Top Democrats in the Massachusetts House on Wednesday unveiled a $58 billion spending plan for next year that they said would chart the state’s course through uncertain financial times.
The budget proposal teed up for debate later this month would increase state spending by 3.3% — a comparatively modest hike compared to recent years and slightly smaller than the 3.7% boost Gov. Maura Healey recommended in January.
This year, sluggish tax collections prompted Healey to cut $375 million from the budget and then later impose new restrictions on hiring by agencies under her purview. For the new fiscal year that starts in July, budget-writers are anticipating little to no growth in state tax revenues.
“We still have the ability to navigate through these choppy waters and still meet the needs of our residents,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Aaron Michlewitz said. “This budget aims to do that with major investments in housing, education and workforce development, just to name a few, all while keeping Massachusetts a competitive economic engine.”
To support its new spending, the plan produced by Michlewitz’s committee relies on new revenue from a proposal to authorize online state Lottery sales, a handful of one-time fixes — and some optimism around the capacity crisis in the state’s emergency shelter system.
Shelter spending has ballooned to around $75 million a month, as migrants, asylum-seekers and other newly arriving families continue to pour into Massachusetts.
The House Ways and Means budget would fund emergency shelters at $325 million, the same amount as in this year’s budget. On top of that, it would authorize the Healey administration to pull another $175 million from an escrow account and put that money toward the shelter system.
Asked why the House’s bill envisions $500 million in shelter spending when the administration has projected a price tag of close to $1 billion for next year, Mariano replied that he’s “an eternal optimist.”
“Things could change next year, and we want to maintain as much control over this process as we can,” the Quincy Democrat said. “As we deal with the ebb and flow, we're never quite sure what the numbers are going to be, so to anticipate the end number, I think, is a bit premature. I'm always hopeful that something happens in Washington that brings some sort of — maybe not a solution, but a tightening up of the immigration system.”
Mariano said Massachusetts, which guarantees housing to eligible homeless families and pregnant women under a 1980s law, will continue to fund its shelter system “as best as we can as the funds begin to dry up,” with no help on the horizon from the federal government.
“I think there is a point in time where you can't fund this,” he said. “I don't know when that will be, and I'm not about to make a prediction on that, but we have an election coming up. Hopefully, common sense returns to Washington, and we either get a policy that works or we get some financial help.”
Like Healey’s version of the budget, the House’s bill also calls for the closure of the state prison in Concord. The House version omits Healey’s proposed cuts to MassHealth’s personal care attendant program, which provides services to help people with disabilities live at home.
The PCA eligibility changes in Healey’s plan sparked pushback from health care workers, people with disabilities and other advocates.
Michlewitz, a North End Democrat, said the bill his committee drafted would instead require that the PCA program’s services and eligibility criteria remain at this year’s levels.
House leaders previously outlined plans to invest big in public transportation in next year’s budget, with $184 million for regional transit authorities and $555 million for the MBTA, on top of the roughly $1.5 billion the T is expected to receive as its dedicated slice of state sales tax revenues.
Mariano described the T money as both a way to keep the state’s economy humming and a vote of confidence in the transit agency’s “promising new leadership,” under General Manager Phil Eng.
“We have a train man, a man who can walk the tracks and not electrocute himself,” Mariano said. “It's a gentleman that we feel is going to make an impact, and we're excited to work with him as he makes changes.”
State representatives will file hundreds of amendments to the budget throughout the week, with debate on the full spending bill slated to kick off on April 24.
