HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 5385        FILED ON: 10/21/2020

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 5065

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

October 21, 2020

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives,

I am filing for your prompt consideration a bill entitled “An Act Making Certain Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2021 Before Final Action on the General Appropriation Bill.”

This bill provides the spending authorization to maintain necessary services through the end of November, pending the passage of the General Appropriation Act.  This authorization is in addition to those contained in Chapters 101 and 131 of the Acts of 2020, the two prior Fiscal Year 2021 interim budgets, which were signed into law on June 26 and August 4 respectively.  All actions taken under this bill will apply to the General Appropriation Act.

In order to ensure that the Commonwealth will be able to meet its payment obligations without delays, I ask you to enact this legislation promptly.

We look forward to completing the final budget for Fiscal Year 2021, and we hope that the revisions we filed with you last week help move that process forward.  We know firsthand the challenges you face in assuring stability in government policies during this time of disruption, and we appreciate the cooperative spirit we continue to share as we work together to get a budget in place for the full fiscal year.

Respectfully submitted,

Charles D. Baker,

Governor

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 5065

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)

_______________

An Act making certain appropriations for fiscal year 2021 before final action on the General Appropriation Bill.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1.  Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the amount of $5,400,000,000 is hereby appropriated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021, to meet necessary obligations before the enactment of the general appropriation act for that fiscal year, for the maintenance and operations of the various departments, boards, commissions and institutions, including federal grant and Intragovernmental Service Fund expenditures, for other necessary services and for meeting certain requirements of law. This appropriation shall cease to be operative on the effective date of the general appropriation act and all actions taken under this section shall apply against that general appropriation act. All expenditures made under this section shall be consistent with appropriations made in the general appropriation act.

SECTION 2.  This act shall take effect on October 31, 2020.