The Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 budget year could be the most eventful in decades, with major changes in federal policy looming and ballot questions that could reshape state tax policy likely to appear on the November ballot. This year’s budget will be written in a climate of uncertainty, and against a backdrop of ongoing fiscal challenges.
This Budget Monitor describes the funding decisions in each major section of the state budget for Fiscal Year 2018. It includes the vetoes and overrides as well as supplementary funding since the Legislature’s budget. The document compares these current FY 2018 funding levels with final FY 2017 levels and, in some cases, historic funding.
At this point, the Fiscal Year 2018 (FY 2018) state budget looks a lot like the FY 2017 budget. After adjusting for inflation, the proposed spending amount falls below FY 2017 levels and we see essentially status-quo funding levels in each major category. One major area of the budget remains in limbo: MassHealth.
The Legislature enacted a Fiscal Year 2018 (FY 2018) budget that assumes less revenue will be available than initially projected and accordingly provides less in funding than the budgets approved by both the House and Senate. This overview provide a brief summary of significant elements of the budget.
With a Conference Committee of three Representatives and three Senators meeting on Monday to meld the proposals of the two branches into a final budget to present to the Governor, we are entering the final stages of the annual budget debate. The House and Senate proposals have a lot in common, but also significant differences that will need to be worked out. MassBudget’s new Budget Monitor describes the major amendments adopted during the Senate budget debate and examines the differences between the House and Senate proposals.
Like the proposals from the Governor and the House, the Senate Ways and Means Committee budget for Fiscal Year 2018 would generally maintain existing service levels while making small targeted new investments in several areas, particularly in education. The Budget Monitor examines proposals for major state programs in detail.
The House largely followed the recommendations of its Ways and Means Committee in crafting its budget proposal, adopting amendments to the Fiscal Year 2018 budget that increased funding by just under two tenths of one percent from the levels its budget committee proposed last month. This Budget Monitor describes the changes adopted by the House in each major section of the budget.
This Budget Monitor examines the House Ways and Means Committee’s state budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2017. The proposal would generally maintain existing service levels while making small targeted new investments in several areas including housing, education, and substance abuse prevention and treatment.These relatively small investments to important programs will have significant benefits, but like the Governor's proposal and the budgets of recent years, it does not propose significant new funding to make progress on some of the big challenges our Commonwealth faces.
The Governor’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 budget includes proposals that strengthen the capacity of the MassHealth program to meet the healthcare needs of people in Massachusetts and address fiscal challenges caused by a decline in employer-provided health insurance coverage for private sector employees. As with past budget proposals, the Governor’s FY 2018 budget does not propose significant new funding to make progress on some of the big challenges our Commonwealth faces. But as this detailed examination of the Governor’s budget proposals for major state programs shows, the health care strategies are the major reasons the Governor is able to propose a budget that significantly reduces reliance on temporary revenue and savings to achieve balance.
This preview examines both the challenges revenue gap facing the FY 2018 budget and two budget transparency reforms that could help avoid mid-year budget cuts and other unpleasant budget surprises in the future.