Session DetailsSenate Session (Full Formal with Calendar)

The time having arrived to which the Senate had previously adjourned. The Senate will be in order. The Chair would ask members, staff, and guests to please rise and join the senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Several resolutions have been presented, which the clerk will read.

By Ms. L'Italien, resolutions congratulating [INAUDIBLE] Anderson on the occasion of her retirement. By Senator Ross, resolutions congratulating Amelia Oh and Haley Bachman and Michelle Lee, [INAUDIBLE] Murphy, and Julia Park, all of the town of Wayland, on receiving the silver award of the Girl Scouts of America, and congratulating Eric P. [? O'Rourk ?] and Conner F. [? O'Rourk ?] of the town of Wrentham on their elevation to the rank of Eagle Scout.

The question now comes on the adoption of the resolutions. All those in favor say, aye. Opposed, no. The ayes have it. And the resolutions are adopted. Papers from the House.

Several House petitions come from the House with the endorsement [INAUDIBLE] has been suspended with [INAUDIBLE] and they've been referred to their various committees.

The question comes on suspension of joint rule 12. All those in favor say, aye. Opposed, no. The ayes have it. And the rule is suspended. The petitions will be referred to their various committees. If there is no objection, we will proceed with the orders of the day. Is there an objection? Chair hears none. We will proceed.

The only item on the calendar today is calendar item number 5, House Bill number 3601. The question will come on ordering the bill to a third reading, coming first on an amendment as recommended by the Committee on Ways and Means. A number of amendments have been filed which will be considered following the initial comments by the senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr and to whom he directs his questions.

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Well, well, Mr. President. Good morning. It is great to be gathered here with the members of the Senate on this beautiful spring day as the rain has cleared. The sun is out. And here in the light of day, we are to debate how to spend billions of dollars of tax money. Mr. President, I look forward to a robust and productive debate. I want to compliment you on yet another outstanding purple tie. It is radiant from the rostrum, Mr. President. And it certainly sets an example of haberdashery for all in the chamber.

But Mr. President, we have before us a very serious task, Mr. President. And that relates to trying to put together a budget that addresses the fiscal priorities that we all share and that the people of the Commonwealth have. But also, Mr. President, to recognize the fiscal reality that we live in, and that we'll likely be dealing with in terms of uncertainty of revenues for some period of time. So Mr. President, I do have a series of questions for our distinguished Chair Lady of the Committee on Ways and Means. And I would compliment her on the work that she and her staff have done to compile this budget and respond to a number of those priorities.

Mr. President, we do have a number of questions about the internal balance of this particular document. But Mr. President, before I get to those questions, I hope to resolve a particular matter at the outset of this debate. And so Mr. President, I am reluctant to interrupt your conversation with the distinguished majority leader, but I do rise to raise a point of parliamentary inquiry.

The gentleman will state his point of parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. President, is the budget a money bill?

The budget is indeed a money bill.

Mr. President, it makes me so happy when you say that. Thank you very much. Mr. President, so a few questions, and I think the best way to do this would be to go a few at a time so as not to overwhelm the Chair of Ways and Means, and also so that we can all fully appreciate the answers to the questions, Mr. President. But again, let me start with the first few.

First of all, Mr. President, current estimates indicate that in fiscal year 2017 we are somewhere in the neighborhood of $462 million below the established benchmark for revenue collection. So does this budget address that reality and take recognition of it? In addition to that, Mr. President, we've heard as the budget has come through its developmental process that there may well be a structural deficit that needs to be addressed even before we try to take into account the under-performance of revenue collection. And in addition to that, Mr. President, we often resort in this chamber and in this building to supplemental budgets to try to address underfunded accounts and to try to make corrections to things we have done in general Appropriations Act.

So Mr. President, I'm hoping that we can get clarification on how many supplemental budgets we have had to do so far in fiscal year 2017. And with that, Mr. President, I look forward to the answers of the distinguished Chair of Ways and Means. And again, as she prepares to rise, I want to thank her for the tremendous amount of work that's been done to get us to this point.

The senator from Middlesex and Norfolk, Ms. Spilka.

Thank you, Mr. President. And thanks to the minority leader for asking some great questions. I'm honored to begin debate today on my third budget as Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. This has been a truly collaborative process, bringing in ideas and priorities of the committee and of my Senate colleagues by meeting with all of you, input from state agencies and advocates in the expertise of so many organizations throughout the state, constituents across the Commonwealth who have met with me, met with all of you, the wonderful Commonwealth conversations.

Thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership, especially through these tough fiscal times. Thank you very much. And thank you to my Vice Chair, the senator from Everett, my Assistant Vice Chair, the senator from Sommerville, ranking minority member, the senator from Plymouth, and all of the terrific members of the Committee. And thank you again to all of the senators for your wonderful input, your caring, your advice, and counsel.

For the third year in a row, we hope to engage the public in the Senate budget process. We have viewing areas open to the general public in room 428 and by the Walcott statue on the third floor. We are live streaming this debate and live tweeting. So everybody should partake in that. We want this process to be accessible and available to everyone.

The fiscal year 2018 budget we are debating this week focuses on the theme of sustaining our Commonwealth. We recognize the constraints as mentioned, the uncertain times, the slow revenue growth, and our current unsteady fiscal environment. It is in these uncertain times, it's now more important than ever, for us to take care of each other and work to provide opportunities for all of our people in all areas of the Commonwealth.

The cover art-- and I do want to raise it because its a beautiful cover. It's art. And it reflects our theme of sustaining our Commonwealth. These beautiful images on the cover were created by Massachusetts artists working with an organization called Art Lifting, a local organization that empowers artists across the country impacted by homelessness, having disabilities, addiction, or other challenges. And they are lifting themselves through the celebration and sale of their art work. So that is very notable.

We can lift up and sustain our Commonwealth by focusing on the fundamentals-- education, health and human services, the well-being of our residents, housing. This budget reflects our shared values and our shared responsibility to foster our common good.

The Senate Ways and Means fiscal '18 budget includes for $40.79 billion in total net spending. This is a balanced and fiscally responsible budget. We continue to reduce our reliance on one time revenues and direct $98.4 million to the stabilization fund to continue to build up this very important safety net. This has been a Senate priority.

We also include several initiatives to maximize state and federal revenue opportunities and spend efficiently, including a standing tax expenditure review commission to evaluate all of the state's tax expenditures and their fiscal impact.

In line with the Kids First framework to invest in our kids, this budget directs funding to high quality education for everyone, including a bold $15.1 million investment to expand access to preschool for low income four-year-olds, $4.76 billion for Chapter 70 education funding including-- and this is really important. We've heard from all of you. And we've all heard from our constituents-- continued implementation of the Foundation Budget Review Commission's recommendations. We go farther. We have $545.1 million for community colleges and universities and $534.5 million for U Mass.

The budget also take steps to contain health care costs and invest in health and human services, with a strong focus on mental health. We have $143 million for substance abuse treatment, intervention, and recovery support services, $91.4 million for mental health services for young people, $24.2 million to fully fund the DDS Turning 22 item, $3.5 million to encourage collaboration among agencies schools and community partners to strengthen early detection and screening of mental illness in our children, and $2.6 million for pediatric palliative care to eliminate the waiting list. This has also been a Senate priority to eliminate the waiting list for services for terminally ill children and their families.

We also continue our support for those who need our help, including children, seniors, folks with disabilities, and our veterans. This budget also includes significant support for housing and homelessness prevention, focusing on preventative and supportive resources to connect people with all different levels of housing and have it be affordable, stable housing as well as offering assistance to those that are in housing crisis.

We have $464.1 million in total for the full spectrum of housing services. And I'll just give a few highlights, $165.9 million for EA family shelters, $100 million for the MRVP to allow 350 to 400 new rental vouchers, $46.2 million for homeless individual assistance, $18.5 for RAFT, and $2.5 million for Unaccompanied Homeless Youth Services. For some, it's the highest it's been. We target also investments to promote self-sufficiency among low income families to create opportunities to truly once again help sustain our Commonwealth.

So we have $30 million, for example, for Adult Basic Education Services, $14.6 for the Department of Transitional Assistance Employment Services program, $12.5 for summer jobs and work readiness training for at-risk youth, $4 million for the Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund. And for the third year in a row, we should be proud we have increased the children's clothing allowance for low income families to $300 per child, allowing children to enter school, start their school year with new clothes that all kids want. And as we've noted, children at these ages grow like sprouts. They need sometimes new clothes. And this will help them.

These are only some of the highlights of the targeted investments in this budget to foster shared prosperity and support our children, families, and communities. As Horace Mann, the education leader, former Massachusetts state president, and native of Franklin which I am proud to say is in my district, once said "Doing nothing for others is the undoing of ourselves." So this budget invests in children and their education, the best investment that we can make in our future.

We invest in the health, the well-being of our people and our families. We invest in the support services low income people need to find solid ground, secure housing, health, and get back to work. We are clear eyed about our current financial situation, but I am proud to say that this budget reflects all-- and I really emphasize all-- of our values and invests in our future.

I look forward to this week's debate as I know that there are many amendments and this debate will make this budget even stronger. I'm confident that after a spirited debate here in the Senate that we will end our budget debate even prouder that we have taken action to sustain the fundamentals of our Commonwealth and continue to build future success. Thank you.

The senator from Middlesex and Suffolk, Mr. Di Domenico

Thank you, Mr. President, I wanted to publicly thank the Chair of Ways and Means and our president for their strong commitment to children and families in this budget. As the Senate president made it known to all a couple of years ago, kids would be a first priority in this chamber, for many of us and for the body as a whole.

And our Chair has taken that lead and she has, as you can see in the budget books, taking that to heart. And our kids definitely come first. You know, we talk about early education. We talk about child supports. We talk about housing, mental health, public health. And we talk a lot about these issues in our offices and appointments and our district. And a lot of times that talk doesn't always transfer to the budget or transfer to legislation. And I can tell you without a doubt, our Chair has done more than we could have expected in these trying times financially for our kids and our families.

We have made a commitment in this chamber to put our kids above all and our families above all. And if you look at our budget and see that commitment in terms of financial increases, you can see that we made that clear. We always talk about putting our kids first, and we always talk about when our children have challenges. We always want to put them in a spot to succeed, to advance themselves, become better people in society. And we talk about all the great things we do in our education system.

But if a child comes to school hungry, has an unstable housing situation, has trauma back at home, you can have the best schools, the best technology, the best educators, and that child will not learn. We have addressed that issue in this budget through our Chair, and through a lot of your priorities as well, to put our kids in a place where they can succeed in academic and also in our communities.

So I want to thank our Chair publicly, and I can't thank her enough for doing what she has done. And I do want to touch on two things that she mentioned, too. Because she is a leader on these two issues. And the Senate has become the place to be when it comes to clothing allowance for our children, and pediatric palliative care. Those of us who have children, who have grandchildren, nieces and nephews can't even imagine what these families are going through to recieve pediatric palliative care services.

And this budget clears the waiting list. 165 families were on the waiting list prior to this budget. That is actually a shame, that families would have to wait on a waiting list to get pediatric palliative services for end of life services and life limiting services for their children. We can't even imagine that but these families, their whole world has come crashing down on them. And the little bit of investment in whole terms of this budget, $2.6 million in a $40 billion budget, goes a long way to helping these families and helping them deal with situations that will come down the road for them, for their siblings and their parents.

So I want to thank the Senate president for all of his work, and the Chair of the Ways and Means staff, my staff, and all of our staffs for all they've done to put this budget together and put us in a position today to do both things for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. So I look forward to a great week, and making our budget even stronger as the process goes forward. Thank you, Mr. President.

Mr. Tarr.

Mr. President, I apologize. I was remiss in not inviting the Chair and the Vice Chair's opening remarks. But I still have some questions, Mr. President. And in fact, those questions are I think more important now than ever particularly because, Mr. President, the Chair and the Vice Chair have highlighted one important dimension of the budget. And that is making sure that we respond to important fiscal priorities.

And one of the things, Mr. President, that was not touched on as much as I think could be at this point is the notion that in this budget as well we see some progress on funding the recommendations of the Foundation Budget Review Commission, which members in this chamber fought to reconstitute. And particularly, Mr. President, thanks go to the distinguished Chair Lady of the Committee on Education, and everyone in this chamber for saying that we need to consider how far the discrepancy is between what we mandate for education to be provided in K through 12 systems across the Commonwealth, and what we provide and require to be provided through the Foundation budget.

And for the first time, Mr. President, we see an earnest attempt in this budget to be able to respond to that, Mr. President. Because those are real needs. And those are commitments that we have already made. And we need to stand by them. And we need to support them.

But Mr. President, the other dimension of a budget is also trying to make sure that we are fiscally balanced and we consider the reality that the distinguished Chair Lady of Ways and Means has already made reference to but deserves, in my humble opinion, some further consideration. And thus, Mr. President, some questions relative to that.

The first being that we all know-- and we can't ignore just because we came into the chamber and it is time to debate the budget-- what's happening with regard to revenue collections, Mr. President, that are underperforming benchmark by about $462 million. And so it's a logical question to ask as we gather to begin to plot our course collectively for the next fiscal year, what does this budget do to recognize what's happening in this fiscal year.

In addition to that in the ramp up, in the leading up to this particular budget, Mr. President, we have heard about the fact that prior to any underperformance there may well have been a structural deficit that we had to close. And I think sometimes that fact is lost as we consider some of the other things that are in the budgetary universe, such as the under-performance of revenue collection.

But it shouldn't be under-recognized because it takes a lot of effort on the part of the Committee on Ways and Means to close the structural deficit. And so I'm hoping that the distinguished Chair Lady of Ways and Means can share with us information about what that was prior to even thinking about some of those other factors. How much of a structural deficit did we have? And how was it closed?

And then in addition to that, Mr. President, I'm hoping that we can remind ourselves through the sage advice and recollection of the distinguished Chair Lady on the Committee on Ways and Means of how many supplemental budgets we have had to undertake to compensate for issues with the original General Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2017, which we are still in.

But Mr. President, we all know that oftentimes we use supplemental budgets to be able to address various issues to ensure that the budget stays balanced in response to its funding commitments. So I'm hoping that we can understand how many of those we've already had. And Mr. President, as I did with my original request for the information [INAUDIBLE] I'm going to stop right there so that we can do this in a digestible way. Thank you, Mr. President.

From Middlesex and Norfolk, Ms. Spilka.

Thank you, Mr. President, and through you to the minority leader. Hello. Good morning. As you know, as you've stated, our revenues are not coming in as hoped or expected. We are $462 million below benchmark by the end of April. So we are closely monitoring the revenues. We are very closely working with the House and the administration, particularly the Secretary of A and F to look at and analyze this year's fiscal picture.

There are still two months left for tax collections. And we'll see how that turns out, particularly for the month of May. This budget, like the house one budget, the governor's budget and the house final budget relied upon the consensus revenue that we all agreed upon back in January. That was based on a 3.9% revenue growth generating $27.072 billion in tax revenue before-- that would be before any pre-budget transfers.

So this amount that I alluded to a week ago may need updating in June, like we did last year. There's a lot of theories as to why April was not a good month. There is no true clarity to say, yes, this is it. Some people may have been holding on to their returns and not getting it. They may be filing more in May, which it seems by mid-month that may be happening. But we will see. And then have a discussion working together with the House and the administration to really determine how to best address any potential challenges that we have for fiscal '18, and what we do with the budget.

So we will address it, if need be. And we will work collaboratively which I think you would agree is the best way to go forward. There was a question as to how many supplemental budgets there's been for fiscal '17. And the governor has filed two. We did one a few weeks ago. And we may be doing, as a body, another one next week or the week after.

There always are supplemental budgets, unforeseen items, or sometimes we wait to see, for example, CPCS in the Governor's budget was a little higher for a balance. Some of it has decreased a little bit. So for some of the-- particularly the caseload-driven line items, it's difficult 12 months in advance to know what the final true numbers will be for that line item. So as the year gets closer, sometimes that's when we make some adjustments.

But I do just want to reiterate that even once again, even during tough fiscal times, we have met our obligations. And going back to the theme to sustain our Commonwealth, to support and strengthen our residents, our communities, the families, I'm proud to say that this budget reflects the priorities of each one of you here today. Each one of you has shared your statewide programmatic priorities, your district priorities. And this budget incorporates, even though it has been a tough fiscal time.

Chapter 70 education, which has been a top priority for the Senate reflects $128.8 million increase over fiscal year '17. Throughout the Commonwealth, we're taking steps to implement the recommendations of the Foundation Budget Review Commission. And we address so many other areas that I said before.

So despite this tough time, yes, we did raise some revenue, the Governor raised $300 million in what he referred to as an employer assessment. We did $180 million. We direct the Governor to work in some ways similar to the House. But we also say you have choices either through an employer assessment or contribution or through the EMAC the Employer Medical Assistance Contribution. So there are options and alternatives and ways to raise some revenue.

All three budgets before-- the two budgets before us recognized that we need to raise revenue and did so as well. We raised $409 million to meet the obligations that are before us. So I do believe that this is a fiscally responsible budget. It's a balanced budget. And we will move forward as we debate. Thank you.

Senator Moore and Senator Fattman. The Chair calls upon Senators Moore and Fattman to introduce some special visitors.

Thank you, Mr. President. Good morning to the body. I have the honor today of introducing the Northbridge High School sophomore class, that came to see us in action today, starting our budget debates. Senator Fattman and I have the honor of representing the town of Northbridge. Senator Fattman.

I have the southern part of Northbridge and Senator Moore as the northern part. And then we'd also like to welcome our colleague from the House who has all of Northbridge, Representative David Muradian.

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-- happy to know that as we begin the budget debate here in the Senate that the Senate made a very high priority of funding for public higher education. And the Governor, the Senate, and the House each file a separate bill. And then we work out the differences in a conference committee as the next stage in the process. And you'll be happy to know that the Senate included a significant amount of funding, in fact a little bit more than either the House and the Governor, I believe, in total.

But together we're working to try to maintain the momentum we have because we have the best public education system in America, although we do have some gaps and room for improvement. And through the work we do here in the chamber both policy and budget, we hope that we will continue to make progress so we can support young people in their education so they can become productive adults to take their place in society as informed voters and effective, productive people in the workforce. So thank you for joining us today. And we'll continue with our debate.

The senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr.

Why, thank you, Mr. President, and through you to the members. I appreciate the gentle lady's explanation. And she's actually covered a couple of the other questions that we have and continue to have, Mr. President.

And that is whether or not the budget as it pends before the Senate fully addresses all of the known obligations that we have with regard to a number of accounts, Mr. President, and whether or not we're going to need some additional supplemental spending, as we stand here today, relative to those accounts. And certainly it seems Mr. President that the Chairs has indicated that it appears that the budget addresses all of those things.

But when it comes to caseload-driven kinds of things, the difficulty in predictability makes it hard. But Mr. President we still are concerned about some of those other obligations. And we could talk about that later in the debate about things that are not funded in this budget that we know at some point will need to be paid for. And so we're concerned about that.

In addition, Mr. President, we have questions and continue to have questions about the sustainability of this budget in light of current revenue trends. The Chair Lady has addressed that. Mr. President.

The Senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr.

Mr. President, while many say that I enjoy hearing myself speak, right now I'm the only one that can have that pleasure. I hope you'll bring the Senate to order.

The Chair would respectfully ask all members and guests to please subdue their conversations so that the gentleman who is speaking may be heard. The senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr.

Why, thank you, Mr. President. So Mr. President, we know that the budget increases spending over fiscal year 2017 by about 3.3%. And that's a significant amount of money. And as we have said repeatedly from Minority Crescent, it's important to think about all of the dimensions of budgeting and certainly it's glamorous to be able to speak to increases and priorities that many of us share.

But Mr. President, it's also important not to miss opportunities to save money as well as capture opportunities to spend money. So I'm hoping that we can hear from the distinguished Chair about some mechanisms that may be in this budget to actually capture savings as we embark on spending almost $40.8 billion. Thank you, Mr. President.

From Middlesex and Norfolk, Ms. Spilka.

Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you for this question because the budget includes many initiatives for savings and cost savings initiatives. I will highlight just a few. Otherwise, we might be here till this evening. Again the theme of the budget is sustaining our Commonwealth. So we've made very conscious efforts to direct funding to programs to sustain our children, families, and communities.

The budget makes significant investments in the state's early childhood education. In fact, $15.1 million for implementing low income early ed programs across the state. This will be an incredible return on investment, not only for each individual child, both as they go through the early education, but research shows that that helps that child for the rest of not only their school career but into their work career.

It helps them with the other aspects of education. And it'll help them with success for their entire future. For the Commonwealth, that will also translate into cost savings as these kids grow and go through the system. They've had early identification for maybe some educational reading help or whatever else that might be needed. And that they will turn into more productive, self-sufficient adults, saving the Commonwealth money later on and help have self-sufficient productive families as they grow up. So that is something that I think we can all be very proud of.

We also, like last year, another example, is we have $150,000 for a pilot program to fund grants to low income tax clinics. These clinics will assist low income filers to ensure that the Commonwealth is collecting the appropriate level of taxes and that they are also obtaining if say they have access to the EITC, that they have the right to collect that as well.

We also change the ratio of public defenders to private defenders within CPCS from the 25/75 to 20/80. A.d. We changed it to 25/75 years ago. And they've never been able to reach the full 25. That just has not worked out. So we recognize reality and this will actually save money for recruitment and retention, but also generate some cost savings down the line. So again, there's many, many highlights in lots of different areas. The money we've invested in the workforce, the Competitiveness Trust Fund, we have other money for TRAIN, it's a program specifically-- it's a Senate initiative specific--

The senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr.

Thank you, Mr. President. I apologize to the gentle lady, but it is getting difficult to hear in the chamber. And this is important information, Mr. President. We're talking about the parameters of a $40 plus billion budget. The Chair Lady is explaining critical information about what's contained in that budget. And I would hope that the Senate would be brought to order so that we can all share in hearing that information.

The gentleman's point is well-taken. And the Chair would again respectfully ask members if you need to engage in conversation and certainly there is plenty for people to be talking about with each other, we certainly understand that given over 1,000 amendments, we would just respectfully ask that you consider going into the lobby or the reading room to conduct those conversations as necessary so that those who are in the chamber can fully engage and hear the debate that's unfolding. So again, I thank you for your cooperation. And we recognize the senator from Middlesex and Norfolk, Ms. Spilka.

Thank you, Mr. President. And I was just ending with one last example, which is the TRAIN program which the Senate initiated last year and we've expanded it a little bit. We've all been hearing that long term unemployed are having a difficult time getting back to work.

This program focuses on the long term unemployed working with our community colleges and the workers in the area to find out what skills are needed to help get these long term unemployed folks back to work. So it specifically targets that. It's been successful in getting off the ground and helping people. So we build upon that as well. So I would suggest that the budget is replete with initiatives for cost savings.

The senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr.

I appreciate that. And I would suggest that the Senate is replete with spending that we hope will produce cost savings. So Mr. President, I guess it's all in the eye of the beholder. But we do hope during the debate to offer some other initiatives to be able to save some dollars in addition to those that have already been explained and those that will be explained. But along those same lines, Mr. President, there are some revenue raising initiatives. The gentle lady who is the Chair of Ways and Means has already made reference to one, relative to employer assessments for health insurance. I don't think we need to revisit that at this moment.

I think there is flexibility in this budget to be able to address that issue and to be able to in part create a cultural shift away from the temptation to enroll folks into Mass Health programs that otherwise would be covered by private insurance, and should be covered by private insurance. So I don't think we need to discuss that any further.

But there are, Mr. President, some tax initiatives in the budget, Mr. President. And that's because the budget is a money bill. I just wanted to say that again. But Mr. President could we hopefully have an explanation from the distinguished Chair Lady of Ways and Means about what some of those tax changes, those initiatives are, and to be clear on the record, Mr. President, whether or not they are intended to be permanent or whether they are being initiated in response to what is a clear revenue issue that must be addressed in this budget and going forward.

In addition to that, Mr. President, there are some major spending increase initiatives in this budget. There is the expansion of the housing court. There is a reserve for criminal justice reform. And Mr. President, as we've talked about so many of the important things that are in this budget and again, we want to continue to focus on commitments that we've already made to things like the Foundation budget and to things like early childhood education and to things like ensuring that we have appropriate housing for folks.

What is the context and, Mr. President, what is the rationale for major expansions in a situation where we're facing declining revenue and in a situation where in the future it would not be unreasonable to suggest we may have to reduce elements in this budget. Why do we have major expansions? And how were they accommodated given that reality? Thank you, Mr. President.

The Senator from Middlesex and Norfolk, Ms. Spilka.

Thank you, Mr. President. I'll try to break down your question and go through first just a few of the tax changes or revenue enhancers that we did in the budget. And I again note that the Governor did some in his budget to a tune of a little bit more than what we did. The House, about the same. We did the $180 million for the employer assessment or the EMAC. The governor did $300 million.

We did what the Governor proposed, to some extent, on accelerating sales tax remittance for $125 million. However, after meeting with a lot of the businesses involved in this-- and this a one time issue, it would raise money one time. And I do want to mention that the employer assessment or EMAC, we limited it to two years, knowing that this is only a short term fix.

And I do want to note our Chair of Health Care Finance and others are in this, on a great working group, to lower the overall cost of health care. We're looking at long term cost containment. So the assessment slash EMAC would be a short term two-year fix. The accelerated sales tax remittance, we added a prepayment. The businesses said other states have done that. And that's more workable. So we give the governor the choice of working with the businesses, of doing that.

We do a tax on short term rentals, which some people refer to as the Airbnb tax. The Governor did one proposal in his budget, we expanded it a little bit more. So we have that in there.

We closed the loophole on room resellers. So, for example, hotel.com, Expedia, and some of the other large companies that buy hotel rooms in bulk, get a low price. They pay tax on that. And then they resell those rooms to folks like you and I and others across the state. There's no tax currently paid on the increase that they charge. So we closed that loophole as well.

So that is some of the tax revenue enhancers that we do. And I do want to address the housing court and the criminal justice reform. Housing court, I would argue, is something that we simply cannot afford to not do. I think about 70% of our state has access to a housing court. And this is something that I believe the other areas of the state should have access to as well.

Expansion is long overdue. Its an initiative that directs residents to the lowest cost per case trial court. The department's helped landlords and tenants because they have the expertise. And they can actually successfully dispose of cases faster because of that expertise. So it's [INAUDIBLE] to stabilize tenancies and prevent tenants from facing eviction and becoming homeless and increasing our homeless population.

With the criminal justice, as we all know, the Governor, the Speaker, and the Senate President have done a collaboration of an initiative with CSG, the Council on State Governments, to do criminal justice reform. I won't go into all of the aspects of it. But there is an agreement for this coming fiscal year for the branches to allocate $3.5 million towards this reform effort.

And all of the branches are agreeing upon this amount so that we can get that criminal justice reform going. We believe it's the right time to enhance our support for the criminal justice initiatives. This will help reduce recidivism, save money in our prisons, directing more money towards education and other programs to reduce recidivism. The incarceration of just one individual costs about $50,000 a year.

If we can ensure that more individuals stay out of jail, stay out of the criminal justice system, and continue to be productive members of our state, the benefits would be far reaching. So supporting the socioeconomic success of well-being of individuals and their families, while also lowering the state's, and by extension our tax payer's, costs. Thank you.

The senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr.

Thank you, Madam President-- Mr. President rather, and to the distinguished Chair. I appreciate the explanation. Mr. President, again, we understand that there is some importance to some of these issues. But again, with regard to the housing court, it is a particularly important court in the Commonwealth. It does tremendous work of resolving disputes. And criminal justice reform is also important. We just raise the issue of expansions when in fact we are likely looking at reductions in this budget.

But Mr. President and through you to the distinguished Chair Lady, one of the things that we have to get our hands around and one of the cost drivers in this and every budget is the cost of Medicaid or Mass Health. So I'm hoping that the distinguished Chair Lady can explain to us, in this particular budget, what percentage of spending is the Mass Health program. And along those same lines, Mr. President, why there are savings initiatives contained in the budget. Because it's one of those areas that must be addressed if we are to contain and control state spending so that we can respond to other priorities. Thank you, Mr. President.

The senator from Middlesex and Norfolk, Ms. Spilka.

Thank you, Mr. President. As we know, Mass Health provides services to 1.9 million residents here in the Commonwealth, helping ensure that health insurance coverage is not a barrier for any of our residents, especially our low income residents. Mass Health's spending in this budget totals $16.714 billion. It is approaching approximately 40% of our budget for fiscal year 2018. And that is why the Senate, as I mentioned previously, is taking steps to try to lower the overall cost of health care with the working group that we have been working-- many of the senators have been working on. So this is something that the Senate is keeping its eye on.

We also take some steps as was mentioned with the assessment or EMAC to tide us through a couple of years. But in recognition that we need to help particularly the small businesses here, we created in the budget a Connector public awareness campaign. We found in meeting with some of the businesses, particularly the small businesses, some were not aware of the tools that were already offered and products available through the Connector. So we think an enhanced public awareness campaign would help.

We also create a group purchasing cooperative task force to improve the affordability and efficacy of group purchasing cooperatives. That would also lower costs. The other initiative that we do is we direct the Connector to have a premium sharing feasibility study. So that would look at establishing small employer premiums, a sharing plan for the coverage of individuals that are eligible to be on Mass Health where the employer could contribute a certain amount for the eligible employees, their eligible employees, to help pay for that. So there's just a few-- and that again is just a few of some of the initiatives that we have taken in this budget to try to continue to lower the overall cost of health care.

Senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr.

Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate the explanation. And I do think that it's critically important that we continue to work on controlling the cost of health care in general, and more specifically on trying to control our Mass Health costs because they are important. It's important that we deliver coverage and that we ensure health care coverage. But it's also important that we're expanding its availability, we ensure that it does not, by virtue of its cost requirements, devour other available resources that could be spent on other things.

Mr. President, the distinguished Chair Lady of Ways and Means has answered a variety of very complex questions. And I appreciate those answers. And not only the answers, but the knowledge and the focus that enables her to provide them. But now, Mr. President, perhaps the most difficult question of all, and I'm hoping to test her expertise and since has done so well in providing us with information on other things. Mr. President, I'm hoping she can tell us, can the Boston Celtics win the NBA Championship.

The chair recognizes the senator from Middlesex and Norfolk.

In trying to get out my crystal ball, I would remind the leader of a score of a somewhat recent, famous in our parts, football game earlier this year. 28 to 3. And simply suggest that in Boston and in Massachusetts, anything is possible.

The senator from Middlesex wants to talk.

I so appreciate that answer, because whether it's 28 to 3, or two games to one, or 33 to 6, anything can happen in Massachusetts, and we hope that it will in this budget. So Mr. President, I appreciate the explanation. I would just take a moment to explain part of why we're concerned.

Mr. President, we know that there is an agreement on consensus revenue, but we also know that situations are changing, and that revenue trends are concerning with regard to supporting that consensus. And so we want to ensure in Minority Crescent that at some point we don't engage in concealment by consensus, and that we actually acknowledge that there is a problem.

And Mr. President, we have been hard at work in the Minority Print Shop, and this chart comes to us from the Minority Innovation Chamber. And it is a very simple one, given some of the other charts that we may be sharing. Mr. President, you don't need the calculator yet. This one's very easy. So we can make this available, and Mr. President, it will be available in framed version after the budget debate. For those that would like one for their home or office, they also make wonderful holiday gifts.