Top Democrats in the Massachusetts House looked toward Washington, D.C. as they rolled out a state budget plan Wednesday, casting their proposal to spend more than $61 billion as a brace against whirlwind federal policy shifts.
The House’s bill, slightly smaller than the version Gov. Maura Healey proposed in January , would grow overall state spending by more than 6% over this year’s budget.
“The aggressive actions of the new administration in Washington, particularly around tariffs, will only drive prices up and will further put pressure on both the state’s fiscal outlook and people’s wallets,” Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, the House budget chief, told reporters. “A trade war, on top of unilateral funding freezes and a general sense of chaos [emanating] out of our nation’s capital leads to major challenges towards constructing a budget, to say the least.”
Part of that increase, Michlewitz said, is a response to greater need in areas like food insecurity.
While Healey sought in her budget to secure more state revenue by applying the sales tax to candy and adding a tax on prescription drug sales, the House’s plan does not propose new taxes or fees.
The spending plan crafted by House Democrats does follow Healey’s lead in shifting the responsibility for paying real estate broker fees in apartment rentals.
Most renters are currently on the hook for broker fees, typically a month’s rent, but the proposal would require landlords to pay the fee if they’re the ones to hire the broker.
House Speaker Ron Mariano, a Quincy Democrat, said broker fees are an unfair cost to renters in an already-expensive housing market.
“As Massachusetts continues to face an affordable housing crisis, the House remains committed to doing everything that we can to ensure that folks can afford to live here, work here and start a family,” he said.
Massachusetts’ state budget receives about $15 billion in federal funds annually. As President Donald Trump pursues spending cuts across government, Mariano and other Bay State leaders have said state money alone will not be able to fully plug the hole if federal support evaporates completely.
But Michlewitz and Mariano on Wednesday outlined several areas where they hope their budget can at least partially serve as a backstop.
Michlewitz said that, to combat “reckless federal cuts to food assistance initiatives,” the bill includes $55 million for the state’s emergency food assistance program and $20 million for the Healthy Incentives Program, which helps families that receive food benefits buy local produce.
The House budget would also dedicate $5 million to create an immigration legal assistance fund, which Michlewitz said would “help those with immigration cases accused of non-violent acts.”
“We hear countless stories of people who have no criminal record being detained and deported with little or no judicial oversight,” he said.
The House is also recommending a roughly 7% increase in funding for Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office.
Campbell has sued the Trump administration multiple times this year, including over funding cuts and an executive order around elections. Mariano said the boost is intended “to ensure that AG Campbell can continue to push back against any unconstitutional actions taken by the Trump administration.”
State representatives will file likely hundreds of amendments to the budget and debate those proposals later this month. The Senate will put forward its own plan in May, and a team of lawmakers from both chambers will hash out a final compromise version.
The new fiscal year starts July 1, but House-Senate negotiations typically drag past that point.
