Beacon Hill is gearing up for a spartan budget season and a focus on energy costs

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As the governor gets ready to step on a big stage and the fiscal year 2027 budget is about to pop, how cattywampus could the horizon be? 

"When the governor's budget comes out on the 28th, in like a little less than two weeks, you're going to see some really tough changes across the board everywhere," Dana Sullivan, an Executive Office of Administration and Finance designee on the Group Insurance Commission, commented at a GIC meeting Thursday.

The forecast comes as Beacon Hill came back to life ahead of Healey's yearly address next Thursday and her anticipated annual spending plan. Advocates and lawmakers have been wringing their hands about what might be in the budget in the context of state-level fallout from President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill.

Budget managers in the meantime came to an agreement on Wednesday, determining that they'll build those next annual budgets on the estimate that Massachusetts will collect $44.9 billion in tax revenue. That's 2.9% more than is expected to come in this year, and it's only a touch above the national measure of inflation.

As budget talk begins, Healey moved to blunt the immediate impact of a $460 million state revenue shortfall resulting from the federal law's inclusion of about 100 changes to federal tax code. Her proposal spreads their implementation out over two years, as about 30 of those trigger an impact to Massachusetts tax collections, according to the Department of Revenue. It's an approach that preserves tax relief components of the law while protecting the state budget from sudden and steep revenue impacts.

Gov. Healey is considering removing obesity medication coverage from the state employee health plan in her upcoming budget. Cutting treatment would jeopardize progress for thousands and harm workforce health. Urge the Governor to protect access to GLP-1s and treat obesity like any other chronic disease. Use our quick tool to send your message today.

There was a proclaimed positive that came from up North this week, as a major energy source surged into the state on Friday: Canadian hydropower. A just-constructed transmission line can now carry up to 1,090 megawatts of electricity into the major power contributor and comes at a time when demand is rising.

But even a Grand Staircase announcement at noon on a Friday can't shield an administration from the gaze of a boogeyman blatantly perched in the corner — in this case, the volatility of the energy sector as a whole. 

The House disclosed this week that reps will gather privately four times next week to talk about how to reduce energy costs. The huddles come months after House Democrats paused energy affordability legislation due to an uproar from environmental advocates worried over a potential retreat from decarbonization mandates. 

Things like a MassDEP delay of the Clean Heat Standard by two years and a delay in enforcement of minimum electric truck sales requirements show not everything is lining up as anticipated. There's a balancing act that hasn't been figured out yet, between energy affordability and the state's 2030 emission reduction mandates. 

House and Senate Republicans were out with their own plan too, new legislation (HD 5554) to provide financial relief to ratepayers struggling with high bills. There's also Healey's affordability bill (H 4144). And the federal energy environment is making it tough, with clean energy anchors like offshore wind being on volatile ground. Two offshore projects secured preliminary injunctions enabling work frozen by the federal government to resume, and Vineyard Wind 1 will also go to court in search of relief from a federal stop-work order.

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Healey took aim at federal decisions this week, telling the News Service that "it’s hard to believe anything that comes out of the Trump Administration" after the feds terminated, then reinstated, substance abuse and mental health grants. 

Officials also announced the state will offer its own childhood immunization recommendations in line with the vaccination schedule endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, in another departure from federal vaccine guidelines. To top it off, Healey unveiled reforms to eliminate insurance pre-approval requirements for "routine and essential" health care services, a major change being accomplished through regulations. 

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There hasn't been much unveiling going on when it comes to the audit saga, which saw another flare-up this week. Auditor Diana DiZoglio continues to take aim at Attorney General Andrea Campbell and the Legislature as she also pushes a new ballot measure that would subject most records of the governor, House and Senate to the public records law. 

While DiZoglio and transparency advocates are pushing to see what's happening behind the Legislature's doors, lawmakers are pushing to more regularly see what's happening inside ballot question committees.

Senators unanimously approved a bill to subject ballot committees to monthly campaign finance reports, and bring more light upon committees that don’t have to report on their finances between Jan. 20 and September.

The Senate also passed several bills aimed at providing property tax relief in municipalities, including to seniors and veterans. And after months of politics and spite, Thursday's session put numerical emphasis on Senate opposition to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's property tax shift proposal. Before senators passed their so-called tax shock bill (S 2899), an amendment mirroring Wu's plan won just five votes with 33 against.  

Those property tax proposals now go to the House. Will the chamber take them up? Will the House provide a property tax proposal of its own? Will it try to pass a more Wu-aligned version, as it has before? While reps have some time to make a decision, the unease among cities and towns across the state with regard to rising property taxes — and the confines of Proposition 2 ½ — does not appear to be going away. 

@ ISSUE SIT DOWN: 9:30 a.m., NBC 10. Reporter Matt Prichard interviews Imari Paris Jeffries of Embrace Boston.

ON THE RECORD: 11 a.m., WCVB. Liz Breadon, the new Boston City Council president, is the guest.

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