Passing the hot potato

We’re 20 days out from the start of a new fiscal year, and “uncertainty” has become to 2025 what “unprecedented” was to 2020.

The question is, what will that mean for the state budget?

Both branches have passed their own versions of the fiscal 2026 spending plan, now shuttered in private negotiations led by House and Senate Ways and Means Chairs Aaron Michlewitz and Michael Rodrigues. The earliest budget that pairing has produced was in 2022, when it was signed only two weeks late on July 16.

But they’ve been budgeting on quicksand, as “uncertainty” heightens around President Donald Trump, a Republican-led Congress, and the “Big Beautiful Bill” that could cost the Bay State $1 billion annually in Medicaid payments. Though the news shifts depending on the week, day, or hour.

Lawmakers are essentially sitting on a political hot potato.

They could wait it out. Michlewitz and Rodrigues have warned of uncertainty at every turn, and that cuts from Washington could undo much of their work from the past six months. If they want more control over how the budget ends up, they could wait to see what the U.S. Senate does with that “big, beautiful” bill and adjust accordingly. To do so, they’d have to wrangle their 198 colleagues to get in agreement behind them.

However, if they’re expecting cuts, they may not want to be the ones holding the potato when it burns.

Michlewitz and Rodrigues might choose to speed up negotiations this year to complete a budget before the deadline and pass off the tough choices to Healey before news from Washington breaks.

Once Healey signs the budget, Rodrigues said a few weeks ago, the Legislature’s role is “done.”

If D.C. developments later reduce state revenue, the governor will have the power — and blame.

TRUMP CUT: The Trump administration canceled an $87 million grant that was to help make possible construction of a low-carbon cement plant. The builder, Sublime Systems, is exploring options. A company official said, “We don’t think the conversation is over.” — Daily Hampshire Gazette

SHOT DOWN: A state law that seeks to prevent anyone but police from carrying arms on town property got a cool reception in Peru. Residents at Town Meeting opted out of the new law. Of the 814 residents in Peru, 286 are licensed to own firearms. — Berkshire Eagle

TRANSPARENCY: Got $2K? That’s how much State Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s office wants to charge the Boston Herald for documents related to her audit of the state-run shelter system—a request her office’s top lawyer, Michael Leung-Tat, characterized as a “fishing expedition.” The dust-up comes just weeks after DiZoglio’s office demanded the Herald retract a report about documents she signed, which allegedly acknowledged a potential conflict of interest in her push to audit the Legislature. — Boston Herald

WRENTHAM WIDOW TAX BREAK: Town meeting voters in Wrentham gave the widow of a police deputy chief who died at age 44 a tax break that will last as long as she remains unmarried. Deputy Chief George Labonte left his wife and four children when he died of cancer. The gesture will cost the average household in town around $1 per year. — Sun Chronicle

BIZ CONFIDENCE UP: The monthly AIM Business Confidence Index rebounded some in May after declining over the prior three months. The index measures confidence among business leaders in the state’s economy. The index hit a two-year high in November 2024. — Boston Business Journal

HOT MIC: One of two Lynnfield employees who engaged in a racially inappropriate conversation that was caught on a hot microphone before Friday’s Lynnfield High School commencement exercises has quit. Another remains under investigation. — Daily Item

UNION MEMBERS PROTEST L.A. ICE ACTIVITY: Hundreds of union members rallied Monday afternoon at Boston City Hall to protest immigration enforcement nationwide and the arrest of a union leader in California. The local protest was coordinated by a local of the Service Employees International Union. The head of the union’s California organization was arrested Friday after allegedly interfering with an immigration enforcement operation. — Boston Globe

JUDGEMENT: A state district court judge accused of helping a defendant who was in the country illegally slip out of the back of a courthouse to avoid an immigration agent in 2018 appeared before the state Commission on Judicial Conduct yesterday. No set schedule has been set for the issuing of a decision on whether Shelley Joseph may remain a judge. — MassLive

CROOKS WITH PERKS: Eight Boston police officers who were convicted in federal courts of overtime fraud continue to receive their state pensions in Massachusetts. Four of them are taking home more than $90,000 annually. A state official claimed the process to revoke a pension can be lengthy. — Boston Herald

ICYMI…

13-year-old driver leads Stoughton police on chase in stolen car (Patriot Ledger)

Hanscom protest defendants reach deals to avoid further trials (Concord Bridge)

How did he get away with it for so long? That’s the question many are asking following the arrest of the school system’s food services director on theft charges (Plymouth Independent)

South Coast towns will continue PFAS remediations despite changing federal regulations (New Bedford Light)

Watertown City Council will consider recommendation to raise council salaries nearly 70% (Watertown News)

Eric Convey and Dylan Rossiter contributed to this edition.