As of this writing, Massachusetts has just 23 days to finalize the $32.4 billion state budget. With differences between the House (H 4101) and Senate (S 2275) versions of the budget, now is the time for negotiations conducted by the recently named budget conference committee. Serving on that committee are the House conferees Representative Brian Dempsey, Representative Stephen Kulik and Representative Viriato deMacedo, and Senate conferees Senator Stephen Brewer, Senator Jennifer Flanagan and Senator Michael Knapik. As you may recall, the House budget was finalized in April and the Senate’s version was finalized at the end of May. Once the conference committee has agreed on the details of the budget, it will be reviewed by Governor Patrick before he signs it. The goal is to get this all done by July 1st.
Just for the record, the BBA has a particular interest in line item 0321-1600 – Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC). MLAC’s request for fiscal year 2013 was $14.5 million – check out MLAC’s fact sheet. Both the Governor and the House proposed funding MLAC at $12 million, while the Senate only appropriated $11.5 million. The BBA will be working with our legal services partners to secure at least the $12 million provided by the Governor and the House.
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An update on another conference committee the BBA is watching with interest… For the past six months, the crime bill conference committee has been meeting to settle differences between a habitual offender sentencing reform bill that the House approved and a much larger crime package passed by the Senate. Both sides have expressed optimism that a compromise bill will be ready before the end of July.
Among the issues still being negotiated and discussed by the crime conference committee are the list of crimes that would trigger a “three-strikes” elimination of parole, a reduction to the size of school zones that carry increased penalties for drug crimes and a reduction in mandatory minimum sentences.
While Massachusetts has a year round Legislature, formal sessions end on July 31st. But, the Legislature will continue to meet about twice a week through December in informal sessions. There’s a push to get this crime bill (and many other bills too) completed by the end of July because it can be challenging to advance a major piece of legislation during an informal session. During an informal session, if even one member of the Legislature raises an objection, this brings the informal session to a halt – thereby blocking the progress of any bill being considered.
We expect a lot of activity over the next few weeks as the Legislature works to complete a number of its priorities. In addition to the work on behalf of MLAC and working to push for mandatory minimum sentence reform for nonviolent drug offenses, the BBA will continue to try to get our other bills over the final finish line for this session.
– Kathleen Joyce
Director of Government Relations
Boston Bar Association
