Governor Releases Revised FY2021 Budget Recommendation

On October 14, Governor Baker released a revised FY2021 budget (H.2), laying out spending for the remainder of the current fiscal year ending on June 30, 2020. This version revises the Governor's original FY2021 budget proposal originally released in January 2020.  

The revised budget reflects changes to funding allocations based on new revenue projections owing to the significant financial impacts from COVID-19. The budget proposes a total of $45.5 billion in gross spending for FY2021 with authorization for a withdrawal of up to $1.35 billion from the state emergency Rainy Day Fund. If the proposal is adopted, the Rainy Day Fund balance would be $2.21 billion.

Most of the budget priorities are level funded from FY2020 although the Alternative Housing Voucher Program has lower allocations than initially proposed. Programs like HomeBASE and RAFT may have additional funding made available for them as committed by the Governor through the Eviction Diversion Initiative. 

The state budget is currently pending with the House Ways and Means Committee. The House and Senate Ways and Means Committee will host an 'invite-only' virtual hearing on the revised FY2021 budget on Wednesday, October 21. Another one-month interim budget will likely be needed to ensure that the government remains funded through November as the FY2021 budget moves through the House and Senate. The current short term state budget ends on October 31, 2020.

Here is the comparison of budget line items of CHAPA's Affordable Housing, Community Development, and Homelessness Prevention Priorities.