BOSTON – Representatives unanimously added more than $8 million in public safety spending as they began the second day of debate on a fiscal year 2027 budget plan, and rejected a Republican bid to change the process by which bail fees are paid.
The vote was 154-0 to approve the third amalgamated amendment proposed to the Ways and Means Committee’s $63.3 billion budget plan, but only after Barnstable Republican Rep. Steven Xiarhos insisted on debate of his amendment to remove the requirement that the Trial Court pay bail commissioners’ fees when they respond outside of regular working hours.
“Why should the people who follow the law be responsible for covering the costs of those who break it?” Xiarhos asked the House Chamber. He added, “We are shifting responsibility away from the individual and onto the public. At a time when families across Massachusetts are already struggling with rising energy costs, housing costs, everyday expenses, we are spending millions of taxpayer dollars to cover these fees, millions of dollars that could have been spent elsewhere on mental health, on veteran support, public safety initiatives or easing the burden of our taxpayers.”
Rep. Ken Sweezey said Xiarhos’s amendment would save the state $7 million.
Rep. Joe McKenna of Sutton supported Xiarhos’s amendment and connected the issue to the recent death of Marleigh Rose Guevara, a 10-year-old girl from his district who was killed when she was struck by a car while playing.
“The woman who struck her had been arrested one week prior, passed out behind the wheel of her vehicle with crack and heroin in the vehicle, and was released on cashless bail, “he said. “A 10-year-old girl, a sister, a fourth grader – taken.”
Rep. Michael Day, the House chairman of the Judiciary Committee, urged representatives to vote against the Xiarhos amendment and said its only effect would be to “prevent the commonwealth from paying our clerks directly for the work that they do after hours or during hours. That’s it.”
“Here in Massachusetts, we do not believe in locking people up because they don’t have funds. So in 2024, under the leadership of this House, we said the Trial Court should account for the work that employees do, as do all other departments in the commonwealth. It’s accounted for in the Trial Court’s budget,” he said. Day continued, “Let’s be clear: Prosecutors have the tools necessary to hold people pre-trial. Our clerks have the authority to hold people pre-trial if that individual poses a risk to society….We properly pay our clerks’ wages from the Trial Court line item. Transparency, accountability, justice and common sense.”
He said bail commissioners charge an $80 fee for their services when someone is arrested and accused of a crime when courts are not open, like over a weekend. Xiarhos, a former deputy police chief in Yarmouth, said the arrested person used to be responsible for paying that fee but “the burden has been transferred from the individual who has committed a crime to the taxpayers of this commonwealth.”
Xiarhos’s amendment failed 26-123. The only Democrat to support the measure was Fall River Rep. Alan Silvia, a former police officer.
Headlining the dollar additions in the larger amendment package was $1.7 million to pay training and instruction costs for public safety agencies in Boston and in municipalities across the state, and $1.2 million to cover payroll costs for State Police directed patrols. That allotment makes specific allocations for patrols at Revere Beach/Lynn Fells, Wollaston Beach/Quincy Shore Drive, Castle Island/South Boston, and other locations.
The consolidated amendment also designates $330,000 for a one-year pilot program of an automated crime victim and witness notification and survey platform for all 11 district attorneys, assistant district attorneys and advocates. It also included $100,000 for a municipal grant program to be administered by the State Fire Marshal for firefighter cancer screenings, including advanced blood testing and imaging.
The mega-amendment was bulked up with dozens of local earmarks for individual police and fire departments. In the half hour of review after the consolidated amendment became available, reps and staffers were busy in the House Chamber scouring the text to see what they were able to secure for their district.
Those local earmarks included $150,000 for gear and facility upgrades for the Stoneham Police Department; $25,000 for the Norton Police Department to buy “conducted energy weapons;” $25,000 for the Swansea Police Department to get a digital training simulator; $25,000 for Mattapoisett to replace automated external defibrillators; $30,000 for the Southborough Police Department to acquire drones; $75,000 for Freetown to buy a rescue boat, $50,000 for Revere Fire Department fleet maintenance; and $100,000 for the Braintree Police Department’s family services unit.
But Consolidated Amendment C also removed a handful of provisions that the House had added Monday night when it approved Consolidated Amendment B.
The net reduction of $50,000 came from the removal of funding for the East Brookfield senior center ($5,000, originally sponsored by Rep. Donald Berthiaume); money for Millis senior center bathroom renovations ($15,000, sponsored by Rep. Marcus Vaughn); funding for Hanson and Hanover councils on aging food programming ($10,000 each, sponsored by Rep. David DeCoste); and money for transportation at the Wareham council on aging ($10,000, sponsored by Rep. John Gaskey).
All four Republicans had voted against the Monday night consolidated amendment that had originally approved those earmarks.