House to address $158M spending bill
Courtesy Photo
With some programs due to run out of money in early April, the House budget committee on Monday released a $157.8 million spending bill that includes $10.9 million in University of the Massachusetts contract assistance that became a point of contention last year between the university and the Senate.
The budget bill, which is being polled by the House Ways and Means Committee, includes $25 million for public counsel services, $14.9 million for the Department of Children and Families and $41 million for emergency family shelter and services programs.
The bill would establish a commission to study the health, housing, financial, psychosocial and long-term care needs of the older lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and would adjust the dates related to last year's tax amnesty program to help reach the program's goals.
Gov. Charlie Baker first filed a version of the supplemental budget in February, requesting at the time that the Legislature address it quickly to provide cash for some accounts that would run dry by the end of March, well before the fiscal year ends on June 30.
The governor's bill included almost $170 million in new spending for which he said the state had sufficient revenues to cover. After a disappointing month of February for revenue collections left the state $123 million behind its goals for the year, the administration's budget chief said she was confident the deficit would be made up before the end of the fiscal year in July.
Baker, who discussed the bill with House and Senate leaders on Monday before Ways and Means released its draft, said that the account in need of additional funding would likely remain solvent until April, and expressed confidence that a bill would be on his desk before then.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo, before the bill had been released, said he thought it would be ready for a vote either this Wednesday or next Wednesday.
Members of the committee have until Tuesday at 10 a.m. to vote on the redrafted bill, making it possible for the House to consider the bill when it meets on Wednesday. The Senate plans to meet Thursday.
The contract funding for UMass became a disputed element of a midyear spending bill last year when the Senate objected to its inclusion, a decision that UMass President Marty Meehan said contributed to the decision to raise student tuition and fees this school year. After that budget's passage, Senate President Stanley Rosenberg announced he would support the inclusion of the funding in the next spending bill as part of an agreement with Meehan that the president would raise an additional $5 million for need-based student financial aid.
"I'm very pleased that the House's supplemental budget honors our ongoing commitment to UMass, its students and its faculty," DeLeo said in a statement on Monday, which included offerings of support from both Rosenberg and Meehan. "Our budget includes collective bargaining funds consistent with the House's historic support of the University. UMass is an institution on the rise that contributes greatly to the fabric of our Commonwealth. With that said, the House proudly pledges its continued support."
Other spending proposed in the bill includes $18 million for sheriffs, $3.5 million for the Department of Transitional Assistance, $4 million for the Department of Public Health and $2.4 million for costs associated with the relocation of the Plymouth County district attorney's office.
The change to last year's tax amnesty program would extend the period of eligibility for individuals and corporations to pay back taxes to the state without a late penalty from payments due before the end of 2014 to those owed before the end of 2015, according to the Baker administration. They intend to run the program from April 1 through May 31 of this year.
The House bill accepts the governor's recommendations that the Department of Youth Services be able to provide services to individuals served by DYS until age 22, up from 21, and also allocates $200,000 to hire hearing officers to reduce a case backlog at the Sex Offender Registry Board caused by a recent Supreme Judicial Court decision.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments