Legislature Passes Interim State Budget Daniel J. Fitzgibbons CHRONICLE STAFF June 28, 2000 With the new fiscal year due to start this weekend, lawmakers on Monday approved a $700 million interim budget to carry the state through July 15. As a legislative conference committee continued work on a Fiscal 2001 budget, Gov. Paul Cellucci last week filed a $1.3 billion interim spending measure to pay for essential government services after July 1. On Monday, however, the House Ways and Means Committee trimmed Cellucci's plan by half and both the Senate and House enacted the measure during informal sessions. The six-member conference committee was still trying this week to resolve differences between the Senate's $21.55 billion budget and the $21.7 billion package approved by the House. The budget plan filed last January by Cellucci calls for $21.3 billion in state spending. According to news reports, the conferees are divided on several issues, including the spending of the tobacco settlement, reforms of public construction and school building assistance and providing prescription drugs to senior citizens. House and Senate conferees are also grappling with special education reform, which House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Haley (D-Weymouth) favors as a way to save millions in state and local spending. At the same time, the Senate side is pushing withdrawal from the Northeast Dairy Compact and the establishment of needle exchange programs statewide. As negotiations went on at midweek, Senate Ways and Means Chairman Mark Montigny (D-New Bedford) and House Speaker Thomas Finneran hinted that some of the harder-to-resolve items may stay in conference while an overall budget package is approved and sent on to the governor. The delay in finalizing a state spending plan did not sit well with Cellucci. "I just hope they'll do a little bit better than they did last year," the governor told reporters on Monday.