Updated June 29, 2026
Top House and Senate budget negotiators have reached “an agreement in principle” on a roughly $63.4 billion fiscal year 2027 annual budget that’s been in conference committee talks for a month.
The deal, most details of which were not immediately available, is expected to come up for up-or-down votes in the House and Senate on Wednesday, when both branches plan to hold formal sessions. Wednesday is also the first day of fiscal year 2027.
House Ways and Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz and Senate Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues said their compromise will not increase taxes or fees and will not dip into the state’s primary reserve account.
“Our teams are working quickly to finalize and file the conference committee report so the Legislature can act Wednesday to deliver a fiscally sound and responsible budget to the Governor’s desk,” they said in a joint statement.
Earlier Monday, the House gave initial approval to the $7.7 billion interim budget (H 5534) that Gov. Maura Healey filed a week ago to cover the state’s expenses when fiscal year 2027 begins Wednesday. That temporary budget will be necessary — if the compromise budget is sent to Healey on July 1, she will have until July 11 to act on it.
The temporary budget extends capital accounts that would otherwise expire, allows advance local aid payments to be made in cases of emergency cash shortfalls, and “provides the spending authorization to maintain necessary services through July 31, 2026, pending the passage of the General Appropriation Act.” Spending undertaken under the interim budget will be applied against the annual budget.
As of Monday morning, only 11 states had yet to enact a budget for the fiscal year starting July 1, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers. The last time a governor here was able to sign a budget into law before the fiscal year began was in 2010.
The Mass. Taxpayers Foundation said the budgets that went into conference both would increase spending by at least $2.3 billion or 3.8% over the budget the governor signed a year ago, and had bottom lines that differed by only about $50 million. The organization said 99% of spending “is in common across the two bills,” though there is $863 million of unique spending and 134 policy sections to be reconciled between the two.
This article was originally published on June 29, 2026.
