Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is set to sign a new state budget. WAMC’s Paul Tuthill reports.
Governor Patrick’s office announced he’ll sign the budget and issue any line item vetoes during a press conference in his Statehouse office Sunday… one week after the new fiscal year started. The $32.5 billion budget sent to the governor by the legislature includes no new taxes. It increases state aid to municipalities and to schools. 43 percent of the state budget goes to some form of healthcare , according an analysis by the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center. It concludes that one in five Massachusetts residents have their health care largely covered through the budget, either because they work for the public sector, or qualify for subsidized insurance under the state’s healthcare reform law.
