Lawmakers working on a compromise state budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 could get four more weeks of runway under an interim spending bill Gov. Maura Healey filed Monday.
Healey submitted a nearly $7.5 billion proposal (HD 4844) that would continue to fund state government for about another month if the next spending cycle begins without a final budget in place.
The governor wrote in a letter alongside the bill that the funding would “maintain necessary services through July 31, 2025, pending the passage of the General Appropriations Act.”
Interim budgets — sometimes referred to as one-twelfth budgets because they usually cover about a month — have become a common occurrence on Beacon Hill each summer as House and Senate Democrats stretch their private budget talks into the next fiscal year.
Massachusetts regularly produces some of the latest state budgets in the nation, and it has not had a final spending plan signed into law on time since fiscal year 2011.
House Speaker Ron Mariano said Monday he’s optimistic about the chances of agreeing on the budget by the end of the month, and Senate President Karen Spilka added that negotiators are “very close.”
The House and Senate are each holding a formal session Thursday, and the branches could use those sessions to send the interim budget back for the governor to sign into law.
The governor gets 10 days to review any legislation, so even if the Legislature strikes a deal before July 1, having an interim budget in place would allow Healey to use all of the time constitutionally allotted to her without impacting state spending.
