Representative John Keenan Reacts to House
SBOSTON – Representative John Keenan (D-Salem) was enthusiastic today in response to the final House version of the FY06 state budget, which was unanimously approved by that body late Friday evening. After federal reimbursement, the $23.7 billion document included $100 million in additional monies beyond those allocated in the first draft of the budget released three weeks ago by the House Ways and Means Committee. The final budget document itself was trimmer than in previous years, due largely to the leadership of Ways and Means Chairman Robert DeLeo and Speaker of the House Salvatore DiMasi, who early on decided that non-budgetary “outside sections” would be prohibited. In years past, “outside sections” were tacked onto the budget in an effort to make changes to policy not related to the budget or state finances. “Speaker DiMasi and Chairman DeLeo should be congratulated for their extraordinary leadership over the last few weeks,” said Representative Keenan, “They decided, rightly so, that the place for policy debate was in the public hearings before the various committees.” Representative Keenan described his first budget session as Salem’s state representative. “It was an exciting process and an educational process,” said Representative Keenan, “I feel strongly that we were able to make some real positive changes, despite the fact that we’re still facing a structural deficit. Although this budget reduces our reliance on reserves, we still tapped it for $380 million to cover the shortfall. Given the difficult fiscal situation the Commonwealth is facing, I think this budget is a remarkable step forward for some of the neediest in Massachusetts.” Representative Keenan and his colleagues were in session until late each night last week, debating and discussing the more than 1,300 amendments that had been filed to the budget. In the end, many of the amendments were consolidated together based on subject matter and considered as a package. Representative Keenan reflected on three changes to the budget that are particularly important to Salem. “Working with my colleagues in the North East Legislative Caucus, we were able to convince the leadership to include the additional assistance to our hospitals,” said Representative Keenan, “We were able to negotiate an additional $86 million for the uncompensated free care pool for Massachusetts’ hospitals. The initial budget under-funded this critical program to the point where thousands of uninsured were at risk of losing the only health care coverage available to them. Although not fully funding the anticipated shortfall in free care, this will greatly reduce the financial strain on North Shore Medical Center.” Another win for Salem was an increase in Chapter 70 funds, which is local aid for education. For Salem, that means an additional $245,600 in Chapter 70 aid, which, when combined with an additional $621,332 the city will be receiving in new lottery aid, brings the total amount of local aid for Salem for FY06 to $18,039,360. This represents an increase over the FY05 allocation by $866,932. After experiencing a drop by nearly 16% during the fiscal crisis of the last half-decade, the local aid level for Salem will increase by 5% next fiscal year. “This will bring us back on track for the level of local aid equivalent to where we were in FY00, just before the economic crunch hit. It’s a step in the right direction,” explained Representative Keenan. The final change of note to the House budget was the deletion of an outside section which would have reduced the amount of money that the local police departments and district attorneys offices received from drug forfeiture money. Representative Keenan, a former Assistant District Attorney, and his colleagues successfully convinced the Speaker to leave the money in the cities and towns for drug enforcement. “This was another way for us to support local aid and public safety,” said Representative Keenan, “Chief St. Pierre and DA Jon Blodgett need these resources to continue the battle against drugs.” Representative Keenan also reacted to the elimination of a $3 million earmark for a new courthouse project that had been included by the Governor in the first draft of his budget recommendations. “House Leadership removed all capital projects from the House version of the operating budget,” explained Representative Keenan, “Even though the earmark is not there, it certainly does not mean the commitment is not there. It could still possibly make it into the Senate’s budget. Moreover, we are currently in discussions with leadership about a supplemental capital budget, which will include the Salem court project, and will hopefully be filed before the end of the summer.” The State Senate is scheduled to being its budget deliberations in mid-May. Following the passage of that chamber’s budget recommendations, a conference committee of legislators from both chambers will meet to negotiate a final budget document to send to the Governor.
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