House pols push $49.7B budget
No tax cuts but sheriffs get raises
After dispensing with more than 1,500 proposed amendments, state lawmakers passed a budget that ballooned to $49.7 billion — without any tax cuts but $20,000 raises for 14 sheriffs across the commonwealth.
County sheriffs would be paid $195,000 under this version, up from $171,900.
“I want to especially thank the (Ways and Means Committee) chairman for showing me how easy it is to spend billions of dollars in three days. I just wish I had money in my own checking account,” Speaker Ronald Mariano said late Wednesday evening.
The fiscal 2023 budget passed the House with a vote of 155-0.
The House’s budget, originally proposed at $130 million less than what was eventually approved, must now be squared with the Senate’s budget. That chamber will debate its version of the spending package in May.
The various amendments were mostly rejected or consolidated into seven socalled “mega-amendments.”
House lawmakers approved an increase in state spending by more than 4%, or $2.1 billion, above last year and about $1.5 billion more than Gov. Charlie Baker proposed.
Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, which crafts the budget, said Monday as debate began that the state has ridden a revenue roller coaster over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Today presents the commonwealth with a unique opportunity to be forwardthinking while solving some immediate needs by investing in the middle class as we start to tackle some of the challenges the post-COVID world has created,” he said.
The unanimous approval of the budget comes just two days after the House rejected a series of proposals by Rep. Nicholas Boldyga mirroring $700 million in tax cuts
pushed by Baker but currently stuck in committee.
The house also rejected a proposal to temporarily suspend the state’s gas tax in response to soaring prices at the pump.
On Tuesday, language was added to the bill to outlaw child marriage in Massachusetts. The commonwealth is one of dozens of states that allows minors to marry.
The bill would send about
$785 million to the state’s rainy day fund, already sitting at a historic high balance of $4.6 billion.
This comes as the state sees record tax revenue. March tax revenues were up by nearly 14% over last year, according to the Department of Revenue. That department reports year-to-date revenues are up by nearly 15%.
“The good times may not
roll forever,” Mariano said when unveiling the budget.
On Wednesday the house rejected a further proposal by Boldyga to allow seniors to submit for a $2,500 rebate on prescription drug costs.
“It is unclear the total cost to the commonwealth,” Rep. Thomas Stanley said before recommending rejection.