The Massachusetts House of Representatives debated a $32.3 billion budget this week, which included 870 amendments.
Rep. Donald Humason (R-Westfield) said earlier this week that he expected debate to end tonight. However, the House wrapped up Wednesday night and approved the budget 151-4.
Humason said the EBT Reform amendment passed in the final minute of debate. Humason voted for that reform, as well as the overall budget.
The week started with five hours of debates about taxes, said Humason.
“The first day is usually about revenue,” he said. “It was a day of good, philosophical debate about taxes. We spent four or five hours on that.”
Humason said the Republicans put forth “a series of amendments” he hoped would be considered. As of Tuesday afternoon, many of them had been voted out.
“I got into a debate on cell phone tax in Massachusetts,” said Humason. “If you buy a cell phone, you buy a plan too and if that phone is $250 and the plan is $250, you have to pay sales tax on the whole $500.”
The amendment was made, and voted down, to take off the tax on plans and only tax the phone purchase.
“We thought it was a good correction,” said Humason, “but we lost on that.”
Humason said because there are so many amendments every year, they are now bundled.
“We used to take up each amendment individually,” he said, “but a few years ago they decided to take up similar amendments as a package, in the interest of expediting the process.”
The problem with that, he sad, is that within that bundle could be amendments a representative is against, along with amendments he supports.
“You may have to approve something you don’t necessarily want, in order to pass something you do want,” he said.
A group of older and disabled public transportation riders interrupted the Massachusetts House’s budget deliberations Tuesday, leading court officers to temporarily shut down the public’s access to the House chambers.
The riders, some using wheelchairs and canes, said they were upset with increases in the cost for The Ride, the service for disabled passengers in the metropolitan Boston area and a similar service in the Pioneer Valley.
Some said they wanted a moratorium on all fare increases set to take effect July 1.
The protesters were escorted out of the public gallery on the fourth floor of the Massachusetts Statehouse while chanting “the riders united will never be defeated” and “they say cut back, we say fight back.”
The MBTA’s Board of Directors earlier this month approved a series of fare increases including doubling the cost of The Ride service from $2 to $4 for a one-way ride for most riders. The cost would jump to $5 for so-called premium fares for customers outside of the area the T is required by law to serve.
Lawmakers do not directly oversee the operations of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, but some of the protesters said they hope to pressure legislators to support a cap on fare increases.
“People were there to send a clear message to the speaker and the other members of the House of Representatives that people are here, they’re not going anywhere,” said Lee Matsueda of the T Riders Union, a coalition of groups that advocate for riders.
One of the protesters, John Robinson, 63, of Somerville, lives in a disabled elderly building, is legally blind in one eye and visually impaired in other.
He said for some, access to The Ride is literally a matter of life and death.
“If they raise the fares on The Ride, these people will have to choose between transportation and food, or transportation and medication.” he said. “We have people who go to dialysis treatments. We have people who go to chemotherapy treatments.”
Democratic leaders say the budget takes a balanced approach between maintaining essential services while continuing to hold the line on spending and taxes.
The Massachusetts Senate is next in line in the state budget debate.
