AS GOV. CHARLIE BAKER well knows, you don’t always get what you want – even in a state awash in money. The House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday released a significantly pared down version of a supplemental budget bill that Baker introduced last month. Since Massachusetts has been benefiting from high tax revenues […]
supplemental budget
Posted inHealth Care
$1.1 billion budget bill packed with local earmarks
THE LEGISLATURE SENT Gov. Charlie Baker a $1.1 billion supplemental budget bill on Thursday, an indication of the staggering sums the state is spending responding to the coronavirus pandemic. The 57-page bill also includes around $35 million –– 24 pages worth –– of local earmarks, inserted by lawmakers looking to help their constituents, mostly with coronavirus-related expenses. While […]
Posted inPolitics
Lawmakers botch budget bill negotiations
BY FAILING TO reach agreement on a major spending bill before the winter break, legislative leaders have squandered much of their control over what goes into it, and they have courted more federal scrutiny of the state’s election process. In the wee hours of early Thursday morning, the House and Senate essentially threw in the […]