Fiscal Year Starts In Massachusetts Without A State Budget

BOSTON (AP) - The new fiscal year begins today and Massachusetts lawmakers have yet to approve a new state budget.

A six-member committee made up of members of the Massachusetts House and Senate failed to agree on a single compromise budget on Friday as the clock ran down on the 2017 fiscal year.

The House and Senate have each approved separate versions of the approximately $40.3 billion budget.

Although there isn't a new budget in place, Massachusetts government won't shut down. Lawmakers had earlier passed _ and Republican Gov. Charlie Baker has already signed _ an interim budget that will keep government functioning through the end of July.

Complicating the negotiations is a shortfall in state tax revenue that has thrown into doubt the original assumptions on which the budget is based.