Senate Begins Debate on Budget Package

BOSTON--The Massachusetts Senate began a long night's work on a $349 million savings and cuts package yesterday, and the chamber accepted an amendment slashing an additional $320,000 from the State Treasurer's office this fiscal year.

The Senate accepted an amendment by Sen. Richard Kraus (D-Arlington), and a candidate for treasurer offered the amendment, saying that the office was the largest of its kind in the nation.

Little headway was made as debate continued. The bottom line of the package was higher by 10 p.m. as the Senate adopted amendments restoring $539,000 cut by the governor from the Registry of Motor Vehicles and approved $2 million earmarked for the Division of Banks.

The debate opened with Senate President William Bulger (D-Boston) calling it "a good first step" toward closing an $825 million gap in the state budget.

"We have some very, very difficult choices to make," Bulger said. "This is clearly an unpopular initiative...Those who support it do so in the honest belief that it is a necessary measure."

Bulger urged legislators to support the package, which he said incorporated some "hard choices" on cuts to the state's most expensive programs.

He cautioned, however, that new taxes would still be necessary.

"There is no question the [measure] will not serve to avoid the need for new revenue. There is still need for a tax package," Bulger said.

Bulger cast the need for reductions in spending and new taxes along historical lines, noting that federal commitments to state aid had waned during the 1980s while state payments to cities and towns had climbed. State revenues that grew by double-digits earlier in the decade have trickled to less than 5 percent growth annually, he said.

"That success led us to believe we could mean all things to all people forever," Bulger said.

Sen. David Locke (R-Sherborn), the minority leader, sought to draw partisan lines in his opening statement and accused the Democrats of not cutting enough.

Locke offered a Republican amendment he said would expand the cuts and spending reductions by $258 million more to avoid taxes.

The plan before the Senate "doesn't solve the problem. It's a prescription for new taxes," Locke said. "Democrats say it's a lack of revenues. Republicans say it's too much spending."

The proposal reported out by the Ways and Means Committee last week includes $105 million in cuts to specific state agencies and programs and $132 million in new non-tax revenues. It would save $16.5 million through overhauls in Medicaid and group insurance for state employees.

It contained several controversial measures, many of which addressed long-term spending on the state's "budget busters"--five mandated programs that make up $4.2 billion dollars of the $12 billion budget.

Sen. Paul Keating (D-Sharon) said he would offer amendments totaling another $100 million in savings.

Sen. Francis Doris (D-Revere) said he would try to strike out a provision requiring all state employees to pick up at least 9 percent of their health insurance costs.

The Ways and Means proposal would gain $11.5 million in fiscal 1990 by giving the Department of Public Welfare rate-setting powers, and tightening Medicaid certification. It would generate $5 million in savings through repeal of a 1980 rollback in group insurance rates.

The committee agreed with $89 million in line-item cuts targeted by the Dukakis administration, added $16 million in cuts of its own and asked the governor to trim an additional $34 million from the budget.

It also called for "maximizing the comptroller's ability to collect revenues" for a $60 million boost. That general provision also was included in the House-passed plan.

It also called for the state to collect unclaimed bottle deposits, which it said could earn $6 million in fiscal 1990 and $24 million each following year. The House, which passed a separate bill Wednesday to collect the bottle money, put a $12 million value on it for fiscal 1990.