House and Senate at odds with World Cup and millionaires tax spending

20 years ago, MA mandated residents to buy health insurance or pay a tax penalty. Unaffordable healthcare inflation followed along with new mandates, rising premiums, fewer choices & increased provider payments without real transparency or efficiency standards. Taxpayer costs soared; working family income growth suffered. Small businesses & their workforces have consistently faced annual double digit premium increases. Healthcare cost reforms are long overdue.

Beacon Hill’s budget process is a merry-go-round that rarely stops in the post-pandemic era.

One mini-budget gets done, and lawmakers are on to the next one, if they’re not trying to handle several at the same time, in addition to the big $60 billion-plus spending bill for fiscal 2027, which starts in July. 

As lawmakers took public testimony on the fiscal 2027 budget – the House is next up with its version after Gov. Maura Healey submitted hers in January – the Senate was preparing to kick out a $1.8 billion spending bill. The bill is significantly different from the House version, meaning the two branches will have to hash out a final version to send to the governor’s desk.

Senators are planning to debate and vote on their bill next Thursday, with $1.3 billion in surplus millionaires tax revenue marked for education and transportation accounts, and $491 million in general fund dollars going towards filling gaps found at the Group Insurance Commission and the Department of Corrections.

But the Senate bill offers a different split in millionaires tax money going to transportation and education accounts – 60/40 instead of the House’s 67/32, as State House News Service reported – and takes a different tack on federal tax code changes.

World Cup funding is one of the sticking points. The House included $10 million, while the Senate included zero. (Both sides agreed to include $10 million in the previous spending plan signed by Healey. If the Senate agrees with the House in this mini-budget, it would bring the total to $20 million.)

The move underscored the different approaches the two branches are taking on the mega-event set for this summer at Gillette Stadium, and it offered another reminder of the money woes facing local organizers who had hoped for more.

It’s a touchy topic. During the hearing on the fiscal 2027 budget earlier this week, one teacher made an impassioned case for more school aid. Ashley Mallard, who works in the Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District, testified that after seeing the news about the first $10 million going to World Cup prep, she told her students that the Legislature doesn’t care about them. The auditorium – full of advocacy groups like the Mass. Teachers Association – erupted in applause.

Senate officials said they believe the state has put enough taxpayer money towards the World Cup, noting that FIFA, the organizing body, stands ready to make a hefty profit. 

“We'll see what they do, whether it's on the [Senate] floor, and when we get to conference [committee], we'll certainly have a conversation about it,” said Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, the House counterpart to Senate Ways and Means chairman Michael Rodrigues.

On his way out of an unrelated event in Boston, Michlewitz said the House included another $10 million to fulfill a commitment of $20 million to organizers from the Baker administration and the Healey administration.

“We only did $10 million last year because we really weren't certain where our fiscal situation was going to be throughout the fiscal year,” he said. “We feel a little more comfortable to fulfill that commitment.”

Michlewitz said the House is taking the long view, as other big events could be on the horizon, like possibly landing the Democratic National Convention in 2028. “The world is watching us and how we perform here,” he said. “I think there is a need to show that we can put on big events like this going forward.”

Michlewitz also acknowledged the fundraising woes facing World Cup organizers looking to the private sector for more money. Mike Loynd, chief executive of the organizing group Boston Soccer 26, has blamed multiple big-ticket events happening at the same time this summer, like the celebration of America’s 250th birthday. “I’m not throwing any stones, we just are both substantial fund-raisers in the market at the same time,” he said at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce event, according to the Boston Globe.

It’s easy to lose track of all the budgets and mini-budgets, but I’m lucky to have colleagues like Sam Drysdale over at State House News Service. Read Sam’s budget coverage at a gift link here. Send me your takes here: [email protected].

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