Senate accepts $259 million midyear supplemental; injects funds for public defense, home care and education protections

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…