Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Senate Ways and Means Released State Budget Proposal
Today, the Senate Committee on Ways and Means took an important step in the state spending process by releasing its Fiscal Year 2020 budget proposal for consideration by the full Senate. A preliminary reading of the large and complex document indicates that Chairman Rodrigues and his committee have listened carefully to Senators and developed a thoughtful document that responds to such key priorities as education, substance use disorder and nursing home stabilization.
While the budget proposal commits substantial and important amounts of spending to these priorities, we all must work together to ensure that that spending finds its way fairly and effectively to its intended beneficiaries. And, while we are experiencing times of relative prosperity, we must not overlook any opportunities to capture efficiencies and keep state spending under control. The committee’s proposal to deposit $268 million into the “Rainy Day” stabilization fund, bringing the total to $2.76 billion, is an important and laudable example of fiscal discipline.
In the days ahead members of the Senate Republican Caucus will carefully scrutinize the proposal and seek to contribute to making it as cost-effective as possible so that we consider not only those who receive the benefits of the state budget, but also the households budgets that must pay for them.
The budget document can be found at https://malegislature.gov/Budget/SenateWaysMeansBudget
