Lawmakers botch budget bill negotiations
BY FAILING TO reach agreement on a major spending bill before the winter break, legislative leaders have squandered much of their control over what goes into it, and they have courted more federal scrutiny of the state’s election process.
In the wee hours of early Thursday morning, the House and Senate essentially threw in the towel, gaveling out their last formal sessions until January without enacting a bill that would divvy up the roughly $1 billion surplus from 2019, approve some union contracts, close the books on the fiscal year, and establish September 1 as the date of next year’s state primary. October 31 was the deadline for the state comptroller to file an annual financial statement based on a signed version of the closeout budget bill.
Secretary of State William Galvin says the enduring uncertainty could create problems with the Federal Voting Assistance Program, which sometimes sues states to ensure there is enough time between the primary and a general election to deliver ballots to members of the military and other voters living overseas.
The House and Senate have both agreed on a September 1 primary election, which Galvin said would grant ample time, but that has not yet been set into law, which has created some concern within the federal bureaucracy.
Read more: https://commonwealthmagazine.org/politics/lawmakers-botch-budget-bill-negotiations/