The budget finally budges

Jul 31, 2023

With help from Kelly Garrity and Mia McCarthy

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER — House and Senate lawmakers will vote on a $56.2 billion budget today that boosts education and transportation funding and delivers Gov. Maura Healey key wins. They’re also punting on tax relief until after Labor Day.

The compromise fiscal year 2024 spending plan filed last night includes something for each of Beacon Hill’s Big Three. Healey will get $20 million for her “MassReconnect” program to make community college free to those over the age of 25 who lack college degrees. The Senate got the House to agree to offer in-state tuition rates to certain undocumented immigrants. The House got the Senate to sign off on making universal free school meals permanent.

But several buzzy items got left on the bargaining table when House and Senate negotiators struck their deal Friday. The Senate wouldn’t agree to online lottery sales as a funding mechanism for C3 child care grants. The House rebuffed the Senate’s latest attempt to form a commission to study congestion pricing. Neither chamber went for Healey’s $59 million tuition lock for incoming UMass students or the $12.5 million she wanted for East-West Rail.

And while Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues and House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz agreed to set aside $581 million for tax relief, both told Playbook that a deal on the code changes was unlikely to come until after Labor Day.

“We’re still negotiating that," Michlewitz said. "But it’s another example of our commitment to providing the taxpayers some relief not just for fiscal year 2024 but going forward."

Here are some highlights from the budget agreement:

— $1 billion in millionaires surtax revenue split almost evenly, with $523 million going toward education initiatives and $477 million for transportation initiatives. That includes $5 million to study means-tested MBTA fares.

— $50 million to expand community college access. That includes $20 million for MassReconnect, $18 million to cover the costs of attending community college nursing programs and $12 million to jump-start Senate President Karen Spilka’s effort to make community college fully free by fall 2024. The House also secured an additional $25 million for scholarships targeted to “high-demand” disciplines.

— A pandemic-era eviction-protection program is returning. Lawmakers let “Chapter 257,” which paused eviction cases while tenants had a pending application for rental aid, lapse earlier this year. Now they’re reviving it, but without provisions the Senate approved that would have expedited aid applications and let tenants petition to seal their court records.

— A long-sought seat on the MBTA board of directors for Boston, and another for surrounding municipalities served by the T.

— Free calls for people incarcerated in the state’s prisons and jails.

GOOD MONDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. The budget isn’t a done deal yet. Once both chambers vote it through, Healey will have 10 days to review the spending plan and offer any amendments or vetoes.

Some of the items that didn’t make the cut aren’t necessarily dead, either. Rodrigues, for instance, told Playbook he is open to revisiting online lottery sales.

“There were very strong opinions within my caucus on iLottery. Some of my colleagues absolutely support it and some of my colleagues absolutely oppose it,” Rodrigues said. “We need to have a full debate in the Senate and see exactly how much revenue we’re going to generate and we need to see the impact it’s going to have on convenience stores.”

TODAY — Healey hosts a Safer Communities roundtable at 10:30 a.m. at the Boys and Girls Club of Worcester. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is on WBUR’s “Radio Boston” at 11 a.m. and is joined by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to sign an executive order eliminating fossil fuels in new construction and major renovations of city buildings at 2 p.m. at City Hall. Sen. Ed Markey makes several stops on Cape Cod.

Tips? Scoops? Thoughts on the budget deal? Email me: lkashinsky@politico.com.

FROM THE HUB

Vice President Kamala Harris greets the audience as moderator and Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell applauds at the 114th National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's national convention, Saturday, July 29, 2023, in Boston. (AP Photo/Reba Saldanha)

— VP HITS THE HUB: Vice President Kamala Harris had a warning for the roughly 10,000 attendees at the NAACP national convention in Boston over the weekend: pay attention.

“We are in a moment where there is a full-on attempt to attack hard-fought and hard-won rights and freedoms and liberty,” Harris, the first woman, Black person and South Asian person to be elected vice president, said in a conversation with Andrea Campbell, Massachusetts’ first Black female attorney general, POLITICO’s Mia McCarthy writes in.

“We know every day we must be vigilant in protecting that which we have achieved,” Harris said, later encouraging attendees to “pay attention to the details of what’s happening in your community, in your state legislatures.”

Gov. Maura Healey, Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu all greeted Harris when she landed at Logan Airport. Harris then met with Rep. Ayanna Pressley at Roxbury Community College for a Congressional Black Caucus event.

Markey, Warren, Wu and Pressley spoke at the NAACP’s Saturday night event, many of them touching upon Boston’s Black history from Malcolm X to Mel King. Boston is also home to the first chartered branch of the NAACP.

Pressley was one of several speakers who jabbed Gov. Ron DeSantis over Florida’s revised guidelines for how Black history is taught in schools, including instructing middle schoolers that slaves “developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

“Boston is also a city that tells its history. Its whole history,” Pressley said. “We don’t fold to revisionist narratives and a white washing of structural racism and policy violence. … We do not sweep under the rug the history of redlining or the painful brutality of busing.”

SUBSCRIBE TO POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don’t miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY.

DATELINE BEACON HILL

— ABOUT THE AUDITOR’S BUDGET: Diana DiZoglio will get more money for the auditor’s office after all. Gov. Maura Healey and the House had both budgeted more than $26 million for the auditor’s office in fiscal year 2024. But after the Senate instead pitched about $23 million, DiZoglio accused that chamber’s top Democrats of trying to “settle political scores” over her audit of the Legislature — and that was before she moved ahead with trying to sue them. The final budget deal would give DiZoglio’s office nearly $24.9 million.

Dive deeper into the budget agreement with the Boston Globe’s Samantha J. Gross and the Boston Herald’s Chris Van Buskirk.

— “Governor Maura Healey moving to partner’s Arlington home,” by Samantha J. Gross, Boston Globe: “Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey is leaving Cambridge and moving into the Arlington home owned by her partner, Joanna Lydgate, on Aug. 1, according to Jillian Fennimore, a spokesperson for the governor.”

— "Advocates urge lawmakers to pass child sex abuse bills," by Christian M. Wade, Salem News: "In a letter to lawmakers, the group Citizens to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse urged them to approve a package of bills aimed at identifying those who pose a sexual risk to children. ... The raft of bills would require schools to adopt child sexual abuse prevention policies and training, improve screening of prospective employees to identify past sexual misconduct, and criminalize sexual assault by adults in positions of authority, regardless of the age of consent, among other changes."

— “Mass. GOP Chairperson Amy Carnevale says state needs more two-party government,” by Jon Keller, WBZ.

DESANTISLAND

— CAPE CASH DASH: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis drew campaign dollars and protesters when he headlined a fundraiser in Cotuit on Saturday afternoon.

DeSantis didn’t mention the dozens of migrants his administration flew to Martha’s Vineyard last year, an attendee told Playbook. That's despite Democratic Cape and Islands District Attorney Robert Galibois giving him an opening by announcing Friday that he intends to investigate the transport and joining other officials in calling on the federal Department of Justice to do the same.

The Florida governor also didn’t address his presidential campaign reboot, a recalibration that includes trimming costs and shedding more than a third of his staff, in his roughly 20-minute remarks. But he did express optimism about his efforts in Iowa and New Hampshire, the attendee said.

— MEANWHILE, IN NEW HAMPSHIRE: “DeSantis: Being insulted by Trump ‘helps me’,” by Lisa Kashinsky, POLITICO.

STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.

PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES

— “Wake up: MBTA employee suspended for sleeping on the job,” by Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald: “An MBTA employee accused of sleeping on the job has been suspended, an agency spokesperson said. The suspension comes after a video came to light showing an employee sleeping in his car during work hours on what appeared to be multiple occasions.”

— "Too vulgar for the road? The custom license plates Massachusetts RMV denied in 2022," by Norman Miller, Telegram & Gazette: "While out on your weekly errands, you'll see many creative vanity license plates. But you won't see vehicles with plates reading 'DILF,' 'GLOCK7,' 'AYKFM' or 'NARCAN.' Those are among the nearly 900 custom license plates rejected by the state Registry of Motor Vehicles in 2022."

— “MBTA ahead of schedule on reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine.

MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS

— "Mass. Cannabis Commission 'In Crisis,' Chair Says," by Colin A. Young, State House News Service (paywall): "The chairwoman of the Cannabis Control Commission took commissioners by surprise Friday when she announced in the middle of a regulatory discussion that Executive Director Shawn Collins is planning to leave the agency he has run since its inception and described the CCC as being 'in crisis.'"

FROM THE 413

— “Mass. rejects Eversource's environmental review of new gas pipeline project in Springfield,” by Miriam Wasser, WBUR: “It’s back to the drawing board for the utility Eversource, as Massachusetts’ top environmental official [last] week rejected the company’s rationale for building a new gas pipeline in Springfield.”

THE LOCAL ANGLE

— “Academic recovery has stalled, but Massachusetts schools still have over $1 billion to spend in federal funds. What’s going on?” by Christopher Huffaker, Boston Globe: “When the American Rescue Plan Act passed in March 2021, hopes were high across the country that the much-needed influx of funds to public schools could help students recover from months of remote learning, and also fill holes in school infrastructure the pandemic exposed, like outdated HVAC systems. But with a year remaining to spend the $2.6 billion in total relief funds that went to Massachusetts schools, it’s unclear how far those dollars have gone, and what they have achieved.”

— "Outspoken activists are using an old playbook to challenge Massachusetts libraries," by Marilyn Schairer, GBH News: "According to the American Library Association, Massachusetts saw 45 attempts to censor books and other library resources in 2022 — the fourth highest number of any state."

— “Lawrence mayor travels to DR where 'city of Lawrence' is festival special guest,” by Jill Harmacinski, The Eagle-Tribune.

— “Culture of fear and control ‘ruining’ services at the state court’s language interpreters office, staff say,” by Ivy Scott, Boston Globe.

HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to former Gov. Bill Weld, who turns 78; former Gov. Deval Patrick, who turns 67; former Boston state Rep. Nika Elugardo, former Westfield Mayor Donald Humason Jr., author Dave Wedge, Amy Inglis and Robert C. Merton.

Want to make an impact? POLITICO Massachusetts has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Bay State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness among this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com.

Follow us on Twitter