BUDGETS

The felony conviction of former President Donald Trump is expected to cause little to no reverberations in Massachusetts, a dependably blue state, where state house lawmakers have a mountain of bills to tackle before the end of the Legislative session.

About two months remain in the calendar for the Massachusetts Legislature. The state House last week passed a major hospital oversight proposal. This week, state senators will debate their proposed spending plan.

Alcohol oversight has traditionally all been done by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, until the House's spending plan re-assigned oversight at casino restaurants last month.

Deliberations on hundreds of amendments to the $57.9 billion Mass. House Ways and Means committee budget for fiscal 2025 are set to consume attention this week.

An attempt by Congress to sort out the immigration issue fell apart last week. The question of how Massachusetts' governor will handle the ever increasing number of unhoused families seeking shelter in the Commonwealth, continues to be top-of-mind for many across the Baystate.

There are a number of key differences between the bill approved by the Massachusetts House last fall, and what the Senate passed last week. That could lead to a lot of work for a conference committee between early February and late July.

Massachusetts Senate lawmakers will put gun safety laws to debate this week, countering the House gun bill passed in October with legislation containing a number of key differences.

Following her State of the Commonwealth address, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has begun offering a sketch of areas where she feels the state still has enough money to deliver critical improvements. She will file her budget with the Legislature by Wednesday.

There have been many reactions to Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey's mid-year spending cuts of $375 million dollars ahead of Healey's "State of the Commonwealth" address this week.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and her budget team hit the reset button Monday, announcing a plan to cut $375 million from the current year's budget amid flagging tax collections, to downgrade the amount of tax revenue expected this budget year by $1 billion, and to build the next state spending plan on the assumption that even less tax revenue will come in next year.