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Marblehead, Massachusetts 01945
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“Every Tax is a Pay Cut ... A Tax Cut is a Pay Raise”
48 years as “The Voice of Massachusetts Taxpayers”
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their Institutional Memory — |
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CLT UPDATE
Sunday, May 15, 2022
Proposed $49.68
Billion Senate Budget — Still No Tax Relief
Jump directly
to CLT's Commentary on the News
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Most Relevant News
Excerpts
(Full news reports follow Commentary)
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The state
Senate, not to be outdone by their colleagues in the
House, unveiled a budget just slightly closer to $50
billion on Tuesday, which senators said focused on
fiscal matters and was light on policy.
“I’m happy
to say the commonwealth remains in a strong fiscal
position at this time,” Senate President Karen
Spilka said as the Ways and Means Committee unveiled
their spending plan.
Coming in
at a total of $49.68 billion, the Senate’s fiscal
plan for 2023 tops Gov. Charlie Baker’s January
proposal by over $1 billion and last year’s spending
by $2 billion....
Senators
have until next week to submit amendments and
Rodrigues said he hopes a vote to approve the budget
will occur the Thursday after debate begins on May
24.
The
Boston Herald
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Senate budget approaches $50
billion
Gov.
Charlie Baker’s tax cuts aren’t necessarily dead in
the Senate, but the Ways and Means Committee on
Tuesday revealed a budget that ignored them.
“We
haven’t had serious discussions about tax changes,”
Chairman Michael Rodrigues said. “We’ll have a
holistic discussion and debate on that in the
future.” ...
Baker’s
January budget was filed alongside a tax cut
proposal his administration expects would cost about
$700 million.
The
Legislature hasn’t let the plan leave committee, but
an April tax revenue report showing a $2 billion tax
surplus had Senate President Karen Spilka suddenly
calling on members to pursue tax relief this
legislative session, which ends July 31.
“While the
details remain to be worked out, I believe we can
safely balance targeted spending investments to a
number of crucial areas, such as housing, childcare
and higher education, with tax relief for
individuals and families who are feeling the effects
of inflation and continued economic disruption,”
Spilka said in a statement following the revenue
report.
Tuesday’s
budget could have been a good place to start the tax
relief process, but Rodrigues said his committee
didn’t consider the governor’s plan.
The
Boston Herald
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Senate passes on tax relief,
may consider before session end
Senate
leaders on Tuesday rolled out a $49.68 billion state
budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins in
July, touting investments they said would help
families living in deep poverty and share the
state's influx of cash with cities and towns.
The Senate
Ways and Means Committee's fiscal 2023 budget clocks
in below the $49.73 billion version the House passed
last month after adding millions in spending through
the amendment process. It represents a $2.07 billion
increase over this fiscal year's budget, and
proposes to spend $1.45 billion more than the budget
Gov. Charlie Baker filed in January.
The
committee approved the bill on a voice vote during a
virtual executive session Tuesday afternoon, with
Minority Leader Bruce Tarr reserving his rights and
not taking a stance for or against the budget. Tarr
said his lack of a vote was "not an indication of
disapproval" but that he was still wading through
the document to understand its nuances.
The
Senate's bill would boost the balance of the state's
stabilization fund to $6.74 billion by the end of
fiscal 2023, above the $6.55 billion envisioned in
the House's plan.
Senate
Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues said one
of his goals when he stepped into the helm of the
budget-writing committee in 2019 was to ensure the
rainy day fund's balance "rises to a point that will
sustain us throughout the next recession." ...
Like the
House, the Senate Ways and Means Committee did not
pursue Baker's nearly $700 million tax relief
package inside its budget.
Senate
President Karen Spilka said last week that she had
directed Senate leaders to work on a tax relief
package for this session, and that she looked
forward to working with the House to explore that
"after the conclusion of the Senate budget."
Spilka's
comments came after the state in April took in more
than $2 billion above what was expected in revenue
collections for that month alone, bolstering what is
on track to be a major surplus for fiscal 2022.
State
House News Service
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Senate Dems Double Planned
Boost To Local Aid Pot
$49.7 Billion Budget Envisions $6.74 Bil Rainy Day
Fund
The
Senate's three Republicans plan to propose adding
"targeted tax relief" measures into next year's
budget, Minority Leader Bruce Tarr said after top
Democrats unveiled a $49.7 billion spending plan
Tuesday.
The Senate
plans to debate its fiscal year 2023 budget starting
May 23. Like the spending bill the House passed in
March, it does not include any broad-based tax hikes
or the nearly $700 million in tax breaks that Gov.
Charlie Baker proposed alongside his budget
recommendations.
Tarr, a
Gloucester Republican, serves on the Ways and Means
Committee but reserved his rights when the committee
voted to advance the bill, meaning he did not stake
out a position for or against it. He said he wanted
more time to wade through the bill's details....
Senate
President Karen Spilka has said she wants to pursue
some sort of tax relief after the late May budget
debate.
Asked
Tuesday if the Senate would consider revenue-related
amendments or if senators will be asked to hold
their ideas for the later discussion, Ways and Means
Chairman Sen. Michael Rodrigues said, "We will
consider every and any amendment that a senator
files, but at this point in time, we're going to
stick with the same consensus revenue number as the
House and the governor used to compile the FY '23
budget."
State
House News Service
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Senate GOP Plans Tax
Relief Budget Push
Massachusetts Senate leaders on Tuesday released a
$50 billion budget plan that pours hundreds of
millions of more state dollars into child care but,
like their House counterparts, included no proposed
tax breaks or cuts. Amid surging inflation, one top
senator said his colleagues have not yet had
“serious discussions” about the contours of a
potential package.
Senate
President Karen E. Spilka last week called for the
Senate to pursue a tax relief bill following its
budget debate, indicating any plan, should it
emerge, would likely not surface until at least
June. But the prospect of one continues to hover
over Beacon Hill’s annual budget, a version of which
the House passed last month and typically isn’t
finalized until after the next fiscal year begins on
July 1.
Senator
Michael J. Rodrigues, the chamber’s budget chief,
told reporters Tuesday that the Senate would focus
any proposal on putting “money back into the pockets
of our working families.” Still, the Westport
Democrat gave no indication how closely a proposal
could hew to the more than $700 million in tax
breaks Governor Charlie Baker has sought amid both
record state revenues and 40-year highs in
inflation....
In the
wake of a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that
indicated the court is poised to overturn Roe v.
Wade, the Senate budget also creates a new line item
to support abortion services with $2 million in new
funding. The House had set aside $500,000 in its
plan.
The Senate
is expected to debate and add to its budget plan in
two weeks, when its bottom line will likely grow
further. The version released Tuesday did not
include several policy proposals the House had
sought, including one requiring all jails and
prisons make phone calls free for prisoners and
their families — something only one other state
currently mandates — or another dedicating $110
million to extend a free school meals initiative
currently covered by an expiring federal program.
But it
doesn’t mean those provisions will not ultimately
survive. The state is awash in money, with tax
revenues in April alone surging past predictions by
more than $2 billion, potentially giving lawmakers
flexibility to adopt the chambers’ different
priorities, should they opt to, instead of having to
choose some Senate and some House favorites.
Rodrigues,
who will likely lead the chamber’s budget
negotiations with the House, said he, too, has “no
objection” to those House proposals, but rather said
he sought to limit the number of policy changes his
office tucked into the spending plan.
The
Boston Globe
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Mass. Senate
leaders unveil $50 billion budget;
tax break talks in ‘near future’
By Matt Stout
Massachusetts budget writers are planning to push
the balance of the state's rainy day fund well
beyond the rule of thumb that says a state should
keep 10 percent of budgeted funds in reserve, part
of a trend that Pew analysts have seen across the
country since the start of the pandemic.
There was
$4.63 billion in the state's stabilization fund at
the end of fiscal year 2021 and that balance is
expected to grow to between $5.76 billion and $5.89
billion by the end of the current fiscal 2022 budget
year. The House budget for fiscal 2023 would see the
state's savings account rise to $6.55 billion while
the Senate's plan would boost the fund up to $6.74
billion.
In either
case, Massachusetts would have more than 13 percent
of annual budget spending stashed away in case of
economic calamity.
While
there is no one-size-fits-all rule for how much a
state should hold in reserve, 10 percent of budgeted
spending has long been considered an ideal target.
Before the
pandemic, Massachusetts was short of that target. At
the end of fiscal 2020, the stabilization fund
balance of $3.5 billion was only 8 percent of that
year's $43.321 billion budget....
The
alternatives to socking so much money away include
spending it to address unmet needs or adopting tax
relief or incentives to help Massachusetts residents
or make the state more competitive with other
states.
State
House News Service
Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Mass. Not Alone In Bulking Up
Its Savings
State
House News Service Graph
If you’re
waiting for Democrats in the Legislature to send a
tax cut to Gov. Charlie Baker, you’re going to have
to wait a little longer.
Like eight
months.
That’s
when the lame duck Baker will be gone and the new
governor — most likely a Democrat — will take over
and get credit for the accomplishments.
Sound
petty and political?
Of course.
But that’s how the Legislature has always operated.
Baker — to
his credit — has been aggressively pushing his
agenda for the last few months despite the fact that
he’ll soon be relegated to some high-paying job in
the private sector.
But it’s
clear the Democratic-led Legislature wants nothing
to do with giving Baker — who is essentially a
Democrat in all but name — any parting gifts on the
way out the door.
Instead,
Baker is going out presiding over steep inflation
and sky-high gas prices, despite the fact the
Legislature is holding onto billions of dollars in
federal COVID relief and a massive budget surplus
that could be helping people pay bills right now....
It’s
self-imposed gridlock....
“We’re
still in May, but it looks like we’re going to have
a very large surplus for the close of the year. That
certainly gives us an opportunity to not have to be
completely in a rush to spend all the ARPA money,”
House Ways and Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz told
State House News Service.
As far as
a tax cut goes, don’t hold your breath for lawmakers
to pass what Baker has proposed or anything like it.
A gas tax cut like Republicans have proposed? Ha.
Good one.
“All
options are going to be considered,” said Michlewitz,
who may or may not have been laughing when he
uttered that....
It’s a
perfect example of why the Massachusetts Legislature
has too much power and the governor has to kowtow to
them. Speaker of the House Ronald Mariano has much
more power than Baker. He controls all his
Democratic House members who do what they’re told.
And the
Republican governor sits waiting and waiting for
action. It’s something he’s gotten good at.
The
Boston Herald
Saturday, May 14, 2022
Lame duck Charlie Baker waits
for petty Legislature to act
By Joe Battenfeld
Charlie
Baker won't be giving up the corner office until
early next year, but it takes two to tango and the
governor's lawmaking dance partners in the
Legislature are going to put a lid on major work in
less than three months. So what's his top priority?
"I don't
really think I have a top priority here. I have a
lot of priorities," Baker told WBUR's "Radio Boston"
on Thursday.
The
chaotic dash to the end of Baker's first legislative
session, in 2016, featured what the governor dubbed
the "Big Six" bills. This year's sprint to July 31,
Baker's last as governor, might come closer to
fitting the "Baker's Dozen" label. (Not to be
confused with 2010 candidate Baker's reform
proposals.)
His $3.5
billion economic development bill, his $9.7 billion
infrastructure package meant to maximize the impact
of significant federal funding, and a tax cut
package were the few pieces of legislation that
Baker mentioned specifically on WBUR, but there's
plenty more that could hit his desk in the coming
months....
Oh, and
there will be all the fun associated with the annual
state budget, which is supposed to be done by June
30 but has lately lingered into July.
Senate
Democrats unfurled their spending plan for fiscal
year 2023 this week, seeking to double the increase
in local aid and further pump up the state's rainy
day fund while tax collections are surging. The
$49.68 billion state budget proposal is likely to
swell as senators work through the 1,178 amendments
filed for consideration when debate starts on May
24.
Democrats
in both branches are keeping those tax cuts that
Baker wants to sign into law on the back burner
during budget season, but expect the Senate's
"Minority Crescent" to make another push to include
taxpayer relief in the annual spending bill.
Another
group this week launched its own tax policy effort:
the ballot campaign to convince voters to impose a
new 4 percent surtax on households that earn more
than $1 million a year. The surtax is projected to
raise about $1.3 billion a year, which the
Constitutional amendment calls for spending on
education and transportation....
The
Department of Transportation raked in $306.5 million
from roadway tolls through the first three quarters
of fiscal year 222, almost $70 million more than was
collected during the same period a year earlier.
MassDOT officials now expect to bring in about 95
percent as much toll revenue this year as they did
in the last year before the pandemic upended driving
habits.
State
House News Service
Friday, May 13, 2022
Weekly Roundup - Baker’s Last
Legislative Laundry List
Come
November, Republicans in Massachusetts are at risk
of being swept in statewide races, including the
contest for governor, and seeing their minority
ranks in the Legislature shrink even further.
With that
backdrop, party members will spend next week gearing
up for their election-year nominating convention in
Springfield and testing out messages they hope will
resonate with voters. Only two of the statewide
races that will feature at the convention have
multiple Republican candidates: the contest for
governor, which involves former Rep. Geoff Diehl and
businessman Chris Doughty, and for lieutenant
governor, where a pair of former reps, Leah Cole
Allen and Kate Campanale, will face off.
The other
hopefuls -- attorney general candidate Jay McMahon,
secretary of state candidate Rayla Campbell, and
auditor candidate Anthony Amore -- are all
positioned as presumptive Republican nominees.
GOP Gov.
Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito are calling
it quits this year, and Democrats are feeling good
about retaking the governor's office....
In a WBUR
radio interview Thursday, Baker took an apolitical
approach when asked about the future of his party.
Instead of talking up Republicans, Baker, without
mentioning any party, said he would support
candidates he believes in and urged a place at
policymaking tables in Massachusetts and nationwide
for "moderates." ...
Back on
Beacon Hill, top Democrats appear in no rush to wrap
up work on multiple bills they have already passed
in some form or named as priorities. Most of the
major pieces on the Legislature's board for the
final two and a half months of formal sessions,
including tax breaks and a pair of
multibillion-dollar bills targeting infrastructure
and economic development, did not move at all over
the past week. As Speaker Ronald Mariano put it in
February: "There's 'legislative' quickly and then
there's 'press' quickly."
Something
is brewing in the House, which plans to meet in
back-to-back formal sessions on Wednesday and
Thursday, but Mariano's office did not make clear by
the end of the day Friday what bills it would bring
forward. Senators will have a light workload next
week, allowing the Ways and Means Committee and
Senate leaders to work through the 1,178 amendments
filed to the chamber's $49.68 billion fiscal 2023
budget bill ahead of the start of debate on May 24.
State
House News Service
Friday, May 13, 2022
Advances - Week of May 15, 2022
Massachusetts ranked among the worst states in the
country on property tax competitiveness, according
to an assessment released Tuesday by a group that
favors tax policies that it says will spur economic
growth.
The new
map
released by the nonprofit Tax Foundation ranks
states on the property tax, which is one component
of the group's 2022 State Business Tax Climate
Index. The property tax component evaluates state
and local taxes on real and personal property, net
worth, and asset transfers.
"The
states with the best scores on the property tax
component are Indiana, New Mexico, Idaho, Delaware,
Nevada, and Ohio," the foundation said. "States with
the worst scores on this component are Connecticut,
Vermont, Illinois, New York, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, New Jersey, plus the District of
Columbia."
Along with
income and sales taxes, property taxes account for a
big share of government tax revenue in Massachusetts
and growth in property taxes is limited by a ballot
law approved in 1980.
State
House News Service
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Tax Foundation: Mass.
Among “Worst States” For Property Taxes
Speaker
after speaker told a joint legislative committee
considering an economic development proposal which
would also grab billions in federal funding the same
thing Monday morning: the bill needs to pass and it
must pass now.
“Right now
we have the ability to create the building blocks of
success,” Brockton Mayor Robert Sullivan told the
committee. “We need to make sure that the money is
spent wisely, and that we get the biggest bang for
the buck. That’s what my nana used to say.”
Under
consideration is Gov. Charlie Baker’s Future
Opportunities for Resiliency, Workforce, and
Revitalized Downtowns Act, or FORWARD, a $3.5
billion investment plan he says the hundreds of
cities and towns across the commonwealth need to
compete in the future and in a world where the
nature of where people work has changed entirely.
Time, the
Governor and nearly every other speaker before the
Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging
Technologies said, is not on anyone’s side.
“If we
don’t get those dollars into the hands of cities and
towns across the state – now so that they can begin
the process associated with planning, designing and
reimagining and jump-starting their local economies
and their downtowns – we’ll continue to see empty
storefronts and quiet main streets for years to
come,” Gov. Charlie Baker said.
That’s not
the only problem.
A huge
portion of that $3.5 billion would be funded by $2.3
billion from the American Rescue Plan Act, with the
balance covered by $1.2 billion in capital bond
authorizations.
ARPA funds
must be committed by states by the end of 2024 and
spent by the end of 2026. The law prioritizes
investing in projects that are defined and narrow in
scope so they can be completed on time.
The
Boston Herald
Monday, May 9, 2022
Charlie Baker’s $3.5
billion development plan moves forward
Reproductive health funding that state lawmakers are
proposing in next year's state budget is a "good
place to start," according to Gov. Charlie Baker,
who said Thursday that he has talked with lawmakers
about how to support women in other states if the
Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade....
On
Thursday, Baker said he had "talked to colleagues of
mine in the Legislature about what, if anything, we
need to do to be able to support people who are
seeking those kinds of services and can't get them
where they live."
The budget
the House passed in April includes $500,000 toward
"improving reproductive health care access,
infrastructure and security," including grants to
three abortion funds. Senate Democrats this week
rolled out a $49.7 billion spending plan that bumps
that amount to $2 million and creates a dedicated
line item for it.
"And I
think that's a good place to start but we need to
see a decision before we decide what else we might
be able to help with," Baker said of two funding
proposals. "But I think this is something that
should be a high priority for us."
State
House News Service
Thursday, May 12, 2022
Baker, Lawmakers In Talks
About Abortion Action
Aid To People Arriving From Out Of State Under
Discussion |
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary |
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The State House News Service reported on Tuesday ("Senate
Dems Double Planned Boost To Local Aid Pot; $49.7 Billion Budget
Envisions $6.74 Bil Rainy Day Fund"):
Senate leaders on Tuesday
rolled out a $49.68 billion state budget
proposal for the fiscal year that begins in
July, touting investments they said would help
families living in deep poverty and share the
state's influx of cash with cities and towns.
The Senate Ways and Means
Committee's fiscal 2023 budget clocks in below
the $49.73 billion version the House passed last
month after adding millions in spending through
the amendment process. It represents a $2.07
billion increase over this fiscal year's budget,
and proposes to spend $1.45 billion more than
the budget Gov. Charlie Baker filed in
January....
Like the House, the Senate
Ways and Means Committee did not pursue Baker's
nearly $700 million tax relief package inside
its budget.
Senate President Karen
Spilka said last week that she had directed
Senate leaders to work on a tax relief package
for this session, and that she looked forward to
working with the House to explore that "after
the conclusion of the Senate budget."
Spilka's comments came
after the state in April took in more than $2
billion above what was expected in revenue
collections for that month alone, bolstering
what is on track to be a major surplus for
fiscal 2022.
In its Weekly Roundup on Friday the
News Service added:
"The
$49.68 billion state budget proposal is likely to swell as
senators work through the 1,178 amendments filed for
consideration when debate starts on May 24."
The Boston Globe in its report on Tuesday ("Mass.
Senate leaders unveil $50 billion budget; tax break talks in ‘near
future’") further noted:
The Senate is expected to
debate and add to its budget plan in two weeks,
when its bottom line will likely grow further.
The version released Tuesday did not include
several policy proposals the House had sought,
including one requiring all jails and prisons
make phone calls free for prisoners and their
families — something only one other state
currently mandates — or another dedicating $110
million to extend a free school meals initiative
currently covered by an expiring federal
program.
But it doesn’t mean those
provisions will not ultimately survive. The
state is awash in money, with tax revenues in
April alone surging past predictions by more
than $2 billion, potentially giving lawmakers
flexibility to adopt the chambers’ different
priorities, should they opt to, instead of
having to choose some Senate and some House
favorites.
Rodrigues, who will likely
lead the chamber’s budget negotiations with the
House, said he, too, has “no objection” to those
House proposals, but rather said he sought to
limit the number of policy changes his office
tucked into the spending plan.
There is little if any
doubt that the next fiscal year's final budget will exceed $50
Billion. The only real question I see is, by how much?
The House approved its
$49.7 Billion budget on April 27. The Senate will begin debate
on its own $49.68 Billion FY 2023 budget on May 24. $49.7
Billion, $49.68 Billion: call it a tiny rounding error. This
Senate budget starts off with spending $2.07 billion more than this
fiscal year's budget, $1.45 billion more than the budget Gov. Baker
presented in January.
With the state choking on
the historic over-taxation revenue surplus, don't expect much
compromising to happen when the House and Senate budgets are
completed and go to a joint conference committee. The State
House News Service reported on Tuesday ("Senate
Dems Double Planned Boost To Local Aid Pot; $49.7 Billion Budget
Envisions $6.74 Bil Rainy Day Fund"):
The Senate budget also does not
include House measures extending free, universal school meals
for another year, making phone calls free for incarcerated
people and banning child marriage.
Senators could
propose any of those House-backed policy measures as amendments,
and Rodrigues noted that the Senate has previously voted to
outlaw child marriage.
The Westport
Democrat said he had no objection to the school meals and prison
call sections but "just haven't included them" in the spending
bill.
"We focus on fiscal
matters in our budget," he said, saying the committee goes
"very, very light" on policy sections in the spending bill.
One policy section the
Senate included proposes "one narrowly
focused tax relief measure," according to the News Service. "It
would permanently exempt forgiven student loans from being treated
as taxable income."
It's not easy spending
$2.07 billion more than the current fiscal year's budget but "The
Best Legislature Money Can Buy" has managed to pull it off.
The House budget proposed spending $500,000 and
the Senate upped that to $2 million
to welcome and subsidize out-of-state "birthing persons" (or would
that be un-birthing persons?) if Roe vs. Wade is overturned
by the U.S. Supreme Court. Along with the generosity of the
Massachusetts Legislature (funded entirely by taxpayers) having
successfully made the commonwealth a magnet for illegal immigrants,
it now intends to do the same for a potentially more restrictive
abortion market.
Even legislators are
struggling to spend it all, so what they're unable to squander now
they will stash away for a "rainy day" —
meaning a time when they can come up with a way to spend
more. It's not as if the state's stabilization fund is running
on empty. The fact is it is burgeoning fatter than ever
before, even as spending is being increased by $2 Billion. Has
there ever been a starker example of "More Is Never Enough (MINE)
and never will be"?
State
House News Service Graph
They will do whatever it
takes to avoid returning any of that obscene over-taxation surplus
to its rightful owners, the over-taxed producers.
“While the details remain
to be worked out, I believe we can safely balance targeted spending
investments to a number of crucial areas, such as housing, childcare
and higher education, with tax relief for individuals and families
who are feeling the effects of inflation and continued economic
disruption.” — Senate President
Karen Spilka
“I think when we talk about tax relief we’re going to talk about
working families and what puts money in the pockets of working
families.” — Senate Ways and Means
Committee Chairman Michael Rodrigues
That's not tax relief to
the rightful owners, the producers of most if not all of that
over-taxation. That is classic redistribution of wealth
— more spending, not tax relief.
For example, permanent exemption of forgiven student loans being
taxed as income is not tax relief — it is the
productive taxpayer paying twice for the benefit of all those
college student deadbeats.
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Chip Ford
Executive Director |
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The Boston
Herald
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Senate budget approaches $50 billion
By Matthew Medsger
The state Senate, not to be outdone by their colleagues in
the House, unveiled a budget just slightly closer to $50
billion on Tuesday, which senators said focused on fiscal
matters and was light on policy.
“I’m happy to say the commonwealth remains in a strong
fiscal position at this time,” Senate President Karen Spilka
said as the Ways and Means Committee unveiled their spending
plan.
Coming in at a total of $49.68 billion, the Senate’s fiscal
plan for 2023 tops Gov. Charlie Baker’s January proposal by
over $1 billion and last year’s spending by $2 billion.
“This budget makes meaningful investments in early education
and child care, K-12 schools, public higher education,
mental health and substance use disorder treatment, housing,
and individuals and families living in deep poverty. We will
only succeed as a commonwealth if we all rise together, and
this budget ensures that no one gets left behind,” Spilka
said.
About $18.5 billion will go to fund MassHealth, half a
billion of which will go to the Department of Mental Health
to combat substance abuse disorders and mental health
broadly.
“Simply put, this will save lives,” Spilka said.
The Senate’s budget does not include some provisions
included by the House, like funding for prisoners’ phone
calls, or other wedge issues like free school lunches.
Chairman Michael Rodrigues said he isn’t against those
programs, but that those sorts of things weren’t under
consideration right now.
“We are pretty light on policy; I focused on the budget, on
fiscal matters,” he said.
The budget does include increased spending on reproductive
health, $2 million, which Rodrigues said would be used for
security and infrastructure at reproductive health
facilities, not direct funding of abortions.
The funding was added as a line item to the budget,
suggesting it may receive funding in future budgets.
Rodrigues acknowledged that may be the case.
“It is something that we think there is going to be
continual requirements for – hope not – but we think it’s a
very strong possibility these funds will be needed in the
future,” he said.
The budget invests $1.35 billion in the care economy, with
$300 million earmarked for child care initiatives and spends
$900 million on affordable housing programs.
Senators have until next week to submit amendments and
Rodrigues said he hopes a vote to approve the budget will
occur the Thursday after debate begins on May 24.
The Boston
Herald
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Senate passes on tax relief, may consider before session end
By Matthew Medsger
Gov. Charlie Baker’s tax cuts aren’t necessarily dead in the
Senate, but the Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday revealed
a budget that ignored them.
“We haven’t had serious discussions about tax changes,”
Chairman Michael Rodrigues said. “We’ll have a holistic
discussion and debate on that in the future.”
The Senate’s budget proposal, all $49.68 billion of it,
focuses more on matters of money than on political
priorities, Rodriguez said.
“We focus on fiscal matters in our budget, we are very light
on policy,” he said.
Baker’s January budget was filed alongside a tax cut
proposal his administration expects would cost about $700
million.
The Legislature hasn’t let the plan leave committee, but an
April tax revenue report showing a $2 billion tax surplus
had Senate President Karen Spilka suddenly calling on
members to pursue tax relief this legislative session, which
ends July 31.
“While the details remain to be worked out, I believe we can
safely balance targeted spending investments to a number of
crucial areas, such as housing, childcare and higher
education, with tax relief for individuals and families who
are feeling the effects of inflation and continued economic
disruption,” Spilka said in a statement following the
revenue report.
Tuesday’s budget could have been a good place to start the
tax relief process, but Rodrigues said his committee didn’t
consider the governor’s plan.
“I haven’t analyzed the good, the bad and the ugly of the
governor’s tax proposals,” he said.
“I think when we talk about tax relief we’re going to talk
about working families and what puts money in the pockets of
working families,” he said.
Baker had proposed tax relief for renters, a lowering of the
property tax ‘circuit breaker’ for seniors, adoption of
no-tax status to match federal levels for low earners, and a
lowering of the state’s capital gains and estate taxes.
The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonpartisan
watchdog group, endorsed Baker’s plan, calling it the right
move to keep the commonwealth competitive.
Rodrigues seemed to indicate the Senate would have plans of
its own for tax relief.
“The governor has submitted a number of good ideas,” he
said. “But the governor doesn’t have a monopoly on good
ideas.”
The House’s budget also left that chamber without any tax
relief plans.
The two chambers will need to work out their differences
before sending the budget to Baker. The Senate will begin
debate on amendments on May 24, Rodrigues said.
State House News
Service
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Senate Dems Double Planned Boost To Local Aid Pot
$49.7 Billion Budget Envisions $6.74 Bil Rainy Day Fund
By Katie Lannan
Senate leaders on Tuesday rolled out a $49.68 billion state
budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins in July,
touting investments they said would help families living in
deep poverty and share the state's influx of cash with
cities and towns.
The Senate Ways and Means Committee's fiscal 2023 budget
clocks in below the $49.73 billion version the House passed
last month after adding millions in spending through the
amendment process. It represents a $2.07 billion increase
over this fiscal year's budget, and proposes to spend $1.45
billion more than the budget Gov. Charlie Baker filed in
January.
The committee approved the bill on a voice vote during a
virtual executive session Tuesday afternoon, with Minority
Leader Bruce Tarr reserving his rights and not taking a
stance for or against the budget. Tarr said his lack of a
vote was "not an indication of disapproval" but that he was
still wading through the document to understand its nuances.
The Senate's bill would boost the balance of the state's
stabilization fund to $6.74 billion by the end of fiscal
2023, above the $6.55 billion envisioned in the House's
plan.
Senate Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues said one of
his goals when he stepped into the helm of the
budget-writing committee in 2019 was to ensure the rainy day
fund's balance "rises to a point that will sustain us
throughout the next recession."
"We all know these economies are cyclical and we're riding a
very good wave right now of revenues, but there are
certainly storm clouds on the horizon and every economist
that we speak to warned of, you know, the r-word in the next
calendar year," he said.
Major investments that Rodrigues and Senate President Karen
Spilka highlighted include $250 million to continue the
Commonwealth Cares for Children stabilization grant program
for early education providers through the end of this year,
and a boost in unrestricted general government aid beyond
the level proposed by both Baker and the House.
Baker has made a practice of raising unrestricted local
government aid at a level that matches the anticipated
growth in state revenues.
His bill and the House's budget both use that approach, with
a $31.5 million or 2.7 percent increase in the unrestricted
general government aid line item. The Senate's bill doubles
that increase to $63.1 million, for a total $1.23 billion in
UGGA money.
"I think if I had words to describe this budget it would be
'inclusiveness' and 'sharing,'" Rodrigues said. "Because of
the fact that we have seen some robust revenues over the
last year or so, we wanted to ensure that we share those
with our local communities, many of whom are struggling at
their level."
The Senate budget matches the House with $6 billion in
Chapter 70 aid to local schools and an increase in the
per-pupil minimum aid amount from $30 to $60. On the higher
education front, it includes $175 million for scholarships,
$648 million for the University of Massachusetts system,
$337.8 million for community colleges and $327.1 million for
state universities.
Like the House, the Senate Ways and Means Committee did not
pursue Baker's nearly $700 million tax relief package inside
its budget.
Senate President Karen Spilka said last week that she had
directed Senate leaders to work on a tax relief package for
this session, and that she looked forward to working with
the House to explore that "after the conclusion of the
Senate budget."
Spilka's comments came after the state in April took in more
than $2 billion above what was expected in revenue
collections for that month alone, bolstering what is on
track to be a major surplus for fiscal 2022.
The Senate budget also does not include House measures
extending free, universal school meals for another year,
making phone calls free for incarcerated people and banning
child marriage.
Senators could propose any of those House-backed policy
measures as amendments, and Rodrigues noted that the Senate
has previously voted to outlaw child marriage.
The Westport Democrat said he had no objection to the school
meals and prison call sections but "just haven't included
them" in the spending bill.
"We focus on fiscal matters in our budget," he said, saying
the committee goes "very, very light" on policy sections in
the spending bill.
Amendments to the Senate budget will be due this Friday, and
the bill is teed up for debate starting Tuesday, May 24
after senators caucus that Monday.
The House's budget debate featured Republican-led efforts to
add tax changes like Baker's to the spending bill, and the
Senate's three-man minority caucus could take a similar
approach.
"We will consider every and any amendment that a senator
files but at this point of time, we're going to stick with
the same consensus revenue number as the House and the
governor used to compile their FY '23 budget," Rodrigues
said.
Broadly speaking, Rodrigues said that when the Senate does
pursue tax relief, the body will "focus on working families,
and what provides the greatest amount of money back into the
pockets of working families." He said he had not "analyzed
the good, the bad, the ugly of any of the governor's tax
proposals" and expected to also hear many ideas from his
colleagues.
"The governor doesn't have a monopoly on good ideas,"
Rodrigues said.
The Senate budget does include one narrowly focused tax
relief measure. It would permanently exempt forgiven student
loans from being treated as taxable income.
Another outside section added in by the Senate Ways and
Means Committee would require, starting in January, that the
Group Insurance Commission allow a state employer to offer
health coverage to a new employee the day they start work.
Eliminating the waiting period for health insurance has been
one of the goals of Senate staffers who are seeking to
unionize.
Like the House's budget and Baker's proposal, the Senate
Ways and Means bill would eliminate probation and parole
fees.
After a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion last week threw
the future of national abortion rights into question, the
Senate budget adds a new line item to support access,
infrastructure and security for reproductive health
services. The House similarly allocated $500,000 to that
area.
The Senate Ways and Means budget also includes $15 million
for local and regional boards of health, more than $200
million for substance-use treatment, and $15 million for
initiatives aimed at building staff and bed capacity so that
behavioral health patients are not left waiting in emergency
departments for beds.
It funds MassHealth at $18.56 billion and proposes $453.3
million for the Department of Transportation. Rodrigues said
the budget's $187 million for the MBTA, a $60 million
increase over fiscal 2022, would support operational costs
and rider-safety improvements at the transit agency.
The budget recommends 10 percent increases to benefit levels
in the Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children
and Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled and Children
programs. Senate officials said that move would provide an
additional $83 a month for a family of four.
The Senate Ways and Means Committee is also seeking to boost
to $400 the clothing allowance for families receiving TAFDC
benefits, a $50 increase over this year's level.
State House News
Service
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Senate GOP Plans Tax Relief Budget Push
By Katie Lannan
The Senate's three Republicans plan to propose adding
"targeted tax relief" measures into next year's budget,
Minority Leader Bruce Tarr said after top Democrats unveiled
a $49.7 billion spending plan Tuesday.
The Senate plans to debate its fiscal year 2023 budget
starting May 23. Like the spending bill the House passed in
March, it does not include any broad-based tax hikes or the
nearly $700 million in tax breaks that Gov. Charlie Baker
proposed alongside his budget recommendations.
Tarr, a Gloucester Republican, serves on the Ways and Means
Committee but reserved his rights when the committee voted
to advance the bill, meaning he did not stake out a position
for or against it. He said he wanted more time to wade
through the bill's details.
"Senate Republicans will carefully scrutinize the new
proposal, we will draft and file amendments that build on
the good start the committee gave us, and we will encourage
our colleagues to support our efforts to capture
opportunities for: families and those who create economic
opportunities for others, and we will invite our colleagues
to vote with us to enact targeted tax relief to lessen the
burdens on people across the Commonwealth," Tarr said in a
statement later Tuesday.
Senate President Karen Spilka has said she wants to pursue
some sort of tax relief after the late May budget debate.
Asked Tuesday if the Senate would consider revenue-related
amendments or if senators will be asked to hold their ideas
for the later discussion, Ways and Means Chairman Sen.
Michael Rodrigues said, "We will consider every and any
amendment that a senator files, but at this point in time,
we're going to stick with the same consensus revenue number
as the House and the governor used to compile the FY '23
budget."
The Boston
Globe
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Mass. Senate leaders unveil $50 billion budget; tax break
talks in ‘near future’
By Matt Stout
Massachusetts Senate leaders on Tuesday released a $50
billion budget plan that pours hundreds of millions of more
state dollars into child care but, like their House
counterparts, included no proposed tax breaks or cuts. Amid
surging inflation, one top senator said his colleagues have
not yet had “serious discussions” about the contours of a
potential package.
Senate President Karen E. Spilka last week called for the
Senate to pursue a tax relief bill following its budget
debate, indicating any plan, should it emerge, would likely
not surface until at least June. But the prospect of one
continues to hover over Beacon Hill’s annual budget, a
version of which the House passed last month and typically
isn’t finalized until after the next fiscal year begins on
July 1.
Senator Michael J. Rodrigues, the chamber’s budget chief,
told reporters Tuesday that the Senate would focus any
proposal on putting “money back into the pockets of our
working families.” Still, the Westport Democrat gave no
indication how closely a proposal could hew to the more than
$700 million in tax breaks Governor Charlie Baker has sought
amid both record state revenues and 40-year highs in
inflation.
“I really haven’t analyzed the good, the bad, the ugly of
any of the governor’s tax proposals,” Rodrigues said. He
added that he expects to begin discussing potential
legislation “in the near future" but said senators have yet
to have “serious discussions about any sort of tax changes.”
“The governor doesn’t have a monopoly on good ideas,”
Rodrigues said.
In its place, the Senate unveiled a $49.7 billion spending
plan that Spilka said seeks to ensure that “no one gets left
behind.” It increases direct aid to local school districts
by nearly $500 million, helping to fulfill the promises made
under the state’s new school funding formula passed in 2019,
while hiking spending by tens of millions of dollars on
state colleges, substance use treatment, and transportation.
Similar to the House’s initial proposal, the Senate seeks to
spend at least $1.4 billion more than what Baker proposed in
January.
The increases include what Senate leaders called an
additional $60 million for the MBTA, which would receive
$187 million on top of revenue it collects from a portion of
the state’s sales tax and would go to support “necessary
improvements for rider safety,” according to Senate leaders.
The Federal Transit Administration told MBTA officials last
month that it is “extremely concerned with the ongoing
safety issues” at the T and will take on an “increased
safety oversight role” of the transit system following a
rash of passenger deaths and injuries on the system.
How the additional money the Senate proposed is spent would
be left to the MBTA’s board, Rodrigues said.
One of the largest increases in the Senate plan is reserved
for the state’s child-care system, with nearly $310 million
in new state spending over the current fiscal year. The vast
majority of the increase — $250 million — would go toward
the Commonwealth Cares for Children program, which makes
grants available to all child-care providers, regardless of
whether they receive other public subsidies. Senate
officials said Tuesday that to date, the program has been
funded by federal aid.
The extra state spending the Senate proposed would partly
replenish the program, ensuring grants run through at least
the end of December, according to Rodrigues’ office.
Yet, it also falls short of the $450 million in full-year
funding that Baker had pushed lawmakers to embrace. And
despite Senate leaders promising that the funding would help
“transform the child care system,” Rodrigues acknowledged it
effectively is a “continuation” of one-time help on which
many providers are already leaning but would end in June
without additional funding.
The House did not include a similar proposal in its budget
plan, opting instead to hike spending by roughly $70
million, including tens of millions more aid to help bolster
child-care worker salaries.
A recent legislative commission’s study of Massachusetts
child care that estimated it would cost $1.5 billion
annually to put a raft of recommendations into place to
overhaul the state’s early education system, which already
has some of the most expensive child-care costs of any state
in the country.
In the wake of a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that
indicated the court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, the
Senate budget also creates a new line item to support
abortion services with $2 million in new funding. The House
had set aside $500,000 in its plan.
The Senate is expected to debate and add to its budget plan
in two weeks, when its bottom line will likely grow further.
The version released Tuesday did not include several policy
proposals the House had sought, including one requiring all
jails and prisons make phone calls free for prisoners and
their families — something only one other state currently
mandates — or another dedicating $110 million to extend a
free school meals initiative currently covered by an
expiring federal program.
But it doesn’t mean those provisions will not ultimately
survive. The state is awash in money, with tax revenues in
April alone surging past predictions by more than $2
billion, potentially giving lawmakers flexibility to adopt
the chambers’ different priorities, should they opt to,
instead of having to choose some Senate and some House
favorites.
Rodrigues, who will likely lead the chamber’s budget
negotiations with the House, said he, too, has “no
objection” to those House proposals, but rather said he
sought to limit the number of policy changes his office
tucked into the spending plan.
“It is pretty thin,” he said of its policy package.
State House News
Service
Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Mass. Not Alone In Bulking Up Its Savings
By Colin A. Young
Massachusetts budget writers are planning to push the
balance of the state's rainy day fund well beyond the rule
of thumb that says a state should keep 10 percent of
budgeted funds in reserve, part of a trend that Pew analysts
have seen across the country since the start of the
pandemic.
There was $4.63 billion in the state's stabilization fund at
the end of fiscal year 2021 and that balance is expected to
grow to between $5.76 billion and $5.89 billion by the end
of the current fiscal 2022 budget year. The House budget for
fiscal 2023 would see the state's savings account rise to
$6.55 billion while the Senate's plan would boost the fund
up to $6.74 billion.
In either case, Massachusetts would have more than 13
percent of annual budget spending stashed away in case of
economic calamity.
While there is no one-size-fits-all rule for how much a
state should hold in reserve, 10 percent of budgeted
spending has long been considered an ideal target.
Before the pandemic, Massachusetts was short of that target.
At the end of fiscal 2020, the stabilization fund balance of
$3.5 billion was only 8 percent of that year's $43.321
billion budget. But the Bay State was not alone in watching
its reserves rise significantly despite the economic
upheaval of the pandemic.
The Pew Charitable Trusts found that states during fiscal
2021 collectively grew their rainy day funds by $37.7
billion or roughly 50 percent from a year earlier, helping
to drive the total amount held in reserve among all states
to a record high of $114.6 billion. In Massachusetts, fiscal
2021 meant a $1.13 billion increase in the rainy day fund
balance, from $3.5 billion to $4.63 billion, clearing the 10
percent threshold based on the $45.9 billion fiscal 2021
budget.
While Massachusetts's rainy day fund balance might satisfy
the informal 10 percent requirement, it remains short of the
balance recommended by the Government Finance Officers
Association. That group says states should have "at a
minimum ... no less than two months of regular general fund
operating revenues or regular general fund operating
expenditures."
As of the end of fiscal 2021, Massachusetts had enough money
socked away to run government operations for 45.6 days,
better than the nationwide median of 34.4 days but still
short of the GFOA recommendation of two months.
The alternatives to socking so much money away include
spending it to address unmet needs or adopting tax relief or
incentives to help Massachusetts residents or make the state
more competitive with other states.
State House News
Service Graph
The Boston
Herald
Saturday, May 14, 2022
Lame duck Charlie Baker waits for petty Legislature to act
By Joe Battenfeld
If you’re waiting for Democrats in the Legislature to send a
tax cut to Gov. Charlie Baker, you’re going to have to wait
a little longer.
Like eight months.
That’s when the lame duck Baker will be gone and the new
governor — most likely a Democrat — will take over and get
credit for the accomplishments.
Sound petty and political?
Of course. But that’s how the Legislature has always
operated.
Baker — to his credit — has been aggressively pushing his
agenda for the last few months despite the fact that he’ll
soon be relegated to some high-paying job in the private
sector.
But it’s clear the Democratic-led Legislature wants nothing
to do with giving Baker — who is essentially a Democrat in
all but name — any parting gifts on the way out the door.
Instead, Baker is going out presiding over steep inflation
and sky-high gas prices, despite the fact the Legislature is
holding onto billions of dollars in federal COVID relief and
a massive budget surplus that could be helping people pay
bills right now.
Baker has proposed a massive jobs and economic development
bill using several billion dollars in American Rescue Plan (ARPA)
funds. But lawmakers are holding onto most of the money
while Baker stews. And it sounds like they’re in no hurry to
get anything done this year.
It’s self-imposed gridlock.
“We’re still in May, but it looks like we’re going to have a
very large surplus for the close of the year. That certainly
gives us an opportunity to not have to be completely in a
rush to spend all the ARPA money,” House Ways and Means
Chairman Aaron Michlewitz told State House News Service.
As far as a tax cut goes, don’t hold your breath for
lawmakers to pass what Baker has proposed or anything like
it. A gas tax cut like Republicans have proposed? Ha. Good
one.
“All options are going to be considered,” said Michlewitz,
who may or may not have been laughing when he uttered that.
Instead, Baker is leaving office presiding over the ongoing
disaster and federal takeover of the MBTA and embarrassments
like the expensive, $56 million payout to families of lost
loved ones at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home.
That’s what his final-year legacy will be — not a
taxpayer-friendly tax cut.
It’s a perfect example of why the Massachusetts Legislature
has too much power and the governor has to kowtow to them.
Speaker of the House Ronald Mariano has much more power than
Baker. He controls all his Democratic House members who do
what they’re told.
And the Republican governor sits waiting and waiting for
action. It’s something he’s gotten good at.
State House News
Service
Friday, May 13, 2022
Weekly Roundup - Baker’s Last Legislative Laundry List
Recap and analysis of the week in state government
By Colin A. Young
Charlie Baker won't be giving up the corner office until
early next year, but it takes two to tango and the
governor's lawmaking dance partners in the Legislature are
going to put a lid on major work in less than three months.
So what's his top priority?
"I don't really think I have a top priority here. I have a
lot of priorities," Baker told WBUR's "Radio Boston" on
Thursday.
The chaotic dash to the end of Baker's first legislative
session, in 2016, featured what the governor dubbed the "Big
Six" bills. This year's sprint to July 31, Baker's last as
governor, might come closer to fitting the "Baker's Dozen"
label. (Not to be confused with 2010 candidate Baker's
reform proposals.)
His $3.5 billion economic development bill, his $9.7 billion
infrastructure package meant to maximize the impact of
significant federal funding, and a tax cut package were the
few pieces of legislation that Baker mentioned specifically
on WBUR, but there's plenty more that could hit his desk in
the coming months.
Baker's been beating the drum for years to expand the list
of offenses considered grounds for a dangerousness hearing
and to update the state's laws around impaired driving, the
former health insurance executive would surely like to sign
major health care legislation once more before leaving
office, another energy and climate law could add to the
governor's considerable resume on that front, and this could
finally be the year that Baker gets to sign legal sports
betting into law.
Oh, and there will be all the fun associated with the annual
state budget, which is supposed to be done by June 30 but
has lately lingered into July.
Senate Democrats unfurled their spending plan for fiscal
year 2023 this week, seeking to double the increase in local
aid and further pump up the state's rainy day fund while tax
collections are surging. The $49.68 billion state budget
proposal is likely to swell as senators work through the
1,178 amendments filed for consideration when debate starts
on May 24.
Democrats in both branches are keeping those tax cuts that
Baker wants to sign into law on the back burner during
budget season, but expect the Senate's "Minority Crescent"
to make another push to include taxpayer relief in the
annual spending bill.
Another group this week launched its own tax policy effort:
the ballot campaign to convince voters to impose a new 4
percent surtax on households that earn more than $1 million
a year. The surtax is projected to raise about $1.3 billion
a year, which the Constitutional amendment calls for
spending on education and transportation.
"And while millionaires are taking joyrides into outer
space, our educators are digging into their pockets to buy
school supplies and other resources for their students,"
Saúl Ramos, a one-on-one paraeducator in Worcester Public
Schools, said during the Fair Share for Massachusetts
campaign kick-off. "This is a problem and we have the chance
to change it."
The campaign is making the case that the surtax will help
improve transportation infrastructure across the Bay State,
and the problems with greater Boston's public transportation
system were magnified this week with word that the Federal
Transit Administration is "extremely concerned with the
ongoing safety issues" at the MBTA.
Recent crashes, derailments and malfunctions -- including
the death of a Red Line passenger who was dragged by a train
when his arm became trapped in the door of the car he was
exiting -- have drawn renewed scrutiny in the form of a
nearly unprecedented federal safety management
investigation. The only other time the FTA has launched this
kind of probe, it led to a three-year federal takeover of
safety oversight of the Washington, D.C. Metro.
That the T has safety issues is not news to anyone. A safety
review panel was put together in 2019 after a spate of
incidents -- including a Red Line car that derailed and took
out a signal shack, leading to months of delays for
commuters -- said that making safety a priority for the T
was a matter of money.
"The T is safe. But the T can be safer, like all forms of
transportation," Ray LaHood, a former Republican congressman
from Illinois who served as President Barack Obama's
transportation secretary from 2009 to 2013, said in December
2019. "And if you want your transportation to be safe, and
you want it to work efficiently, it takes money. It costs
money to do that."
A few months later, the House passed a transportation
revenue bill and the topic seemed poised to be a central
focus of the Legislature's work in 2020. That House bill
died in the Senate once COVID-19 hit, and there's been no
real appetite for rethinking how Massachusetts funds public
transportation since.
Drivers are doing their part, though. The Department of
Transportation raked in $306.5 million from roadway tolls
through the first three quarters of fiscal year 222, almost
$70 million more than was collected during the same period a
year earlier. MassDOT officials now expect to bring in about
95 percent as much toll revenue this year as they did in the
last year before the pandemic upended driving habits.
The governor added one more item to Beacon Hill's to-do list
Thursday when he announced that he had given his approval to
an agreement to settle the civil lawsuit related to the
COVID-19 outbreak that killed at least 76 veterans at the
Holyoke Soldiers' Home. Baker said he'll soon file a
supplemental budget to process that payment.
The critical threat COVID-19 posed for residents in
long-term care settings generally, like the veterans in the
state-run Holyoke and Chelsea soldiers' homes, was "probably
the single biggest thing we were slow to respond to" during
the pandemic's early days, Baker said this week.
"That would probably be the thing that I would've liked to
have gotten to faster," the governor said, reflecting on the
start of the pandemic.
More than two years since that point, COVID is still a fact
of life and the pesky virus is again complicating normal
business on Beacon Hill.
Despite publishing eight notifications about COVID-19
exposures representing at least 25 cases since April 25,
House Speaker Ronald Mariano and Senate President Karen
Spilka are not planning any changes to their chambers'
protocols, their offices said this week. The uptick in State
House virus cases matches the rise in infections across the
state since March, but it's hitting right as the House and
Senate gear up for crunch time.
Baker was right last May when he said, "COVID's a little bit
like Michael Myers."
State House News
Service
Friday, May 13, 2022
Advances - Week of May 15, 2022
Come November, Republicans in Massachusetts are at risk of
being swept in statewide races, including the contest for
governor, and seeing their minority ranks in the Legislature
shrink even further.
With that backdrop, party members will spend next week
gearing up for their election-year nominating convention in
Springfield and testing out messages they hope will resonate
with voters. Only two of the statewide races that will
feature at the convention have multiple Republican
candidates: the contest for governor, which involves former
Rep. Geoff Diehl and businessman Chris Doughty, and for
lieutenant governor, where a pair of former reps, Leah Cole
Allen and Kate Campanale, will face off.
The other hopefuls -- attorney general candidate Jay
McMahon, secretary of state candidate Rayla Campbell, and
auditor candidate Anthony Amore -- are all positioned as
presumptive Republican nominees.
GOP Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito are calling
it quits this year, and Democrats are feeling good about
retaking the governor's office.
Under party chairman James Lyons, the Republican Party in
Massachusetts has embraced the model created by former
President Donald Trump, leaving Baker on the outs within his
own party. The model hasn't worked well so far for
Republicans, but party leaders appear poised to double down
on it this year and are featuring an anti-abortion advocate
and Trump administration immigration law enforcement
official at their convention.
In a WBUR radio interview Thursday, Baker took an apolitical
approach when asked about the future of his party. Instead
of talking up Republicans, Baker, without mentioning any
party, said he would support candidates he believes in and
urged a place at policymaking tables in Massachusetts and
nationwide for "moderates."
Baker's roots as a moderate Republican extend back to the
1990s with GOP Govs. William Weld and Paul Cellucci. Gov.
Jane Swift, also a moderate, gave way to Mitt Romney, who
brought his own Republican brand to Beacon Hill. By
defeating former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, Democrat Deval
Patrick broke the GOP's run in the governor's office for
eight years before Baker and Polito grabbed the key office
back for Republicans.
But Baker and Polito are not attempting to pass the torch to
a successor. Perhaps the biggest surprise when the duo
announced their plans this year was the fact that Polito
would not run for governor. Baker and Polito, who would have
faced strong intraparty opposition had they run, won't be in
Springfield when party delegates choose a nominee for
governor. Their exits from the political stage leave the
party's future in the hands of candidates who face long
uphill climbs in their attempts to lure voters from across
the political spectrum into their corners.
While Democrats hold a roughly three-to-one voter
registration advantage over Republicans in Massachusetts,
the GOP has always banked on grabbing votes from independent
voters, who are the largest voting bloc in the state.
The convention is scheduled to gavel in at 9 a.m. May 21 at
the MassMutual Center. According to the party, more than
3,000 delegates were qualified at caucuses in February to
consider candidates for governor, lieutenant governor,
attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer and auditor.
The guest speakers include Congressman Byron Donalds of
Florida, former Acting Director of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement Thomas Homan, and former 40 Days For Life leader
David Bereit.
Back on Beacon Hill, top Democrats appear in no rush to wrap
up work on multiple bills they have already passed in some
form or named as priorities. Most of the major pieces on the
Legislature's board for the final two and a half months of
formal sessions, including tax breaks and a pair of
multibillion-dollar bills targeting infrastructure and
economic development, did not move at all over the past
week. As Speaker Ronald Mariano put it in February: "There's
'legislative' quickly and then there's 'press' quickly."
Something is brewing in the House, which plans to meet in
back-to-back formal sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, but
Mariano's office did not make clear by the end of the day
Friday what bills it would bring forward. Senators will have
a light workload next week, allowing the Ways and Means
Committee and Senate leaders to work through the 1,178
amendments filed to the chamber's $49.68 billion fiscal 2023
budget bill ahead of the start of debate on May 24.
The House and Senate still have not officially named a
conference committee that will be tasked with closing the
significant distance between the two branches' approaches to
legalizing sports wagering, though Senate President Karen
Spilka said Friday the measure is "going to conference right
now."
After keeping constituents in the dark on her personal views
about sports betting, Spilka -- who also committed to
ensuring each senator's position gets recorded if and when a
final proposal emerges from negotiations -- told GBH's
"Boston Public Radio" that she is "not a fan of gambling"
but "would have voted yes on this particular bill based on
the very strong pieces of consumer protection (and) problem
gaming" it included.
State House News
Service
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Tax Foundation: Mass. Among “Worst States” For Property
Taxes
By Michael P. Norton
Massachusetts ranked among the worst states in the country
on property tax competitiveness, according to an assessment
released Tuesday by a group that favors tax policies that it
says will spur economic growth.
The new map released
by the nonprofit Tax Foundation ranks states on the
property tax, which is one component of the group's 2022
State Business Tax Climate Index. The property tax component
evaluates state and local taxes on real and personal
property, net worth, and asset transfers.
"The states with the best scores on the property tax
component are Indiana, New Mexico, Idaho, Delaware, Nevada,
and Ohio," the foundation said. "States with the worst
scores on this component are Connecticut, Vermont, Illinois,
New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, plus the
District of Columbia."
Along with income and sales taxes, property taxes account
for a big share of government tax revenue in Massachusetts
and growth in property taxes is limited by a ballot law
approved in 1980. Property taxes are a major funding source
for basic services, such as local education, public safety
and public works.
The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, which favors reductions
in tax rates, said Tuesday that relatively high property
taxes in Massachusetts, combined with high inflation and a
proposed surtax on household income above $1 million per
year, show Democrats are on a path to drive the state
economy into a "brick wall."
While opponents of the income surtax say it will push
affluent taxpayers and small businesses out of state,
supporters say the measure will ensure that wealthier
taxpayers contribute their "fair share" and anticipate a
flood of new revenue will flow and be put toward education
and transportation initiatives.
The Boston
Herald
Monday, May 9, 2022
Charlie Baker’s $3.5 billion development plan moves forward
By Matthew Medsger
Speaker after speaker told a joint legislative committee
considering an economic development proposal which would
also grab billions in federal funding the same thing Monday
morning: the bill needs to pass and it must pass now.
“Right now we have the ability to create the building blocks
of success,” Brockton Mayor Robert Sullivan told the
committee. “We need to make sure that the money is spent
wisely, and that we get the biggest bang for the buck.
That’s what my nana used to say.”
Under consideration is Gov. Charlie Baker’s Future
Opportunities for Resiliency, Workforce, and Revitalized
Downtowns Act, or FORWARD, a $3.5 billion investment plan he
says the hundreds of cities and towns across the
commonwealth need to compete in the future and in a world
where the nature of where people work has changed entirely.
Time, the Governor and nearly every other speaker before the
Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging
Technologies said, is not on anyone’s side.
“If we don’t get those dollars into the hands of cities and
towns across the state – now so that they can begin the
process associated with planning, designing and reimagining
and jump-starting their local economies and their downtowns
– we’ll continue to see empty storefronts and quiet main
streets for years to come,” Gov. Charlie Baker said.
That’s not the only problem.
A huge portion of that $3.5 billion would be funded by $2.3
billion from the American Rescue Plan Act, with the balance
covered by $1.2 billion in capital bond authorizations.
ARPA funds must be committed by states by the end of 2024
and spent by the end of 2026. The law prioritizes investing
in projects that are defined and narrow in scope so they can
be completed on time.
Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer said her city has shovel ready
projects just waiting for the money to move along.
“The FORWARD act has the potential to transform my city and
all of your communities, please pass the FORWARD act,” she
said.
The bill sets aside $750 million for clean energy projects,
$970 million downtown revitalization, sends $300 million to
the unemployment fund, and $270 million in affordable
housing affiliated programs and grants.
“The legislature must act now – I know you’ve already heard
that from everybody else,” said Sara Ross, the founder of
UndauntedK12, a nonprofit focused on showing schools how to
help tackle climate change.
Meg Mainzer-Cohen, president of the Back Bay Association,
asked the committee to slow their consideration of just a
single matter.
Baker’s bill would also authorize the sale of the Back Bay’s
Hynes Convention Center.
Baker says it needs to go, that Boston is the only city
running two convention centers and that it’s not seen real
use in years.
Mainzer-Cohen thinks otherwise. She said the center has
steady booking through the next year, and that it supports
thousands of jobs in the area. She encouraged the committee
to seriously consider whether they had thought the sale
through.
“This is not our first time at the ‘sell the Hynes rodeo,’”
she said. “The Hynes has been an essential player in our
neighborhood.”
— Herald wire service
contributed.
State House News
Service
Thursday, May 12, 2022
Baker, Lawmakers In Talks About Abortion Action
Aid To People Arriving From Out Of State Under Discussion
By Katie Lannan
Reproductive health funding that state lawmakers are
proposing in next year's state budget is a "good place to
start," according to Gov. Charlie Baker, who said Thursday
that he has talked with lawmakers about how to support women
in other states if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.
Baker, during an interview on WBUR's "Radio Boston,"
reiterated his stance that it would be "a major setback for
women" if the high court does strike the Roe ruling that
protects the right to an abortion nationally and said that
state law and court decisions in Massachusetts "enshrine a
woman's right to choose, period."
Last week, after Politico published a leaked draft of a
Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe, Baker said he was
"absolutely open to discussing protections" for providers
who offer abortion care to patients from states where such
services may become illegal. Senate President Karen Spilka,
too, said lawmakers would look to see "what else we can do
to support women and families in Massachusetts and possibly
other states" who might need assistance.
On Thursday, Baker said he had "talked to colleagues of mine
in the Legislature about what, if anything, we need to do to
be able to support people who are seeking those kinds of
services and can't get them where they live."
The budget the House passed in April includes $500,000
toward "improving reproductive health care access,
infrastructure and security," including grants to three
abortion funds. Senate Democrats this week rolled out a
$49.7 billion spending plan that bumps that amount to $2
million and creates a dedicated line item for it.
"And I think that's a good place to start but we need to see
a decision before we decide what else we might be able to
help with," Baker said of two funding proposals. "But I
think this is something that should be a high priority for
us."
Senate Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues said
Tuesday that the abortion funding in his committee's budget
is not specifically geared toward people from other states
who may travel here if Roe is overturned.
"This is ensuring that whoever accesses these services at
these facilities can feel safe and the people that work
there can feel safe," he said.
The Westport Democrat compared the funding to an existing
state grant program that supports security enhancements at
faith-based and nonprofit organizations that face risks of
terrorist attacks and hate crimes, including synagogues and
mosques.
"It's to provide reproductive health facilities grants to
make their facilities safer, whether it's security staff,
whether it's structural changes to the facility," Rodrigues
said.
Rodrigues said creating a specific line item for the
abortion access and security grants is a move that his
committee made to reflect "a very strong possibility that
these funds are going to be necessary in the future also."
Both the House and Senate budgets specify that the funding
shall include grants to the Jane Fund of Central
Massachusetts, the Abortion Rights Fund of Western
Massachusetts and the Eastern Massachusetts Abortion Fund,
which advocates have said would represent the first time in
state history that the annual budget invests in grassroots
abortion fund organizations that help people finance
abortion care.
The Senate budget, set to be debated starting May 24, would
also direct the Department of Public Health to report to
lawmakers on its grant distribution methodology, grant
applicants, amounts awarded, and the projects supported by
the grants.
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