Undeterred by tax collections that are trailing benchmarks two months into the fiscal year, the Legislature is halfway toward restoring $275 million in spending that Gov. Charlie Baker vetoed from the annual budget.
Without debate, the House on Wednesday voted to put back funding for the Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine, a big data fund and rental assistance, among dozens of other priorities.
House Democrats needed just a few hours to speed through votes overriding a majority of the $320 million that Baker excised in July, when he signed a fiscal 2018 budget that he said had a $39.4 billion bottom line. The spending will be restored if Senate Democrats also agree to the overrides.
House Republicans who voted to uphold Baker’s vetoes lacked the numbers to stop the overrides and did not seek to persuade Democrats with floor speeches.
Before the votes began House Minority Leader Brad Jones, a North Reading Republican, urged his colleagues to hold off on addressing the spending vetoes until a clearer picture has formed about first quarter tax revenues and the impact of Hurricane Harvey on fuel prices. Jones said Democrats may be setting up Baker to again need to make midyear budget cuts, known as 9Cs.
“By restoring such a significant amount of spending at this time, my fear is that we may see a repeat of what happened last year, when the governor was forced to make a series of 9C cuts to bring the budget back into balance,” he said in a statement after Wednesday’s session.
Baker, who is expected to seek re-election next year, is ultimately responsible for balancing the budget.
“The current fiscal environment, specifically soft revenue collection reports to date, indicates there is no basis to support the decision to increase spending by $275 million,” Baker spokesman Brendan Moss said in a statement.
House Ways and Means Chairman Jeffrey Sánchez contended that the budget lawmakers sent the governor in July was balanced, Baker’s vetoes “cut too deeply,” and Wednesday’s overrides were only “first steps” towards restoring funding. The funding restorations are sustainable, Sánchez said.
