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Sen. Moore asks Senate leadership to preserve local aid
October 14, 2008...With Governor Deval Patrick and legislative leaders discussing budget cuts to deal with declining revenues as a result of the looming national recession, at least one state lawmaker is staking out a position in an attempt to avert cuts that could be harmful to cities and towns and their residents.
In a letter last week that was addressed to Senate President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth, Sen. Richard T. Moore, D-Uxbridge, urged "that we do everything possible not to cut accounts that provide assistance to local government for the current fiscal year."
The veteran lawmaker went on to urge the Senate leadership that "If we must agree to give the Governor expanded 9C authority, I would suggest that it be for a limited time and that we not include local aid accounts in that grant of authority - at least not in the first round." "9C"
authority refers to the law that allows a governor to make budget cuts in order to maintain a balanced budget. The governor may cut executive agency budgets, but he cannot cut the Legislature, courts, or local aid without specific approval by the Legislature. The Legislature has already agreed to cut House and Senate budgets by 10%.
Moore also told the Senate President that he was advising town leaders in his district "that it may not be possible to continue to subsidize Lottery Aid in FY '10 and that we may not be able to fund the next year's planned increase in Chapter 70 aid for FY '10." He added that he hoped the Legislature would "give local governments an early indication of what to expect for FY '10 so that planning can be made in an orderly fashion."
Sen. Moore recently attended a meeting of local officials in the Milford area organized by the Massachusetts Municipal Association. "I want to hear the needs of local government and share the news from Beacon Hill with local officials in an effort to help them better manage in this tough economic period," Moore explained.
While urging restraint in cutting local aid, Sen. Moore is working with legislators across the nation to ask Congress to help states during this difficult financial time. He is also Vice President of the National Conference of Legislatures (NCSL) which advocates for state concerns with the federal government. As a result of the difficult economy, Sen.
Moore asked NCSL's Washington Office to strengthen efforts to help states through the impending recessionary period.
Consequently, NCSL has advocated actively for Medicaid match boosts, infrastructure grants extended Unemployment Insurance Benefits, supplemental food stamps, LIHEAP fuel assistance, and child support funding. Recently, NCSL scored a major victory when Congress doubled the amount of fuel assistance funding to $5.1 billion for FY '09.
NCSL policy allows the organization to seek temporary suspension of general program match requirements, streamlined sales tax collection, removal of grant conditions and many others. Sen. Moore is continuing to work within this important national legislative organization to promote federal economic relief for hard-pressed state and local governments.
For more information on Sen. Moore's work in the Legislature and with NCSL, please visit www.senatormoore.com.
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