The $41.88 billion budget deal that was filed Wednesday morning and quickly approved by the Legislature includes no new fees, according to the lead House negotiator, and relies on an unusual eleventh hour revenue projection upgrade to boost spending to levels higher than either the House or Senate approved this spring.
The budget, now on Baker's desk, was filed 17 days after the start of the new fiscal year, and 13 days before the end of formal legislative sessions, during which recorded votes can be taken.House Ways and Means Chairman Jeffrey Sanchez told reporters Wednesday that he did not think there was "any one thing" that kept negotiators from producing an on-time budget, saying he and his counterpart, Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Karen Spilka "kept on going back and forth."
"They weren't simple policy pieces," Sanchez told reporters. "At times you have to dive in in these policy pieces, and you really get stuck in the woods sometimes. I'm just happy and proud we got out of the woods and we have a budget before you that does have significant policy pieces in it."The fiscal 2019 budget, which was introduced in the House just after 2 p.m. and quickly won a 143-6 approval vote; the Senate approved it 36-1.The $41.88 billion bottom line is nearly $400 million more than what either branch approved.
The budget also anticipates an additional $271 million deposit to the state's rainy day fund, Sanchez said, a deposit that will address some concerns about inadequate reserves.
Sanchez said lawmakers tried to balance an increase in spending with a building up of the stabilization fund. In a joint statement, Sanchez and Spilka said the total amount in the stabilization fund would surpass $2 billion by the end of fiscal 2019.
The additional spending includes roughly $190 million for what Sanchez characterized as priorities of both branches, and about $150 million to address structural deficiencies in accounts like snow and ice removal and the Committee for Public Counsel Services.
"This offsets the potential need for supplemental budgets in the future, and makes sure that we affirm our commitment to fiscal responsibility," Sanchez said.
According to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, the budget deal assumes $667.3 million in tax revenue above and beyond the estimate agreed to earlier this year by Democratic legislative leaders and the Baker administration. With the added revenue, which follows a year in which collections exceeded budget benchmarks by $1.1 billion, total fiscal 2019 spending rises 3.5 percent over fiscal 2018, according to the foundation.
The budget includes House language that would subject the scandal-plagued State Police to new oversight in the form of an internal audit unit and a special legislative commission. It also does away with a welfare cap under which families do not receive additional benefits for a child born after they are already receiving assistance.
It does not include a Senate proposal to restrict local authorities' cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, despite a vocal push from advocates opposed to a Trump administration crackdown on illegal immigration.
"In relation to that one piece, there was just no consensus," Sanchez said.The budget includes $1,098,945,897 in unrestricted general government aid and $4,907,573,321 in Chapter 70 aid to local schools, along with $5.02 million for state parks and recreational areas, $7.99 million for the Cannabis Control Commission, $12.79 million for youth-at-risk summer jobs, and $161.75 million for emergency assistance family shelters.
"I think all of us are hopeful and optimistic that all of the investments and all the work that we've done this session will lead to increased growth and increased activity and that we'll be able to see sustained revenues and hopefully increased revenues in the future, especially since our priorities and our wish list is pretty substantial in terms of how do we continue to fund the programs that most matter to the people in the commonwealth," Sanchez said.
Unlike the past two years, in which slow revenue growth forced them to mark down available revenues during their negotiations, budget conferees this year were able upgrade their revenue projections.Doug Howgate, director of policy and research at the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said he was not aware of an instance in the last 20 years or so in which a conference committee produced "just kind of an ad hoc increased number based on higher tax revenues."
"I'm not familiar with anything like this year happening," he told the News Service.
Noting that the state was on track to end fiscal 2018 with hundreds of millions more in tax revenue than originally expected, the foundation said in a late June report that "a case can be made for some adjustment" of revenue projections, provided it resulted in a balance budget and did not add to the structural deficit or impact deposits to the stabilization fund.
Once it reaches his desk, Baker will have 10 days to review the budget and issue any vetoes or amendments. If lawmakers get a spending plan to the governor this week, they will preserve a window at the end of the month for them to override line-item spending vetoes and respond to any amendments.
"There is a lot in this budget, and I'm excited to hear what the governor and the administration say about how we have defined our collective priorities as a Legislature," Sanchez said.Baker said Wednesday that he had not had a chance to review the compromise budget, but touted the state's performance on education metrics. "Our school system in Massachusetts is probably the best in the country," Baker told reporters after a transportation-related event in Newton, according to a Masslive.com video.
Sen. Jamie Eldridge voted against the bill because it did not include a Senate immigration law enforcement proposal. The House members who voted against the budget were three Democrats - Reps. Mike Connolly of Cambridge, Juana Matias of Lawrence and Denise Provost of Somerville - and Republican Reps. Nicholas Boldyga of Southwick, Kevin Kuros of Uxbridge and Jim Lyons of Andover.
[Michael P. Norton contributed reporting]
