(22 News WWLP – Ellen Fleming) The senate debuted their budget Tuesday, making significant investments in a host of sectors, focusing on making the state more competitive.
The Senate’s plan totals $55.8 billion dollars. This is the first budget that will include the fair share amendment, which voters agreed to last November. This will add a 4% surtax on incomes over 1 million dollars.
The revenue from that amendment, which is estimated to be 1 billion dollars, will be split evenly in the Senate’s budget on Transportation and Education. Unlike the governor’s plan, the Senate makes no investment to East West Rail, however investments in Regional Transit Authorities are made – including $56 million for operating assistance and $15 million for a fare free pilot program.
Senator John Velis is not worried about the lack of investment for East West Rail, “I just think that the fact that it wasn’t in both legislative chambers, I think that’s telling, I think the perception is that there are going to be other vehicles to do that,” Velis says. “I have spoken to leadership, certainly on the senate side, where it’s a priority; This to me was more of a “is this the right financial vehicle to make that happen,” And clearly it was not.”
There are also a few policy changes within the budget. The most notable being that every highschool graduate will be able to receive instate tuition, regardless of immigration status, if they attended a Massachusetts high school for at least 3 years and graduated or obtained their GED.
Unlike the governor’s plan, free school meals were not included, and unlike the House’s plan, putting the Massachusetts lottery online was also not included.
Now this budget does set aside $575 million dollars for tax relief, which will be debated after the budget is finalized.