On January 26th the Baker-Polito Administration unveiled its FY2023 budget proposal. According to the press release the proposal is a $48.5 billion plan to support economic growth, sustain efforts to address COVID-19, fully fund the Student Opportunity Act, and make key investments in housing and health care. The budget proposal is based on a $36.915 billion consensus tax revenue estimate, which anticipates 2.7% growth in total tax collections over revised FY22 tax estimates. In addition to various targeted investments, it includes almost $700M in tax breaks for seniors, parents, and renters, and would eliminate income taxes for hundreds of thousands of low-income taxpayers and make significant changes to the state estate tax and how the state taxes short-term capital gains. You can view the full budget here.
For additional information and analysis on the budget, specifically on the proposed tax changes, see here for information put out by Mass Budget and Policy Center and here for an analysis by Mass Taxpayers Foundation.
Below are the proposed funding levels in H2 for MWA’s priority workforce line items:
- Career Centers: $5.96M
- Advanced Manufacturing: $2.5M
- YouthWorks: $16.24M
- Connecting Activities: $7.5M
- WCTF: $7M
- Learn to Earn: $300K
- Registered Apprenticeship: $1M
- CTI: $15.3M
- Economic Research: $600K
- Community Empowerment and Reinvestment Program: $7.5M
- Increasing Access to Career and Technical Education: $2.5M
What Comes Next?
This proposal is the first step in a seven-month process to pass the FY2023 state budget.
- February/March: The Joint Committee on Ways and Means will hold invitation only (virtual) hearings to collect testimony on the budget. You can view the hearing schedule here.
- April: The House will release its proposed budget, with the full House approving a final budget the second to last week of April.
- May: The Senate will release its proposed budget, with the full Senate approving a final budget right before Memorial Day weekend.
- June: A conference committee will be appointed to settle the differences between the bills.
- July: The conferenced budget will be released, passed by both chambers, and sent to the Governor for signature. Possible vetoes and additional votes could occur.
MWA has prepared collateral to use with legislative outreach and meetings. Click below for:
Questions? Contact Tonja Mettlach at tmettlach@massworkforce.com.