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Healey Signs $63.4B Massachusetts Budget With No Vetoes. Schools, Child Care, Housing Get More.

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Healey Signs $63.4B Budget Nine Days Into Fiscal Year 2027

Gov. Maura Healey signed Massachusetts’ $63.4 billion fiscal year 2027 budget on July 9, 2026, nine days after the fiscal year began. She made no vetoes, an unusual move that Administration and Finance Secretary Matthew Gorzkowicz framed as a deliberate choice to maintain stability.

The budget arrives as Congress’s recently enacted federal spending law begins reshaping Medicaid and other public benefit programs. Massachusetts officials have flagged that federal funding cuts will create significant pressure on the state’s health and human services spending through FY27.

“This budget is about lowering people’s costs, driving economic growth and supporting our kids, all without raising any taxes or fees.”

Gov. Maura Healey, statement upon signing, July 9, 2026

Fair Share Surtax Revenues Fund the Targeted Investments

The budget relies in part on Massachusetts’ Fair Share surtax, a 4% additional income tax on earnings above $1 million approved by voters in 2022. Gorzkowicz said the budget “strategically uses available resources including Fair Share surtax revenues” to keep spending growth sustainable while absorbing national economic uncertainty.

Key investment areas include child care affordability, health care access, higher education, housing production, and direct aid to cities and towns. Healey’s office said no taxes or fees were raised to fund any of it.

Lawmakers sent the budget to Healey’s desk the prior Wednesday, ahead of the MA 250 holiday celebration. Healey had signed an interim budget on June 30 to keep state government funded while awaiting the final package, and had until July 11 to act.

Federal Medicaid Cuts Are the Immediate Threat to This Budget

The budget’s stability depends partly on federal funding that is now in flux. The federal law referenced in Healey’s signing context includes Medicaid work requirements and eligibility restrictions that take effect starting in 2027. Massachusetts covers roughly 2.1 million residents through MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program. Any federal reimbursement reduction forces the state to either cut coverage, raise revenue, or draw down reserves.

Healey met privately with leaders from the Massachusetts Nurses Association and Mass General Brigham twice this week amid an ongoing strike at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a separate pressure point on the state’s health care system that the FY27 budget will have to absorb.

What You Can Do Now

  1. Call your Massachusetts state legislators at (617) 722-2000 and ask them to protect MassHealth enrollment in any FY27 supplemental budget. Medicaid work requirements in the federal law could trigger automatic state spending decisions as soon as January 2027.

  2. Contact the Healey administration directly at (617) 725-4005. Ask the governor’s office to release a public analysis of how federal Medicaid cuts will affect FY27 projections, so residents know what trade-offs are coming before supplemental budgets are filed.

  3. Contact your U.S. senators at (202) 224-3121 and ask them to oppose any further federal Medicaid eligibility restrictions. Massachusetts senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey are both on record opposing the cuts, but constituent calls reinforce their negotiating position.

  4. Find your state rep at malegislature.gov/People/Search and ask them to hold a public hearing on the federal funding impact before any FY27 supplemental budget vote. Constituents have a right to see the numbers before cuts are made.

Sources

CommonWealth Beacon: Healey Signs $63.4 Billion Budget With No Vetoes

KFF: Massachusetts MassHealth Enrollment and Federal Medicaid Funding Overview

Massachusetts Department of Revenue: Fair Share Surtax Revenue Data

Brennan Center: Federal Medicaid Cuts and State Budget Exposure Analysis

State House News Service: Massachusetts FY27 Budget Legislative Timeline