State House News ServiceBoston – The Senate put the finishing touches on a $27.35 billion budget late Thursday, bolstered by $633 million from a sales tax hike, hundreds of millions of dollars from the state’s rainy day reserves and reliant on a heavy dose of federal stimulus dollars.
“We might not be able to be all things to all people going forward,” said Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Steven Panagiotakos, after the Senate passed the budget 33-6, with five Republicans and one Democrat dissenting. “We have to be the necessary things to all people.” Panagiotakos described a tumultuous economic climate that left senators scrambling to revise their budget expectations as revenue collections slipped precipitously in April.
Describing the bleak economy as a depression, Senate President Therese Murray sought to fortify her members’ confidence after supporting Senate leaders’ bid for a 25 percent sales tax hike. “We may be a high-cost state. That is true. That is because we have a quality of life here that is unlike most other states in the nation,” Murray said. Heaping praise on Panagiotakos for leading the Senate budget effort, Murray said, “Don’t leave here feeling bad about what we did ? Be proud of the fact that Massachusetts has a good quality of life here. Be proud of the fact that we have the best damn chairman of Ways and Means in the entire country.”
Senator Marc Pacheco (Taunton), the lone Democrat to oppose the budget, said he did so because the Senate refused to embrace a proposal to add slots at the racetracks, which he said would save and perhaps add thousands of jobs in the down economy. He said the slots proposal would have brought in hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to local communities, which he said were going to be devastated by reductions in local aid and declining property values.
Pacheco said his problems with the budget are also with the root of the state’s taxation system, and he pointed to his vote in support of an increase in the income tax, a levy he said was more progressive because those who earn more are expected to pay more.
The Senate passed its budget just before 11 p.m. after three days of deliberation. The evening portion of the final night was characterized by a breakneck pace of passing and rejecting amendments without explanation, stopping occasionally to allow members to raise questions or speak in support of their proposals.
Late night amendments included proposals to restrict state and quasi-public agency employees from using cell phones or texting while operating vehicles, adding $10 million for bonuses for police officers with advanced degrees and a partial rollback of restrictions on privatization of state services imposed by the so-called Pacheco law.
The budget now heads to the House, which will likely insist on its own version of a budget proposal, setting up a conference committee to resolve differences. Gov. Deval Patrick has threatened to veto the sales tax proposal, which both the House and Senate budgets are predicated on.
As debate wound down on the fiscal 2010 budget, senators voted to maintain tax credit programs for life sciences companies and the movie industry, countering GOP senators’ claims that the programs line the pockets of powerful executives while providing little benefit to taxpayers.
Supporters of the tax credits argue they spur investment, create jobs and generate economic activity. Senators also voted to partially fund a longstanding program to provide police with advanced academic degrees enhanced pay, and then to study the effects of financing such bonuses.
Sen. Stephen Buoniconti’s proposal to require more families on welfare to work was rejected after opponents said it would add to the state’s homelessness.
Other amendments adopted include a proposal to limit medical waste by returning certain unused prescription drugs to pharmacies, requiring medical device company representatives to register with the state.
The Senate rejecte
