Lawmakers near approval of $38.1B Mass. budget
State lawmakers were poised Wednesday to approve a $38.1 billion annual budget bill that increases tax breaks for low-income workers and repeals a law aimed at delivering tax benefits to corporations.
All six members of a House-Senate conference committee that worked through June and early July on the fiscal 2016 budget signed off on the bill, which is not subject to amendment when it surfaces for planned votes in the two branches Wednesday afternoon.
As lawmakers continue work on a stand-alone MBTA reform bill, the budget delivers on Gov. Charlie Baker's request to put the MBTA under the management of a fiscal control board and temporarily enables the MBTA to experiment with privatization outside of the restrictions of the so-called Pacheco law, which serves as a check on the outsourcing of state services.
At a briefing in her office Tuesday night, Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Karen Spilka said the budget increases spending by 3.5 percent, less than the predicted 4.8 percent consensus on revenue growth. Spending growth in last year's budget required midyear cuts and a budget-balancing bill. Spilka, an Ashland Democrat, also said she did not anticipate layoffs would be required to accommodate slower spending growth.
Spilka said the budget increases funding for rental vouchers by about $20 million and also provides additional funds to emergency shelter including $2 million in new funding for housing and services for unaccompanied homeless youth.
Increasing unrestricted local aid by $34 million and local education aid by $111.2 million, the budget also establishes a bulk purchasing program for Narcan, an emergency medication to treat drug overdoses.
Meanwhile, budget negotiators on Tuesday passed on an opportunity to deliver tax relief across the income spectrum by raising personal exemptions for individuals and married couples, despite tax collections that are vastly outpacing estimates.
The proposed budget slightly increases the earned income tax credit that aids low-income workers, but a six-member conference committee turned down the Senate's plan to raise the amount of income that all taxpayers can make before being taxed.
House negotiators did not go along with a Senate plan to increase the tax exemption for all taxpayers regardless of income by $400 to $4,800 for single individuals and by $800 to $9,600 for married couples.
While lawmakers are touting planned investments in local aid, substance abuse treatment and transportation, a major thrust of the new budget is to put the brakes on state spending by roughly cutting in half the spending growth rate to about 3 percent.
The lurch toward a more conservative approach to spending comes just months after Baker and the Legislature were forced to reopen the fiscal 2015 budget, passed during an election year and former governor Deval Patrick's final year in office, to make major spending reductions.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments