WBUR9%
Healey signs $63.4 billion state budget 9%
By Alison Kuznitz0% State House News Service34%
7/9/2026, 2:49:49 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 19 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Optimism Bias, and Appeal to Emotion, with Ambiguity (Equivocation) as the most egregious example at 23.6% saturation with 178 hits. Analysis detected 1,334 faulty-reasoning hits from 753 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 25.7% and a BS Rank of 9% (19,986 of 21,886 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 91.30% of the article peer group.
Gov.
Maura Healey signed the $63.4 billion annual budget Thursday, coming nine days into the new fiscal year that's poised to inflict major financial turmoil as a federal law reshapes public benefit programs.
The signed fiscal year 2027 budget was delivered to Secretary of State Bill Galvin's office just before 2 p.m., a spokesperson told the News Service.
With election season heating up, the governor did not make any vetoes to the package, according to a Healey spokesperson.
Lawmakers shipped it to the governor's desk last Wednesday, ahead of the long holiday weekend that featured the state's signature MA 250 celebration.
Healey had until July 11 to take action and had signed an interim budget June 30.
"Our FY27 budget protects the long-term stability of Massachusetts' finances while making targeted investments in the sectors that drive our economy and make our state the best place in the country to live," Administration and Finance Secretary Matthew Gorzkowicz said in a statement.
"By keeping spending growth sustainable and strategically utilizing available resources including Fair Share surtax revenues, this budget ensures that Massachusetts will continue to thrive in FY27 despite ongoing national economic uncertainty."
The announcement from Healey's office issued just after 2 p.m. included a photo of the governor rifling through the budget, flanked in her ceremonial office by Gorzkowicz and Senate President Karen Spilka.
The event was not on Healey's public schedule.
Healey has maintained a relatively light public schedule this week, though she's met privately twice with leaders from the Massachusetts Nurses Association and Mass General Brigham surrounding the strike at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
She also attended the wake and funeral of State Police Trooper Jacob Mick.
"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 statement.
"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."
Last year, Healey signed the budget on July 4, the same day that President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that could result in more than 300,000 Bay Staters losing their health insurance and could cost Massachusetts millions of dollars if the state's error rate for SNAP benefit remains high.
Representing a 3.9% spending increase over fiscal 2026 and drawing on $2.7 billion in surtax revenues on the state's high earners, the latest budget does not raise any taxes or fees.
It also steers $51 million into the state's rainy day fund, which is on track to climb to $8.2 billion by the end of fiscal 2027.
Among its policy provisions, the budget revives a long sought after commission to evaluate K-12 education funding, boosts oversight of special education transportation spending, installs sexual exploitation protections for minors ages 16 and 17, tackles wrong-way driving with new infrastructure and officer trainings, extends the ConnectorCare pilot program for highly subsidized coverage, caps annual MassHealth dental benefits at $1,750, and launches a panel to explore service gaps for young adults with disabilities who are turning 22 and aging out of special education.
Candidates for state and local office would also no longer have their home addresses printed on ballots, under a Sen.
Becca Rausch policy rider that made it into the compromise budget.
The Needham Democrat said some potential office seekers are deciding not to run over fears of political violence amid escalating incidents, including the assassinations of two Minnesota politicians last year.
House and Senate negotiators agreed to increase unrestricted local government aid by $40 million.
That brings total funding to $1.363 billion, with the new money to be distributed on a per capita basis under the Senate-initiated proposal.
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Doug Howgate said the budget accord was "remarkably aligned" with Healey's January proposal and closes a $3.5 billion gap between projected revenues and spending.
Despite concerns about the federal funding outlook, the budget relies on more federal revenues compared to fiscal 2026, Howgate said.
The compromise budget allocates $122 million for caseworkers at the Department of Transitional Assistance, which the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center said would be a nearly $21 million drop compared to expected funding in fiscal 2026.
The funding level would translate into 150 caseworkers being laid off, MassBudget said while citing an analysis from the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute.
Mass. lawmakers agree on $63.4 billion budget
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