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Senate overrides multiple governor vetoes in FY26 budget, restoring targeted funding
Summary
During its floor session the Massachusetts Senate voted to override several of Governor Healey’s vetoes to restore line items in the FY26 general appropriations bill; roll-call tallies were announced on the floor for each override.
The Massachusetts Senate voted to override several vetoes the governor issued to the FY26 general appropriation bill, restoring targeted funding for a range of programs and agencies across the Commonwealth.
Senate leadership said Governor Healey had vetoed $130.2 million in spending from the FY26 conference committee report; the Senate announced it intended to override a targeted selection of vetoes totaling $70.4 million to restore funding for nursing homes, charter school reimbursements, trial courts, housing services, early intervention for children, substance-use programming and other services.
Multiple override items were read on the floor and then decided by roll-call. The transcript records the following items and outcomes as the Senate completed its first pass through overrides and related votes:
- Item 0330-300 (house bill number 4240, FY26 general appropriation section 2): Passed notwithstanding the governor’s disapproval. The presiding officer announced 35 members in the affirmative and 3 in the negative.
- Item 1231-1000 (line item to reduce sewer and water rates for MWRA communities): Passed notwithstanding the governor’s disapproval. The presiding officer announced 38 members in the affirmative and no negative votes.
- Item 2810-100 (Department of Conservation and Recreation operations/programming, a $400,000 reduction was vetoed by the governor): Passed notwithstanding the governor’s disapproval. The presiding officer announced 37 members in the affirmative and 1 in the negative.
- Item 4000-0051 (child and family services/family resource centers line in the FY26 budget): Passed notwithstanding the governor’s disapproval; the presiding officer announced 35 members in the affirmative and 3 in the negative.
- Item 4000-0641 (MassHealth nursing facility rate line; governor had vetoed $25,000,000): Passed notwithstanding the governor’s disapproval. The presiding officer announced 38 members in the affirmative and no negative votes in the final tally reported on the floor.
The Senate proceeded with roll-call voting on multiple additional line items; the transcript records repeated roll-call sequences and chair announcements that, in aggregate, restored a total of approximately $70.4 million of vetoed items according to the Ways and Means summary presented on the floor. Senators on the floor stressed the Senate had set aside a contingency of $860 million in the FY26 conference report to accommodate fiscal uncertainty while restoring a subset of priorities.
Senator Joanne M. Comerford, speaking for Ways and Means, described the package and asked that override votes be taken by a call of the yays and nays. The Senate followed standard roll-call procedure for the constitutional override requirement, and the clerk and court officers recorded votes for individual senators in multiple sequences.
The transcript shows the Senate completed the first call of overrides and then recessed briefly; multiple items were disposed of by recorded votes, and several amendments on the floor were withdrawn or placed on hold. The passage of these overrides means the specified line items will be included in the FY26 appropriation despite the governor’s objections, according to the roll-call announcements recorded in the session transcript.
