Beacon Hill Senators bailed out the broken shelter system with taxpayers sending $425 million dollars into the dangerously mismanaged program. 

The engrossment vote was 33 to 6. The Senate passed the spending plan with virtually no meaningful reforms. Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr’s amendment (14) was offered that would add national and international background checks, but it failed 26-12.

“For the last three years, the Senate and legislature has been spending billions of dollars for the shelter program riddled with active criminals, yet they still refuse to impose comprehensive background checks. How many more years will it take before the legislature finally sees the value in national and international background checks is unknown. What is known is that the Senate is happy to join the House in spending more of our taxpayer money to bail out the failed shelter program," said Paul Diego Craney, executive director for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.

“The Governor has shown her administration is incapable of running a safe and fiscally responsible shelter system. The legislature had an opportunity to make corrections, but they chose not to,” concluded Craney.