We’re in the midst of my 17th state budget, which has always been a really rewarding part of this job. Numbers are my forte and knowing where $30 billion of state dollars went was always heady stuff.
Not so much this time.
When I first came to Beacon Hill, budget week was a blast. The Flaherty-Finneran process was (barely) controlled chaos with groups of representatives huddling everywhere in the Chamber. We took up about 600 amendments individually and decisions were made before your eyes. Legislators actually had to cast up or down votes.
About a decade ago, that changed. The budget moved to Room #348 and amendments were “consolidated.” At first, the Finneran-Rogers approach seemed to make some sense: the volume of amendments was skyrocketing and the process was unwieldy. The intent was to streamline the process; the result was to centralize the process. 600 amendments shrank to 60.
Then came DiMasi-DeLeo, DeLeo-Murphy and now DeLeo-Dempsey. This year, we’re doing about 15 super-consolidated amendments, all written behind closed doors.
Right now, I’m in my State House office on the third of four days of budget debate. Eight hours of House session on Monday and thirteen on Tuesday (not to mention the eight hours we’ve been in session today) has only yielded two hours of debate.
A major change in how public unions bargain over health care with municipalities was decided behind closed doors, then brought to the floor, debated, and passed in 30 minutes.
Today, controlled chaos looks pretty good. Yes, it was hard to get budgets done and the final document contained dozens of typos and misprints. But we were all part of the process. We all left the State House exhausted and exhilarated.
Now we leave exhausted and debilitated.
On Monday, the House rejected Republican amendments to reduce the sales and income tax rates. You were one of three Democrats to vote to support the proposal. Did you do so because you were frustrated with the process, or that you felt our towns had more than enough revenue to pay for the services associated with running a town?
ReplyDeleteI was mostly frustrated with the process. There is plenty of revenue for local aid if we would simply stop spending it on other things.
ReplyDeleteThat is understandable. I don't see how reducing the sales and income tax helps to transfer more money to local aid. If we have less revenue from the sales and income tax, won't that put even more pressure on local aid? I know you are a bit of a budget wonk. What areas in the budget would you cut in order to increase local aid?
ReplyDeleteThe biggest program in the state budget -- Medicaid. It has evolved from being a safety net to being a multi-generational entitlement. And, no, I'm not talking about cutting funding for kids' shots!
ReplyDeletePlease provide specifics about the Medicaid cuts along with the amounts to be saved with each cut. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI am a teacher and want to make sure that we continue to be able to bargain for insurance. In light of the recent legislation, please vote in order to insure that town employees continue to have that right.Thank you for your time.
ReplyDeleteJoAnne B.