Gov. Healey passes final MA budget for the next year. How much is it?

• The budget is $63.4 billion, a 4% increase from last year’s budget.
• The Massachusetts budget allocates money to several departments, boards, commissions and institutions of the commonwealth, funding things like education, transportation, healthcare and housing.
• Healey made no changes to the budget.

Gov. Maura Healey signed into law the $63.4 billion Fiscal Year 2027 budget on Thursday, July 9, just over a week after Massachusetts lawmakers sent the final agreement to her July 1.

The budget is a 4% increase from last year’s budget of $60.9 billion. The increase in part comes from the $2.7 billion generated from the Fair Share surtax, often called the millionaire’s tax, included in the budget. The budget does not raise any taxes.

“This budget is about lowering people’s costs, driving economic growth and supporting our kids, all without raising any taxes or fees,” Healey said in a press release. “We’re helping families afford child care, health care and higher education, increasing support for our cities, towns and schools that we know are facing financial challenges, speeding up housing production to lower costs, and making health insurance more affordable. We’re also taking important steps to protect survivors of sexual assault and make sure anyone who commits these heinous crimes is held accountable. I’m grateful for the partnership of the Legislature, and we’ll continue working together to deliver results for the people of Massachusetts through a balanced, fiscally responsible budget with no new taxes or fees.” 

Healey did not make any vetoes or amendments to the legislature-passed budget, according to a governor spokesperson. She had until July 11 to review the budget and take action.

The budget is late, as it often is in Massachusetts. The fiscal year ended June 30 and the state’s been operating under an interim budget since then.

What’s in the budget?

The Massachusetts budget allocates money to several departments, boards, commissions and institutions of the commonwealth, funding things like education, transportation, healthcare and housing. This year, it provided an extra $51 million into the state’s so-called “rainy day” fund and an extra $40 million in unrestricted local government aid.

The budget is also usually full of additional legislation packed into the budget as “outside sections.”

This year, that includes provisions making it a crime for a mandated reporter to have sex with a 16- or 17-year-old, giving $500,000 to implement assisted living facility safety changes recommended by a commission in response to the Gabriel House Fire, and requiring MassHealth to cover PrEP, a medicine for people at risk for HIV. It also sets aside 5.5% of sports wagering revenue to a new sports and entertainment events fund, directs the Department of Transportation to develop a protocol to prevent wrong way driving, and takes away the requirement that candidates for office must put their exact street address on public election materials.

The final budget is similar in monetary amount to Healey’s original budget filed in January. It also includes some of the measures that Healey initially proposed, like to require rape kits to be stored for a minimum of 15 years, but not others, like a proposal that would have made it easier to cancel online subscriptions.

The full text of the budget can be found on the legislature’s website.