FY 17 STATE BUDGET
A big portion of the summer involved working to finalize the fiscal year 2017 state budget. In the midst of annual budget debate, Governor Baker filed a precautionary budget to cover July spending. The governor signed the $5.3 billion, one-month spending bill in order to allow the state to maintain its services as the annual budget was not expected to be on time.
Throughout the finalization of the budget, the conference committee was aiming to address the issue that revenues next fiscal year could be below estimates. At the end of June, the Legislature enacted a $39.146 billion state budget for FY 17 that invested in areas related to local aid, education, children's health and safety, housing, health and human services, workforce training and economic development. The budget also included $139.2M in total funding to fight the opioid epidemic in support of substance abuse education, prevention and treatment programs.
With tax revenues down sharply, serious decreases in funding were necessary. On July 8th, Governor Baker signed a $38.92 billion annual budget which cut $256 million in spending from the plan approved originally by the Legislature. The budget signed by Governor Baker only increases spending over the current fiscal year by 1.3 percent. In the newly signed budget, the governor hopes to allocate money towards local aid, education, Medicaid and pensions.
As your senator, I have worked to maintain the programs and services you hold dear while being certain to balance our state budget and maintain long term fiscal responsibility.
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