An editorial by Carl M. Sciortino

This month, the dust is settling after a busy time in the Legislature’s calendar. The state budget for the 2006 fiscal year has been enacted. It is a long and complex process that is not easily digested in the daily news. But this is The People’s Budget, and has a direct impact on all of our lives.  Therefore, I am taking this opportunity to share some observations of my first budget as a legislator.

During this year’s debate, one Representative compared the budget to a phone book. Both are big collections of numbers, but at the other end of every one of those numbers you will find people. Maybe it is home-care services for elders at line item 9110-1630, or the Somerville At-Risk Youth Project named in honor of the late Senator Shannon at 7003-0702, or line item 2220-2220 where I made an amendment and my first speech in the House Chamber in support of starter funding the Green Line extension. Each number means a great deal to a group of people somewhere, and the legislature’s task is to weigh all of these important priorities and work towards an equitable division of the state’s funds.

The most useful assistance that I received during the budget debate came from people in my district. The budget is too long for anyone to try to become an expert on every item. Like every one of my colleagues, I am dependent upon the calls and emails from constituents to tell me what is important to them. Hundreds of people from my district contacted me about the budget. I sincerely urge more people to contact my office in the future. My phone number is 617-722-2014 and carl.sciortino@state.ma.us is my email.

An example of the power of contacts from constituents is local aid to schools. I heard from many of you about the needs of Somerville’s public schools, as many other legislators heard from families in their own districts. As a result, I am proud to say that we increased the amount of school funding by $50 per pupil above what was originally proposed. For Somerville, this means over one million more dollars in state aid for schools compared to last year. While an improvement, this is still less than the amount of aid we saw just four years ago. In a tight budget, with state revenue only beginning to recover some of the ground lost in the last few years, we were severely constrained. But I am hopeful the upward trend will continue, and I know all of the letters, calls, and emails made a difference.

This year was notable because it was the first time that unrelated “outside sections” of the budget were not included. In previous years, a great deal of policy changes, good and bad, have been made by including them in the budget. This year, for the first time in recent memory, the House, working with the Senate, was able to produce a clean budget without extra elements tucked away in its pages. This is a significant reform, allowing legislators to concentrate fully on producing a balanced budget, and to give policy changes the chance to be considered as bills individually on their own merits. Legislative committees are able to fully evaluate the policy changes, and members of the public will be able to give input at hearings and by communicating with me and my colleagues in the House and Senate.

The final step in the budget process was to consider Governor Romney’s vetoes. The budget was passed by the House and Senate unanimously. All legislators, Democrat and Republican, supported the agreement that we reached. This was a disciplined, well-considered budget, and in this context the Governor’s vetoes did not make sense. We restored the money that he cut from teen pregnancy prevention programs. We reversed his reduction of funding for the Mass Rental Voucher Program, for affordable rental housing for elders and low-income families. And we overturned his vetoes of modest raises for some of the lowest paid workers in the state, who care for the elderly, sick, and disabled. There are many examples of critically important programs that were cut by the Governor, and while those vetoes may look good for his national ambitions, they weren’t good for the people of Massachusetts. In the end, I am proud that the Legislature overturned nearly every veto sent to us by the Governor.

In some way or another, the budget has an impact on all of us. For some among us, there are programs included in it that have made a profound, even life-saving, difference. The budget is a reflection of the legislature’s current priories, and I was proud to be able to represent my constituents’ priorities throughout the process.

Sincerely,
Carl Sciortino
State Representative
Statehouse
Boston, MA 02133