The Boston Herald
Wednesday, June 26, 2002
Lawmakers lard bill with $200M in pet projects
by Elisabeth J. Beardsley
House lawmakers loaded over $200 million in pet projects
onto a controversial environmental bond bill yesterday, following six hours of private negotiations.
The huge stack of new amendments drives the bond bill's
price tag over $600 million, from its original $424 million. The Senate has passed a parallel $945 million bill.
The bill bogged down last week, after the Herald reported
that House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran's lieutenants packed it with pork for their districts while refusing rank-and-file
requests.
Many of those lawmakers secured pet projects yesterday -
rail-trails, pond dredging and dam repairs - passing the bill on a 123-18 vote after huddling behind closed doors all day
with House leaders.
When the bill eventually came to the House floor after 6
p.m., it passed with only one lawmaker offering debate.
State Rep. Frank M. Hynes (D-Marshfield) said much of the
items authorized in the bond bill would never be funded - forcing the Legislature to later lift the funding.
"If we do this, it is bad for the message that we are trying
to convey," Hynes said.
Democratic leaders and environmental activists praised the
bill, saying state agencies are running out of money for vital projects.
"We have the eighth largest state forest and park system in
the country and they're badly worn down and in need of maintenance that the bond will provide," said Jack Clarke of
the Massachusetts Audubon Society.
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State House News Service
Wednesday, June 25, 2002
House approves big enviro bond bill
After hours of backroom negotiations, House lawmakers late
Tuesday approved a bill authorizing about $600 million in new environmental spending.
The bill ballooned in size from a $350 million bond approved
by the House Long Term Debt Committee and a $475 million bill approved by the House Ways and Means Committee,
said Rep. Frank Hynes (D-Marshfield).
Critics said the bill was stuffed with bond money for local
projects and would make it harder for the state to recover from a gaping budget deficit. Many of the local items were tacked
onto the bill after rank-and file lawmakers complained that only House leaders had
succeeded in earmarking local projects.
Hynes spoke against the bill and voted against it, as well.
"I ask you to be prudent," he said.
Hynes said the bill tallied $640 million but an aide to
House Speaker Thomas Finneran said the total was just under $600 million.
The House passed the bill on a roll call vote.
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The MetroWest Daily News
Wednesday, June 26, 2002
House pours on the 'pork'
By Michael Kunzelman
BOSTON - A Hopkinton dam, a Framingham park and a Natick
skating rink are among the beneficiaries of a $596 million environmental bond bill approved last night by the state House
of Representatives.
Critics complained the bill was rife with "pork," projects
that solely benefit a lawmaker's district.
"This bill contained more pork than I have ever imagined
possible in a piece of legislation," said state Rep. Jay Kaufman, D-Lexington. "Having grown up in a kosher household,
that's something I can't stomach."
The House voted 123-18 in favor of the bill, which would
authorize the governor to borrow money for dozens of capital projects....
Last week, House leaders unveiled a draft of the bond bill
that would have authorized $424 million in spending.
But the price tag ballooned to $596 million - or as much as
$640 million, according to one critic's estimate - after lawmakers filed more than 200 proposed amendments....
Rep. David Linsky, D-Natick, said the House leaders judged
each amendment "on its merits."
"I saw projects in this bond bill for leadership types as
well as rank-and-file members, for freshman as well as veterans," he said.
Last month, the House approved $1 billion in new taxes and
millions more in cuts in an effort to close the state's growing budget gap.
Some House members said the bond bill sent a mixed message
to taxpayers.
"Most of that growth (in the bond bill) is in local earmarks
for local projects that have little to do with state responsibilities," said Rep. Francis Hynes, D-Marshfield.
The Senate already has passed its own $919 million version
of the bond bill. The House and Senate must produce a compromise version before acting Gov. Jane Swift can sign it
into law.
In 1996, the last time the Legislature passed an environmental bond bill, the price tag was
only $399 million, according to Christopher Hardy of the Massachusetts Audubon
Society.
Hardy said the House's version contains some "pork," but
also earmarks funds for projects that are "legitimate reflections of municipal needs."
"There needs to be a balance," he added.
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The Boston Globe
Wednesday, June 26, 2002
As state leaders grapple with a solution to this year's $150
million budget shortfall, grim new figures show the state will be in even deeper trouble than expected next year - raising the
possibility of a new round of cuts lawmakers had thought they could avoid.
Even with a $1.2 billion tax increase package passed by the
Legislature, the budgets proposed by the House and Senate for fiscal 2003 look to be at least $600 million out of
balance, according to a report being released this week by the Massachusetts Taxpayers
Foundation. With the state's rainy day fund already vastly diminished, state leaders are
running out of options to avoid deep budget cuts, said Michael J.
Widmer, the foundation's president.
"It just gets bleaker and bleaker," Widmer said. "We've got
a major hole in next year's budget, despite $2 billion in spending cuts and tax increases, and we're running out of
reserves."
Disappointing state revenues in recent months and the rising
cost of Medicaid have opened unexpected holes in both this year's and next year's budgets, Widmer said. That will mean
the House-Senate conference committee that will begin working shortly to iron out
differences in the spending plans may have to cut even further than lawmakers have
previously calculated.
"They're going to have to look at cuts," said Kevin J.
Sullivan, Acting Governor Jane Swift's secretary for administration and finance. "We are all in agreement that the
revenue drop-off that we've experienced in '02 is not going to come back in the next few fiscal years. You've
got to do some long-term solutions."
But Senate Ways and Means chairman Mark C. Montigny said
that with state leaders having already engaged in several rounds of budget-cutting, further cuts should be avoided
wherever possible. He said Senate leaders are open to further use of tobacco settlement money,
limiting lottery payouts, and even reconsidering proposals to establish casino gambling in
Massachusetts.
"If we're creative enough to look at all of the proposals on
the table, we can do this," said Montigny, a New Bedford Democrat. "We need to look at every single proposal that's been
put forward by the governor, the House, and the Senate."
House Ways and Means chairman John H. Rogers of Norwood did
not return calls for comment. Rogers and House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran of Mattapan have fiercely
opposed the lottery proposal and moves that involve the use of more tobacco
settlement money.
On Monday, the Legislature approved the use of $300 million
more from the rainy day fund to help close this year's budget shortfall, but the gap in fiscal 2002 still stands at $150
million. The reserve fund that once held $2.3 billion will be under $1 billion entering fiscal 2003, and
state leaders generally agree that it would be irresponsible to spend much
more than $500 million next year.
State leaders will huddle today to decide how to proceed for
the rest of this fiscal year, which ends June 30. Swift has proposed closing most of that gap by using more of the state's
settlement money with the big tobacco companies.
As for next year, Sullivan has suggested having the state
borrow against its future tobacco settlement payments, which would free up hundreds of millions of dollars for short-term
spending to avoid deep cuts or more tax increases. The proposal to limit lottery prizes - first
floated by Swift early this year - should also be reexamined, Sullivan said.
The Legislature has already approved an interim budget that
will keep state government operating through July, while negotiators work out their differences in the annual spending
plan. Conferees will begin meeting this week.
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