Representative Steven S. Howitt supports $58B state budget for Fiscal Year 2025

Boston – State Representative Steven S. Howitt (R-Seekonk) recently supported a $58 billion state budget that sets spending priorities for the new fiscal year that begins on July 1.

House members conducted three days of debate on the annual appropriations bill beginning on April 24, disposing of 1,495 amendments, including a handful of Republican-sponsored proposals backed by Representative Howitt in an unsuccessful attempt to further boost local aid and address the costs associated with the migrant shelter crisis. The final amended budget was approved on a vote of 153-4 on April 26.

Representative Howitt noted the House budget funds Chapter 70 education aid at $6.86 billion, while boosting per pupil minimum aid to $104 per student and fully funding the fourth year of the goal rate mandated under the 2019 Student Opportunity Act. In total, the House spending proposal represents an increase of $308.7 million in Chapter 70 aid compared to current spending levels, with Norton scheduled to receive $13,386,532, Dighton- Rehoboth Regional School District scheduled to receive $13,618,578, Seekonk scheduled to receive $7,970,778, and Swansea scheduled to receive $11,023,888 in direct education aid for the new fiscal year that begins July 1.

While Representative Howitt said the increase in education-related aid was welcome news, he expressed concerns about the level of Unrestricted General Government Aid (UGGA) included in the House budget, which is set at $1.28 billion, a figure which is $12.7 million higher than the current fiscal year but $25 million less than what Governor Healey proposed in her budget in January. Representative Howitt noted that UGGA funding is critical to supporting a variety of municipal services, including teachers, police, firefighters, libraries, and senior centers. Under the House proposal, Norton is set to receive $2,509,505, Rehoboth is set to receive $1,258,626, Seekonk is set to receive $1,485,799, and Swansea is set to receive $2,267,785 in unrestricted state aid.

In an attempt to address this shortfall and better assist communities that are struggling to balance their budgets, Representative Howitt supported a Republican leadership sponsored amendment to eliminate the $35 million included in the House budget to subsidize free phone calls for prisoners and instead reallocate this funding to the UGGA account. The proposed amendment was defeated on a vote of 29-128.

Representative Howitt noted that the House budget offers additional state assistance to municipalities by providing a 100 percent reimbursement rate for charter school aid ($198.9 million), regional school transportation ($99.5 million), and homeless student transportation ($28.6 million). It also funds the Special Education Circuit Breaker at $492.7 million.

Although the House budget does not address the ongoing migrant crisis that has stretched the state’s emergency housing assistance program to its limits, Representative Howitt supported a series of amendments designed to rein in the costs of the program, which has ballooned to more than $1 billion this fiscal year, and to ensure that Massachusetts residents and veterans are not excluded from receiving assistance. These amendments, which were unsuccessful, included:

• A proposal filed requiring the emergency housing assistance program to only be available to Massachusetts residents who have resided within the Commonwealth for at least three months, with exemptions granted to victims of domestic violence and those whose living situation has been affected by a fire or other natural disaster that occurred in Massachusetts;
• A proposal filed to require the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities and the Department of Housing and Community Development to give priority consideration to residents who have resided in the Commonwealth for a minimum of 12 consecutive months and who are on the waitlist for the emergency housing assistance program, when space in the program becomes available; and
• A proposal filed to prioritize eligibility for the emergency housing assistance program for honorably discharged homeless veterans.

Representative Howitt said the House budget proposal also provides for:

• A state tax amnesty that is expected to recoup $75 million in uncollected tax revenues for the state;
• A temporary increase in the annual cap on the Conservation Land Tax Credit, which plays a critical role in conserving land and creating more accessible and open public space;
• Maintaining eligibility criteria and services for the Personal Care Attendant (PCA) program at Fiscal Year 2024 levels;
• Mandatory insurance coverage for standard fertility preservation services for cancer patients whose fertility has been directly or indirectly impacted by the disease or the treatment of the disease;
• $13.8 million for the creation of a Disaster Relief and Resiliency Fund;
• $15 million for the Healthy Incentives Program
• $475 million to fully fund the Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) early education grant program;
• $17.5 million in Head Start grants;
• $10 million for an Early Education and Care (EEC) Educator Scholarship Program;
• $10 million for an EEC Educator Loan Forgiveness Program;
• $190 million to continue providing universal school meals;
• $394.7 million for state universities;
• $403.5 million for community colleges;
• $783.8 million for the UMass system;
• $298 million in higher education scholarship funding, included $80 million for expanding the MassGrant+ program;
• $219 million for the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP), an increase of $39.4 million;
• $197 million for the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) program, an increase of $7.4 million;
• $555 million for the MBTA, including $75 million for capital investments and $40 million for workforce training and recruiting;
• $50 million to increase nursing facility rates;
• $28.2 million in Councils on Aging grants, which will allow for a formula increase from $14 to $15 per elder;
• $194.4 million for the Bureau of Substance Addiction Services;
• $3.085 million for grants and contracts with substance use programs, including $2 million for RIZE MA to assist in their work to end the opioid epidemic;
• $14.2 million for statewide and community-based suicide prevention programs;
• $1.25 million for prostate cancer awareness, education and research;

The budget now moves to the Senate for its consideration, with debate expected to start the week of May 20.