After many weeks of deliberation, the Massachusetts House and Senate sent a budget to Governor Baker’s desk. This budget passed the Senate 31-5 and the House 153-1 and represents a compromise between the House and Senate versions, described in previous ML Strategies advisories. A conference committee aimed to resolve discrepancies between the two chambers and in doing so went past the June 31st deadline for the fiscal year. This required a $5.5 billion stop-gap funding measure, which is currently in effect and has kept the state government funded since the end of FY15 on July 1st.

The budget approved by the legislature totals $38.15 billion for FY16 and represents a 3.5% spending increase, lower than the projected 4.8% increase. While this reduced spending rate may surprise some in a year of record tax revenue, it comes after lawmakers struggled to close a $1.8 billion inherited budget deficit. Below, we have highlighted several key areas in this budget that address disagreements between the House’s, Senate’s, and Governor’s initial proposals.