Beacon Hill gridlock keeping books on last year’s budget open

Tight-lipped lawmakers sent mixed messages Monday after the governor presented a list of critical budget priorities as a monthslong stalemate over unspent revenue from last year continues to wear on.

Minority Leader Bruce Tarr argued that there is not enough communication between the House and the Senate on how to spend the $1.1 billion surplus from fiscal 2019, which ended June 30.

“A way to solve the difference of opinion is for two sides to sit at a table and talk to each other,” Tarr told reporters Monday. “We would do well to remember that basic fact.”

House Speaker Robert DeLeo, on the other hand, said the chairs of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, which oversees the state budget, spoke on Saturday.

“Both chairs are talking and, you know, we’ll hopefully see what comes out of those discussions,” DeLeo said.

Gov. Charlie Baker sent a letter to the Committee Monday, at its request, outlining the Administration’s  “truly critical” line items amounting to $348 million. Lawmakers refused to say what specific issues are holding up the budget, which is now more than a month overdue.

In response to deadlock, Comptroller Andrew Maylor set a deadline for the branches to establish the spending plan by Dec. 11, or he will take it upon himself to close the books. That would leave several accounts with deficits, upend spending plans and put the extra money in the state’s rainy day fund.

Asked whether he thinks the Legislature will meet that deadline, Maylor said, “I truly have no idea.”

He added that in addition to violating state statute, closing the books late creates “unnecessary confusion,” and said he plans to adhere to a strict Oct. 31 deadline in the future, “so we do not find ourselves in this position again.”

MassFiscal Alliance spokesman Paul Craney blasted the dispute among lawmakers as they propose tax increases, including the Transportation Climate Initiative, which would charge transportation fuel companies for the carbon emissions associated with the gas and diesel they sell.

“Only in Massachusetts do our elected leaders call for comprehensive tax increases, yet they fail to properly budget on time,” Craney said. “They are trigger happy to call for higher and new taxes, but refuse to do the hard work, which is govern.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/34T3Ilv