Romney Expected to Quickly Approve 79.5 Million in Added Spending
By Amy Lambiaso for the State House News Service
      Legislative leaders are hoping Gov. Mitt Romney approves a $79.5 million spending bill quickly to avoid problems for some departments and penalties from the federal government they say could be imposed without action by June 15.
      Lawmakers gave swift, unanimous approval on Thursday to what leaders called a “true deficiency” budget that replenishes $41 million in funds used during this fiscal year to plow roads and highways, $21.4 million to pay state employees’ health insurance bills, and $5 million to cover overtime and personnel costs for several sheriffs’ offices.
      Including the $41.1 million approved by the Legislature today, the state will have spent $110 million on snow and ice removal this fiscal year, officials said. Last year, the state spent roughly $48 million on the cleanup.
      The legislation reached Romney’s desk by 2 pm Thursday, but key budget leaders in the House said they expect to advance another supplemental budget in the coming weeks addressing further needs for the fiscal year that ends in three weeks.
      House Ways and Means Chairman Robert DeLeo said the mini-budget was needed to address “immediate” shortfalls in certain departments, such as $495,000 in additional costs for the flu vaccine this year and $554,000 for additional security escorting liquefied natural gas tankers through Boston Harbor.
      “Unless these are addressed immediately, certain departments and agencies may have a difficult time existing after June 15,” said DeLeo, a Winthrop Democrat.
      Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Therese Murray (D-Plymouth) said the state would face federal penalties if key budget provisions dealing with health care and substance abuse treatment were not enacted. “It’s solely a bill-paying exercise,” Murray said.
      According to a letter accompanying the bill, the mini-budget authorizes $9.2 million in substance abuse services through the Department of Public
Health, intended to secure $14.5 million from the federal government for
fiscal years 2005 and 2006.
      The legislation, which builds on a $40.3 million bill filed by Romney in mid-May, also includes a provision that secures more than $200 million from the federal government in so-called intergovernmental transfers (IGT) through Medicaid important to the Cambridge Health Alliance and Boston Medical Center, which serve a large number of uninsured residents. The IGT needed in this budget is an extension of what was approved in 2003 by the federal government, and is likely to leverage a 50 percent
reimbursement from the federal government to cover the $417 million spent by the two hospitals treating the uninsured, House budget aides said.
      Romney’s press secretary Julie Teer said the administration shares the same sense of urgency in approving the bill. “Many of these items, and
particularly the spending as it relates to substance abuse, were requested by us, and we hope to sign the bill before the normal 10 day review period is over,” she said.