed "once again that personal political
agendas are more important than keeping our
citizens and legal residents safe."
The other Trump-inspired bill on the House
docket Wednesday - a measure that would have
banned state tax dollars from being used to
"deputize" local law enforcement as immigration
agents - was unceremoniously yanked off the
agenda.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo's office said the
measure was pulled because members had a number
of unspecified questions about the bill, and its
sponsor, Rep. Cabral, said it was probably for
the best so as not to conflate the debate with
that over prisoner work programs. But no one
seemed able or willing to put a timetable on
when the bill might resurface, or what changes
lawmakers were seeking....
STORY OF THE WEEK: Business as usual, despite
unusual state budget picture. |
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