Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said Monday that she remains hopeful that an agreement can be reached soon to approve supplemental budgets that include $250 million in funding for the state's strained emergency shelter system.
"There's certainly an urgency and I hope we can get it done this week," Healey said in an appearance on GBH Radio. She also pointed out that the shelter system funding is only about 10% of the spending called for in the bill.
The delayed $2.8 billion supplemental budgets also include raises for thousands of public employees, Medicaid and special education funding and flood relief. The Senate version also includes language designed to facilitate construction of a soccer stadium in Everett.
"So really, super, super important," Healey said. "We've got to have that supp budget done. I'm anxious to sign something. And I just hope, I hope it comes soon because people need it. Our residents need it. Our communities need it. Our businesses need it."
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The House and Senate held their sessions open into the afternoon Monday, fueling speculation that Democrats might be trying to reach a deal on the overdue spending bill. No deal was reached Monday, but the House and Senate are scheduled to return again on Wednesday.
Democrats were unable to agree on a bill closing out spending for fiscal 2023 before formal sessions ended on Nov. 15 and now must come up with a bill that attracts unanimous support in informal sessions or start the spending bill debates all over again next year.
With no end in sight to their staring contest, House and Senate Democrats now appear on track for at least the second-most overdue closeout budget in nearly three decades.
The state comptroller cannot file an annual financial report that by law is due every year on Oct. 31 until the Legislature finishes the bill, and with no House and Senate compromise in sight four years ago, then-Comptroller Andrew Maylor issued a potent ultimatum. Maylor told legislative leaders on Nov. 21, 2019 that, without action in the next three weeks, he would simply cut them out of the process and officially close the state's financial books on his own, in the process sweeping more than $1 billion in surplus tax revenues into savings.
His political maneuver proved successful. The House and Senate finally cut a deal, though in typical fashion they did not finalize it until late into the night on the Dec. 11, 2019 deadline Maylor set.
Current Comptroller William McNamara has not hit the nuclear button yet and threatened to close the books with or without a legislative deal.
Still, McNamara has not exactly minced his words. In a letter to House and Senate Republicans last week, McNamara detailed potential negative consequences and warned that inaction by the end of the year would put him in an "untenable position."
