budget choices
Nothing but the Facts and very little good news from Mass Budget and Policy Center
We are proud to post and recommend to you the most recent Budget Monitor from the Mass Budget and Policy Center.
The Governor’s budget proposal, “House 1,” presents his plan to close a $3.5 billion budget gap. This gap is the result of both the national recession and policy choices made over the past decade that have significantly reduced tax revenues in Massachusetts.
The Governor’s proposal would close almost half of the gap with spending cuts and reductions, and about a sixth of the gap with new revenues. The remaining $1.3 billion gap would be filled with money from temporary sources (the state’s stabilization fund and the emergency fiscal relief from the federal government).
Child Immunization vs. Roads?
A structural deficit in the state budget, without new revenues, requires cutting things that make our communities healthier. Last Sunday the Boston Globe ran the story, "State's vaccine supply rationed."
Facing unprecedented demand for three childhood vaccines, Massachusetts health authorities have begun rationing the state's reserve, fueling fear among some pediatricians that a dangerous gap in coverage might result.
The state quietly issued a memo to doctors late last year telling them to limit their use of certain state-supplied shots for meningitis, diphtheria, and chickenpox, primarily in older children.
