State Budget Process-First Step-the Governor’s Budget (Part One)

MALC is actively following the Commonwealth’s FY19 budget process. We watch  for several “line items” in the budget- the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), funding to our libraries, the tourism funding formula, and the film tax credit program. We also monitor what is filed in the “outside” section(s) of the budget.

The first step in our state budget process is the release of the governor’s budget. By law, the governor must release their budget the fourth Wednesday in January (unless it is the beginning of a new term, then it is the fifth Wednesday the governor file’s their budget).

To learn about the state budget process see this link: https://malegislature.gov/Budget/GovernorsBudget

Yesterday, on January 24th, 2018, Governor Baker released his FY19 Budget and to see his full budget see this link: http://budget.digital.mass.gov/bb/h1/fy19h1/

Some key budget line items in the Governor’s budget:

i. Governor in his budget left the Film Tax Credit as is!

ii. He level funded the Massachusetts Cultural Council: http://budget.digital.mass.gov/bb/h1/fy19h1/brec_19/act_19/h06400300.htm

iii. He massively defunded the Mass Office or Tourism and Travel (which also has the Mass Film Office’s budget) to $163,176: http://budget.digital.mass.gov/bb/h1/fy19h1/brec_19/act_19/h70080900.htm

iv. He level funded the Massachusetts College of Art (and design): http://budget.digital.mass.gov/bb/h1/fy19h1/brec_19/act_19/h71170100.htm

For State Budget- First Step – the Governor’s Budget (Part Two)–  MALC will report on some of the other line items we are tracking and how they fared in the Governor Baker’s budget.