HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 5362 FILED ON: 9/11/2024
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 5049
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
STATE HOUSE · BOSTON, MA 02133
(617) 725-4000
MAURA T. HEALEY KIMBERLEY DRISCOLL
GOVERNOR LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
September 11, 2024
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives,
I am filing for your consideration a bill entitled An Act Making Appropriations for Fiscal
Year 2024 (FY24) to Provide for Supplementing Certain Existing Appropriations and for Certain
Other Activities and Projects.
The proposal filed today would allocate $714.1 million gross / $149.1 million net toward
FY24 deficiencies and critical needs and enable the Commonwealth to close the books on the
fiscal year that ended on July 1.
Our administration is also proposing here ways to rebuild our reserves through the
replenishment of the Transitional Escrow Fund and continued deposits in the Stabilization
Account that will ensure Massachusetts remains on solid financial footing and has the resources
on hand to manage through the current fiscal year and beyond.
In total, this legislation proposes to appropriate $679 million toward deficiencies incurred
over the course of the prior fiscal, the largest of which can be found in our MassHealth program
where caseload exceeded initial expectations. This budget recommends $565.4 million gross for
MassHealth at a net new cost of zero dollars to the state thanks to the availability of federal
reimbursement to cover payments for services already provided over the course of Fiscal Year
2024.
This budget would also allocate:
• $46 million for a reserve to cover costs accrued by sheriffs
• $14 million to support treatment for substance and alcohol use disorder
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 • $8.7 million for Universal School Meals
• $7.3 million for Residential Assistance to Families in Transition (RAFT)
• $5.1 million for support to public health hospitals
• $1.3 million for Department of Unemployment Assistance caseload
• $690,000 for the Chief Medical Examiner
• $622,000 for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency for state match
to flood victims
• $200,000 for National Guard death gratuity benefits and support for military
suicide prevention programming
Our administration is also recommending $33.9 million in new spending to advance key
priorities and cover critical needs for our state, including the seeding of the new Disaster Relief
and Resiliency Fund and additional funding for mosquito spraying to address the rise in detected
Eastern Equine Encephalitis. This bill would put $11 million toward the Disaster Relief and
Resiliency Fund to immediately make resources available in the event they should be needed to
support communities before the end of the fiscal year. This would complement the $14 million in
consolidated net surplus earmarked for the fund, but unavailable until the end of fiscal year 2025.
We are also recommending:
• $11 million to municipalities to increase FY25 tax abatement reimbursements
• $10 million for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center to keep funding level in
FY25 at $30 million and on track for a $300 million investment over the next 10 years to keep
pace with our climate and job creation goals
• $10 million for the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center
• $2.5 million for iLottery start-up and implementation costs over two years
• $400,000 for aerial and mobile mosquito spraying to address Eastern Equine
Encephalitis
As we know, FY24 presented some budgetary challenges that required a mid-year
revision to our revenue estimates and emergency budget reductions to ensure that we would be
able to balance our budget at the end of the year without undoing the hard work that has gone
into building up our Stabilization Fund.
In total, FY24 revenue came in at $40.8 billion, $967 million above revised benchmarks.
This was primarily due to the performance of surtax collections, which at $2.199 billion
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exceeded the $1 billion in budgeted surtax revenue by $1.2 billion. After adjusting for surtax,
FY24 revenues were $233 million below the FY24 revised benchmark, and $322 million below
FY23 collections.
In order to balance the FY24 budget and prepare for the continuation of economic
headwinds in Fiscal Year 2025, our administration is proposing several solutions in this
legislation that will allow us to continue to build our reserves and invest in our shared priorities.
First, we are proposing to use $225 million in surplus surtax collections to support
spending currently funded through the General Fund and Commonwealth Transportation Fund.
The use of this money would align with the approach already taken by our administration and the
Legislature in the FY25 budget and go toward programs such Commonwealth Cares for Children
(C3) grants through the replenishment of the EEC Affordability Fund, universal school meals,
Early Education and Care provider rates and MassDOT operations. It would also leave a
substantial surplus of unappropriated funds that we look forward in the coming session to
working with the Legislature to allocate in the most efficient and impactful way.
The Transitional Escrow Fund has also proven to be a valuable tool for the state to
manage spending throughout the fiscal year, which is why we are proposing to transfer $265
million in excess capital gains collections to the fund to begin to rebuild that balance. This would
still allow for a separate deposit of $265 million to the Stabilization Fund to continue to grow
both these reserve accounts. Additionally, I’ve already made clear my intention to use the
forthcoming tobacco settlement funds secured by the Attorney General to further build back the
balance of the Transitional Escrow Fund. We view these steps to be critical to managing
available resources for FY25 and beyond.
An additional $366.4 million in prior unspent authorizations from Fiscal Year 2024
would be carried over into Fiscal Year 2025 through this legislation. These represent critical
funds that, in some cases, must be managed across fiscal years and give us flexibility moving
into FY25 to maintain services and programs authorized as part of the FY25 General
Appropriations Act. These include $117.6 million for the MBTA Workforce and Safety Reserve,
$22.8 million for projected expenses at the Department of Correction, and $12 million for a
teacher diversity initiative. Of this total, $69 million in unspent FY24 surtax appropriations is
being made available going into the new fiscal year.
We are also filing several not-yet-ratified collective bargaining agreements and the
necessary language to establish the FY25 collective bargaining reserve, which our administration
and the Legislature all accounted for in the recently signed FY25 GAA. This will ensure that our
union workers have timely access to the raises negotiated in good faith with our administration.
Furthermore, I am filing a number of outside sections that provide for some technical
corrections and deadline extensions necessary for the effective implementation of policy enacted
in recent legislation. These include sections amending the HERO Act to allow veterans to
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receive specialty license plates without paying an additional fee, as intended, and granting
eligibility to tribes in Massachusetts for the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program.
I want to reiterate my support for legislation previously submitted by our administration
and encourage senators and representatives to continue to work on reaching a compromise on the
MassLeads Act, our bill authorizing funds to be used for federal matching commitments to
maximize our ability to compete for and win federal grants, and the mid-year supplemental
budget first filed in March. These bills are critical to our economic competitiveness and future
growth and we are confident that together we can get these done before the end of the legislative
session in December.
In that spirit, I am also submitting for your consideration several essential and timely
provisions related to clean energy siting, permitting and procurement that were the subject of
debate in the Legislature as part of a climate bill at the close of formal sessions in July. While a
final bill has not yet reached my desk, these issues remain before a conference committee and I
respectfully ask that you consider advancing these items in the coming weeks so that we can
capitalize on the potential to grow our clean energy sector and advance our climate goals.
Sufficient revenues are available to finance the appropriations and other measures
proposed in this bill. I urge you to enact this legislation promptly to facilitate the closing of the
books for Fiscal Year 2024 and address the other urgent and time sensitive matters described
above.
Respectfully submitted,
Maura T. Healey,
Governor
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 HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 5049
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_______________
In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
(2023-2024)
_______________
An Act making appropriations for the fiscal year 2024 to provide for supplementing certain
existing appropriations and for certain other activities and projects.
Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purposes, which are
to make supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2024 and to make certain changes in law,
each of which is immediately necessary to carry out those appropriations or to accomplish other
important public purposes, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for
the immediate preservation of the public convenience.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows:
1 SECTION 1. To provide for supplementing certain items in the general appropriation act
2 and other appropriation acts for fiscal year 2024, the sums set forth in section 2 are hereby
3 appropriated from the General Fund unless specifically designated otherwise in this act or in
4 those appropriation acts, for the several purposes and subject to the conditions specified in this
5 act or in those appropriation acts, and subject to the laws regulating the disbursement of public
6 funds for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024. These sums shall be in addition to any amounts
7 previously appropriated and made available for the purposes of those items. These sums shall be
8 made available through the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025.
9 SECTION 2.
10 EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE
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11 Department of Revenue
12 1233-2000 Tax Abatements for Veterans, Widows, Blind Persons and the
13 Elderly………………………………………………………………$11,077,209
14 Reserves
15 1599-0026 Municipal Regionalization and Efficiencies Incentive Reserve…... $12,673,961
16 EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS
17 Office of the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs
18 1595-6232 Transfer to MassCEC……………………………………………… $10,000,000
19 EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
20 Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services
21 4000-0300 EOHHS and Medicaid Administration……………………..……… $7,563,044
22 4000-0700 MassHealth Fee for Service Payments…………………………….. $565,417,349
23 Department of Public Health
24 4590-0915 Public Health Hospitals……………………………………………. $5,055,887
25 EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF LABOR AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
26 Office of the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development
27 7003-0101 Labor and Workforce Development Shared Services………………$1,310,000
28 EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF HOUSING AND LIVABLE COMMUNITIES
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29 Office of the Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities
30 7004-9316 Residential Assistance for Families in Transition…………………. $7,325,156
31 EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF EDUCATION
32 Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
33 7053-1925 School Breakfast Program…………………………………………. $8,700,000
34 EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY
35 Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
36 8000-0105 Office of the Chief Medical Examiner…………………………….. $689,902
37 Military Division
38 8700-0001 Military Division……………………………………………………$200,000
39 Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency
40 8800-0001 Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency…………………. $622,624
41 SECTION 2A. To provide for certain unanticipated obligations of the commonwealth, to
42 provide for an alteration of purpose for current appropriations, and to meet certain requirements
43 of law, the sums set forth in this section are hereby appropriated from the General Fund unless
44 specifically designated otherwise in this section, for the several purposes and subject to the
45 conditions specified in this section, and subject to the laws regulating the disbursement of public
46 funds for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024. Except as otherwise stated, these sums shall be
47 made available through the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025.
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48 EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE
49 Reserves
50 1599-1214 For a reserve for expansion, upgrades or enhancements to staffing, operations or
51 infrastructure for new and existing facilities that treat men with an alcohol or substance use
52 disorder under sections 1 and 35 of chapter 123 of the General Laws; provided, that the secretary
53 of administration and finance may transfer funds from this item to state agencies as defined in
54 section 1 of chapter 29 of the General Laws………………………….…………….$14,000,000
55 1599-8910 For a reserve to support costs associated with the 14 county sheriffs’ offices;
56 provided, that the secretary of administration and finance may transfer funds from this item to
57 state agencies as defined in section 1 of chapter 29 of the General Laws…………. $46,000,000
58 1599-0640 For start-up costs associated with implementation of online lottery; provided, that
59 the secretary of administration and finance may transfer funds from this item to state agencies as
60 defined in section 1 of chapter 29 of the General Laws; and provided further, that funds in this
61 item shall be made available until June 30, 2026………………………………….. $2,500,000
62 1599-6263 For a reserve to support efforts that eradicate and prevent mosquito-borne
63 diseases, including but not limited to eastern equine encephalitis; provided, that the secretary of
64 administration and finance may transfer funds from this item to state agencies as defined in
65 section 1 of chapter 29 of the General Laws………………………………………..$400,000
66 EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
67 Office of the Secretary of Economic Development
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68 7002-0024 For a transfer to the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center established by section 3
69 of chapter 23I of the General Laws…………………………………………………$10,000,000
70 SECTION 2B. To provide for supplementing certain intragovernmental chargeback
71 authorizations in the general appropriation act and other appropriation acts for fiscal year 2024,
72 to provide for certain unanticipated intragovernmental chargeback authorizations, to provide for
73 an alteration of purpose for current intragovernmental chargeback authorizations and to meet
74 certain requirements of law, the sum set forth in this section is hereby authorized from the
75 Intragovernmental Service Fund for the several purposes specified in this section or in the
76 appropriation acts and subject to the provisions of law regulating the disbursement of public
77 funds for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024. This sum shall be in addition to any amounts
78 previously authorized and made available for the purposes of this item.
79 EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF VETRANS’ SERVICES
80 Office of the Secretary of Veterans’ Services
81 1410-0110 Central Services Chargeback………………………………………. $1,698,000
82 EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF EDUCATION
83 Office of the Secretary of Education
84 7009-1701 Chargeback for Education Information Technology Costs…………$486,352
85 SECTION 2C.I. For the purpose of making available in fiscal year 2025 balances of
86 appropriations which otherwise would revert on June 30, 2024, the unexpended balances of the
87 appropriations listed below, not to exceed the amount specified below for each item, are