Good Morning Westfield! Hope you are all enjoying the nice weather and the long weekend.
Now that April is upon us, it is that time of year again… budget season! As we begin these next few weeks, I always think it’s helpful to give a rundown of exactly how the budget process works. For starters, back in January, Governor Baker released his version of the budget, recommending funding for every state agency and program for the upcoming fiscal year. This year’s budget is coming in right around $41 billion.
Once the Governor releases his budget, it then goes the House Ways and Means Committee, which releases its own version. The rest of the House got their first glimpse of the HWM budget on Wednesday this week. Now, every Representative has the ability to submit budget amendments to the HWM bill. This week is always a very busy time for our office while my staff and I work to make sure the concerns and needs of our constituents are addressed in the final House budget. We do this by inserting new line items, increasing or decreasing funding for existing line items, or by inserting provisions in certain line items that set aside funding for a specific purpose.
After 3 days of submitting my own budget amendments and adding my name as a cosponsor to other’s amendments, the House Ways and Means Committee sorts through them all and groups them into broad categories. At the time of writing this, there are already over 1,200 amendments to the budget. When we go to the House in a little over a week to debate the budget amendments, we will do so category by category, in what are called “consolidated amendments,” or larger amendments that incorporate dozens of individual ones. Finally, we will vote to pass the newly amendment budget and send it to the Senate.
The Senate goes through a similar process once the budget is in their hands. The Senate Ways and Means then releases their version and Senators can add their two-cents by submitting budget amendments, as well. These amendments go through the same procedure as they did when in the House, becoming the final Senate budget bill.
When the budget bill has made its way through the Governor’s office, the House, and the Senate, it lands in a conference committee, where the differences are hammered out by a select few Senators and Representatives from both parties. The Conference Committee report is then sent back to both Houses, which can approve or reject it- no additional amendments can be made at this step.
If both Houses vote to approve the conference committee report, the budget makes its way back to the Governor, who has 10 days to review it. During these ten days, he may approve or veto the entire budget as is, or veto or reduce particular line items. The House and Senate have the ability to override the Governor’s vetoes, though, requiring a two-thirds roll-call vote in each chamber. Then, and only then, is the budget really considered complete.
It’s certainly a long process, but it’s the one bill that has to pass every year. From start to finish, it generally takes upwards of 9 months to complete. We will be taking it up on the House floor starting April 23rd… look out for more updates in the next few weeks!
As always, please feel free to contact my office with any questions or concerns about the budget, or any other issue. We can be reached at [email protected] or (413) 572-3920. Have a wonderful Patriot’s Day!
