MA Passed a Budget on Time. What’s in It?

Let’s start out with the ugly, and then the good and the bad.

The UGLY: Yesterday, the US Senate passed a horror show of a budget to take away health care access and food assistance in order to fund tax cuts for the mega-rich and large corporations, and to create a police state in the US by increasing ICE’s budget several times over. If passed, it will be a disaster for the country and for Massachusetts. If you have friends in other states who have Republican Senators or Representatives, ask them to make a phone call in opposition to the Big Ugly Bill.

THE GOOD: On Monday, the Massachusetts State House did something it hasn’t done since 2016: it passed a budget before the end of the fiscal year.

There are some major victories in this budget to celebrate:

  • Banning tenant-paid broker’s fees
  • $2.5 million in continued funding for an access to counsel program, which provides legal representation to low-income tenants facing eviction
  • $5 million for an immigrant legal defense fund
  • Permanently fare-free regional transit authorities
  • Increased funding for our public schools

THE BAD: But there were also disappointments in the budget:

  • Only $1 million in dedicated funding for No Cost Calls implementation
  • Less funding for local aid
  • Insufficient funding for housing safety net programs
  • Insufficient funds for SNAP case workers

Read more about the state budget here, here, and here.

Write to your legislator to express your support for the budget wins and your disappointment with what was left out.

Email Your Legislators

Healey Wants to Spend $360 Million on a New Prison. Tell Her No Way.

For years, our friends at Families for Justice as Healing have been organizing against a proposed $50 million new women’s prison to replace MCI-Framingham.

How has Governor Maura Healey responded? By proposing a $360 million new women’s prison.

Incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women and girls have been clear: what we need is not a new prison, but greater programming for those currently incarcerated, better reentry programs for people when they return to community, and greater community investments in housing, health care, education, and economic security and opportunity.

Think of how much that $360 million could do if it went instead to keeping communities safe and ending cycles of incarceration and harm.

Join FJaH in telling Governor Healey to stop the $360 million new women’s prison with the action toolkit at bit.ly/FreeHerMA.

Call daily between 9am and 5pm only – (617) 725-4005

Email any time using this form: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/email-the-governors-office Sample Email/Script:

“Hello, my name is _________________ and I am your constituent. I oppose your plan to build a $360 million women’s prison. Spending hundreds of millions of dollars on prison construction is not investing in people’s wellbeing and will not make our communities safer. Our communities need this money for housing, healing, healthcare, treatment and more. We could actually make Massachusetts a model for the rest of the country by releasing many more women and implementing alternatives to incarceration rather than building yet another prison.”

Another Budget Takeaway: Fair Share Delivers

One major budget takeaway: The Fair Share Amendment has been delivering even more than expected, and it has proven essential. The Fair Share Amendment has been producing even more revenue than projected, and it has made possible critical new investments in education and transportation. Learn more about its $6 billion in positive impact so far at https://www.fairsharema.com/.

Take Action: Fight for Critical Investments and Policy in the State Budget

Right now, the Massachusetts House and Senate are negotiating a final budget for the next fiscal year. We know that a budget is a statement of values, and we need to be sure that the FY 2026 budget is reflecting our values of a more just and equitable Commonwealth.

Here’s what to ask from your legislators:

  • Immigrant Legal Defense Fund: Please advocate for House language dedicating $5 million for a new legal defense program to provide immigration legal services to eligible low-income immigrants and refugees without access to legal representation (House line item 4003-0124).
  • Banning Broker’s Fees: Please advocate for Senate language to require that residential rental broker’s fees be paid by the contracting agent (typically, the landlord), ensuring that renters are not burdened with unexpected and extraordinary costs.
  • Access to Counsel: Please advocate for House language allocating $3 million to ensure that tenants facing eviction have access to counsel (House line item 0321-1800).
  • Emergency Assistance for Families: Please advocate for the Senate’s larger appropriation of $225 million for Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT), which prevents displacement by providing short-term emergency assistance to keep families stably housed.
  • Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program: Please advocate for the House’s larger appropriation of $258,111,840 for the MRVP, which provides long-term rental subsidies to approximately 10,000 low-income households for use in the private housing market.
  • No Cost Calls: Please advocate for House language allocating $10 million for the Communications Access Trust Fund for no cost communication in prisons and jails (House line item 1595-6153).
  • Universal School Meals: Please advocate for the House’s larger appropriation of $190M allocation for School Meals for All.
  • Fully Funding Our K-12 Public Schools: Please advocate for the Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance priorities of closing the Chapter 70 inflation gap of $465 million, fixing the charter school reimbursements with the House funding level of $199 million, increasing funding for school building program, and preserving the House inclusion of a grant program for community schools.

Can you write to your state representative and state senator to ask them to advocate for key funding and policy in the FY 2026 budget?

MA Senate FY 2026 Budget: What Votes Occurred on Record?

On Thursday, the MA Senate wrapped up debate on its FY 2026 budget proposal. You can read an overview of the investments in the budget here.

1,058 amendments were filed to the initial Ways & Means proposal. Of those, 493 were adopted, 371 were rejected, and 194 were withdrawn without discussion or debate.

Only 21 of the 1,058 amendments received a roll call (recorded yes/no) vote. Two-thirds (14 of the 21) were unanimous, offering no accountability but just an easy press release for a lead sponsor.

Several of the amendments were rejected on a 34-5 party line vote:

  • 34-5 against an amendment from Sen. Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) to worsen our housing crisis by making it easier for cities and towns to evade MBTA Communities Act compliance (Amendment #13, Roll Call #43)
  • 34-5 against an amendment from Sen. Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) to create a commission stacked with anti-tax and business groups to study unemployment insurance cost increases attributable to the disallowed use of federal COVID-19 relief funds for unemployment claims, and the resulting settlement agreement between the commonwealth and the federal government (Amendment #96, Roll Call #44)
  • 34-5 against an amendment from Sen. Bruce Tar (R-Gloucester) to redirect excess capital gains tax revenue to the rainy day fund away from the state’s pension liability fund (Amendment #263, Roll Call #45)
  • 34-5 against an amendment from Sen. Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) to raise the estate tax threshold to $3 million and drain vital revenue from the Commonwealth to redistribute wealth upwards (Amendment #756, Roll Call #47)

The Senate also voted 30 to 9 against an amendment from Sen. Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) to block the transition to zero-emissions vehicles and scapegoat climate and energy efficiency regulations for higher energy prices (Amendment #373, Roll Call #46). Joining the 5 Republicans were Senators Mike Brady (D-Brockton), Nick Collins (D-South Boston), Mark Montigny (D-New Bedford), and Michael Moore (D-Auburn).

The Senate voted 34 to 5 in support of an amendment from Sen. Cindy Friedman (D-Arlington) to enable the Health Policy Commission to cap certain prescription drug prices. (Amendment #541, Roll Call #33). It was party line except for Sen. John Keenan (D-Quincy) voting no and Sen. Patrick O’Connor (D-Weymouth) voting yes.

FY 2026 Budget Testimony: Protect Our Essential Services & Invest in Our Future

April 8, 2025 

Chair Michlewitz, Chair Rodrigues, and Members of the Joint Committee on Ways & Means: 

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the Policy Director at Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots advocacy group fighting for a more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic commonwealth.

As we contemplate the daunting, anxiety-inducing, catastrophic possibility of steep cuts to the federal budget as Republicans in DC attempt to take an axe to health care, education, infrastructure, and so much more, we need to be prepared in MA to protect our essential services. We need to continue to do what we are doing—and we also need to be doing more. 

To make that possible, I urge you to embrace progressive sources of revenue as well as tap into the rainy day fund as needed. 

First on the rainy day fund. Like many of us, I have had the experience of holding an umbrella while walking in the rain. The rain gets heavier and heavier, but I think, “Oh, it’s not that bad yet” while getting fully soaked. Let’s not be that. When it starts pouring, don’t be afraid to take out an umbrella. 

But beyond that, I want to urge that “the money isn’t there” is a difficult argument to stomach in a state as affluent as Massachusetts. Indeed, our state’s GDP is higher than countries like Sweden or Belgium despite our smaller population. We have great wealth in this state, and that great wealth is why the Fair Share Amendment has been able to deliver so much. 

You have many tools at your disposal to raise necessary funds, such as but not limited to ensuring that billionaire global mega-corporations like Amazon and Apple are paying their fair share and are not able to dodge taxes by offshoring their profits in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. 

Similarly, as you are going to seek every opportunity to trim our investments, I would urge you to first do the same to the state’s tax corporate tax breaks to evaluate whether or not they deliver upon any goal at all. The sales tax exemption for private jets is but one of many examples. 

It shows a lack of regard for the most vulnerable populations to countenance cuts to mental health case workers and cuts to assistance to needy families, but not countenance cuts to the tax giveaways to large estates and day traders passed two years ago. 

We  know who has the money: the rich and large corporations. What matters is the political will to raise the funds. 

In the FY 2026 budget, we urge you to focus on increasing critical investments that underlie the quality of life in the Commonwealth and make this high quality of life accessible to all: 

  • Delivering on Our Promises to Our K-12 Students: The Student Opportunity Act from 2019 was a major win for students across the Commonwealth. However, the combination of high rates of inflation in FY23 and FY24 and a tight inflation cap under the SOA has led to a $465 million gap in district budgets.  As a result, districts across the state are being forced to cut their budgets, lay off educators and staff, and cancel long-needed investments. We must keep our promises to students.

We further urge you to fix charter school tuition reimbursements so that our public schools are not losing critical funding. Tuition dollars follow students, but if a class size falls from 25 to 23, a school cannot hire 23/25 of a teacher. So many of the costs of education are fixed costs, and siphoning off resources harms the 90% of students who attend local district public schools. 

Our students deserve not only well-funded schools, but also green and healthy schools that focus on the whole student. We urge you to increase funding for capital improvements for school buildings so that students can have the safe and healthy environment conducive to learning, and to provide funding for community schools so that districts can embrace this proven model that empowers students, parents, and educators to collaborate and provide vital wraparound services. 

  • Building on Recent Child Care & Early Ed Investments: Last session, you made historic investments in early education and child care, moving us closer toward a vision of quality and stability for providers, good pay for educators, and affordability and access for families. We join the Common Start Coalition in calling for continued investments:
    • $200 million to increase access to child care financial assistance (line item 3000-4060 in the FY25 budget): A $100 million increase over FY25 is needed just to maintain existing caseloads, and an additional $100 million would be enough to provide financial assistance vouchers to 6,000 additional children who are currently on the waitlist for CCFA.
    • $45 million to increase operational grants to child care providers to a total of $520 million (line item 3000-1045 in the FY25 budget): An increase in total funding to $520 million is needed to keep up with increased utilization of the C3 program by providers. Increased funding for the C3 program is essential to support the growing number of providers who accept families using child care vouchers.
    • $45 million to raise early education and care financial assistance reimbursement rates (line items 3000-1041 & 3000-1042 in the FY25 budget): This will improve access to child care financial assistance by increasing the number of programs that are willing and able to accept vouchers, allow programs to invest in quality, and raise workforce salaries for subsidized child care providers.
    • $20 million for the Head Start Supplemental Grant (line item 3000-5000 in the FY25 budget): Funding needed to increase salaries in Head Start classrooms and help programs that provide high-quality care to some of the state’s lowest-income, highest-need children, especially in anticipation of potential federal cuts.
  • Investing in the Opportunity Engine of Public Higher Ed: Last year, you made community college free, a transformative step that has benefited many residents already. We need to build on that commitment to opportunity by making our four-year public institutions debt-free for all students as well and ensuring that our colleges and universities have the resources needed to give a high-quality education and experience to every student. 

That means ensuring better pay and benefits for adjunct faculty, who often have to juggle high course loads for low pay. That means ensuring that our public higher education employees are paid at or above the national average, especially given the high cost of living in MA.  And that means ensuring that our public colleges and universities have green and healthy buildings and having the Commonwealth assume the capital debt of public higher education institutions and cover the costs of such upgrades. 

  • Increasing Funding for Access to Counsel: We join fellow organizations in the Right to Counsel Coalition in urging for an increase to the Access to Counsel pilot (Line Item 0321-1800) from $2.5 million to $5 million and making the program permanent. While upwards of 90% of landlords are represented, recent Trial Court data shows that over the past two years only 4% of tenants had legal representation. We can change this, prevent homelessness, and stabilize peoples’ housing by incrementally building a strong statewide Access to Counsel program.
  • Protecting Our Right to Shelter by Investing in Emergency Assistance: We believe in listening to the experts connected to communities on the ground about how best to solve the problems facing the Commonwealth. The Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless are the experts on how to best manage the emergency shelter system in Massachusetts and assume that all families have access to safe housing. We urge you to support their requests, which include:
    • Undoing harmful restrictions to emergency shelter: Removing the length of stay limits, which force families out of shelter before they can access safe housing; eliminating the “dual track” system, which kicks some families out of rapid track shelters in as little as 30 business days; removing the cap on the number of families in EA shelter, currently set at 5,800 families; restoring presumptive eligibility, which gives families temporary access to shelter while they gather documents to prove ongoing eligibility; and strengthening support for families leaving shelter, including by improving housing search, providing ongoing wraparound support, and increasing HomeBASE rehousing resources
    • Increasing funding for RAFT (Line Item 7004-9316): Increase funding for Rental Assistance for Families in Transition RAFT) to $300 million, up from the current FY25 funding level of $204.7 million ($197.4 million in General Appropriations Act funding and $7.3 million in supplemental funding)
    • Increasing HomeBASE (Line Item 7004-1008) Increasing the maximum benefit levels to $50,000 over the first 24 months of the program and up to $25,000 in subsequent years for families needing additional time

Moreover, we urge you to reject harmful proposed cuts in Governor Healey’s budget. 

  • Please reject Governor Healey’s proposed elimination of the 10% increase to cash assistance grants that recently took effect. This assistance is for our families with highest need, and it is unconscionable to think that that is where we would be making cuts in the budget. 
  • Please reject Governor Healey’s proposed cuts to mental health care and the corresponding layoffs of Department of Mental Health case workers. This is critical care, and it is about people’s lives. 

Thank you for your work on the budget and on this marathon of a hearing. 

Sincerely, 

Jonathan Cohn 

Policy Director 

Progressive Massachusetts 

Better Late Than Never: House and Senate Pass Final FY 2025 Budget, Sending it to the Governor

At the end of last week, the MA House and Senate agreed to a final version of the FY 2025 budget. There are a number of big wins (but some disappointments) in it.

What We’re Excited About:

  • $170 million for universal school meals
  • $117.5 million for tuition-free community college
  • Major steps to deliver affordable, high-quality education and child care that will mean more stable funding for providers, better pay for educators, and more affordability for families
  • Continued funding for fare-free transit in Regional Transit Authorities
  • An access to counsel pilot program that will provide legal representation for low-income tenants
  • Increased cash assistance for families, seniors, and people with disabilities in poverty
  • Continued work to replace our state flag and seal

Click here to see how the full $1.3 Billion in new Fair Share revenue was allocated by the House and the Senate — new investments that you made possible by volunteering and voting for the Fair Share campaign in 2022.

What We’re Disappointed About:

  • That only $10 million was provided for the implementation of free calls in prisons and jails (No Cost Calls), well below the $35 million allocated in the Governor’s budget and the House budget
  • The exclusion of stronger reporting requirements for No Cost Calls implementation passed by the Senate
  • The exclusion of a key voting reform to delink the municipal census from voter registration passed by the Senate
  • The legalization of online lottery sales, which is an extremely regressive way of raising revenue

The budget now goes to the Governor to sign.

The State Budget Is Late Again. That Means You Can Still Contact Your Legislators.

Happy July!

July means warm weather, vacations, and picnics, but it is also thestart of the new fiscal year. And, as has been the case each year for over a decade, Massachusetts is without a budget, as the MA Senate and MA House are still stuck in negotiations about final details.

These recurring delays are bad for the commonwealth, as they harm the ability of cities, towns, and departments to plan. In short, we all deserve better.

But when they delay, that also means that you have more time to contact them, so take advantage of that.

Can you email your state legislators today about key budget priorities?

Here are some of the important provisions being negotiated as you read this email:

  • Early Education and Child Care: Advancing the Common Start vision of a more robust early education and child care infrastructure with greater stability for providers, better pay for educators, and more affordability for families, as reflected by various parts of both the House and Senate budget
  • Universal School Meals: Fully funding universal school meals
  • Access to Counsel: Implementing a statewide Access to Counsel pilot program to increase access to legal representation for low-income tenants and low-income owner occupants in eviction proceedings
  • Cash Assistance for Low-Income Families: Increasing cash assistance for the families most in need
  • No Cost Calls Funding: Creating a dedicated funding source for implementing no–cost calls in prisons and jails
  • No Cost Calls Reporting: Fixing No Cost Calls reporting requirements so that policymakers have the information they need to effectively monitor free communication
  • Voting Access: Eliminating barriers to voting access by ending MA’s outlier status as the only state where if a voter doesn’t return the annual municipal census, they’re placed on the Inactive Voter list
  • New Flag, Seal, & Motto: Continuing the work to develop a new state flag, seal, and motto

Can you email your state legislators today about key budget priorities?

FY 2025 Budget Recommendations

Saturday, June 22, 2024

Chair Michlewitz, Chair Rodrigues, Vice Chair Ferrante, and Vice Chair Friedman,

Thank you for your ongoing work in negotiating a final budget for the upcoming fiscal year. We were very pleased to see a number of the new initiatives in the budgets passed by each chamber, and we would like to call attention to the role the Fair Share Amendment has played in making new investments possible.

As you continue such negotiations, we urge you to include the following provisions in the final budget:

  • New Investments in Early Education and Child Care: Advancing the Common Start Coalition’s vision of a more robust early education and child care infrastructure with greater stability for providers, better pay for educators, and more affordability for families, as reflected in various parts of both the House and Senate FY 2025 budget.
  • Universal School Meals: Fully funding universal school meals by dedicating $190 million to School Meals For All (Line Item 1596-2422, as funded in the FY 2025 House budget).
  • Access to Counsel: Providing $2.5 million for implementation of a statewide Access to Counsel pilot program to increase access to legal representation for low-income tenants and low-income owner occupants in eviction proceedings (item 0321-1800 in the House FY 2025 budget).
  • Cash Assistance for Low-Income Families: Providing a 10% increase to TAFDC cash assistance grants for very low-income families with children (line item 4403-2000), as both House and Senate FY 2025 budgets did, a 10% increase to EAEDC cash assistance grants for older adults and people with disabilities (as in line item 4408-1000 of the Senate FY 2025 budget), and an increase of $50 per child to the annual TAFDC children’s clothing allowance (also the Senate budget).  These increases are essential, and families in deep poverty should not have to wait until next April for them to take effect.  
  • No Cost Calls Funding: Dedicating $35M in the Communications Access Trust Fund for no–cost calls in prisons and jails (item 1595-6153 in the House FY 2025 budget). This was an exciting victory last year, and we need to ensure committed funds for robust implementation.
  • No Cost Calls Reporting: Making technical fixes to the No Cost Calls reporting requirements, so that policymakers have the information they need to effectively monitor free communication (Section 29 A&B of the Senate FY 2025 budget).
  • Voting Access: Eliminating barriers to voting access by ending MA’s outlier status as the only state where if a voter doesn’t return the annual municipal census, they’re placed on the Inactive Voter list (Section 57 of the Senate FY 2025 budget). We need to continue the work of expanding access to voting.
  • New Flag, Seal, & Motto: Continuing the work to develop a new state flag, seal, and motto (as funded in line item 7008-0900 in the Senate FY 2025 budget).

Thank you again for your work.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Policy Director

Progressive Massachusetts

Take Action: Our State Budget Is Being Finalized Right Now.

In April and May, the MA House and Senate voted on their respective budgets for the next fiscal year. As they reconcile the differences in a Conference Committee, it’s vital that chambers put aside the inter-chamber jockeying and procrastination that so often characterizes these negotiations and instead commit to embracing the best of both budget proposals.

What would that mean? It would mean doing things like the following:

  • Early Education and Child Care: Advancing the Common Start vision of a more robust early education and child care infrastructure with greater stability for providers, better pay for educators, and more affordability for families, as reflected by various parts of both the House and Senate budget
  • Universal School Meals: Fully funding universal school meals by dedicating $190 million to School Meals For All (Line Item 1596-2422)
  • Access to Counsel: Providing $2.5 million for implementation of a statewide Access to Counsel pilot program to increase access to legal representation for low-income tenants and low-income owner occupants in eviction proceedings (item 0321-1800 in the House FY 2025 budget proposal)
  • No Cost Calls Funding: Dedicating $35M in the Communications Access Trust Fund for no–cost calls in prisons and jails (item 1595-6153 in the House FY 2025 budget proposal)
  • No Cost Calls Reporting: Making technical fixes to the No Cost Calls reporting requirements, so that policymakers have the information they need to effectively monitor free communication (Section 29 A&B of the Senate FY 2025 budget proposal)
  • Voting Access: Eliminating barriers to voting access by ending MA’s outlier status as the only state where if a voter doesn’t return the annual municipal census, they’re placed on the Inactive Voter list (an amendment included in the Senate budget that also earned the support of a majority of representatives)

Can you write to your legislators to urge them to express their support for these provisions to the budget negotiators?

MA Senate Finishes Up Its Budget Debate. Let’s Talk about the Recorded Votes.

Yesterday, late at night, the MA Senate passed its FY 2025 budget. I’ll defer discussion on the specific funding levels to another time and instead highlight some policy victories in the amendment process and the recorded votes.

On the first hand, two amendments that Progressive Mass had advocated for passed, in modified form:

  • Sen. Cindy Creem’s Amendment #100: Improving Voting Access, which would decouple the municipal census and voter registration status. Currently, cities and towns are required to mark registered voters as “inactive” if they don’t fill out the annual municipal census, a document many easily forget to fill out. When voters are inactive, they have to go through extra hoops at their polling location to vote.
  • Sen. Cindy Creem’s Amendment #938: No Cost Calls Reporting Requirements, which would strengthen the oversight and data collection for No Cost Calls (i.e., the recently passed law that guarantees free access to phone calls and other communication to incarcerated individuals)

But now to the recorded votes. The Senate took recorded votes on 41 amendments, 37 of which were unanimous votes.

At Progressive Mass, we love recorded votes: they are a vital tool for accountability and transparency. But when it comes to unanimous votes like these, their main purpose is for senators to be able to publicly take credit for the addition of a specific program or funding increase rather than highlighting meaningful contrasts between legislators.

So what were those 4 non-unanimous votes?

Senator Bruce Tarr’s Amendment (#118) to prevent the diversion of a fraction of excess capital gains tax revenue to the general budget instead of the rainy day fund failed 4 to 35 on a party line vote.

Senator Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester)’s amendment (#810) to create a two-week sales tax holiday failed 5 to 34. Sales tax holidays drain vital revenue and don’t actually achieve goals of tax progressivity or economic stimulus. The 5 YES votes were the chamber’s 4 Republicans plus Walter Timilty (D-Milton).

Senator Bruce Tarr’s amendment to undermine the Fair Share Amendment by allowing high-income couples to evade the surtax failed 10 to 29. The Senate voted to close this loophole last year in order to prevent couples from being “married in DC, but single in Massachusetts” (i.e., filing their taxes together in DC but separately in MA to avoid the surtax on income over $1 million). The 10 YES votes consisted of the chamber’s four Republicans and six Democrats: Nick Collins (D-South Boston), Barry Finegold (D-Andover), Joan Lovely (D-Salem), Michael Moore (D-Auburn), Walter Timilty (D-Milton), and John Velis (D-Westfield).

Senator Jason Lewis’s amendment (#125) to create a new advisory commission to determine a new seal and motto of the commonwealth (in case you’ve forgotten, our state seal is very racist), as recommended by the last commission, passed 30 to 9. Voting NO were 6 Democrats and 3 Republicans (Bruce Tarr bucked his fellow Republicans by voting YES). The 6 Democrats were Mike Brady (D-Brockton), Nick Collins (D-South Boston), John Cronin (D-Fitchburg), Ed Kennedy (D-Lowell), Michael Moore (D-Auburn), and John Velis (D-Westfield).

PM in the News: On Healey’s Hiring Freeze

Colin A. Young, Michael P. Norton, and Chris Lisinski. “Healey Plans To Reduce Gov’t Hiring, Critics Say It’s Coming Too Late.” State House News Service. April 3, 2024.

Blowback came from the left, too. Progressive Massachusetts Policy Director Jonathan Cohn castigated Healey and the Legislature for having approved a series of targeted tax cuts last year after voters in 2022 “made clear that they support higher taxes on the rich and greater investment in our commonwealth.” He said the governor’s January budget cuts and her hiring restrictions “are the result of such decisions.”

“The Legislature should not operate from a standpoint of scarcity. Whether that means putting a pause on the regressive tax cuts from last year’s bill or finding new ways to raise money (e.g., by closing corporate loopholes or ending misguided corporate tax incentives), the Governor and Legislature can’t pretend there isn’t money available,” Cohn said. “Even more, the rainy day fund remains flush, and adding more money to it each year is not a badge of honor if it can never be used.”

He added, “When voters gave Massachusetts a Democratic trifecta, it was not out of a desire for tax cuts for the rich and hiring freezes; it was to make the Commonwealth better for all.”

Lisa Kashinsky, Kelly Garrity, and Mia McCarthy. “The fallout from Healey’s ‘hiring controls’.” Politico. April 4, 2024.

“If the governor believes that the commonwealth is facing an economic downturn that would necessitate such a freeze, she should communicate to the public what she believes is the cause of the revenue shortfall and outline how the commonwealth will protect critical investments,” Progressive Massachusetts’ Jonathan Cohn told Playbook.