Gov. Charlie Baker told the State House News Service on Friday, July 31 that he intended to sign a $16.5 billion interim state budget that would fund Massachusetts for August, September and October.
“I think the bottom line is the Legislature really wants to see what is going to happen in Washington before they sort of put the final ink on what they would like to see as their FY ’21 budget and I am sympathetic to that and I think that’s probably at this point of time the best we can do if we want to do something that’s reasonably accurate,” Baker said. The governor recently vetoed language from a COVID-19 budget bill that would have set a spending floor for the administration to follow, arguing that it “impinges on executive discretion to exercise judgement not to spend money unnecessarily, where a lesser amount does not compromise the underlying legislative purposes and goals.”
The interim budget is based on FY ’20 spending levels. More information about it can be found at the state website. Questions can be directed to Bill Yelenak at the Council.