Legislature overrides Baker’s UMass budget cut

In all, Speaker Robert DeLeo said he expected the House to restore $97 million of the $162 million vetoed by Baker, including most of the $38 million in earmarks.

DeLeo said he had received numerous phone calls and letters from members about overriding the governor’s $17.6 million cut for kindergarten expansion grants that would reduce funding for that program to $1 million in the state budget.

Override votes are also needed in the Senate.

BOSTON (AP) – Lawmakers are moving to restore spending vetoed from the state budget by Gov. Charlie Baker, including funds for full-day kindergarten programs and for the University of Massachusetts system.

The kindergarten grants are aimed at expanding full-day kindergarten programs, with preference given to struggling school districts in low-income communities.

When Baker signed the bill, however, he cut UMass’ budget to $526.5 million, which the legislature overrode on Wednesday.

At the beginning of July, the legislature proposed a $38 billion budget for the 2016 fiscal year, including almost $532 million for UMass.

Wednesday’s vote restores funding for the Cultural Council to $14.16 million passed by the Legislature and means a 20 percent hike over last year’s $11.8 million.

Dempsey, however, said he was “very confident” the state could afford to restore funding for some key priorities without jeopardizing the budget’s bottom line.

“We’re not intending to override every veto made by the governor”, Dempsey said.

Baker said his primary objective is to avoid having to make midyear budget cuts, known as “9C” reductions.

On other overrides, Republicans split from the majority Democrats, but with the Republican caucus numbering only 35 in the 160-seat House and six in the 40-seat Senate, they were unable to sustain a single one of Baker’s vetoes that House and Senate leadership brought up for a vote. The UMass funding override also cleared the Senate unanimously.