BOSTON (AP) - After weighing hundreds of proposed amendments, the Senate approved a $41.5 billion state budget Friday, setting the stage for negotiations with the House on a final spending plan for the July 1 fiscal year.
Senators added $75.5 million in spending during the three days of debate, much of it in earmarks for local projects, according to an analysis by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.
Other accounts boosted included $6.4 million for regional school transportation, $2.8 million for nursing home rates and $2 million for the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
“We have invested in essential programs, old and new, to ensure that our commonwealth can provide the best possible health care, transportation, housing, and human services in the country,” said Democratic Senate President Harriette Chandler, in a statement after the unanimous final vote.
The Senate also backed several other budget amendments that are not directly related to state spending.
Perhaps the most contested was one that calls for sharply limiting cooperation between law enforcement officers in Massachusetts and federal immigration officials.
Critics say the proposal, approved Wednesday on a 26-13 vote, would make Massachusetts a “sanctuary state” for immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally. The measure has less support in the House and would face a veto if it reached the desk of Republican Gov. Charlie Baker.
Another amendment would require colleges and universities to notify the state Board of Higher Education in advance of any potential closure, merger or acquisition by another school. The measure comes in response to the recent abrupt closing of Mount Ida College in Newton and the sales of its assets to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
The Senate also approved a $2 surcharge on car rentals with proceeds going to a new fund for municipal police training programs.
The spending plan invests in health care for low-income residents and vulnerable populations and services for people with mental illness. It also provides nearly $143 million for substance abuse treatment, including funding to open five new addiction recovery centers, Senate leaders said.
The next step will be the appointment of a House-Senate conference committee to iron out differences between the Senate budget and an earlier version passed by the House. Both plans would increase overall spending in the next fiscal year by about 3 percent and call for no major tax hikes.
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This story has been corrected to show final vote was early Friday, not late Thursday.
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