April 10, 2006

To the Honorable Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives:

It is again my privilege to present the recommendations of the House Committee on Ways and Means for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Fiscal Year 2007 General Appropriations Act. With this document we maintain our course towards stabilizing the underpinnings of the Commonwealth's operating budget while making purposeful and thoughtful investments in important programs and services. We have crafted these recommendations with the same principles in mind that saw us through our last fiscal year: Utilize sound budgetary practices to appropriate with foresight and compassion for those most in need.

We also maintain our commitment to ensuring matters unrelated to the budget are analyzed by the committees of the General Court, rather than debated as part of the General Appropriations Act. With this reform we open the legislative process and provide for the creation of public policy that better addresses the needs of the Commonwealth and its citizens.

The document before you is more than a strategy for the next fiscal year. It protects and nourishes Massachusetts' economic recovery by adhering to the tenets upon which it was built, such as our commitment to rebuilding the Commonwealth's stabilization reserves. The committee recognizes, and this budget reflects, the lessons of recent history which demonstrate that spending predicated on volatile revenues can result in the curtailing of vital programs and services when fiscal downturns inevitably occur. The more responsible course, and the one this committee has adopted, is to grow our budget only so much as is sustainable during sparse and bountiful economic times alike.

In crafting these recommendations, the committee was not only mindful of recent history, but of the rich heritage each Bay Stater can claim as their own. When our commonwealth was in its infancy, John Winthrop decreed it would be "as a city upon a hill" to which the eyes of all people would turn. Three hundred and thirty-one years later, from the rostrum of the House Chamber John F. Kennedy restated that edict and added "that all levels of government should be constructed and inhabited by those aware of their grave trust and their great responsibilities." The committee has made every effort to heed this trust and responsibility, and we will continue to do so throughout the entire span of budget deliberations and beyond.

Finally, it bears address that the document before you is the product of all Members of the House of Representatives who have offered their counsel and acumen over the course of recent months. I profoundly appreciate their efforts and I look forward to a spirited and productive budget debate that will, with continued diligence and fortitude, produce an appropriations bill that the entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts can laud.

Very truly yours,

ROBERT A. DeLEO
Chairman