Following debate among lawmakers, a budget for fiscal year 2025 has been sent to Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey. The spending plan includes free community college and legalized online lottery sales.
A $58 billion budget has been on Healey’s desk since late last week, after the legislation was settled in conference committee and approved by the House and Senate Friday.
The Democratic governor has a few days to review it and potentially veto or reduce items - but in the meantime, the bulk of western Massachusetts lawmakers are upbeat about the agreement.
Democratic State Senator Jo Comerford of the Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester district, says the budget features a number of items she and her colleagues have been working on for some time.
That includes funding for a $117.5 million free community college program for state residents. It comes less than a year after the launch of MassReconnect, a similar program aimed at residents over 25-years-old.
“We've talked a lot in the legislature, in the senate, about debt-free education, and – we’re continuing to go the distance on that promise, which I think of as a monumental equity proposition, but also an economic development and workforce proposition,” she said.
Comerford, who chairs the Joint Committee on Higher Education, tells WAMC the budget includes money for Early College programing as well as for the Supporting Urgent Community College Equity through Student Services, or SUCCESS, program – aimed at funding wraparound support programs for community college students.
Another priority for Comerford, as well as State Representative Natalie Blais of Deerfield – establishing a permanent emergency disaster relief fund.
Both lawmakers called for the establishment of one in the wake of last year’s flooding that devastated a number of western Massachusetts farms.
$20 million was ultimately made available to farmers via a special fund, but the situation last July and others that followed highlighted how Massachusetts was just one of two states without a disaster relief fund in place, Blais tells WAMC.
“I'm incredibly proud to say, as a result of our collective efforts ,that we now have before the governor, a $14 million disaster relief and resiliency fund, and this is a permanent emergency disaster relief fund, from natural disasters - we are really, really thrilled that it moved at warp speed to get to where we are today,” Blais said.
Blais, a Democrat who serves on the Joint Committee of Transportation, noted Regional Transit Authorities appeared to get “historic” levels of funding, with $204 million being allotted to 15 RTAs.
She says that is around $10 million more than the previous budget. A breakdown on the legislature’s website says $110 million in funding for RTAs will come from Fair Share Amendment funds.
Passed by voters in 2022, the amendment put a four percent surtax on income above $1 million annually. According to the legislature, the budget includes “$1.3 billion in revenues generated” from the surtax.
“When we think about what we do at the ballot box mattering, the Fair Share Amendment has a direct impact on the funding of our TAs,” said State Representative Aaron Saunders of Belchertown.
Saunders, a Democrat, noted the budget also includes $475 million for “Commonwealth Cares for Children” - monthly grants for early education and care programs.
$170 million in Fair Share funds are also going toward picking up where the federal government left off, he says – fully-funding universal free meals in public schools.
“You don't need to be a PhD to understand that it's difficult, if not impossible, to learn if you're hungry, and ensuring that all of our public school students have access to breakfast and lunch while they're in school is transformational, not only for their quality of life, but for the educational attainment that we expect and is offered in our public schools,” he said.
Other items in the budget include establishing a new funding source for Early Education and Care initiatives – online lottery sales. This year’s budget would legalize the sale of Massachusetts Lottery products online.
A portion of the revenue, estimated to be around $100 million, would go toward EEC programs and grants.
