The Senate next week plans to add money back to the state budget by completing House-approved budget veto overrides, Senate President Karen Spilka told reporters Thursday.
The House voted last Wednesday to override more than $70 million of Gov. Maura Healey’s $130 million in vetoes. The Senate held a formal session Thursday to pass three policy bills but did not address overrides.
Last year, the Senate declined to join the House in overriding any of Healey’s annual budget vetoes, leaving $317 million in spending cuts intact. At the time, Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues cited “very bad news on the economic front” in the Senate’s decision to allow the cuts to stay in place.
State officials currently see slow economic growth ahead with some fiscal headwinds, including a $650 million drop in tax collections tied to a federal tax code change and reduced federal government support in general.
Spilka’s comments confirm the Legislature intends to add spending to the $60.9 billion state budget, which is likely to grow further through supplemental spending bills.
House leaders said their override priorities targeted “absolutely necessary” spending, including $25 million for supplemental nursing home rates, nearly $20 million for charter school reimbursements and $2 million to support the state’s manufacturing sector. The Senate can only vote on overrides that have passed the House.
Spilka said earlier this week that the Senate next week plans to consider the fiscal year 2025 closeout supplemental budget that the House passed this week.
The $2.25 billion package includes over $2 billion for MassHealth and former Steward Health Care hospitals, $10 million for 2026 World Cup hosting costs, $12 million for universal school meals, and $60.7 million for snow and ice removal. The House withheld a $162 million request from county sheriffs pending a spending probe, and approved a $50 million increase in annual hospital assessments as part of a larger plan to pull in federal revenue and lift the Health Safety Net Fund that covers the costs of caring for uninsured individuals.
“We will do overrides next week,” Spilka said. “And then we will need to do a closeout budget as well. We need to get that to the comptroller, so we will look at that.”
State Comptroller William McNamara faces an Oct. 31 deadline to file the Statutory Basis Financial Report, which summarizes state revenue and spending for the previous fiscal year. The report can’t be completed until the governor signs the closeout budget.
The Legislature has often missed this deadline, delaying the comptroller’s three-week process to write the report and the subsequent independent audit by CliftonLarsonAllen. The report underpins the state’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, required by the federal government and used by bondholders and credit rating agencies.
When Gov. Maura Healey signed the $60.9 billion spending plan in July, her team said earmarked funds for local projects such as firefighting equipment and senior center improvements would be reassessed in mid-October. Officials at the time said the money would not be released until the administration had a clearer picture of state finances. The administration still has not released the $125 million in local earmarks.
Asked Thursday whether the governor should release those funds, Spilka said, “We believe we did a balanced budget, and we understand, though, that the governor — there is some concern about the budget at this point. So we’re hoping that they are released soon, though.”
The earmark freeze is one of several steps Healey’s budget team has taken to maintain flexibility as revenues soften and economic conditions remain uncertain.
