THE HOUSE VOTED 149-9 around 7:10 p.m. Wednesday to pass a roughly $63.4 billion fiscal year 2027 budget, after adding about $81 million in new spending over three days of deliberations.
Fiscal year 2027, which begins July 1, is projected to be “a very, very difficult fiscal year in a truly, truly challenging economic environment,” House Speaker Ron Mariano said this month. Repeatedly throughout the week, Democrats echoed that sentiment as they resisted Republican calls for tax relief or spending cuts.
“We are still in the middle of an affordability and housing crisis that has affected every household budget within the commonwealth. The commonwealth’s budget is also not immune to this affordability crisis, as many of the services our constituents rely upon continue to grow in cost,” House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz said when introducing the bill Monday. “Despite all this, and contrary to what many of the naysayers claim, our economy continues to grow and our revenues continue to outperform the initial benchmarks for the first nine months of this current fiscal year. We continue to make strong investments in our constituents, and this budget will make the commonwealth stronger overall, without having to raise any taxes.”
Spending added via mega-amendments broke down as $9.4 million for the education and local aid, social services, and veterans categories; $12.2 million for health and human services, and aging and independence; $8 million for public safety and the judiciary; $13.4 million for public health and mental health, and disability services; $3.4 million towards constitutional officers, state administration, and transportation; $8.3 million for energy and environmental affairs, and housing; and $26.5 million for labor and economic development.
Representatives also padded their budget with policy. There are riders calling for a commission on school meal nutrition standards, a study of MassHealth dental benefit levels, a second chance for long-tenured teachers to opt into an enhanced retirement program, an expansion of the Department of Transportation board, a transfer of interest earned on the Stabilization Fund to the General Fund, an MBTA study of either extending the Red Line or creating a bus rapid transit line from Alewife down Route 2 to the Concord Rotary, and more.
The Democratic supermajority rejected Republican-backed policy proposals, including bids to lower state tax rates, alter the way bail fees are paid, pump more money into rural school aid, tighten voter ID rules, and eliminate the no-cost calls trust fund line item and increase unrestricted local government aid by $10 million.
Rep. Todd Smola, the ranking Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, highlighted a “palpable sense of angst” among cities and towns struggling to balance their own budgets and seeking more state help. He said the state must make changes to the ways it doles out “a significant amount of money” to municipalities.
“This year is unlike any other. With an extraordinary number of communities pursuing [Proposition 2 1/2] overrides, many without success, municipalities are forced to make impossible decisions between education and local government services that are critical to the residents. In some cases, programs and departments are being systematically taken away at the expense of the neediest of our constituents,” Smola said. “The unprecedented amount of testimony that we received this year regarding local aid was eye opening to most of us on Ways and Means. And despite growth in our state budget, that rising tide is not always lifting boats at the same time.”
The Senate Ways and Means Committee is expected to release its own fiscal 2027 budget plan in the next two weeks. The Senate typically debates and passes its budget in the week before Memorial Day. The new fiscal year starts July 1, but Massachusetts usually has to rely on an interim budget to buy legislative negotiators more time to reach a compromise budget.