Following her State of the Commonwealth address, Governor Maura Healey released her $63 Billion FY27 budget last week. Healey’s budget increases spending by 3.8% over her FY26 budget, with proposed spending outpacing the state’s 2.9% projected revenue growth.

Some provisions of the budget worth mentioning:

• Changes the state’s subscription laws to demanding an easier cancellation process.
• Seeks to simplify the permitting process for youth jobs.
• Provides funding for a PFML grant program to help businesses with fewer than 50 workers cover the cost of temporary vacancies due to worker PFML use.

In short, the increased spending that exceeds projected revenue collections is concerning. Over the last decade state budgets increased by almost 56% (The FY17 budget proposal from Governor Baker was $40.5 billion). The House will reveal their own version of a budget in the Spring and will likely incorporate portions of Healey’s proposal. NFIB will keep you updated as the state budget process plays out over the next several months.