Speaker of the Massachusetts House Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop) unveiled the House Ways and Means Committee's proposed budget for the next fiscal year yesterday afternoon. The House agreed with Gov. Deval Patrick's January plan to spend $32.3 billion over the next fiscal year which begins July 1 but it rejected several of Governor Patrick's more progressive and profitable proposals.
Last year, Patrick proposed increased sin taxes on cigarettes, soda and candy for the current fiscal year. A stubborn House rejected Patrick's suggestion at the time and it made the same disappointing move yesterday. In January, the governor suggested increasing taxes on every cigarette pack by 50 cents, which would generate an estimated $73 million in revenue. He also advocated for a 6.25 percent increase in candy and soda taxes.
The combination of the two taxes, which would take advantage of the price-inelastic demand for goods such as nicotine and sugar, would drop crucial cash into the Commonwealth's coffers. The House, though, continues to reject Patrick's sin taxes, encouraging residents' addictions and costing the state millions.
Patrick also proposed closing the Norfolk State Prison, which would save $8.9 million next year and in each subsequent year. The House rejected this plan as well, instead choosing to keep some 320 prisoners behind bars. Patrick had proposed concurrent legislation to release the roughly 320 nonviolent drug offenders, meaning that the Norfolk penitentiary could close without resulting in prison overcrowding elsewhere. The specificity of Governor Patrick's proposal is admirable; the call to release non-violent drug offenders is a call for justice for a group that is often shortchanged by the legal system.
The Governor's suggestion to close Norfolk is particularly noble because he does not seek to replace it with a private prison. Private prisons have recently sprung up across the country, profiting off of the legal system. The House also stood its ground on other budget issues involving the legal system, rejecting the Governor's recommendation in his budget proposal to hire 200 more public defenders to provide more comprehensive legal defense to lower-class criminal defendants, which could make it even more difficult for impoverished defendants to get a fair trial.
In his proposal, Patrick proves himself to be both fiscally and socially responsible. The same cannot be said for the House, though. Not only has Representative DeLeo's House rejected the core progressive tenets of Governor Patrick's budget proposal, but its members also don't seem to value a concise and specific budget. They're relying on probable cuts totaling $175 million to unspecified state agencies to match their budget, an irresponsible and potentially destructive move. Hopefully, the House-Senate budget compromise that will be sent to Governor Patrick's desk in June will contain the Governor's original proposals, enabling the Commonwealth to fight a still-dismal economy and effectively operate its public services.
