House passes $61 billion conference report, funds schools, transit and housing

The Massachusetts House of Representatives voted to approve a $61 billion conference committee report on the fiscal 2026 budget, advancing a package of appropriations that increases fair-share education spending and allocates new funds for transit, housing and immigration legal assistance.

Representative Michaelitz of Boston, the chamber member who presented the report, urged colleagues to adopt the measure and described the package as fiscally responsible. "This $61,000,000,000 budget ... represents a reduction of nearly $1,000,000,000 from House 1 and nearly $500,000,000 below either branch's original bottom line," he said, adding the conference committee increased total fair-share spending and shifted some Chapter 70 spending to surtax revenue.

The bill moves major sums to education and transportation. The conference report funds the fifth year of the Student Opportunity Act and sets Chapter 70 funding at $7.3 billion, while increasing minimum aid to municipalities by $150 per pupil. The report also directs what Representative Michaelitz described as $2.4 billion in fair-share spending, including $360 million for early-childcare grants (listed as part of a total $475 million for that program), $180 million for permanent universal school meals, $80 million for higher-education financial-aid expansion, $24 million for the MassReconnect program for community colleges, and $10 million for a Green School Works program to support clean energy at schools.

On transportation, the conference report invests in the MBTA and regional transit authorities. Representative Michaelitz said the budget includes $470 million in direct investments for the MBTA; combined with a separate $535 million earlier supplemental allocation, that totals about $1 billion in new transit investments passed this month, and the package provides $150 million for regional transit authorities (described in the debate as making a total of $209 million for RTAs in this budget).

Lawmakers also increased housing and homelessness spending. The report funds rental-assistance and voucher programs at historically high levels, with figures cited in debate of $253 million and $207 million for two rental-assistance lines, respectively, and funds individual homeless shelter line items at $113 million plus a $10 million workforce support allocation for shelters.

The budget text discussed emergency food programs and immigration assistance. Representative Michaelitz said the budget funds the Emergency Food Assistance Program at $50 million and a related healthy incentive program at $20 million. The package also creates an immigration legal assistance fund and provides an initial $5 million to help people with nonviolent immigration cases secure legal representation.

Procedural action and vote totals in the House were recorded on several roll calls as members debated and approved the measures. In one recorded tally associated with the conference report, the clerk displayed 143 yeas and 1 nay; later final passage of an engrossed appropriations bill was recorded at 139 yeas and 6 nays. The chamber also approved an emergency preamble on the engrossed bill (counted as 52 in the affirmative during divisions called on the floor).

Members who spoke in favor framed the package as timely and stabilizing ahead of economic uncertainty. "I am proud that we have finally gotten a budget done on time," Representative Smola of Warren said, praising the conference process and urging adoption. Representative Michaelitz also thanked legislative staff, House leadership and Senate counterparts for their work.

The House took the procedural steps needed to send the measures to the governor. The conference report and the engrossed appropriations bill will be transmitted to the governor for consideration under the state's enactment process.