Massachusetts Home Democrats launched a $61 billion spending plan for fiscal yr 2026 that doesn’t embrace a sequence of tax will increase Gov. Maura Healey proposed however nonetheless spikes spending 6.3% over final yr’s state price range within the face of federal funding uncertainties.
Finances writers throughout state authorities have been grappling with the impacts of President Donald Trump’s efforts to scale back the dimensions of the federal authorities and slash massive quantities of money that states like Massachusetts depend on to fund a spread of packages and initiatives.
However the Home’s chief price range author, Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, mentioned lawmakers can’t turn into “paralyzed by the situation that’s taking place in Washington.”
“We need to still be moving our budget forward, be aggressive in terms of our support for our constituents, and not get caught up in trying to keep blinders on, and build the best budget with the information that we have,” the North Finish Democrat mentioned Wednesday morning. “But … if we have to move in a different direction, we will.”
The Bay State receives about $15 billion a yr in federal {dollars}, money that officers within the Healey administration, Home, and Senate have mentioned can’t be solely changed by state cash if the Trump administration strikes to chop important parts.
Nonetheless, Michlewitz mentioned the Home’s price range doesn’t embrace any contingency plans if extra federal money is taken off the desk by the Trump administration.
“I’ve told everyone throughout this process — whether it’s members, advocates, agencies — that … just because we passed something in April, the Senate passes something in May, doesn’t mean we may not have to come back and reevaluate throughout the process here at different points in time based off of where this goes,” he mentioned.
Home Speaker Ron Mariano mentioned Trump is wreaking “havoc” on crucial packages that hundreds of thousands depend on, and the Home price range features a “significant increase” in funding for Lawyer Basic Andrea Campbell’s workplace to tackle the federal authorities.
The price range enhance helps “ensure that Attorney General Campbell can continue to push back against any unconstitutional actions taken by the Trump administration, as Trump continues to move ahead with sweeping cuts, despite the concerns that many of his own voters are raising about those cuts,” Mariano instructed reporters on the State Home.
A spokesperson for Mariano mentioned the Home proposed growing Campbell’s price range to $82.5 million, or $6.8 million greater than Healey’s price range and $5.4 million above what the legal professional normal obtained in fiscal yr 2025.
Mariano and his high deputies additionally eschewed a sequence of tax will increase that Healey had labored into her spending plan, like making use of the gross sales tax to sweet, tobacco tax to artificial nicotine, inserting a cap on charitable donation deductions, and rolling out a sequence of pharmaceutical-related tax insurance policies.
The Quincy Democrat mentioned crafting a price range that doesn’t elevate taxes “under normal circumstances, that would be an impressive accomplishment.”
“But it’s especially impressive this year amid the economic uncertainty brought on by Trump’s reckless trade war and amid Trump calling for sweeping budget cuts,” he mentioned.
Mariano and Michlewitz mentioned slicing out the tax-related insurance policies from the fiscal yr 2026 price range helped scale back complete spending by $580 million in comparison with Healey’s price range, with $471 million attributed simply to ditching the tax proposals.
The $62 billion fiscal yr 2026 price range that Healey rolled out in January boosted spending by almost 7.4%.
Home Democrats did agree with the governor on her proposal to get rid of renter-paid brokers’ charges, a shift for a chamber that initially didn’t again the concept when it surfaced in a multi-billion greenback housing invoice final yr.
Beneath the Home’s plan, actual property brokers could be barred from charging a fee or different charge to a tenant or potential tenant for locating an house to lease or hire if the tenant didn’t provoke contact with the dealer.
Actual property brokers might solely cost the charges if the tenant or potential tenant initiated contact, obtained a disclosure from the dealer, and agreed to all phrases and circumstances of the charge disclosure in writing.
“The fees are simply unfair. It’s an unfair cost for renters who do not contract a broker and therefore should not have that as a responsibility,” Mariano mentioned.
Mariano and Michlewitz additionally mentioned the Home plans to scale back the amount of cash for the emergency shelter system included within the state price range to $275 million for fiscal yr 2026, a $50 million drop in comparison with the earlier fiscal yr and Healey’s proposal.
The 2 Democrats mentioned they included much less money for shelters housing homeless households with kids and pregnant ladies due to a sequence of restrictive insurance policies Healey and the Legislature permitted over the previous yr which have diminished the variety of folks within the system.
Michlewitz didn’t say whether or not he believed $275 million would cowl bills for all of fiscal yr 2026, however mentioned, “If we have to come back and reevaluate, we will.”
“For right now, we’re feeling that it’s trending that direction, and something that we feel confident with right now,” he mentioned of the drop in shelter caseload.
The Healey administration has not but mentioned how a lot it expects to spend on the shelter system in fiscal yr 2026, with officers saying in a report launched earlier this month that they’re nonetheless evaluating prices given the brand new insurance policies.
Healey introduced Wednesday that the variety of households within the emergency shelter system was 5,168 — with 4,966 households within the state’s six-month program and 202 households within the 30-day program.
“We’ve taken decisive action to reduce the number of families in shelter and lower the cost of the system – and we’re getting results,” Healey mentioned in a press release Wednesday.
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