Press Release: 5/7/2025
MassBudget’s Statement on the FY 2026 Senate Ways and Means Budget Proposal
- MAY 6, 2025
Today, the Senate Ways and Means (SWM) Committee released their proposed budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026. This comes after the House finalized their budget proposal last week. The SWM proposal outlines a plan to spend over $61.3 billion for the upcoming fiscal year beginning July 1.
“We are very excited about the substantial investments made to address key public education and transportation needs. In the SWM FY 2026 budget proposal, the Fair Share surtax supports a vital increase to the Regional Transit Authorities’ (RTA) fare free program. This program has been wildly successful at increasing ridership and improving service for riders who rely on buses to get to work, school, and attend to other critical needs. These bus riders are disproportionately low-income, so investments like these create a more equitable Commonwealth for everyone.
The Fair Share surtax is also supporting an expansion of free college education. We are encouraged to see an increase in financial aid for students with lower incomes so they can attend community colleges or public four-year universities with no out-of-pocket cost for tuition and fees. This, along with simultaneously investing in the infrastructure of public higher education institutions via the FY 2025 Senate supplemental budget proposal, is a step in the right direction for affordable, accessible, and quality higher education. However, the state’s Commission on Higher Education Quality and Affordability (CHEQA), which I proudly serve on, must continue to work on how to better attract and retain professors—particularly at community colleges—in order to meet the continued increase in demand.
We are heartened to see the proposal continues to commit to at least level funding operational grants for child care providers, as well as an increased investment in our state Head Start program. The operational grants provide critical support to early educators and providers and help to improve access to affordable child care for the lowest income families in the Commonwealth. We are concerned that the proposal does not make additional investments above maintaining current caseloads. Over 30,000 children currently sit on the waitlist for care and that list will only grow. Our state-level investments in early education are needed now more than ever as we see Head Start being targeted by federal cuts.
We commend the meaningful increases to Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT), which provides upstream housing prevention to ensure families and individuals can remain stably housed. This investment would allow the program to keep up with housing costs during a time when costs have risen substantially. However, when looking at the overall housing assistance picture coupled with a substantial cut to shelter funding, the proposal falls short of adequately investing to address the current housing crisis.
Unfortunately, the Senate Ways and Means Committee proposal fails to raise new revenue. The state is set to face unprecedented challenges as federal cuts are being made to programs that support the most vulnerable residents of the Commonwealth. These cuts will create massive deficits in our state budget. We have the opportunity to raise over $400M annually in new revenue by adopting a robust and well-enforced provision requiring multinational corporations to account for more of the profits they currently shift to offshore tax havens. Closing this loophole would enable the state to invest in the critical programs that address the needs of low-and middle-income families currently under threat by federal cuts. It is only responsible to ask ourselves if we will require billionaire corporations to contribute their fair share as local businesses do, or will we leave families unhoused and health care needs unmet?”
– Viviana M. Abreu-Hernández, PhD
President, MassBudget