Mass. Legislature Needs to Override Gov. Patrick's Budget Vetoes

Gov. Patrick's recent vetoes to key public services earlier this week are unconscionable given the fact of the worsening economic situation in Massachusetts coupled with recent cuts to state corporate tax rates, and need to be overridden by the legislature immediately.

We are shocked that the governor could lop off over $122 million from an already tight legislative conference budget, and that he seeks to add insult to injury by demanding sweeping powers to make further unilateral cuts later this year - a feat previously achieved by former Gov. Mitt Romney in 2003.

Ironically, cuts to some health care items will result in a loss of federal Medicaid funds. So the net "savings" to the state budget is actually $93.6 million.

And while conservative commentators may try to pass the cuts off as "pork" that needed to be "trimmed from an already fat budget," here's a list of some of the worst - courtesy of a report by the Mass. Budget and Policy Center:

*$12.2 million from the Higher Education budget - mostly from operating funds for community and state colleges, including a whopping $4.1 million from the UMass system;

*$52.9 million from the Health Care budget - including $19.7 million from MassHealth Managed Care, and (particularly galling) a $10 million cut in money for pediatric specialty hospitals, $2 million for Holyoke Hospital, $17.5 million from MassHealth Senior Care, and $6 million in special rates for hospitals with a large share of patients receiving publicly-funded health care;

*$3.8 million from Public Health - including $2.2 million in grants for "Youth at Risk" grants, $307,000 for community health centers, $360,000 for family health services, $511,000 for health promotion and disease prevention and $390,000 for school health services;

*$2 million from Developmental Services - including $1 million from the Autism Division, $752,000 for state facilities for the mentally retarded and $600,000 for Community Residential Supports;

*$4.5 million from Environmental Affairs;

*$14.5 million from Economic Development - including $500,000 for the Commonwealth Corporation, $250,000 for the Farm Workers' Council, $250,000 for the AWAKE program in Springfield;

*$1.8 million from Housing.

Open Media Boston encourages viewers to contact your state legislators immediately and demand an override of the Gov. Patrick's budget vetoes. Times may be tough, but they are tougher for the working families of the Commonwealth more than many corporations and rich folks. And while there's certainly tremendous need for change in the federal government, that will take much longer to achieve than cleaning up our own house in Massachusetts.

We believe, therefore, that it's time to put progressive state tax reform back on the political agenda of all local community organizations and unions of good conscience. Economic prosperity is built from the bottom-up, not from the top-down. So tax breaks to multi-national corporations and banks that make huge profits in our cities and towns is the exact opposite of what's needed in a down economy.

As long as we're going to live under a capitalist economic system - where what goes up inevitably comes down - corporations need to be made to understand that they cannot continue to enjoy super-profits at the expense of society-at-large. So when times get tough for working people, corporate taxes that may have been (usually foolishly) lowered in boom times need to go up. Not down even further.

With progressive tax reform, we can at least ensure that during future recessions, the economic pain will not be unequally distributed to those that can least afford it. And that, we would think, should be the paramount goal of any good government.

For Gov. Patrick's take on the budget cuts, check out his website at http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=gov3homepage&L=1&L0=Home&sid=Agov3

The Mass. Budget and Policy Center's report on the budget cuts can be downloaded on their website at http://www.massbudget.org

Business perspectives on the cuts can be found at the Mass. Taxpayers Foundation website at http://www.masstaxpayers.org/

And to find your state representative and state senator, check out the Mass. Legislature's website at http://www.mass.gov/legis/