Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Forum

Hosted by: Senate President Therese Murray Senator Daniel A. Wolf

Friday, March 21, 2014 2:00 p.m. 3:30 p.m. Innovation Room, Barnstable County Complex

Enclosures: Budget Schedule............................................................................... pages 1-2 Budget Terminology.... 3 Helpful Budget Hints ....... 4 Information Needed for Budget Requests... 5 Sample Explanation of Program........ 6 Sample Budget Request to Ways and Means... 7 Sample Budget Amendment 8 Committee Contacts....9 List of Cape and Island Delegation Members... 10

GENERAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT SCHEDULE OF EVENTS FY15

Note: This schedule is tentative, and illustrates how the budget process would ideally proceed. However, due to the vast amount of issues to be addressed and the short time frame involved, changes to this timetable are likely

Dec.2013Jan. 204 Jan. 25, 2014 Feb. Mar 2014.

Administration and Finance Secretary, House Ways and Means Chair, and Senate Ways and Means Chair agree on revenue amounts Governors budget due House members meet with House Ways and Means chair to request budget items. Senate members meet with Senate Ways and Means chair to request budget items.

April 2014

House Ways and Means Committee Reports Budget Recommendations House members submit floor amendments to add or strike items from Ways and Means Report. House will debate these amendments until budget bill gets initial passage and is then referred to as House Engrossed.

Early May (approx. 1 week after HWM report)

Late May Early June

Senate Ways and Means Committee Reports Budget Recommendations Senate members submit floor amendments to Ways and Means Report and debate until Senate budget bill gets initial passage of Senate Budget Any portions of the House and Senate Budget that are different are assigned to the Conference Committee

Early June (approx. 1 week after SWM report) June

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January 2014

Conference Committee meets to negotiate agreeable terms of House and Senate Budgets Late June Late June Conference Committee report released House members vote yes or no on Committee report and Enact bill Senate members vote yes or no on Committee report and Enact bill Governor has 10 days to review final bill and veto line items and language House session to decide what vetoes to take up for a Legislative Override. 2/3 of House members must concur on each item. Only after House overrides an item, can it come to the Senate for its members to consider and, again, 2/3 of Senate members must agree on override. Official start of Fiscal Year 15. Budget bill becomes law. Any items that the Governor vetoed, which the Legislature did not override, are NOT included in the final law. If an item received an override, it IS included in the final law.

Late June

Late June

Late June

July 1, 2014

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January 2014

Terminology
GAA: General Appropriation Act. The annual state budget. Fiscal Year for the Commonwealth. Starts July 1st each year. Supplemental Budget. A budget in a current FY to cover deficiencies not addressed in the GAA. Capital Supplemental Budget. A budget to address capital needs. The final Supp. Budget of a current FY. The account numbers for each agencys spending. Money, or language authorizing spending, directed specifically to a certain program within a Line Item. Bills or legislation contained in the budget that creates a law to address some spending authorized in the Inside Section of the budget. The amount of money the Legislature authorizes to be spent as a result of the passage of the GAA. Senate Ways and Means House Ways and Means

FY:

Supp. Budget:

Cap. Supp.:

Final Deficiency: Line Item:

Earmark:

Outside Section:

Appropriation:

SWM: HWM:

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January 2014

HELPFUL BUDGET HINTS

The fiscal year in the Commonwealths budgeting begins on July 1. Therefore, from January June 2014, the government will be preparing its 2015 fiscal year budget that will need to be in place by July 1, 2014. If your organization relies on state funding, it is critical that you take the following steps to advocate for continued funding: o Contact your State Representative with your funding request. o Contact your State Senator with your funding request. o Put your request in writing and send an electronic copy over email if possible. o Include as much information as you can in your written request. o Include the line item where you receive your funding. o Include the amount of money you are requesting. o Include the history of how much money you have received in the past. o Detail how your organization will spend the money how much on salaries, how much on supplies, etc. o Provide a description of your program and the services you offer. o Highlight the number of people served, or other important accomplishments. o Follow up on your request using the Schedule of Events handout as a guide ask if it got into each various budget step. o Write to the conference committee members about your request if your appropriation gets to that step and if the House and Senate versions reported it differently.

Check out the General Court Website to find out the status of the budget items: http://www.mass.gov/anf/budget-taxes-andprocurement/state-budget/budget-process/. Follow links that will become available to each version of the budget, as it is prepared. Look up your line item and look for your program by doing word searches in the document.

Office of Senator Wolf

January 2014

INFORMATION NEEDED FOR BUDGET REQUESTS

Line Item (account) where state funding or language has been provided or where it would be appropriate. o Please provide previous years funding language and what line item it was from. o If your line item was consolidated in the Governors budget, please include what other line items it was consolidated with. Specific amount of money needed for fiscal year. Quantify the need for the amount of funding. Provide any available breakdowns on how money will be spent: o Staff provide number and rates of pay o Costs provide costs of service per individual o Service provide numbers on how many people were served or benefited from each specific service provided Highlights of program. o Indicate the purpose of program, benefits of the program, and goals of program. Provide contact information. o Staff name to get more information from and phone and fax numbers. Also, an Email address if available. Provide information and request in writing.

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January 2014

(SAMPLE EXPLANATION OF PROGRAM)

FY15 BUDGET
SHELLFISH PROPAGATION FOR CAPE COD Line Item: 2330-0100 Justification Maintenance Previous funding in last years budget requested $90,000 no earmark What amount did you actually receive from the state? $xxx What direct funding, if any, did you receive in the Governors budget? o There was no direct mention of Shellfish Propagation for Cape Cod but shellfish programs were mentioned as eligible for funding. We lobbied the dept. for funds. Explain successes of program and impacts on town/region/community. o This is a successful program. Aquaculture is a growing industry on the Cape and Islands. What has state funding allowed for? What is the impact of state funding both positive and negative? o State funding has allowed the program to purchase 12.5 million quahog seeds through a bulk seed-purchasing program, as well as increase the County-wide oyster remote set and restoration project to 2800 bags, distributed to ten towns. o This program will also allow for further shellfish disease testing and monitoring. Due to the ongoing threat of QPX in Cape waters, disease testing is of the utmost importance. o Propagation programs will also help those private growers who were affected by the QPX outbreak to work with the commercial fisheries of the towns to supplement their incomes. o The propagation program allows for the continued harvest of shellfish and has a positive impact on the education of the general public about the importance of shellfish resources and the need to maintain marine water quality. What were the impacts of reduced or lost state funding? Funding History: FY10 -12 no earmark FY09 - $90,000 (9C cut - $45,000) FY04-08- $90,000 FY03- bottom line funded at $3,815,384 earmark was vetoed by Governor. FY97-FY02 $100K Contact John Doe, Cooperative Extension Service, 508-555-6690

Office of Senator Wolf

January 2014

PRIORITY NUMBER
TYPE OF LEGISLATION: Budget

SENATOR: DATE: Line Item: ISSUE:

Wolf March 10, 2014 2330-0100 CAPE COD SHELLFISH PROPAGATION

Maintain language and funding in line item 2330-0100 as follows: ; provided further, that funds shall be expended for the joint operation of a shellfish propagation program on Cape Cod between the division and Barnstable County.

For SWM Staff Use Only: ISSUE CODE: ____________________________________

REQUEST ID#: ____________________________________ (SAMPLE BUDGET AMENDMENT) CAPE COD SHELLFISH PROPAGATION Office of Senator Wolf 7 January 2014

Mr. Wolf of Harwich moves to amend the bill, in section 2, in line item 23300100 by inserting after the words x, the following:-

provided further, that funding shall be expended for the joint operation of a shellfish propagation program on Cape Cod between the division and Barnstable County.

Office of Senator Wolf

January 2014

State Legislators: Leadership

President Therese Murray State House Room 330 Boston, MA 02133 617-722-1500 Speaker Robert DeLeo State House Room 356 Boston, MA 02133 617-722-2500

Ways & Means Leadership

Senator Stephen Brewer (Chair SWM)
State House, Room 212 Boston, MA 02133 Phone: 617-722-1540 Email: Stephen.Brewer@masenate.gov

Representative Brian Dempsey (Chair HWM)

State House, Room 243 Boston, MA 02133 Phone: 617-722-2990 Email: Brian.Dempsey@massmail.state.ma.us

Office of Senator Wolf

January 2014

Cape and Islands Delegation Members

Senate President Therese Murray Plymouth and Barnstable District State House, Room 330 Boston, MA 02133 (617) 722-1500 Representative Cleon Turner 1st Barnstable District State House, Room 540 Boston, MA 02133 (617) 722-2090 Representative David Vieira 3rd Barnstable District State House, Room B2 Boston, MA 02133 (617) 722-2425 Representative Randy Hunt 5th Barnstable District District State House, Room 136 Boston, MA 02133 (617) 722-2396 Senator Daniel Wolf Cape and Islands District State House, Room 511C Boston, MA 02133 (617) 722-1570 Representative Brian Mannal 2nd Barnstable District State House, Room 448 Boston, MA 02133 (617) 722-2582 Representative Sarah Peake 4th Barnstable District State House, Room 540 Boston, MA 02133 (617) 722-2090 Representative Timothy Madden Barnstable, Dukes, Nantucket State House, Room 167 Boston, MA 02133 (617) 722-2810

Office of Senator Wolf

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January 2014