State Representatives Daniel Webster (R-Pembroke), Paul Adams (R-Andover), Richard Bastien (R-Gardner), Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton), Kevin Kuros (R-Uxbridge), Steven Levy (R-Marlborough), Marc Lombardo (R-Billerica), James Lyons (R-Andover) said in a joint statement they were incensed by the latest attempt by legislators on Beacon Hill to stifle legislative deliberation and ram yet another supplemental budget bill less than twenty-four hours after it was released from the House Ways & Means Committee.

The forty-five page bill was released to members at 1:15PM on March 29 and scheduled for debate only hours – not days, as is custom - later at 1:30 p.m. on March 30. The legislators opined the Majority seeks to pervert process and stifle debate by scheduling business in a timeframe designed to quash dissent and prevent any substantive discussion on the issues facing the Commonwealth today. It is impossible for lawmakers to learn what is in a forty-five page bill in less than twenty-four hours.

These lawmakers were concerned that the supplemental budget bill is laden with pay raises for certain state employees and comes after two previous supplemental budgets were passed earlier this year totaling more than $750 million. The legislators are also concerned that the supplemental budget bill is stuffed with non-budgetary items that deserve separate consideration on the House floor.

While concluding some of the spending is probably necessary, the Legislature should consider a novel idea: stop using every nickel to fund programs that should not be priorities in economic times such as these.

This supplemental budget bill has been submitted on the heels of the $28 billion budget for fiscal year 2011 and mere weeks before the debate on the budget for fiscal year 2012. The bill will add an additional $125 million in spending to the budget passed last year.

There is language within the supplemental budget bill that provides for some of today’s appropriations to be spent in the next fiscal year. Normally, money not spent by the end of a fiscal year reverts to the state’s general fund. This money could be used in fiscal 2012 to help close an anticipated $2B deficit.