The FY16 budget process in the Massachusetts State Senate proved to be highly-successful for Council 93.

More than 940 amendments were debated over three days, with final passage of the spending plan occurring just after midnight last night. The end result was a series of important victories for our union.

AFSCME continued a close partnership with State Senator Marc Pacheco to secure budget language and funding that would facilitate an expansion of services at Taunton State Hospital. Under Senator Pacheco's amendment, nine additional state-operated beds would be added at the facility – a 20 percent increase over the current 45 beds.

The Council also worked with State Senators Mike Rodrigues, Dan Wolf, Marc Pacheco, Mark Montigny and many others on passage of an amendment that derails plans by the Baker Administration to privatize state-operated emergency mental health services in the Southeast. The Baker Administration is in the process of hiring a high-priced consultant to assist in the privatization plan.

State Senators Barbara L'Italien and Eileen Donoghue worked with AFSCME to insert language in the budget that prohibits the Baker Administration from cutting the number of beds at Tewksbury State Hospital. A few months ago, Baker Administration officials announced plans to close a unit at the facility. The Senate language on Tewksbury Hospital matches language that State Representatives Jim Miceli, Tom Golden and others fought to place in the House budget, thereby ensuring that no beds will be eliminated at Tewksbury in the next fiscal year.

In addition to these victories, Council 93 also successfully lobbied against an effort to privatize the Ponkapoag Golf Course in Canton - a public, 18-hole course staffed by AFSCME members working for the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Council 93 thanks all AFSCME members who assisted in these efforts by contacting their state legislators for support. We encourage members to contact the legislators named above to thank them for their support. Contact information for these legislators can be obtained by clicking on their individual names.