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BOSTON (State House News Service) — As he sits on a huge funding request, the House's top budgetwriter said Tuesday that there are "no easy answers" to the open question of migrant shelter funding, one component of the fiscal 2023 closeout budget that remains tied up in behind-the-scenes legislative negotiations.
The financial ledger from last fiscal year is still wide open four months after the budget cycle ended while top Democrats wrangle over a final spending bill that Gov. Maura Healey filed in September.
"Certainly a lot to consider with everything going on in regard to the money for the migrant shelters, and everything related to that," House Ways and Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz said Tuesday when asked about the timeline for action on the closeout bill. " ... No easy answers in relation to that, so we're trying to work through that right now."
The North End Democrat told the News Service that legislative leaders were still mulling over the possibility of a report-in-part on the closeout to move sections where there is agreement and hold back others where there's no consensus yet.
"That's an option that we're still considering. And you know, there's also still the remainders of the July supp, as well, that we are trying to -- haven't decided yet whether we're doing separate vehicles, or doing it all in one vehicle," Michlewitz said.
House Speaker Ronald Mariano said last week that there were "a couple of options around the migrant money," and that lawmakers could "separate it out and still do a supp on the closeout end-of-the-year stuff."
Healey has asked for $250 million in supplemental funding for emergency shelter operations and has declared that families in need of shelter won't be guaranteed it starting on Wednesday because the state has reached its capacity.
Those opposed to Healey's decision protested outside the State House, and also pointed fingers at the Legislature for not stepping in to protect families in need of help.
"Legislators, you should be ashamed of yourselves. You're supposed to take care of us. It's your job to make sure we get what we need," Jiannina Tillman, a mother of three who twice lived in Massachusetts shelters, said Tuesday at the right-to-shelter rally.
Loose ends that did not make it into a supplemental budget signed in July include House-approved language aimed at breathing life back into a hydroelectric power transmission project, and numerous collective bargaining agreements with state workers that have piled up and still require legislative authorization.
The Mass. Taxpayers Foundation said in a new report Tuesday that lawmakers "should remain mindful of a few key priorities" as they work to close the FY23 books, with an eye on the thousands of migrant families arriving in Massachusetts and seeking shelter from the state.
"Taking quick action to address outstanding spending obligations, maintaining a balance in the Transitional Escrow Fund to the greatest extent possible, and limiting the addition of new spending obligations for FY 2024 will ensure that the state has the resources necessary to respond to unexpected fiscal downturns and address unanticipated cost increases. This will become increasingly important as the administration continues to monitor uncertain revenue collection trends and manage the emerging migrant crisis," MTF wrote.
The foundation, echoing a standing refrain on Beacon Hill where Democrats seem perpetually involved in extended budget dramas, said that the Legislature's timeline for acting on the closeout "or other spending vehicles" is "difficult to predict."
The House did not schedule any formal sessions for this week and formal sessions end for the year on Nov. 15. The House has an informal session on the books for Thursday morning. Michlewitz said the closeout could "potentially" need to be taken up during a formal.
"We don't have that answer yet," he said, adding that whether the closeout budget can be handled in an informal session will "depend on what we think is the entire package and how it's put together."
Bills require unanimous consent of all members present to advance during the Legislature's frequent informal sessions.
The branches finished off a closeout budget during informal sessions in 2019, when they held off on enacting a final version until mid-December, weeks after formal sessions had ended for the year. Formal sessions end this year on Nov. 15.
Halloween marks the state comptroller's annual deadline to file a key report -- the Statutory Basis Financial Report, which summarizes revenue and spending. But Comptroller William McNamara's hands are tied more years than not by legislative inaction on a closeout for the prior fiscal cycle, which ends each June.
"The best case right now is for mid- to late-November delivery, and that, in turn, can become complicated by the Thanksgiving holiday," McNamara said last week of the outlook for his report.
Written by Sam Doran/SHNS
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