FY16 Budget Priorities Letter to Senate Ways and Means

Today, Senator Brownsberger submitted the following letter to the Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means outlining his budget priorities for Fiscal Year 2016 (beginning on July 1, 2015).

March 31, 2015

 

The Honorable Karen E. Spilka
Chair, Senate Committee on Ways and Means
State House
Room 212
Boston, MA 02133

Dear Chairwoman Spilka,

I greatly appreciated the opportunity to meet with you to discuss my thoughts on the FY16 budget.

As I mentioned in the meeting, my overriding concern this year is to have a transparent, responsible budget. The following are my top personal priorities but they are all less important to me than having a credible budget.

I would like to highlight the following, as my top priorities:

• Complete the overdue effort reduction and downpayment aid schedules in the Chapter 70 funding formula, for an increase of $40.5 million;
• Fund the Special Education Circuit Breaker account fully, with an allowance for inflation;
• Fund the Department of Conservation and Recreation fully;
• Substantially increase funding for the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation;
• Fund Charter School Reimbursements fully; and
• Fund Kindergarten Development Grants fully.

The line-items below are additional items which are of importance to me and my constituents:

0321-1504 CPCS Attorney Salaries and Related Programs
0321-1510 Private Counsel Compensation and Related Programs
0321-2000 Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee
1599-6903 Chapter 257 Reserve
2000-0101 Climate Change Adaptation and Preparedness
2200-0100 Department of Environmental Protection Administration
2300-0100 Department of Fish and Game Administration
2511-0100 Department of Agricultural Resources Administration
2810-0100 State Parks and Recreation
2810-2042 Department of Conservation and Recreation Retained Revenue and Related Programs
3000-4050 TANF-Related Child Care and Related Programs
3000-4060 Child Care Access and Related Programs
3000-5000 Grants to Head Start Programs and Related Programs
3000-7000 Healthy Families Home Visiting Program and Related Programs
3000-7050 Family Networks and Related Programs
4000-0005 Safe and Successful Youth Initiative and Related Programs
3000-4040 Birth through Pre-School and Related Programs
4000-0051 Family Access Centers
4000-0300 Exec. Office Health and Human Services
4000-0600 MassHealth Senior Care
4003-0122 Low-Income Citizenship Program
4110-1000 Community Services for the Blind
4110-3010 Vocational Rehabilitation for the Blind
4120-2000 Vocational Rehabilitation for the Disabled
4120-3000 Employment Assistance
4120-4000 Independent Living Assistance for the Multi Disabled and Related Programs
4120-4001 Accessible Housing Registry for Disabled Persons
4120-6000 Head Injury Treatment Services and Related Programs
4125-0100 Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
4401-1000 Employment Services Program and Related Program
4403-2119 Teen Structured Settings Program
4510-0600 Environmental Health Assessment and Compliance
4510-0710 Health Care Quality and Improvement
4510-0810 Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner & Pediatric SANE and Related Programs
4510-0100 Public Health Critical Operations and Essential Services
4512-0103 HIV/AIDS Prevention Treatment and Services and Related Programs
4512-0201 Substance Abuse Step-Down Recovery Services
4513-1020 Early Intervention and Related Programs
4513-1130 Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention
4516-1000 State Laboratory and Communicable Disease Control Services
4530-9000 Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Program
4590-0250 Smoking Prevention and Cessation Program Expansion and Related Programs
4590-1506 Youth Violence Prevention Grants and Related Programs
4800-0016 Transitional Employment Program (Roca)
4800-0038 Services for Children and Families (Foster Care/Adoption) and Related Programs
4800-0040 Family Support and Stabilization and Related Programs
4800-1400 Support Services for People at Risk of Domestic Violence and Related Programs
5011-0100 Department of Mental Health Administration and Operations
5042-5000 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and Related Programs
5046-0000 Adult Mental Health and Support Services
5047-0001 Emergency Services and Mental Health Care and Related Programs
5095-0015 Inpatient Facilities and Community-Based Mental Health
5911-1003 Dept. of Developmental Disabilities Administration and Related Programs
5911-2000 Transportation Services
5920-2000 Community Residential Supports and Related Programs
5920-2010 State-Operated Residential Supports and Related Programs
5920-2025 Community Day and Work Programs
5920-3000 Respite Family Supports for the Developmentally Disabled
5920-3010 Autism Division
5920-5000 Turning 22 – Dept. of Developmental Services
5930-1000 State Facilities for the Developmentally Disabled
5982-1000 Templeton Developmental Center Farm Product Sales Retained Revenue
7000-9406 Talking Book Program Watertown
7002-0012 YouthWorks and Related Programs
7003-1206 Massachusetts Service Alliance and Related Programs
7004-0100 Caseworkers for Homeless Families and Individuals
7004-0101 Emergency Assistance – Family Shelters & Services and Related Programs
7004-0102 Homeless Individuals Assistance and Related Programs
7004-0104 Home and Healthy for Good Program and Related Programs
7004-0108 HomeBASE
7004-1000 Supplemental Funding for Low Income Residents’ Utilities
7004-3036 Housing Services and Counseling
7004-3045 Tenancy Preservation Program
7004-4314 Service Coordinators Program
7004-9005 Subsidies to Public Housing Authorities
7004-9024 Mass. Rental Voucher Program – MRVP
7004-9030 Alternative Housing Voucher Program
7004-9322 Secure Jobs Pilot
7004-9316 Residential Assistance for Families in Transition
7006-0011 Loan Originator Administration and Consumer Counseling Program
7009-9600 Inclusive Concurrent Enrollment and Related Programs
7030-1005 Reading Recovery and Related Programs
7030-1002 Kindergarten Development Grants
7010-0012 METCO
7027-0019 School-to-Career Connecting Activities and Related Programs
7035-0002 Adult Basic Education
7061-9412 Extended Learning Time Grants
7061-9611 After-School and Out-of-School Grants
7061-9626 Youth-Build Grants
7061-9634 Mentoring Matching Grants
7066-0015 Workforce Development Grants to Community Colleges and Related Programs
7066-0021 Foster Care and Adopted Fee Waiver
7066-1300 Completion Incentive Grants
7070-0065 Massachusetts State Scholarship Program
7100-0700 Office of Dispute Resolution
8100-0111 Shannon Grants
9110-1604 Supportive Senior Housing Program
9110-1630 Elder Home Care Purchased Services
9110-1633 Elder Home Care Case Management and Administration
9110-1636 Elder Protective Services
9110-1700 Elder Homeless Placement
9110-1900 Elder Nutrition Program
9110-9002 Grants to Councils on Aging
xxxx-xxxx Funding new line item for fuel assistance

Thank you very much for your consideration of these items.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions. I can be reached by phone at 617-771-8274 or by email: william.brownsberger@masenate.gov

Respectfully,

William N. Brownsberger
STATE SENATOR

You can view a signed copy of the letter here.

Andrew Bettinelli
Legislative Aide
Office of State Senator William N. Brownsberger