DEMOCRATIC LEADERS finally reached a compromise Thursday on a $2.8 billion spending bill that includes $250 million for the state’s emergency shelter program, but they couldn’t win legislative approval for the measure because a small band of Republicans in the House refused to let it move forward in an informal session.
The Republicans, despite their small numbers on Beacon Hill, find themselves in the driver’s seat for now because the Democrats couldn’t reach a compromise on the bill before the Legislature recessed for the holidays on November 15. As a result, the House and Senate until early January can only meet in informal sessions, where one member can block any action.
The House’s lead negotiator on the bill, Rep. Aaron Michlewitz of Boston, the chair of the Ways and Means Committee, said the Democrats will try to pass the bill again on Friday during another informal session and will keep trying until they succeed.
His tone was measured, but he launched what is likely to become an avalanche of criticism directed at Republicans for holding up legislation that is needed to keep government operating, to financially close out the fiscal 2023 fiscal year that ended at the end of June, to help the swamped emergency shelter system continue functioning, and to pay for raises in contracts negotiated by public sector unions.
“It’s unfortunate that we’re still here and not being able to get this to the governor as quickly as possible,” said Michlewitz after the House adjourned for the night. “The fact remains that every day that goes by is another day that the shelter money doesn’t get funded. It’s another day that goes by that those contracts that have been ratified don’t get funded.”
Republicans said little publicly after the vote, but in private and in earlier public statements they said the Democrats are the ones who should be blamed for the failure to get the legislation approved. The Republicans pointed out that the Democrats had plenty of time to find common ground on the spending bill before the holiday recess, but failed to act then and failed to act for another two weeks.
Many Republicans are concerned about the approach the Democrats are taking to the emergency shelter crisis, throwing more money at the problem without addressing the root causes of migrants from other countries arriving in Massachusetts looking for shelter.
The Republicans urged the Democrats to split off what everyone agrees on in the spending bill and get that passed, while setting aside the $250 million for the emergency shelter system for a broader debate.
Michlewitz rejected splitting the bill in two, and said the Republicans had their chance to push for changes in the emergency shelter legislation when the House and Senate passed separate versions of the spending bill. He said it took two weeks for him and his counterpart in the Senate, Sen. Michael Rodrigues of Westport, to come to terms on the emergency shelter spending and now it’s time for the Legislature to approve their deal.
“We’ve passed many bills in the informal session process,” he said. “This isn’t anything new and it’s not something we’re overly concerned about.”
Although rumors circulated through the State House halls about the Democrats developing a plan to circumvent the stranglehold Republicans have on voting in informal sessions, Michlewitz indicated the House would continue to try to pass the bill in informal sessions. “We’re just going to keep doing it. We keep going at it,” he said.
The emergency shelter funding was the most divisive issue in the negotiations between Michlewitz and Rodrigues, although the House also balked at a Senate initiative that would have paved the way for the Kraft Group to build a soccer stadium in Everett.
The House, in its version of the bill, was very prescriptive with the Healey administration on emergency shelter funding, directing how the $250 million should be spent and including penalties if the money wasn’t spent the proper way. The Senate, by contrast, appropriated $250 million but left the spending decisions up to the Healey administration while also demanding regular reports on the state of the emergency shelter system.
The compromise Michlewitz and Rodrigues negotiated blended the two approaches. The compromise bill retained House language directing that $50 million go for overflow shelters to house families on the wait list for the regular shelter system and $75 million go to schools educating the children of families in the shelters. Most of the remaining $125 million was left unrestricted.
Much of the Senate’s language on reporting requirements on shelter operations was accepted, while the penalty included in the original House version was changed.
The House’s original bill said an overflow site or sites had to be up and running in 30 days after the bill’s passage or the governor’s emergency shelter declaration capping the program at 7,500 families would be revoked.
The final compromise language gives the Healey administration until December 31 to get overflow sites operational and says none of the other emergency shelter funding can be tapped until that happens.
Michlewitz said a temporary shelter already set up in the state transportation building could possibly qualify as an overflow site. The representative said decisions about what would qualify as an overflow site would be left up to the Healey administration, which he said has come a long way in addressing the shelter crisis over the last few weeks.
“I think they’re starting to formulate a plan. I think it’s starting to come together. And I think we feel a lot more comfortable where this is headed today as compared to what it was a couple weeks ago,” he said.
Asked why it took so long for him and Rodrigues to come to an agreement, Michlewitz said he and the House wanted the final language to have some teeth.
“For us the overflow shelter site conversation was critical. We felt it was a necessity to make sure it was part of the dialogue of this funding,” he said.
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