Greetings everyone, Happy Saturday! I hope you were able to enjoy the wonderful weather we had this past week. We’re in for another beautiful day today, which is good timing as it’s the opening day for the Westfield Little League. I will be joining in on the ceremony this morning to help kick of the baseball season. There will also be events to honor Patriots’ Day, with a ceremony being held at Parker’s Park this afternoon. This weekend Westfield’s Amelia Park is also hosting the New England Sled Hockey Tournament, and I’m looking forward to volunteering for that tonight!
Exciting things are happening in Westfield, one in particular is the grand opening of Habitat for Humanity’s Restore on Main Street. I attended the ribbon cutting last night, where there was a great turn out and a lot of support. This store will sell new and gently used furniture and is driven by donors and donations. Westfield is a caring community, we help our neighbors in need. This Restore exemplifies that giving nature, and will create a more direct line between those who wish to donate and those in need of a little help. The store will benefit all of us though, I know I will certainly be shopping and maybe even volunteering there!
Getting down to business, the House Ways and Means Committee released their version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 budget which comes in at around $38 billion. We are currently in fiscal year 2015, so the budget we are working on now is for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2015. The House Ways and Means Committee creates their budget based on previous fiscal years and current operating expenses for the various agencies, departments, programs, and services that the budget funds. The committee released their proposal this past Wednesday, April 15, and we are now able to see which programs and services received funding and which did not.
From this initial proposal, my colleagues and I work to create amendments to add on in order to fund the programs and services that help our constituents that were either underfunded or completely left out of the budget. In two weeks, we will go through these amendments and vote on whether or not to add them into the final version of the budget.
There is a process that goes along with creating the budget, and my colleagues and I have to be prepared to work hard and work together in order to be successful in making sure that all of the necessary areas are funded. On Wednesday, there were several votes taken by the House regarding this process. One of the votes we took was in regard to the pushing back the deadline for filing budget amendments, another was for extending review times for amendments during the final week in April, when the members of the House will be voting on the amendments. I voted no on both of these proposals, and I’d like to share my thoughts about them.
As a State Representative it is my job to be apprised of the issues that come before me. That is the responsibility that comes with this position, and a responsibility that should not be taken lightly by me or my colleagues. Though we had quite a short time to file these amendments and gather cosponsors and support, it is our job to take the necessary steps and make the necessary actions to serve our constituents and file amendments to fund services and programs.
My constituents are constantly reaching out to me with their issues and my office is sure to remember them. For instance, I’ve had several phone calls and many emails regarding funding for services to unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness. That is an issue I am that is important to my constituents, and therefore it is important to me. So when the budget was released and we saw that services for homeless unaccompanied youth were underfunded, I made sure to reach out to my colleagues about the funding and indeed found out that someone had filed an amendment to increase the funding, so I signed on in support.
On the other hand, the Governor’s budget had underfunded services for people and families with disabilities, which was a major concern for many of my constituents. When Ways and Means released its budget, we found that funding for these services and programs were at the levels that would allow these programs to maintain their services, therefore, we did not have to file anything to amend this part of the budget.
It is our duty as your elected officials who are paid by your tax dollars to get this budget completed in a timely fashion. To extend the budget process would be a misuse of taxpayers’ dollars. It is my job to understand the issues, amendments, and legislation that come in front of me and be able to make decisions that best fit the needs of the constituents I serve and who put their trust in me.
The deadline has passed for filing amendments, and next week the clerks and staff of the House Ways and Means committee will be going through the amendments for duplicates. The following week, the last week of April, the House will go through the process of voting on the various amendments, so feel free to reach out to me if there are any amendments you would like me to support or not support. It’s important for me to hear from my constituents.
I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend (and school vacation, if that applies to you). As always, please contact me with questions or concerns at [email protected] or you can reach out to my aide Neesha at [email protected].
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not the staff, editor, or publisher of this publication.
