Massachusetts

Nearly a month past July 1 deadline, Mass. House, Senate budget leaders announce budget agreement – The Boston Globe

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After weeks of negotiations and two stopgap spending bills, state House and Senate Democrats announced Friday afternoon that they finally reached an agreement on the state budget for the fiscal year that started July 1.

While they did not announce any details, budget leaders said they are confident they will be able to vote on the budget on Monday.

“Our respective teams are actively engaged in ironing out the details and working diligently to finalize the agreement,” Senator Michael J. Rodrigues and Representative Aaron Michlewitz, who serve as budget leaders in their respective chambers, said in a statement. “We are confident that the Conference Committee Report will be filed in the coming days, ensuring that both the House and Senate will take up the report on Monday in formal session.”

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When the Legislature does pass a budget deal, Governor Maura Healey will have 10 days to review it.

The Friday announcement comes just one day after the House and Senate passed a $6 billion interim spending bill, days before the first stopgap spending plan passed by the Legislature was due to run out.

The Legislature’s budget is the tardiest in more than two decades, excluding the chaotic first year of the COVID pandemic. Massachusetts is also one of just four states, along with Oregon, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, that have yet to enact a fiscal year 2024 budget, according to data released Thursday by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

State officials have now failed for 13 years straight to have an annual spending plan in place for the start of the fiscal year. It is also the only state that was late in completing its annual spending plan every single year since 2017, a previous Globe review found.

Matt Stout of the Globe staff contributed to this report.

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Samantha J. Gross can be reached at samantha.gross@globe.com. Follow her @samanthajgross.





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