On January 3, Governor Charlie Baker submitted to the legislature a $74.2 million supplemental budget for the current state fiscal year 2020. Included in that amount is $12.3 million for safety net provider hospitals (for a total of $16.3 million, including FY19 funding). MHA had advocated on behalf of the hospitals.
“Last fiscal year, tax revenue collections exceeded budgeted estimates by $1.1 billion, creating an opportunity to address unmet critical needs at the end of Fiscal Year 2019,” Baker wrote in the cover letter to the supplemental bill. “Despite ample available revenue, the bill passed by the Legislature omitted certain key public spending. For that reason, I am refiling critical items that I previously proposed, in a narrower version intended to fit within currently available revenue in Fiscal Year 2020.”