The Massachusetts Senate accepted a conference committee report and passed legislation implementing a $259,000,000 midyear supplemental spending plan that funds indigent defense reforms, health and social service needs, and an outside section to codify protections for English learners and students with disabilities.

Senator John Roderick, chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, described the package as a plan that "pays the bills and funds critical deficiencies across government," listing major allocations on the Senate floor. The conference report includes $40,000,000 to hire 320 new public defenders as staff attorneys for the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS), a two-year series of $10-per-hour increases for private bar advocates (which the chair said yields a roughly $27,000,000 annual investment and a 30% increase for district court cases), and a top-to-bottom independent review of the indigent defense system.

The supplemental also contains program funding and one-time investments that Senators identified on the floor: $60,000,000 for home care services, $42,000,000 for the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) program, $10,000,000 for emergency medical services (including $5,000,000 targeted to communities affected by the closure of the Sherrill Valley Medical Center), $7,500,000 for the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP), $5,800,000 for veterans benefits, $4,200,000 for the state police crime lab, $3,000,000 for the state supplement to Supplemental Security Income, $1,000,000 for the Fair Housing Fund and $600,000 for the National Guard. The conference report also contains $15,000,000 for an upgrade to EBT cards to chip-card technology and a provision criminalizing the use of skimming devices to steal benefits, both items confirmed on the floor.

Senator Roderick said the bill "represents a thoughtful solution" to ongoing disruptions in the public defense system and described the combination of hiring, rate increases and guardrails as a way to stabilize services while protecting defendants’ constitutional rights. He told colleagues the administration would have authority in the bill to use available funds, including the transitional escrow fund; he said there is approximately $160,000,000 remaining in that account that could be deployed alongside general revenue to cover the $259,000,000 appropriation.

Not all conferees agreed with the vehicle used to move funds. Some senators expressed concern that four provisions were added in conference that had not been separately considered by either the House or Senate; Senator Roderick acknowledged those additions and said the urgent nature of the public defense disruption led conferees to use the moving vehicle. Several senators said funding for hospitals and community health centers was not included and will need to be revisited in a final closeout supplemental this fall.

The conference report also included an outside section based on Senate Bill 436 to "affirm and maintain equal access to public education for all children," which Sen. Pavel M. Peano of Lawrence described as codifying federal protections for English learners, immigrant students and students with disabilities. Peano said the provisions require DESE to adopt regulations on interpreter qualifications and require IEP teams to include experts who can distinguish limited English proficiency from disabilities so students receive appropriate services.

Senators voted to accept the conference report and to pass the supplemental package; the Senate announced the measure would be sent to the governor after enactment. The debate and floor remarks distinguished discussion (options and concerns about who provides indigent defense and how to fund hospitals) from direction (the specific appropriations included) and formal action (adoption of the conference report and final passage).