Malden House Delegation Votes to Pass FY27 Budget

BOSTON - Friday, May 1, 2026 - This Wednesday, the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed H.5500, the Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) budget. Funded at $63.41 billion, the House’s FY27 budget addresses the critical needs of families and residents across the Commonwealth while dedicating funding to making our communities and state more affordable, livable, and equitable. While taking into consideration the uncertainty of federal cutbacks, this spending bill provides for many critical investments, including significant funding for education, transportation, health care, housing, and workforce development.

In the past week, the Malden House Delegation has worked with leadership and other legislators to ensure the bill will provide financial support and much-needed resources to the City of Malden and its community partners. Representatives Paul Donato, Kate Lipper-Garabedian, and Steven Ultrino have successfully advocated for and secured $600,000 in local earmarks in the FY27 budget, which include the following:

• $150,000 for Portal to Hope as part of their community based domestic violence program that includes a "teens-at-risk" project

• $100,000 for Malden Mayor’s Youth Employment Program (MSYEP)

• $100,000 for the Leadership Next Gen Fellowship Program

• $100,000 for flood mitigation efforts at Town Line and Linden Brook in the City of Malden

• $50,000 for streetscape upgrades and capital improvements in the City of Malden

• $50,000 for Action for Boston Community Development’s Mobile Homeless Outreach Team

• $50,000 for Housing Families to support the homeless children program in Malden

“In a tight budget year marked by federal uncertainty, I'm proud to have worked with Leader Donato and Chair Lipper-Garabedian to secure $600,000 in local earmarks for Malden,” said State Representative Steven Ultrino (D-Malden). “Supporting everything from youth career development to local infrastructure, these investments will make a real difference for Malden residents. I sincerely thank Speaker Ron Mariano and House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz for their leadership throughout the budget process.”

“I would like to thank Speaker Ron Mariano as well as Chair Aaron Michlewitz of Ways and Means for all of their hard work on the FY27 budget,” said State Representative Paul Donato (D-Medford). “I am very proud of the efforts of the Malden Delegation to advocate for these allocations for our constituency. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with local leaders to support the community.”

“The House FY27 budget is a powerful statement of our values as a Commonwealth, prioritizing critical statewide funding for our cities and towns, public education system, mass transit, and housing to make Massachusetts more affordable and support our residents and their families. The House’s investments in reproductive health care access and legal aid for our immigrant neighbors are among the many examples in which we also reject the Trump Administration’s unparalleled actions to undermine our civil rights, civil liberties, and safety,” said State Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian (D-Melrose). “With the headwinds from DC, including the looming loss of billions of dollars in federal support for public health programs, this has been a challenging year to prepare a budget. Given this, I’m particularly proud to have secured nearly $1 million in earmark funding for the three 32nd Middlesex municipalities and local community partners with Representatives Ultrino and Donato. For Malden, this earmark funding will support streetscape upgrades and capital improvements, as well as flood mitigation efforts. It will also support community partners such as ABCD and Housing Families.”

As a result of responsible fiscal management, the House’s FY27 budget is balanced, and makes significant investments across several issue areas, without needing to include new taxes or tax increases.

The House budget also includes $2.7 billion in investments for transportation and education initiatives made possible because funding generated by the Fair Share ballot initiative that voters approved in November of 2022, which established a surtax of 4 percent on annual income above $1 million, including:

• $365 million for Child Care Grants to Providers

• $198 million for Universal School Meals

• $127 million for Free Community College

• $85 million for Financial Aid Expansion

• $470 million for Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)

• $220 million for the Mass Transportation Trust Fund

• $40 Million for the MBTA Academy which supports workforce training and recruiting

Other key highlights included in the FY27 budget were:

• $10 million for school districts that have experienced unexpected enrollment reductions in

English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students

• $623.6 million for child-care for low-income families

• $475 million for Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) grants

• $176.7 million for scholarship funding

• $60 million for the Emergency Food Assistance Program

• $20 million for the Massachusetts Healthy Incentives Program (HIP)

• $679.7 million for Adult Mental Health Supports

• $136.7 million for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services

• $281.3 million for the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP)

• $210 million for the Rental Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) program

• $17.4 million for Summer Jobs for At-Risk Youth

• $20.4 million for DTA Employment and Training Services

• $63.4 million for the Clean Water Trust

• $52 million for Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corp. to provide legal services to the

Commonwealth’s most vulnerable populations

• $7 million for the Immigration Legal Assistance Fund for non-violent offenders

The FY27 budget proposal (H. 5500) was introduced by Speaker Mariano and the House Committee on Ways & Means on April 15, 2026, following a review of the Governor’s proposal and a series of public hearings. The budget passed the House of Representatives 149-9 and now goes to the Senate for consideration.

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