Mass. Gov. Healey eyes 2026 primary date change in $2.45B spending bill
Gov. Maura Healey on Thursday announced plans for $2.45 billion in additional fiscal year 2025 appropriations, coupled with outside sections related to federal policy and spending concerns.
The bill allocates $2.05 billion in funding to MassHealth, the massive public health insurance program that is the largest program in the annual state budget. While the coming federal Medicaid cuts are dominating headlines, Healey's office says federal reimbursements will cover all but $540 million of the $2 billion.
The bill's bottom line might cause lawmakers to feel sticker shock, but the governor's office says the net cost of the bill to the state is $947 million after "revenue offsets."
The proposal Healey outlined would also deposit $125 million into the state's stabilization fund and use $150 million in income surtax revenue to fund recurring K-12 school aid increases required under the funding reform law known as the Student Opportunity Act.
The bill would also create an Economic Resiliency and Federal Response Fund built on capital gains tax revenues collected in the fiscal year that ended June 30 "to ensure that the state remains fiscally resilient against the negative impacts of federal budgetary and policy decisions," according to Healey's office.
"With this legislation, we are controlling spending and ensuring that our state budget remains responsible, while also strengthening our ability to weather economic unpredictability coming from Washington," Healey said in a statement.
Healey's proposal would delay the state's deadline to achieve a certain amount of offshore wind power from 2027 to 2029 "due to uncertainty surrounding federal permitting and tax credits." The bill would also remove a requirement that a solicitation for more wind energy be conducted every 24 months.
Another outside section would decouple state vaccine authority from federal recommendations, proposing that the Department of Public Health be able to set independent standards for Massachusetts should the federal government fail "to maintain a robust schedule of vaccine recommendations."
Healey tucked a similar policy into a spending bill in July, which remains before the House Ways and Means Committee five weeks after she submitted it.
The new proposal also would set Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, as the statewide primary election day. In 2026, Labor Day falls on Monday, Sept. 7.
The bill would set $163 million aside for a reserve for costs accrued by sheriffs.
This bill addresses funding gaps for universal free school meals and at public health hospitals, the governor's office said, and new spending includes $20 million for the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, $20 million to propel tourism during the 2026 World Cup, and $5 million in reproductive health care provider grants.
Governors typically file a so-called closeout budget every year to enable the state comptroller to complete an annual financial report that's due by Oct. 31. Lawmakers routinely continue their deliberations on the spending bill into the fall, preventing the comptroller from meeting that deadline.
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