Massachusetts, a state where Democrats firmly control the House and Senate and Republican Gov. Charlie Baker frequently touts his bipartisanship, suddenly stands alone among states without an enacted fiscal 2019 budget, and the situation is stirring some tension.

A House source familiar with the annual budget talks who agreed to speak on background told the News Service on Monday that “internal politics” in the Senate, along with disagreements over policy sections attached to the budget, are contributing to an overall “lack of focus” on the budget from the Upper Branch.

“It’s very hard to do the work of the people if you don’t have a partner at the dance,” the House source said.

But a senior Senate Democrat, who also agreed to speak only on background, refuted those claims and asserted that a timely budget is being compromised due to the inexperience of House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez, who is going through his first budget cycle. The Senate Democrat also noted that bills addressing economic development, supplemental spending, housing construction and opioid addiction are waiting for clearance from Sanchez’ committee.

“Any member of House leadership who pretends to know about the conference committee workings is really breaking the agreement to keep the negotiations at the table,” the senior Senate Democrat said. Similarly, this Senate Democrat said, any member of House leadership who suggests Senate Democrats are not operating in good faith or are distracted “clearly has no knowledge of the Senate or the conference committee.”

After initially agreeing to have Senate President Harriette Chandler serve out 2018 in the Senate’s top decision-making post, the Senate this year changed its mind and agreed to install Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Karen Spilka as president the week of July 23. The timetable means Spilka is helming Senate budget negotiations with the House at the same time that the Senate is preparing to make her president at the tail end of the busiest month of the session.

Formal House and Senate meetings end for the year on July 31 and there’s a raft of major bills that remain unresolved, including some that are still stuck in committees.

There’s a danger that protracted budget negotiations could cut into time spent working on other major bills and that is what worries Baker.

“I do think it’s important that we get it reasonably soon because I think the Legislature would agree with me that there are many policy matters that are still before both branches that need to get worked out between now and July 31,” he said in his office Tuesday.