House supports $7.1B interim budget as Mass. awaits annual budget determination

Photo | Courtesy of Sam Drysdale, State House News Service Gov. Maura Healey (right), Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll (center), and Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler (left) testify before the Joint Committee on Higher Education on June 3.

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By Sam Drysdale I State House News Service

The House budget committee polled its members Monday morning on a $7.5 billion interim budget (H 4237) to pay the state's bills and fund accounts while Gov. Maura Healey takes her constitutionally allotted time to review the annual budget they're planning to deliver to her desk later in the day.

If both the House and Senate follow through with their plans to enact the fiscal year 2026 budget Monday, the state will still need a buffer to pay its bills while Healey reviews the budget for vetoes, spilling into the fiscal year the budget will finance. Legislative leaders hinted last week that they planned to take up the interim budget, sometimes called a one-twelfth, on June 30, the last day of the fiscal year.

"The issue is she needs the 10 days for vetoes. So no matter when we do it, we need a one-twelfth budget," House Speaker Ron Mariano said Thursday.

The House Committee on Ways and Means polled its members on the interim budget Monday morning from 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Just after 10:45 a.m., the Legislature's website showed 26 committee members agreed with the recommendation that the interim budget be advanced favorably. None were opposed, none chose to remain effectively neutral, and 10 did not weigh in.

The House session begins at 11 a.m., though the fiscal 2026 budget agreement is expected to be considered Monday afternoon. The budget was recorded as filed with the clerks at 3:32 p.m., and rules require the branches to wait at least 24 hours after a conference report is filed before acting on it.

The House Ways and Means Committee didn't trim down the $7.5 billion in spending Healey proposed — originally meant to cover the entire month of July. The interim budget will only be in effect for a maximum of 10 days and is superseded by the full-year budget once that takes effect.