The redraft includes $95.6 million for the Department of Children and Families and Department of Transitional Assistance-related child care, plus $94 million for income-eligible child care. It leaves out nearly two-thirds of the House-approved spending, including $43 million for rent assistance, $60 million for home care services and $15.5 million to replace electronic benefits cards vulnerable to fraud.
Chris Lisinski I State House News Service
Posted inState Government
Spending push interrupted by executive branch hiring freeze
Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday paused executive branch hiring due to what her office described as “widespread economic uncertainty at the national level and a tightening budget outlook.”
Posted inState Government
Senate budget panel recommends 6.3% annual spending increase
The draft budget bill, which will be up for debate in the Senate starting May 20, does not feature any tax increases.
Posted inState Government
Weekly roundup – budget bonanza
The House-approved annual budget bill reveals policy and political fault lines
Posted inEducation
Tutwiler: Immigration chill leading to “extended absences”
According to the state’s top education official, some Mass. schools have reported “extended absences” for students as a result of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement.
Posted inState House News Service
Former Baker deputy Mike Kennealy launches campaign for governor
A former private equity manager, who spent four years as state housing and economic development secretary under Gov. Charlie Baker, declared his candidacy for governor.
Posted inState House News Service
Gov. Healey seeks $756 million for ‘time-sensitive deficiencies’
Healey’s office pitched the $190 million the bill includes for a child care financial assistance program as a way to “support Massachusetts residents at a time of rising costs.”
Posted inState Government
Health care cash rained on Mass. lobbying world in 2024
At a time when lawmakers are wrestling with cost, access and regulatory questions, health care industry power players continued to dominate the Beacon Hill lobbying world last year, spending the most on employing influential insiders who sway development of public policy.
Posted inEconomy
AG Campbell: Medical research change could ‘undermine our economy’
Attorney General Andrea Campbell and nearly two dozen of her peers sued the Trump administration and federal health care agencies Monday, alleging that they unlawfully moved to cut crucial federal dollars for research.