722 Budget Amendments Now Pending

Senators spent considerable time last week analyzing the budget proposal released by the Senate Committee on Ways and Means and drafting amendments to modify that proposal. The filing deadline for those amendments was 12:00 noon last Friday. By the deadline 722 amendments were filed. While many of them seek to add spending to a budget that is already tenuously balanced, others offer the hope of substantial reform and the opportunity to capture efficiencies and savings in a time when doing so is at a premium.

You can view all of the amendments at http://www.mass.gov/legis/11budget/senate/amendments/fy11amendments.htm or by clicking here. Debate on the budget in the Senate Chamber begins on Wednesday, and can be viewed in person in the public gallery of the chamber, via the web at http://masslegislature.tv/, or by clicking here.

This is a significant debate for the future of our Commonwealth, and I encourage you to follow it and make your views known to us.

Writing the State’s Budget

This week the Senate Committee on Ways and Means released its proposed budget for the coming fiscal year, Fiscal Year 2011. The budget is now pending before the Senate for floor debate next week. You can view it in its entirety by clicking here. This budget proposal is commendable because it contains no new broad-based taxes, and because it does not rely on a withdrawal from the stabilization fund, which contains a perilously low amount.

Unfortunately, the budget proposal does depend on a number of one-time revenue sources to be balanced, and this is unsustainable in future years. The deadline for filing amendments to the budget was 12:00 noon today, and I and my colleagues have filed hundreds of amendments. Many of those that I have authored and am co-sponsoring seek to capture savings and enact reforms that are a necessity to achieve fiscal discipline and avoid budgetary problems now and in the future.

Governor’s Budget Proposal Released

Yesterday Governor Patrick released his budget proposal for the coming fiscal year, 2011. This spending plan is known as H.2, and is available online at http://www.mass.gov/bb/h1/fy11h1/. Our Commonwealth continues to face significant challenges due to the economic recession, and H.2 represents one approach to addressing them. House and Senate proposals will be developed and debated as the year progresses.

I encourage you to examine the Governor’s proposal with an eye toward whether or not it contains elements that can spur economic growth and job creation, or whether it revisits modest itemized spending cuts and tax increases to achieve balance.

Two items that are of immediate concern as I review the proposal is that once again it proposes a tax increase (on candy and soda), and it increases overall state spending by more than $1 billion.