Will Brownsberger -- State Representative, Democrat, 24th Middlesex District

The flash news in the Governor’s state of the state address was that he intends to file a budget (due next week) that preserves local aid at last year’s level.

This post relates to a fairly technical question that has been the subject of some confusion on the House floor: Exactly what information is available to the public about spending on legislative operations?

I found myself voting in the minority — with the Republicans and a small group of Democrats — on three financial integrity issues this week.

Members of the house grew uneasy last week as they voted a routine final “deficiency” budget — a set of appropriations to cover a short list of cost overruns from the last fiscal year.

Legislators received this communication from the Patrick Administration on October 15.

The Governor and the legislature are circling uncomfortably around the issue of how much to cut the present fiscal year’s budget and whether or not the cuts must affect local aid. Next year’s budget is also looking grim

Gambling, health care cost control, further pension reform – these are the major issues that the legislature is likely to address this fall after we resolve the Kennedy succession. The theme? Continued financial pressure.

Speaker Deleo published today this summary of the legislature’s work this season.   The focus for the whole spring and early summer was on reform — ethics, pension and transportation — and the budget.  See also, my series of posts on the reform and budget issues.

The story which came out today in the Boston Globe is a block buster. I will actively oppose a T fare increase.

Latest new: Richard Sullivan, Commissioner of DCR, has extended pool closing to August 30 for many pools, statewide.

One of the sleeper stories in this year’s season of reform is the consolidation of the remaining seven independent Sheriff’s into the state budget. The main cost benefit of this change is that the employees of the sheriffs will purchase their health insurance through the Group Insurance Commission now as state employees.

Over the last two days, the legislature has taken final action on the budget for Fiscal 2010.

A number of folks have in touch with me about saving the zoo from the Governor’s veto pen. I am supportive of doing that in principle.

The T is now starting a conversation about choices between fair increases and service reductions. See local details and hearing schedules here.

Yesterday, I sat in on a meeting where the Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization struggled to define the long-term parameters of a financially realistic Transportation Improvement Plan. Locally, the tight planning environment will likely mean further delay in the Belmont-Trapelo Corridor project (my primary concern in the meeting) and perhaps other projects.

There is a lot more to reform, but by any fair reckoning, the last four months of legislative activity have been extraordinarily productive. It didn’t have to turn out that way.

I voted this afternoon for the FY2010 budget which passed with 110 votes in the House and 31 in the Senate, in both branches more than the 2/3 needed to override a possible veto.

The legislature balanced the Fiscal 2010 budget primarily through program cuts and cost-savings, with important help from the federal government and with limited reliance on new revenues and rainy day fund usage.

The House-Senate conference committee report on the budget is now available online. This post provides local aid numbers. The budget is now final, subject only to veto by the Governor.

Final passage of a landmark transportation reform bill, with a bipartisan vote of 130 to 25 in the  House today, signals an end to decades of costly balkanization of our transportation infrastructure.  I voted in favor –  nothing so controversial and complex can be perfect, but it is a very good bill.