Patrick: Legislature's $34B Budget Lacks $450M In Revenue
Gov. Deval Patrick plans to take the full time allotted for review of the $34 billion state budget before deciding on possible amendments or vetoes to a plan that the governor says lacks as much as $450 million in revenue supports because work is not complete on a $500 million tax bill.
Patrick, who skipped a meeting with House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray on Monday to work from home in the Berkshires, toured the Hampden County After-Incarceration Support Systems program with Sheriff Michael Ashe in Springfield on Tuesday morning.
According to a transcript of the governor's comments to reporters there, Patrick said, "We'll have to wait 'til Friday" before making any final decisions on the budget.
The Legislature approved the $34 billion budget for fiscal 2014 last Monday, sending the bill to the governor's desk and triggering a 10-day review period that expires Friday. In the absence of an approved annual budget, a temporary budget is covering spending in the new fiscal year, which began July 1.
"Well, we're going to have to deal with reality as we know it today and reality as we know it today is that there is not some $4-450 million of new revenue for the budget because that's in a transportation bill that is not done. This is something that I foresaw, that the Legislature foresaw, that we talked about it some time ago. I can respect that the Legislature has its own clock, and I have a statutory obligation so I am going to do my duty," Patrick said, according to the transcript, when asked if he planned to make massive cuts to the budget bill.
Patrick and legislative leaders are at loggerheads over a transportation financing bill that aims to raise $500 million in new taxes and direct as much as $800 million a year in new spending toward the transportation system.
Lawmakers counted on the new revenue in the transportation financing bill to balance the state budget for the fiscal year that started July 1. Patrick, however, disputes the contention that the bill would reach $800 million in new financing by 2018 because he says $135 million in toll revenue from the Mass Turnpike is scheduled to disappear after 2017 when the highway bonds are paid.
Patrick returned the financing bill to the Legislature last week with an amendment to guarantee $135 million in potentially lost toll revenue on the turnpike after 2017 with either another gas tax increase, or the continuation of tolling. Legislative leaders swiftly rejected Patrick's amendment in statements, but opted against bringing it to the floor for votes this week. Senate President Therese Murray is attending a legislative conference in Scotland.
House and Senate leaders have scheduled votes for next week to reject the amendment, but Murray said on Monday that doesn't mean Patrick should have to veto spending from the budget. DeLeo said Democrats in the House and Senate were waiting to see how Patrick handles the budget before meeting in a formal session next week, and predicted that there would be plenty of time to take final action on the transportation bill and address possible budget veto overrides before Aug. 1 when a temporary budget measure expires.
Both House and Senate leaders appear confident that they can rally the votes to override a veto from the governor of the transportation financing bill and provide the revenue to support spending in the budget they passed.
"There's a lot to like about the budget. There are things about it that are very frustrating like the interconnection between the new revenue and the transportation bill and the reliance on it in the budget and we're going to have to deal with it," Patrick said.
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