This month I joined my colleagues in the House of Representatives in passing a balanced budget for fiscal year 2011 that also contains the final $6.3 million reimbursement to cities and towns for expenses from the December 2008 ice storm. Here are some details on the budget, the upcoming utilities forum I am hosting in Lunenburg, and other issues I worked on in April.
The fiscal 2011 budget closes a projected $3.2 billion budget gap and contains major reductions in many areas of state spending, including the total elimination of funding for several line items. Our proposal does not increase taxes and makes no withdrawals from the state’s Rainy Day fund. During the budget debate, I worked hard to preserve funding for our core social services without increasing the tax burden on already struggling families. This budget asks everyone to make sacrifices, and forces each state agency to do more with less.
While avoiding any new taxes, we were still able to level fund some important programs, like workforce training grants and public libraries. I was also able to successfully advocate for and secure $6.3 million for the final portion of reimbursement to cities and towns for expenses incurred during the December 2008 ice storm.
I have long called for increased budget transparency and I am pleased by the budget transparency initiatives included in our bill. Our proposal creates a searchable online database, with in-depth detail on government expenditures and tax credits. This program will help make it easier for residents to see how the state spends tax revenue and to analyze the success of our tax credit programs. The budget now goes to the Senate, where it will be debated at the end of May.
Small businesses are the primary engines of economic growth in the commonwealth. This past month, I had the pleasure of touring Bemis Associates, Inc. in Shirley and discussing with COO Scott Howard the challenges of running a small business. I also attended the Household Goods Recycling of Massachusetts 20th anniversary party in Acton, the Chester Mossman Teen Center fundraiser in Lunenburg, and the swearing in of Boxborough’s new police chief, Warren Ryder.
Immigration bill sent to study
An amendment intended to ban illegal immigrants from accessing public services was proposed during our House budget deliberations during the last week of April. I voted to further study the amendment because of my concern it would not have the intended effect and would have been detrimental to my district and the commonwealth.
The proposed amendment was taken almost verbatim from a similar law passed in Colorado. I discovered that the law ended up costing the taxpayers of Colorado millions of dollars in implementation costs and that it did not have the desired effect of saving taxpayer money. Colorado discovered that illegal immigrants rarely apply for public services because they are afraid of being discovered and deported.
During debate I asked the representative filing the amendment how much the law would cost the taxpayers to implement and he replied that he didn’t know. If there is one thing that is critical during a budget debate, it is to have hard numbers for associated costs and savings. I also raised concerns on the scope of the language that seems to require a costly immigration screening for something as simple as a person entering the door of a public library. It was clear to me that the amendment had not been properly researched or vetted.
The House voted to send the amendment to study which is a polite way of telling the representative filing the amendment that more work has to be done to understand the bill’s impact before it will be considered. A bill of this magnitude needs to be analyzed for implementation costs and expected savings. It needs to go through a fact-finding public hearing and legal review process. Colorado’s experience shows that the bill is seriously flawed in its current form.
I look forward every month to hearing from all of my constituents. People are invited to stop by for my office hours in Acton the first Monday of every month from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at Sweet Bites Bakery and Café. My office in Lunenburg is also staffed Mondays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The staff at my Boston office can be reached at 617-722-2130. For more information visit www.jenbenson.org.
