(BOSTON–7/7/2026) Without raising taxes on Massachusetts residents, the Massachusetts Legislature on Thursday delivered a Fiscal Year 2027 budget that drives down costs for residents, boosts the state's economy, adds to the state’s savings account, and delivers on the needs of the Bristol and Norfolk Senate District.

The plan makes record investments in public education, unlocks new housing production, strengthens the state’s public transportation systems, and protects vulnerable residents from the impact of federal cuts.

The bill spends $63.4 billion, a 4 percent increase from last year, and includes $2.7 billion in Fair Share funds that will support public education and transportation as voters intended. The budget raises no taxes and adds $51 million to the state’s ‘Rainy Day’ Stabilization Fund, which is projected to reach a historic $8.2 billion balance by the end of Fiscal Year 2027.

“The Fiscal Year 2027 Conference Committee Report adopted by the Legislature is the result of months of thoughtful collaboration and public engagement, including nine public hearings held in communities across the Commonwealth, testimony from hundreds of residents, advocates, non-profit organizations, and over 1,100 amendments considered by the Senate during our debate. Process is what makes this product strong: it responds to the needs articulated to us, reflects our shared priorities and upholds the fiscal discipline necessary to navigate an uncertain economic climate,” said Senator Paul R. Feeney (D-Foxborough), Assistant Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. “Under the leadership of Senate President Karen Spilka and Chairman Michael Rodrigues, this budget invests in record-high municipal aid, historic education funding, and keeps our longstanding commitment to expand opportunity without raising new taxes or tapping into our Rainy Day fund. Each and every dollar spent in this balanced, responsible budget was carefully considered to meet the needs of our residents today and keep the Commonwealth competitive to embrace the challenges of tomorrow."

Supporting Local Capital Improvement, Organizations, and Priorities

As the Assistant Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, Senator Feeney successfully secured funding for local priorities throughout the Bristol & Norfolk State Senate District during Senate Debate of the spending bill.

“Despite significant fiscal constraints and uncertainty, the people, local businesses, and communities of the Bristol and Norfolk District always come first for me when crafting our annual state budget. This year is no exception — from resources for local first responders, including funding for new firefighter turnout gear and active shooter response equipment, to investments that help address substance misuse, support local arts and culture, and strengthen community health, this budget leads with our values and prioritizes the needs of our Senate District. In my role as Assistant Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, I have the privilege of elevating the unique needs of our communities and delivering on your behalf. Thank you to everyone who has made their voice heard, contributed to the budget process, called, emailed, and advocated to help make this work possible,” said Paul R. Feeney (D-Foxborough).

Funding secured by Senator Feeney in the FY27 Budget:

• $20,000 for the purchase of new turnout gear for Fire Fighters in the town of North Attleborough.

• $50,000 to the Hockomock Area YMCA in North Attleborough for their Integration Initiative to provide unique, innovative and impactful opportunities for children, teens and young adults with special needs and their families.

• $20,000 for the Joe Andruzzi Foundation Inc. in the city of North Attleborough to provide assistance to individuals of all ages and their families experiencing emotional and financial hardships due to a cancer diagnosis.

• $50,000 for Manet Community Health for the Nurse Care Management Program, including at the Manet location in Attleboro. This program provides wraparound services to individuals with chronic illness.

• $10,000 to support the Attleboro Vincentian Immersion Reentry Project, administered by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul District Council of Attleboro, to serve incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals throughout Bristol County.

• $15,000 to the Canton Alliance Against Substance Abuse.

• $15,000 to the Sharon Substance Prevention and Resource Coalition.

• $15,000 to the Norton Opioid Prevention and Education Collaborative N.O.P.E.

• $15,000 to Keep Massachusetts Beautiful, Inc. for expanded programming, marketing, and supplies related to litter prevention and beautification.

• $40,000 to the city of Attleboro for the renovation of the Educational Amphitheater at the Capron Park Zoo.

• $25,000 for Sturdy Health in the city of Attleboro to provide additional staff for major and regional events in the surrounding area.

• $40,000 to the Boyden Library in the town of Foxborough for the purchase of new furniture, equipment for maker space, children's room, and facilities and IT upgrades.

• $100,000 to Attleboro Enterprises Inc. (AEI) to support their expansion into Plainville, to provide services to adults with a broad range of neurodiverse and intellectual/developmental disabilities and the creation of a wheelchair accessible garden in their facility in North Attleborough. The mission of AEI is to support adults with cognitive and physical challenges by promoting opportunities for them to become contributing members of society and to achieve their life goals. Senator Feeney secured this funding in partnership with Senator Becca Rausch (D-Needham).

• $15,000 to the city of Attleboro Police Department for the purchase of active shooter protective gear and response equipment.

• $50,000 to Mansfield public schools for expenses related to the creation of a multimedia lab space in Mansfield High School to offer production courses for students.

• $10,000 to the Marilyn Rodman Performing Arts Center, Inc., in the town of Foxborough, for facility upgrades and programming.

• $10,000 to Confikids Inc. in Foxborough to provide children with access to recreational sports, arts, and activities.

• $250,000 to Community Servings, Inc. to create a fully synchronized statewide logistics hub at their existing location in Mansfield, with precise route optimization supporting more efficient and equitable medically appropriate meal distribution across Massachusetts. Community Servings, Inc., which opened their distribution center in Mansfield in 2024, is Massachusetts' only statewide provider of medically tailored nutrition services, with 36 years of experience delivering meals to chronically and critically ill residents across the Commonwealth.

Strengthening our Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system

Senator Feeney was the lead advocate behind an initiative to strengthen the Commonwealth’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) by providing $100,000 to the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS), in collaboration with Department of Public Health (DPH), to study the feasibility and fiscal impacts of transferring the administration and oversight of the state EMS system from DPH to a new agency within EOPSS.

In many communities, emergency medical response is already delivered by local fire departments, yet statewide EMS oversight remains housed within DPH—an agency primarily focused on healthcare policy, not emergency response operations. Massachusetts fire chiefs, paramedics, EMTs, and municipal leaders have increasingly raised concerns that the current EMS structure has slowed modernization and placed frontline responders at higher risk. Even in communities that are served by private ambulance services, first responders and local officials have raised concerns about an outdated system of EMS care.

Keeping the need to modernize in mind, the Senate took a significant step in the FY27 budget to update and strengthen EMS. The language in line item 8000-0600—backed by funding—directs the Healey Administration to take a big-picture look at how EMS is run and start creating a playbook to evaluate whether the services should be overseen by a new agency within EOPSS. This new agency could handle oversight, management, and day‑to‑day operations.

The goal is simple: create a more modern, efficient, and sustainable EMS system that works better for patients, first responders, and communities across the Commonwealth.

Statement of support from Foxborough Fire Department Chief Michael Kelleher:

“Allocating resources to conduct a thorough, forward-looking analysis of our Commonwealth’s EMS system is a smart and necessary step toward ensuring long-term sustainability, better patient outcomes, and stronger public safety integration. The requirement to meaningfully engage stakeholders—including the Fire Chiefs Association of Massachusetts, Professional Fire Fighters, and other key partners—along with public hearings across the state, shows a commitment to practical, real-world solutions rather than top-down mandates. This inclusive approach will help build a stronger, more unified emergency services system that is efficient, effective, and sustainable for the future. We stand ready to participate fully in this important work,” said Chief Kelleher.  

Wrong Way Driving Prevention

During debate of the budget Senator Feeney rose to speak in support of an amendment adopted by the Senate that would direct MassDOT to upgrade our roads and highways to help prevent wrong way driving accidents. The Commonwealth recently lost State Trooper Kevin Trainor, who was struck and killed while heroically responding to a wrong-way driver on May 6, 2026. The Senate adjourned in memory of Trooper Trainor during debate and unanimously passed Amendment #872 on a 40-0 vote. This amendment was filed by Minority Leader Bruce Tarr and Senator Joan Lovely, who represent the communities where Trooper Trainor grew up, resided, and served. Sadly, the Bristol and Norfolk Senate region has also witnessed wrong way driving tragedies. In 2023, a drunk driver traveling the wrong way on the Veterans Memorial Bridge in Somerset on Christmas night took the lives of 15-year-old Jacoby Arruda, a student at Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School, and his grandparents, Floriano and Donna Arruda.

“This is not a magic wand,” Feeney said of the amendment. “But we can embrace technology and smart policy and listen to our partners in law enforcement and figure out a better way and be deliberate about making this less likely.”

Additional Statewide Budget Highlights

Education

The agreement completes the Legislature’s commitment to fully fund and implement the Student Opportunity Act with $7.66 billion in Chapter 70 aid to public school districts, an increase of $297 million over Fiscal Year 2026 and the highest level ever, along with a record $160-per-pupil minimum in local school aid.

The budget also revives the Foundation Budget Review Commission (FBRC) to examine the K-12 funding formula and assess how the state can address rising costs in special education, student transportation, personnel, and educator health care statewide.

The agreement funds the Special Education Circuit Breaker at $654.6 million to help students who need support, which, combined with $152 million from the recent Fair Share supplemental budget, brings the total investment to $806.6 million, reimbursing school districts for 75 percent of the costs of educating students with disabilities and complex needs.

Other education investments include $475 million for the Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) grant program to support early education and care providers’ day-to-day operational and workforce costs, $137 million for the MassEducate and MassReconnect free community college programs, $20 million for rural school districts, and $180 million for universal free school meals, which serve nearly 150 million free meals to Massachusetts kids every year.

The budget also includes $11.7 million to support students receiving special education services through the DESE/DDS Residential Prevention Program, and $2 million for a new grant program helping schools address young people’s social media use.

Transportation

The agreement provides $465 million in direct investment for the MBTA, which, combined with $595 million from the recent Fair Share supplemental budget, brings the total new investment in the system to over $1 billion for Fiscal Year 2027. It also includes $217 million for Regional Transit Authorities (RTAs), including $40 million to sustain fare-free transit service statewide. The state’s fare-free Regional Transit program has resulted in ridership exceeding pre-pandemic levels.

Municipalities and Housing

The agreement provides record support to cities and towns across the state, including $1.363 billion for Unrestricted General Government Aid (UGGA), a $40 million increase over Fiscal Year 2026 and the highest level ever. For new dollars, the legislation implements a new funding formula to equitably distribute the increase throughout all of the state’s 351 communities.

In another step toward addressing the housing crisis and building homes faster statewide, the budget builds on last session’s Affordable Homes Act by streamlining local permitting, supporting development on nonconforming properties, providing reasonable timelines for projects under existing zoning, and modernizing the variance standard, all aimed at boosting housing production and driving down costs.

Health Care

The agreement extends the ConnectorCare expansion pilot program through 2027. Since 2024, the pilot has helped more than 115,000 residents access more affordable insurance through lower premiums, no deductibles, and reduced co-pays.

The budget also codifies existing federal protections requiring comprehensive insurance coverage of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) without cost sharing or utilization management barriers and directs a new study to modernize and improve the long-term sustainability of emergency medical services in the Commonwealth.

Retiree COLA Reform

This budget includes comprehensive, fiscally prudent reforms to cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for retired public employees, based on recommendations from the Special COLA Commission. It establishes a COLA Reserve Fund financed in part by pension investment returns above target, provides enhanced COLA benefits for certain current retirees based on years in retirement, and allows the base amount used to calculate future COLAs to increase in $1,000 increments as funding allows.

Food and Economic Security

The agreement protects access to benefits through Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC) and Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled and Children (EAEDC), and includes a $500 clothing allowance per child for families receiving TAFDC benefits.

It repeals the Learnfare law, which cut off TAFDC benefits when children had too many unexcused school absences and ended up hurting families who lost needed assistance.

It also provides $56.1 million for Emergency Food Assistance, an increase of $6.1 million over Fiscal Year 2026, and $21.5 million for the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP), which supports local farmers and access to healthy food.

Protecting Vulnerable Residents

The agreement includes provisions protecting children aged 16 and 17 from sexual interactions with mandated reporters and others responsible for their care and oversight, including teachers, coaches, police officers, and social workers.

In response to the tragic fire at Gabriel House in Fall River, the agreement provides $500,000 to implement recommendations from the Assisted Living Residences (ALR) Commission to improve safety standards, emergency preparedness, and oversight at assisted living facilities statewide.

The budget also establishes a commission to study transitional youth services for individuals with disabilities whose access to special education services will end due to high school graduation or turning 22, as the Legislature works to preserve community-based care options amid federal challenges to the Olmstead decision.

Sports Wagering Revenue

The agreement adjusts the distribution of sports wagering revenue, directing 5.5 percent to the Sports and Entertainment Fund and 2 percent to the Economic Development Trust Fund, dedicating new resources to support the Commonwealth’s economic growth.

The full text of the Fiscal Year 2027 budget is available online.

Having been passed by the Legislature, the bill has been sent to Governor Healey for her signature.

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