BOSTON - Although the state budget is still a work in progress, local legislators are preparing to take the debate further with various amendments for increased funding for local projects.

Legislators will begin debating the 1,487 amendments to the budget next week. They had until last Friday to file amendments, and are now seeking support for their proposals and offering to back their colleagues' amendments.

Area legislators are sponsoring more than 20 amendments focused on special projects in the area. They have signed on in support of scores more.

Rep. Steve D'Amico, D-Seekonk, said some of his amendments would promote safety on Route 44, including a study on the feasibility of putting electric signs to slow traffic in school areas during the busier morning and afternoon hours.

"It's a very dangerous situation there," he said. D'Amico also wants funding for the rebuilding the Carpenter Street Bridge in Rehoboth, capping a landfill in Seekonk and training Swansea's all-volunteer firefighting department.

D'Amico is also working with Rep. Jay Barrows, R-Mansfield, and Rep. Betty Poirier, R-North Attleboro, on their projects, including an emergency generator for senior housing and a $100,000 study of sewer improvements in Norton, Mansfield, Foxboro and surrounding communities.

"We need to expand the reach of a regional sewer to provide a cost-effective way of handling waste," Barrows said. "Norton's got a number of critical areas with their sewer that need to be addressed to help with economic growth and development."

Barrows wants to increase funds used for public health hospitals back to the $137 million proposed in the governor's budget. The House budget calls for $133 million.

Barrows said he is particularly concerned about funding for the Massachusetts Hospital School, which offers treatment and rehabilitation to physically disabled children and young adults.

"We've got a number of constituents in this area who have children there, so we're hoping to get (the funding) back up to where the governor was," he said.

He is also signed on to other amendments, including one to increase YMCA funding from $2 million to $4 million.

Rep. Rich Ross, R-Wrentham, is also working on local project amendments, including increased funding for the Bay State Correctional Center in Norfolk.

He also wants to increase funding for the Council on Aging, which requested $9 million, but received only $7.5 million from the House.

"We feel that $7 per elder is not too much, and that's what it works out to," he said. The earmarks and amendments process is an important part of the budget, Ross said.

"These are things that are important to our local districts," he said. "These earmarks are something towns come to rely on, especially in hard times."

This year's budget debates will be different because of several new rules from House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi. One rule restricts the hours of the debate and allows representatives to get some rest between sessions.

"Debates won't go past 9 p.m. unless there's unanimous consent to continue," D'Amico said.

He joked that otherwise he and other representatives might have to haul out cots and camp out in the chambers.

Also, unlike previous years, no outside bills will be allowed during the debate.

"There will be no legislating via the budget. In years past, people would slip in the middle of a budget debate, when not too many people were looking, a bill that maybe didn't go through committee hearings," D'Amico said. "There will be no bills slipped through under cover of night."

D'Amico said he doesn't know how his amendments will fare in the debate.

"Money's going to be tight. It's unclear that we're going to get anything through with these earmarks," he said. "But the voters send us to Beacon Hill to fight for them, and that's what I'm going to do."

Ross said he was also warned about this year's tight budget.

"We got a cautionary note from House and Ways Chairman (Robert) DeLeo," he said. "That was later amplified by some of his staff. This is a tight budget, so they told us to just go for the crucial earmarks that were eliminated this year."

"They said, 'Don't embarrass us. We've been very honest with you about the budget,' " Ross said.