State may need temporary budget
Flickr/Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism
A temporary fiscal 2018 budget is being prepped for passage in the House while conferees begin their fourth week of secret negotiations.
The new fiscal year begins Saturday and Gov. Charlie Baker and the Legislature are poised to pass a temporary budget to keep state government functioning while work continues on a permanent spending plan.
A temporary fiscal 2018 budget is being prepped for passage in the House while conferees begin their fourth week of secret negotiations.
The House Ways and Means Committee on Monday is polling members by email, asking them to weigh in on releasing a temporary spending plan. Members are supposed to respond by 10:30 a.m. Monday, half an hour before the full House is scheduled to gavel in.
Gov. Charlie Baker filed the $5.15 billion bill last week, with a June 29 effective date. The bill also authorizes Treasurer Deborah Goldberg to make advance payments for local aid or reimbursements to municipalities and school districts that demonstrate "an emergency cash shortfall."
The House and Senate are both scheduled to hold sessions Monday at 11 a.m. The bill is likely to advance without objection, since failure to pass it could bring many state government operations to a halt.
On June 5, a six-person conference committee helmed by Ways and Means chairs Rep. Brian Dempsey and Sen. Karen Spilka began its closed-door negotiations of the roughly $40.3 billion budgets passed by the two branches.
Revenue projections used in those budgets will likely need to be lowered substantially for the second consecutive year since tax collections this fiscal year have trailed benchmarks.
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