© 2024 New England Public Media

FCC public inspection files:
WGBYWFCRWNNZWNNUWNNZ-FMWNNI

For assistance accessing our public files, please contact hello@nepm.org or call 413-781-2801.
PBS, NPR and local perspective for western Mass.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Massachusetts Budget Process Resumes Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Concern

The Massachusetts Statehouse in Boston.
Jesse Costa
/
WBUR
The Massachusetts Statehouse in Boston.

Massachusetts lawmakers have punted for months on a full-year budget amid uncertainty over the coronavirus. But this week, even as COVID-19 case counts rise, the state budget process resumes.

It's been more than three months since the fiscal year started, and the state has been getting by on stopgap budgets.

Reporter Matt Murphy of the State House News Service tells us just how big this week is for budget writers. 

Matt Murphy, State House News Service: For the first time since April, budget writers of the House, the Senate and the Baker administration are going to get together to hear again from economists.

They gathered a group of economists, fiscal experts back in April — when the pandemic was just starting — to try to get a sense of what they might be in store for. And at that time, there were some pretty dire warning expectations that revenues could plummet anywhere from $6 to $8 billion.

The worst of those projections ended up not coming true, in part because of the federal relief that came, and in part because of the unemployment enhanced benefits that have been paid out, that had supplemented people's incomes, and the ability of the state to get some of its economy back up and running. So, some of those same people will be back, trying to give lawmakers a sense of what now to expect.

Of course, there's still uncertainty. The possibility of a fall surge in the virus remains, which could upend any projections. They are still hoping to get federal relief from Washington — another round that is subject to talks between the speaker and the Trump administration.

But lawmakers are trying now to get back on that horse, trying to wrap their heads around what the economic future of the state is going to look like for the next eight months, and produce a budget potentially by the end of this calendar year.

Carrie Healy, NEPM: Speaking of the virus, some communities can now move into the next step of reopening, expanding capacity to 250 people for indoor performance venues, but not in cities with higher rates of recent infections, which includes Boston, Worcester and Springfield. This comes as hospitalizations, test rate and positive cases are trending upward in Massachusetts. Is the Baker administration confident in this move?

They are, even though two more days this past weekend of new cases reported north of 600 a day.

The Baker administration believes that the science and the evidence in other states supports targeted reopening — that this can be done safely in communities where there is little to no spread of the virus.

That is what the administration has been aiming for when they started producing maps, these color-coded town-by-town maps based on the virus's spread. And they think that if a community has limited the virus, if present, from spreading in the community, they should go ahead and open, and try these things safely in a controlled environment. And that it's better than just telling everybody to stay inside, which we've seen people are getting a little reluctant to do, or just telling them to go out and live their lives freely. 

Certainly, the case numbers are concerning in recent days and weeks, but the administration likes to look at trends, not these snapshots. I think they want to give it at least a couple of weeks now.

The big national story over the weekend was President Trump's treatment for COVID-19 and the impact on the presidential campaign. Do you hear any talk from Massachusetts politicians about the risks of campaigning in these final weeks before the election? Or is it just full steam ahead?

I think we'll see. I'm sure a lot of campaigns took the weekend. Senator Ed Markey announced over the weekend that he had been tested for COVID-19. He tested negative. He said he would continue to be tested and release those results publicly when they happen.

And that was in anticipation of his first and only debate against Republican Kevin O'Connor. So, you are seeing some of the campaigns take steps like that.

Keep up here with Beacon Hill In 5.

Carrie Healy hosts the local broadcast of "Morning Edition" at NEPM. She also hosts the station’s weekly government and politics segment “Beacon Hill In 5” for broadcast radio and podcast syndication.
Related Content