Spilka: Massachusetts State Budget “Really In Trouble” with Healthcare

BY MICHAEL NORTON

As lawmakers leave unfinished business and begin a six-week holiday season recess, Senate President Karen Spilka says housing and health care are priority issues for 2026.

“We really need to look at our health care,” Spilka told WVCB “On the Record” hosts Ed Harding and Sharman Sacchetti in a televised interview Sunday morning. “Our budget is really in trouble with health care.”

A $2.3 billion bill (H 4761Track) that the Legislature passed last week to settle funding deficiencies in fiscal 2025 includes $2 billion in health care appropriations. In addition to care costs weighing on the state, business and household budgets, stories also abound concerning patient access woes, shaky hospital finances and red ink at the state Group Insurance Commission which oversees health insurance for state employees and retirees.

State officials are also searching for ways to respond to federal policies that analysts say could wreak havoc by causing the uninsured population in Massachusetts to double.

The Legislature passed a multi-year housing production and borrowing law in 2024, but affordability problems remain severe and housing policy has not receded from its position as a front burner issue.

“Nothing is off the table,” Spilka said, adding that she has “entrusted” Housing Committee Co-chair Sen. Julian Cyr of Truro to “look all around the state” for any barriers that stand in the way of creating housing quickly.

Frustrated by Beacon Hill, ballot question proponents said last week they cleared a major signature gathering hurdle and hope to place two major housing policies on the 2026 ballot. One would establish rent control in every city and town and a second initiative petition is designed to jumpstart the production of “starter homes.”

Spilka also responded to Auditor Diana DiZoglio after show hosts played a clip of the auditor describing Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano as the “queen” and “king” of the legislative bodies they lead.

“She has no idea what happens in the Senate,” Spilka said of DiZoglio, a former state senator and representative who has been unable to audit the Legislature despite a ballot law authorizing such an audit. 

Spilka said senators develop policy plans by holding meetings with people and talked up the give and take that occurs at Senate Democratic caucuses, which are private gatherings that she regularly convenes in her office.

“The senators are empowered,” Spilka said. “We spend hours and hours in caucus talking about bills and issues. I never shut down the caucus. It ends when people stop talking. So it’s unfortunate that she just doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”

Spilka said Sen. Adam Gomez quarterbacked Senate deliberations on a cannabis reform bill, one of the few policy areas where the House and Senate agreed this year to support major changes. 

The cannabis bills, which restructure the commission that regulates the industry and raise the amount of marijuana a person can legally posses from one to two ounces, could go to conference committee this week. 

Spilka also declined to take a position on a ballot question in the works to make the Legislature and governor’s office subject to the public records law, an idea that DiZoglio and government reformers are pursuing.

The Legislature is embarking on its break without acting on an energy affordability bill (H 4144Track) Gov. Maura Healey filed in May.

“We are looking at that,” Spilka said. “The governor filed a bill, and we’re looking forward to taking that up.”

Rules reforms this year are enabling the branches to more easily pursue their policy interests, but so far the energy affordability bill, filed to address rising consumer and business costs, remains at the committee level.

Federal resistance to offshore wind projects and policies that favor clean energy have raised questions about whether the state can reach its statutory carbon reduction requirements and spurred a fresh look at whether renewable-friendly policies are adding to consumer costs.

“People need goals in life,” Spilka said. “The Commonwealth needs goals as well. Climate is an issue that we should not be backing off from.”

She added: “There’s no plan B. We need to keep our foot on the pedal. We need to be practical and reasonable. And the Senate has led in terms of these issues for both — on affordability and climate — and I believe that we can do both.”

Energy affordability is “a priority for all of us,” Spilka said, noting elected officials hear about it “from people all over.” Still, she was reluctant to say a bill would come together among the Democrats who run the branches.

“I hope so,” she said. “I mean, the governor has her bill in committee. I don’t know what’s happening with the House bill, and we will take a look at these issues as well.”

A bill endorsed by House members of the Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy Committee eyes savings in part by scaling back some climate goals. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Aaron Michlewitz said last week that it remains under review.

The supplemental budget on Healey’s desk also appropriates $10 million to cover costs related to hosting World Cup soccer matches next year in Foxborough. Private organizers must raise matching funds to access the public funds, according to the proposal.

Spilka again raised Senate concerns about information sharing by World Cup organizers, and said money that “the state puts in must have state benefits.”

“They wanted some funding for a fan fest. That’s not going to happen. I mean, let them pay for that,” Spilka said. “We put money in for roads, bridges, transportation, inclusivity, wayfinding, signage – things that will help the Commonwealth, and particularly help the areas that people will be in, and it has to have a one to one matching piece there too. I think that it’s more responsible, and it’s up to the people who are organizing this to continue to raise money, and I hope it’s a successful event.”