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5 things to watch as Beacon Hill budget negotiations begin
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It's already Tuesday. Gov. Maura Healey's freeze on executive branch hiring begins today, as the state wades into murky budget waters.
On Beacon Hill: With just 35 days until the new fiscal year, House and Senate negotiators are expected to begin work this week to iron out the differences between their budget proposals. Before packing up for Memorial Day weekend, the Senate voted Thursday night to pass its $61.4 billion version of the budget, which is a tad smaller than what the House passed. However, the Senate also packed in a few additional policy changes. Here are five key differences to watch as closed-door negotiations begin.
- Liquor licenses: Since 1933, the number of alcohol licenses that most Massachusetts cities and towns can permit to local restaurants and bars has been constrained by a population-based formula — and local officials have had to petition Beacon Hill if they want additional licenses. The Senate added language to give up that power and let cities and towns decide for themselves. However, House leaders have long opposed the change.
- Broker fees: The Senate takes another stab at shifting the responsibility of broker's fees from renters to landlords — this time with Healey’s support. The Senate proposal would require the side that hires the broker to pay the fee, while the House budget wouldn’t change much, aside from adding a disclosure form.
- Prescription drug price caps: Less than five months after passing compromise legislation to lower prescription drug costs, the Senate added language to its budget to allow the state’s Health Policy Commission to set maximum price caps on certain drugs. (It would be up to the commission to pick which specific ones.) The House did not include any similar language in its budget, and similar efforts in other states face lawsuits from the pharmaceutical sector.
- Vocational schools: The House’s budget would block the Healey administration’s recent move to make admissions to the state’s voc-tech high schools a lottery. (Meanwhile, the Senate made no moves to stop the overhaul.)
- Hospital closures: The Senate’s budget dedicated millions of dollars toward keeping the Pappas and Pocasset health care facilities open, while the House proposal offers much less financial support. Healey had proposed closing the two facilities as part of her budget, but paused that plan in February.
- Zoom out: Both budgets still assume normal levels of federal funding, which isn't a sure thing under the Trump administration. Capitol Hill is also debating its own budget, which could include cuts. Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation president Doug Howgate says state budget-writers would have to quickly adjust if federal dollars disappear. "That's a little bit of a curve ball in the mix this time that you don't have in most budgets," he told WBUR's Walter Wuthmann.
ICYMI: Massachusetts will give carmakers a two-year reprieve from a state law that requires them to sell an increasing number of electric vehicles every year. The Healey administration, which announced the delay Friday, says the change is meant to give car companies more time to scale-up EV sales. But as WBUR's Miriam Wasser reports, environmental groups worry it will make the gas-to-electric transition harder.
- Break it down: In 2022, Massachusetts passed a law under then-Gov. Charlie Baker to ban the sale of new gas or diesel-powered cars after 2035. To get there, the state created a series of carrots and sticks: consumer rebates for buying an EV, along with rules gradually increasing the percentage of EVs and hybrids that car dealers must sell in the lead-up to 2035. David Melly, the legislative director of the Environmental League of Massachusetts, said the delay could make the end goal harder to reach. "It's a bit mystifying why you wouldn't want to use every tool in your toolbox to get us there," Melly told Miriam.
- Counterpoint: Healey argues the delay is ultimately good for consumers. “We’re giving carmakers more runway to invest in their manufacturing and supply chains, which will help ensure customers have additional affordable electric vehicles options at dealerships in the future," she said Friday, noting the state will continue to work to expand in charging infrastructure in the meantime.
- Big picture: The fate of this law remains uncertain. That's because it's predicated on California's ability to pass strict tailpipe emissions standards. And last week in Washington, D.C., the Republican-controlled Senate voted to revoke that ability.
Heads up: A large group of Massachusetts court-appointed attorneys will stop taking new criminal cases today, in protest of pay rates they say are much lower than their peers in neighboring states. Known as bar advocates, the group of privately employed lawyers takes up roughly 80% of the state's court-appointed cases, according to The Boston Globe.
- In a statement to WBUR, the Committee for Public Counsel Services said it supports the group's fight for a raise and "will do everything within our statutory responsibility to ensure that all indigent individuals receive legal counsel" during the work stoppage, "prioritizing those most urgently in need."
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