The Massachusetts House passed a $39.56 billion fiscal 2017 budget Wednesday afternoon, shipping its spending plan to the Senate which plans in May to debate its vision of what state spending should look like beginning July 1.
The budget was approved after two-plus days of deliberations marked by light and sporadic debates, with most of the decisions made in a House anteroom where lawmakers were instructed to talk to Ways and Means Chairman Brian Dempsey about their thousands of amendments.
Lawmakers added $86 million in spending to the bottom line through nine “consolidated” amendments compiled by House leadership and passed unanimously.
The final budget passed 156 to 0, with three Democrats not recorded.
In closing remarks thanking members and staff as votes were being tallied, House Speaker Robert DeLeo boasted at the House’s record of producing budgets that are “on time and in balance.”
With the additional state spending tacked on through the consolidated amendments, the House budget finished the week about $10 million higher than the $39.55 billion spending bill submitted by Baker in January. This year the House was about $4.7 million more frugal than last year in adding to the Ways and Means bottom line through consolidated amendments.
Aside from what industry officials describe as a hospital tax and lawmakers classify as an assessment, the budget does not include any new taxes or tax increases. The House rejected an amendment to raise the gas tax by 3 cents per gallon and avoided a vote on reducing the sales tax to 5 percent by voting to study that issue instead.
On Wednesday, the House added to the budget a measure sponsored by Republican leadership that would bring Massachusetts into compliance with the federal Real ID Act. Some Democrats objected saying they were caught off guard by the major policy decision.
The Real ID Act, a federal post-2001 anti-terrorism initiative, requires states to begin issuing secure and compliant forms of identification that for many residents will replace their current drivers’ licenses.
“I think it’s a good document, local aid was prioritized in a way that satisfied a lot of members on my side of the aisle. That was one of the number one priorities across the board,” House Minority Leader Bradley Jones said. “It goes off to the Senate now and we’ll see what the Senate does. Hopefully we continue to make progress toward having a budget to the governor’s desk in time so he can exercise his judgment.”
