What’s a deadline?
Perhaps it was folly to think that state lawmakers could, by end of business yesterday, bridge a huge divide between the two branches over a rewrite of the new pot law — and finalize a budget for the fiscal year that begins today given a revenue gap of uncertain (but certainly enormous) size.
After all they’ve only had, what, six months to get this stuff done?
Yes, the power of procrastination on Beacon Hill rarely ceases to amaze.
The House and Senate broke for the Fourth of July weekend last evening without resolving what amount to huge differences on the pot bill. They had imposed the Friday deadline on themselves, with the hope of wrapping up in time for regulators to begin the next phase of work to implement the law, and for the first pot shops to open early next year. They had already voted to extend the start date for retail sales by six months and don’t want to extend it further.
But it seems even a protest planned by pro-pot lobbyists outside the home of House Speaker Robert DeLeo Thursday evening wasn’t enough to break the impasse.
The other deadline was hardand-fast — the start of the new fiscal year. The House and Senate had built budgets based on forecasts that are now being adjusted to reflect a drop in revenue. But because this isn’t anybody’s first rodeo — including Gov. Charlie Baker’s — the parties earlier in the week passed a temporary budget to get through July.
At the risk of repeating ourselves, perhaps if the two branches were to meet more regularly in formal sessions — instead of relying on the budget to enact all manner of policy changes — they’d have an easier time getting to a deal on the budget. As for the pot bill, well, we hope the delay means the House is sticking to its guns on a tougher version. Compromise is necessary, of course, but the Senate’s “It’s all groovy, man” approach to the lobbyist-written/voter-approved law is simply unacceptable.
None of the parties was talking specifics yesterday, so it could be a day, a week or six months before they come to a compromise. The more things change, the more they stay the same.