Clash of the budgets on Beacon Hill [Boston Herald]

State senators approved a fiscal 2024 budget proposal Thursday that puts lawmakers in the chamber immediately at odds with their House counterparts, who passed a proposal last month that included online Lottery and free school meals at public schools.

After a multi-day debate, the Senate pushed forward a document that allows some illegal immigrants to qualify for in-state tuition at public colleges or universities, shuttles millions to regional transportation authorities, and provides no-cost calls for local inmates.

But the House and Senate will have to hash out what to do over the House and Gov. Maura Healey-backed proposal to allow people to buy and play state Lottery games online, something Treasurer Deb Goldberg has said is essential for the gambling service to compete with the rise of digital sports betting.

Top Senate officials have argued the idea is not yet ready for prime time and an amendment from Sen. Paul Feeney, a Foxboro Democrat, that would have weaved online Lottery authorizations back into the Senate’s budget was cast aside earlier this week without debate.

At a briefing at the start of May, Senate chief budget writer Michael Rodrigues said the state Lottery consistently sets revenue records and the online version will not “generate the type of revenue that they’re proposing to generate.” House leaders estimated an online lottery could bring in at least $200 million.

Lottery officials have been clamoring for lawmakers to authorize online sales.

“It’s not over until it’s over,” Goldberg said Thursday afternoon when asked about the Senate’s resistance to the idea.

The two branches may also butt heads over a House-approved plan that would require public schools to provide school meals to all students free of charge. A federal free school lunch program started during the pandemic fed more than 80,000 students, House leaders have said.

But the Senate opted not to include it in their proposal. Healey has proposed funding the program in a separate supplemental budget.

During Thursday’s debate, Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr turned to an array of comical props — including a large, fake magnifying glass made out of what appeared to be black tape and a tennis racket handle — to argue that the state budget did not include a hard and fast reserve for future tax relief proposals.

Democratic leaders, including Rodrigues, said they “put a hole in the balance sheet” of $575 million for a future proposal that will be debated and voted on soon after fiscal 2024 budget deliberations wrap.

But Tarr said balance sheet numbers can change without legislative approval, and that after scouring the state budget, he could not find money earmarked for tax relief. He proposed an unsuccessful amendment that would have created a reserve of $600 million for a future tax relief bill.

“I decided to get a bigger magnifying glass and I once again looked through the budget, and I said, ‘where’s the $575 million?’ And I said, well it’s a lot of money, it’s got to be in here. And I didn’t see it,” Tarr said as he held the large magnifying glass.

Rodrigues on Thursday pointed to a section of the proposed state budget listing all revenue sources and known expenses, which he said included the $575 million intended for tax relief.

“The $575 million is fully accounted for, fully represented,” he said.

Senators tacked on millions over four days of debate and rejected a Republican push to scrap in-state tuition for some undocumented immigrants, one of Senate President Karen Spilka’s signature policy proposals.

Senate Democrats also doubled down on their decision to exclude revenues from the brand new “Fair Share Amendment” from the calculations of a once-obscure tax-cap law that led to refunds for residents last year.

An unsuccessful amendment from Tarr would have deleted language in the state budget carving out “Fair Share” revenues from the tax-cap law known as Chapter 62F. A similar amendment was rejected during the House budget debate.

“When they say we’re going to put a limit on all revenue, they mean all revenue. And they said the revenues of the commonwealth from every tax, every surtax, exactly of the nature of the one that was just approved in the most recent election,” Tarr said.

Rodrigues said segregating “Fair Share” revenue ensures that the “will of the voters” is maintained “and that we spend it, we appropriate it solely, solely on education and transportation issues.”

“That’s what this budget before us does today,” the Westport Democrat said.

Senators voted down an amendment earlier in the week that would have required quasi-public agencies to make payroll data public, though at least 19 already do so.

Lawmakers in the branch wrote into the budget language providing free community college for nursing students beginning in fall 2023. That is in addition to a Healey and House-backed plan to allow Massachusetts residents 25 and older to attend community college for free if they do not already have a degree.

“We constantly are hearing about the shortage of nurses in our healthcare system and the concerns that all of our providers, our residents have because of this shortage of nurses,” Spilka said at a budget briefing earlier this month. “So this investment, $20 million, will pay dividends over time.”

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