Understanding the MA State Budget Process*
In the coming months, funding for Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17) will be set in place. Debates and deal making will abound, both in the view of the public and behind closed State House doors. Much of this will directly impact the creative sector.
Advocates, citizens, lobbyists, state agencies, trade unions, industry groups, non-profit organizations and the like are also part of the budget process. They can and do meet with and contact our elected officials (or their staffs) to share and advocate/lobby for their budget priorities throughout the budget process.
From start to end, meetings are taking place with the Governor and his team, members of leadership in the House and Senate, and with the so-called rank and file (individual state representatives and senators). Often these priorities are called “line items” in the budget and/or come as proposed budget amendments if they are not included in the budget(s) as “line items”. (1)
The process may seem arcane at times, but its structure is pretty straight forward.
The Budget Process
#1: The Governor Weighs In
Governor Charlie Baker’s team has been hard at work on his budgetary priorities. Tomorrow Governor Baker’s budget proposal will be filed with the House of Representatives. It will be known as “House 1”.
#2: The House Ways and Means Committee Speaks
Ways and Means is the most powerful committee within the House of Representatives. It will review Governor Baker’s budget proposal and then release its own proposal. Before it does so, The Joint Committee on Ways and Means (comprised of state representatives and senators) will hold hearings on the governor’s budget throughout the state.
However, just as the governor’s team is putting together a budget that will reflect Governor Baker’s vision, Ways and Means will release a budget that reflects the vision of Robert DeLeo, Speaker of the House. No doubt, its staffers are already piecing it together.
#3: The Full House Gets Involved
In April, rank and file representatives review the House Ways and Means budget proposal and submit amendments to it. Usually, the amendments come in the form of restoring funding that has been cut or increasing funding that has been held steady. Some amendments are to the budget’s so-called “Outside Sections,” where non-funding related tweaks to existing laws and even entire new laws are proposed.
The representatives and their staffers compare “House 1” with the Ways and Means proposal. They pay attention to where the Governor and the Speaker are in agreement. Those places in the budget will be the hardest to change. Some amendments are adopted, some are struck down, and the full House votes on to approve its budget proposal.
#4: The Senate Ways And Means Committee Has At It
The most powerful committee in the Senate reviews both Governor Baker’s and the House’s budgets. It then releases a third budget proposal. This will reflect the priorities of Senate President Stanley Rosenberg.
#5: The Senate Gets Its Say
There are only 40 state senators, as opposed to 160 state representatives. Thus, each individual senator has more say in the budget. Once the full Senate debates its members’ amendments, their outside section of the budget, and votes to approve a budget approval, the House and the Senate must work together.
#6: Conference and Compromise
Both the House and the Senate appoint three members to a Conference Committee. They meet to discuss their bodies differences and work out compromises. Their compromise bill proposal is sent to the House and the Senate to vote on final approval. This is sent to the governor.
#7: The Governor Weighs in Again
Baker will have 10 days to review the Legislature’s budget. He can then choose to approve or veto the entire budget, veto or change individual line items, veto outside sections, or submit amendments to the budget.
#8: Overrides
If Governor Baker vetoes anything, the Legislature may override it with a 2/3 vote. The House has to approve an override first before the vote goes to the Senate.
#9: The People Get Their Budget
Once the Legislature deals with the potential need for overrides, it votes to approve the final budget. Of course, at anytime before or after this process, the Legislature can enact emergency supplemental budget legislation to increase funding.
The State’s website has online tools to help you dig deeper into the budget process:
https://malegislature.gov/Budget
Stay tuned for more on the ins-and-outs of the state budget process!
(1) http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-lineitem-budget-10404.html
Written by John Weeks and Kathleen Bitetti
*most of the text was taken from MALC’s DIYA: Budget Process January 21, 2015 post:
http://artistsunderthedome.org/malc/diya/diya-budget-process/