INSIDE THE STATE BUDGETING PROCESS
Maintaining and increasing public investment in the creative community requires constant and broad grassroots activism throughout the annual budget process.
Each year in Massachusetts, the Governor and Legislature comes together to decide how to spend tax revenues in the next year. Budgets are a representation of our collective priorities and developing a spending plan for the Commonwealth requires participation from all of us. The budget process is necessary and an excellent opportunity for the creative community to share the essential role that artists, creatives, and cultural organizations play in every city and town in the Commonwealth. Many sectors and groups are deserving of public investment; however, with limited funds lawmakers have to make tough financial choices. Lawmakers look to their constituents to help them consider what programs, efforts and state agencies will have the most positive impact in their district. This is why regular personal communication with your Senator and Representative is crucial to increasing public investment in the creative sector.
The Budget Timeline
In Massachusetts the budget covers July 1 - June 30 of each year. The process for developing the next years budget starts move than six months before the start of the fiscal year. Below is a timeline of how the budget is put together. We’ve included points along the way where your participation and voice is needed most. We invite you to join arts and cultural advocates across the Commonwealth who each year share their stories and ask their elected officials to prioritize arts, culture, and creativity.
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December - January
During the month of December, the office of the Governor is hard at work developing a spending plan that will eventually become the Governor’s Budget. Many factors are taken into consideration including tax revenue forecasts, existing spending commitments, and larger national economic trends.
By the fourth Wednesday of January, the Governor must deliver their budget proposal to the House of Representatives. This marks the official kickoff of the budget process.
Note: During the Governor’s first term in their first year, the Governor can submit their budget after the fourth Wednesday of January.
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February - March
Following the Governor submitting their budget, the Joint Committee of the Legislature for Ways and Means holds a series of hearings.
Public Hearings allow the Ways and Means committee the opportunity to hear from state agencies and the public about what is needed to keep government programs and operations going for the coming fiscal year.
Along with the Speaker of the House and Senate President, the Chairs of Ways and Means also hear from fellow lawmakers on what they most want to see included in the budget. With 200 members representing every corner of the Commonwealth, distilling these various priorities takes a long time.
Many advocacy groups, changemakers, and organizations plan days at the State House to make sure their priorities are considered in the budgeting process.
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Mid-April
Following budget hearings and meetings the House Ways and Means Committee releases its proposed budget to the House. (Approximately mid-April)
The House Ways and Means Budget is then debated by the House: Members of the House can offer amendments to the budget which include specific increases for state agencies and programs.
Once a Representative offers an amendment, members of the House can sign on as co-sponsors to show their support for a specific spending area or priority. The more co-sponsors the amendment gets, the more support that particular spending priority has. The more calls, emails, and meetings a representative receives regarding an amendment, the higher the chances are they will sign on as a co-sponsor.
After all the amendments are considered, the House votes on a final version of its budget. Once the budget is passed it moves to the Senate.
Notes on Advocacy: The creative community is fortunate to have co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development who work with us to ensure spending for arts, culture, and creativity is at appropriate levels. This can include filing an amendment to increase spending if needed. For the last ten years, MASSCreative has worked with partner arts advocates and member organizations to reach out and ask members of the House to sign on a co-sponsor of amendments to increase the Mass Cultural Council line item.
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Mid May
Like the House, the Senate Ways and Mean Committee has the opportunity to develop their own budget. And like the House, the Senate debates amendments to the budget offered by Senators. Senators also seek co-sponsors to support their amendments. This is followed by a final vote on the budget.
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June
Following the passage of the Senate budget, a Conference Committee is convened to negotiate the differences between the House and Senate budgets.
The Conference Committee includes members of both the House and the Senate. Usually, the Conference Committee for the Budget includes the House and Senate Chairs and Vice Chairs of Ways and Means as well as the ranking minority members of the House and Senate Ways and Means Committee.
Once the Committee has reconciled the two versions of the budget they release a Committee Report that is presented to the House and Senate for a vote.
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June
Following the passage of the Budget by both the House and Senate, House the Governor has 10 days to review it. The Governor has several choices on what they can do next:
Sign the budget (as is) into law
Veto the budget
Make line-item vetos to the budget. The line-item veto means the Governor can specifically reduce the amount of a particular budget item or veto specific language.
However, the budget isn’t finished yet!
The House and the Senate can choose to override any or all of the Governor's vetoes. Any veto override requires 2/3 of both the House and the Senate.
The deadline for a final budget is July 1. However, on occasion, this deadline is pushed forward.
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The budget is expected by the start of the fiscal year on July 1. However, on occasion, the budget takes a little longer.
After many months of work on the budget, lawmakers’ efforts on behalf of the creative community should not go unacknowledged. July is an excellent time to reach out and thank your legislators for their work and efforts.