BOSTON — Massachusetts House Democrats trampled Republican-driven efforts Thursday to expand the information covered in background checks for state-run shelter applicants and reduce the amount of funding Beacon Hill is infusing into the taxpayer-funded emergency assistance program.

During an hours-long session Thursday afternoon, House Republicans repeatedly tried to amend a $425 million spending bill that funds the shelter system through the end of fiscal year 2025 to include stricter reforms than what Democrats put forward earlier this week.

Each attempt was handily shot down by the Democratic supermajority, which was in the process of advancing a bill that caps the shelter system at 4,000 families for one year starting Dec. 31 and bars non-Massachusetts residents like newly arrived migrant families from receiving benefits.

House budget chief Rep. Aaron Michlewtiz said the emergency assistance program has “ballooned beyond anyone’s imagination” and an influx of migrants from other countries over the past year and a half has overwhelmed the state’s capacities.

The North End Democrat said there is no relief from Washington “in sight” and with every federal assistance dollar “now in question” after Trump tried to pause the flow of cash to states, lawmakers are left with “no choice but to put temporary restraints” on taxpayer-funded shelters.

“Otherwise, we will be forced to consider the unthinkable — potentially ending the right to shelter completely,” he said from the House floor. “By making these temporary adjustments, we ensure the sustainability of the right-to-shelter law for years to come.”

The bill would require each shelter applicant to disclose all prior criminal convictions in Massachusetts and any other jurisdiction, though past convictions that were sealed or expunged are exempt.

Democratic leaders also want to mandate criminal offender record information checks for each individual adult applicant or beneficiary prior to placement in the emergency assistance program.

But House Minority Leader Brad Jones said the language was not strong enough and proposed an amendment to the bill that would have required background checks to include a review of employment and education history, financial history, and creditworthiness, among other things.

The North Reading Republican said shelter security has drawn heightened scrutiny because of high-profile arrests, the publication of records detailing disturbing incidents, and Gov. Maura Healey’s admission that some background checks were not occurring for all shelter residents.

“You’ve seen some of the cases where some people have been apprehended that have Interpol red notices, something I don’t think you achieve easily, and something that I think if we can determine up front would be helpful,” he said.

An Interpol red notice requests that law enforcement all across the globe locate and provisionally arrest a person pending their “extradition, surrender, or similar legal action,” according to the agency. The notices are not international arrest warrants.

Rep. Michael Day, a Stoneham Democrat who co-chaired the Judiciary Committee last session, slammed Jones for his amendment and called out the language in the proposal that would have required verification of a shelter applicant’s creditworthiness.

“Now we want to find out the creditworthiness of a young family applying for emergency shelter? That’s going to make the shelters and the residents safer, finding out what Kohls thinks about the ability to get a credit card?” Day said. “I can provide you with some assurances that that party is probably not what you’d call credit-worthy. That’s why they’re seeking emergency shelter.”

Day said Jones’ amendment was an attempt to “backdoor strangle our emergency shelter law altogether, attempt to kill it from within.”

The legislation that was on track to clear the House would deliver $425 million to fund the state-run shelter system through the end of fiscal year 2025. But the cash is slated to arrive well after the Healey administration said it could no longer pay shelter providers and fulfill contracts.

The Healey administration has already spent $478 million on the emergency assistance program in fiscal year 2025 after shelling out $856 million on state-run shelters in fiscal year 2024, according to state data last updated on Jan. 23.

Republicans tried to lower the shelter funding in the bill to $200 million, with Rep. David Muradian, a Grafton Republican, arguing the money would be better spent on local school districts, public safety agencies, and infrastructure projects that are struggling for money.

“These are a few of the needs that run the risk of being funded non-adequately if we continue spending on the shelter system as we have,” he said. “However, adjusting the number to $200 million for the shelter program would provide a much sounder approach.”

Michlewitz, the North End Democrat and chief budget writer in the House, said Democrats who crafted the spending bill considered a lower amount but opted against it after determining the restrictive reforms included in the bill had the potential to lower the cost of the shelter system.

“The reforms that we are implementing here today are major. They are going to take some time to implement. They are going to take some time to really see itself through. We have to give the administration some time,” he said.

________

©2025 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at bostonherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.