‘No margin for error’: State economic check-in spotlights tricky balancing act

 

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New from CommonWealth Beacon SOLAR: Facing hurdles as her administration works to achieve clean energy goals, Gov. Maura Healey convened a summit with solar industry officials, who urged her to embrace the power of the sun with haste. Jordan Wolman reports.  ADDED COMMENT: CHINA IS PROMOTING CHEAP CLEAN ENERGY & HIGH SPEED RAIL  & THEIR ECONOMY IS PROSPERING! THEY HAVE REDUCED THEIR CONSUMPTION, CLEANING THEIR ENVIRONMENT.. THE FUTURE IS SOLAR & OFFSHORE WIND & ANY OTHER SOURCE THAT'S RENEWABLE!

‘No margin for error’: State economic check-in spotlights tricky balancing act   October 1, 2025 By Chris Lisinski

Difficult decisions abound as Massachusetts barrels toward a roughly $650 million decline in tax revenues and a host of other federal funding impacts nine months into Trump 2.0.

State budget-writers have been wringing their hands for months about the anticipated impact of the sweeping federal law enacted on July 4, and on Tuesday, they took the unusual step of hosting a mid-year checkup.

The prognosis they heard — that a slowdown is likely but Massachusetts might avoid a full recession — could force action in the next few months to rein in spending on local projects, recalibrate revenue forecasts, or adjust the state’s tax code.

“There’s really no margin for error,” Administration and Finance Secretary Matthew Gorzkowicz said at the State House hearing he held alongside the Legislature’s two Ways and Means Committee chairs.

Revenue Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder told officials his office expects the new federal law will shrink state tax collections this fiscal year by more than $650 million.

The fiscal year 2026 state budget Gov. Maura Healey signed in July does not account for that estimated hit, which Snyder newly revealed during Tuesday’s hearing, and officials will need to adjust their approach several months into the cycle.

“Obviously, $650 million at any point in time is significant and daunting, to say the least, for us as budget-writers,” said House Ways and Means Committee chair Aaron Michlewitz.

That’s not the only upheaval on the way. The sweeping federal bill could also shrink federal funding for health care here by $532 million in federal fiscal year 2026, according to an analysis from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. If Congress decides not to extend pandemic-era tax credits that help Americans pay for health insurance, the Massachusetts Health Connector marketplace would need an extra $255 million from Beacon Hill to keep its most subsidized option available at current rates.

Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation president Doug Howgate said the billions of dollars in reduced federal health care spending on Massachusetts is a “challenge that’s going to cascade through the rest of the budget.”

“These are ticking time bombs, and we know when they’re going to go off,” he said.

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More Context Spending push interrupted by executive branch hiring freeze (May 2025)  ‘We are terrified’: Gateway City leaders prepare for federal cuts, changes to Medicaid (July 2025)

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What We're Reading   HEALEY ON SHUTDOWN: The day before a federal government shutdown began, Gov. Maura Healey blamed Republicans while also saying that she does not think Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is “the best messenger.” (GBH News)  PUBLIC MEDIA: GBH launched a new “Fund the Future” campaign seeking to raise $225 million in the next three years to offset federal funding losses hitting public media. (The Boston Globe – paywall)  EMINENT DOMAIN: A Cape Cod couple had been living in a newly built home near the Sagamore Bridge for less than a year when the state informed them it would seize their property by eminent domain as part of a megaproject to replace the aging bridge. (WBUR)  ICE DETENTION: A New Bedford resident with no criminal record who was granted asylum in 2021 is back home after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested him and transported him to prisons in three different states. (The New Bedford Light)  excerpt:  NEW BEDFORD — Manuela Morales Gonzales saw the blue lights go off in the rearview mirror at 6:08 a.m., shortly after the 27-year-old and her partner, Pascual Cuin González, 32, left their home in the city for work at a farm. “We were in the car for maybe two minutes,” she recalled in Spanish. “Then we saw the lights, and at first I thought it was the local police. “I asked him: ‘Why are they stopping us if you’re driving well?’” she continued. “Then he said: ‘It’s them. It’s ICE.’” Agents dressed in paramilitary gear with caps and masks swiftly descended on the vehicle near Hayden-McFadden Elementary School on County Street. They opened the doors before the couple had a chance to lock them. They said there were two women and two men, and they spoke Spanish with Mexican and Puerto Rican accents.  Cuin González, a K’iche’ man born in Guatemala, said the agents asked for identification and he showed them his Real ID. “For the two women, that was good enough,” he said in Spanish. “But there were two men who wanted more.” Those minutes on Friday, Sept. 12, were the start of a weeklong odyssey that would bring Cuin González to three prisons in three states, an experience increasingly common as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement races to meet President Donald Trump’s deportation goals, according to advocates. They said it is a strategy based in psychology and courtroom logic. BIOTECH: At least 1,800 Massachusetts biotechnology workers were laid off in the third quarter of 2025, continuing a period of growing strain for the cornerstone industry. (Boston Business Journal – paywall)  THERE'S MORE!    IO LAYS OFF 50% AFTER FDA DERAILS CANCER VACCINE APPROVAL PLAN  https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/io-lays-50-employees-after-fda-derails-cancer-vaccine-approval-plan Layoffs From Just 6 Pharmas Could Wipe Out Over 39,000 Jobs https://www.biospace.com/job-trends/layoffs-from-just-6-pharmas-could-wipe-out-over-39-000-jobs

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