On October 23, the Massachusetts Senate debated and unanimously passed a $2.3 billion close out supplemental budget for fiscal year (FY) 2025. (The net cost to the state will be $795 million after federal reimbursements.)
This supplemental budget is a responsive, strategic, and compassionate proposal.
This is what a big, beautiful bill looks like — allocating funding to feed our children, to protect health care access and affordability, and to ensure higher education remains affordable and accessible to all residents.
This bill also safeguards the privacy and safety of residents who access a legal name change, which is a bill that I filed and a policy that has been a priority for LGBTQ+ and civil rights advocates.
I am grateful to Senate President Spilka and Ways and Means Chair Rodrigues for their bold and fearless leadership.
I discussed this supplemental budget in a video, here.
Watch my remarks from the debate, here.
More on this supplemental budget below.
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The legislation contains targeted policy and spending provisions that respond to recent federal uncertainty as part of the Senate’s Response 2025 initiative. An investment of $10 million would fund technology enhancements at the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) in order to improve the accuracy of benefit payments for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This Senate-led appropriation would both improve the customer experience for SNAP users and aim to avert harmful cuts brought on by recent federal legislation.
The state would gain greater flexibility in determining childhood vaccine schedules under one section of the bill, which decouples the state definition of ‘routine childhood immunizations’ from federal standards. Further, at a time when federal agents’ actions are sowing controversy and disruption in local communities, the false impersonation of a federal officer would be penalized as a state crime under another provision.
The supplemental budget features a total $2.3 billion to close out government spending for Fiscal Year 2025, which will result in a net final cost to the state of $795 million after revenue from federal reimbursements has been accounted for. The bill funds a range of programs to support essential government services and aid vulnerable populations, including:
- $12 million to support the universal meals program for school children;
- $12.5 million to cover no-cost phone call communications for incarcerated people;
- $14 million to aid people in treatment for substance use and alcohol addiction through Section 35 programs;
- $2.04 billion for MassHealth (with a net cost to the state of only $539 million after reimbursements) covering the rapidly rising cost of providing healthcare;
- $18.5 million to support public health hospitals;
- $18.3 million to strengthen student financial aid assistance;
- $5 million in direct support for reproductive health care;
- $75 million for the Housing Preservation and Stabilization Trust Fund, which supports affordable rental housing in Massachusetts; and
- $60.7 million for MassDOT’s snow and ice removal expenses.
Additional policy sections include the following provisions:
- Strengthens Fishing Violation Penalties. Allows the Massachusetts Environmental Police to charge by the pound—or charge the total value of the catch up to $10,000—when imposing fines for fishing violations.
- Helps Implement Multistate Nurse Licensure. Facilitates fingerprint-based background checks for the multistate Nurse Licensure Compact that Massachusetts entered into through the 2024 economic development law.
- Strengthens the Health Safety Net. Updates the hospital assessment and increases funds for the Health Safety Net, subject to federal approval.
- Respects Privacy of People Seeking Name Changes. Removes the automatic requirement of a public legal notice for name-change petitions, instead allowing the court to require public notice in a particular case for good cause.
- Updates State Police Injury Compensation. Updates state police compensation for life-altering injuries to focus on the manner of an attack on an officer rather than the design of the weapon used in the attack.
- Facilitates Broadband-Related Work. Allows municipalities to pay utility companies’ estimates for work to prepare utility poles, rights of way, and other infrastructure for broadband projects.
- Institutes New CBAs. Ratifies seven collective bargaining agreements for public employees.
During the course of debate, Senators adopted an amendment to protect thousands of Massachusetts residents who are employed by the U.S. government and currently not receiving paychecks due to Washington’s ongoing federal shutdown. Amendment 2, adopted on a 38-0 roll call vote, would protect federal workers and Armed Forces service members from losing their housing to a residential eviction or foreclosure during a federal government shutdown.
The Senate passed its version of the closeout supplemental budget as an amendment to a version previously approved by the House of Representatives on October 15, 2025. The underlying legislation was originally filed by the Governor on August 14, 2025. The bill now returns to the House of Representatives for further consideration.
