Massachusetts to begin fiscal year without full-year budget in place

Massachusetts will begin the new fiscal year without a full-year budget in place after lawmakers left the State House Friday unable to reach agreement on the details of a spending plan.

Lawmakers have struggled to reach an accord largely because they are facing declining revenue projections that could force them to slice as much as $1 billion from the roughly $40 billion spending plans approved by the House and Senate this spring.

After haggling behind closed doors, House and Senate negotiators left for the weekend, saying nothing about the sticking points that remain. If they can reach an agreement, the soonest the full House could vote on a budget would be Thursday.

“We will not be filing tonight, but we are continuing to work diligently” toward an accord, said Colleen McGonagle, chief of staff for the House Ways and Means Committee. She said House and Senate budget writers have both “agreed not to discuss the negotiations.”

Read more: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/06/30/state-lawmakers-leave-for-holiday-weekend-without-finishing-budget-pot-bills/SVBrLV4N15F31xyFKWxSnK/story.html