House Passes $2.35 Billion Closeout Budget 152-0, Drops Healey's Ticket Resale Cap

The Massachusetts House voted 152-0 on Wednesday to pass a $2.354 billion supplemental budget to close the books on fiscal 2026, after removing Gov. Maura Healey's proposal to cap the resale price of concert and live-event tickets, according to WWLP and MASSterList.

The bill, H 5699, includes $1.524 billion in net spending, according to WWLP. It now goes to the Senate, which met briefly on Thursday and adjourned until Monday without taking it up. "The open question is when the chamber will touch the $2.35 billion supplemental budget meant to close the books on fiscal 2026 that passed the House on Wednesday night," State House News Service wrote in its Senate session summary. The two chambers' versions would then have to be reconciled.

The largest item is MassHealth, with $1.8 billion in gross spending, or $1.03 billion net, according to WWLP. The bill also includes $159 million for snow and ice removal costs from early 2026; $22.5 million for no-cost phone calls in the Department of Correction and county sheriffs' facilities; $13.8 million for the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance to help offset federal funding cuts; and $2.25 million for maternal health needs, including $250,000 for the MCPAP for Moms program run by the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program.

Several policy changes ride on the bill. Political advertisements would have to disclose when artificial intelligence is used, and deceptive communications involving candidates or the electoral process would be prohibited during the three months before an election, WWLP reported. Another provision would bar Massachusetts constitutional officers from using public funds for advertisements or promotions intended to increase their personal recognition, while still allowing communications about state programs that are not meant to build personal recognition.

"From funding for critical services and programs like maternal mental health supports and MassHealth, to policy changes designed to ensure that artificial intelligence and taxpayer money aren't used inappropriately in political advertising - this supplemental budget addresses a number of important, time-sensitive issues as we work to wrap up the fiscal year," House Speaker Ronald Mariano, a Quincy Democrat, said, according to WWLP.

House Ways and Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz, a Boston Democrat, said the bill "will close the books on FY26 in a balanced and fiscally responsible manner."

The bill would also authorize online lottery revenue to be distributed to the Early Education Grant Fund; raise the Massachusetts School Building Authority's grant limit from $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion, with up to 10 percent in additional grants above that limit each fiscal year; eliminate the $10 surcharge on car-sharing rentals; ratify two collective bargaining agreements; and preserve revenue that hospitals and community health centers generate through the federal 340B drug program until MassHealth receives certain federal approvals, according to WWLP.

Excess capital gains tax revenue would be split, with 85 percent, an estimated $207.7 million, going to the Transitional Escrow Fund and 15 percent, an estimated $36.6 million, to the Commonwealth Stabilization Fund.

Left out was the ticket proposal Healey had placed in her version of the closeout budget. Healey's bill and separate Senate language would both cap resale prices for concerts and live events at 110 percent of the original ticket price, MASSterList reported. When she unveiled the plan, Healey picked up a red rotary phone on stage to "dial" singer-songwriter Noah Kahan for an endorsement, the newsletter noted.

Michlewitz said similar language is already in an economic development bill under negotiation between the chambers. "The Senate put that in, so I think it would be a little duplicative to put it into another vehicle," he said, according to MASSterList. "Remember, this is a closeout supplemental budget. We're trying to close the books for FY '26, so limiting as much as we can in there, I think, is important."

Ticket resellers are signaling a court fight if a cap becomes law. The Ticket Policy Forum, a trade group representing six online marketplaces including StubHub and SeatGeek, filed a lawsuit last week seeking to block a Washington, D.C., law capping resale prices, and executive director Brian Berry said he would not rule out a similar suit in Massachusetts, MASSterList reported. Berry argued the cap applies only to resales. "So if the ticket was $100, this is written to say you can't resell it for more than $110," he said. "That doesn't stop the box office from charging $300 for that same ticket the next day."

Separately, MASSterList reported that the House voted down a temporary gas tax suspension, with five Democrats joining Republicans in support of the tax holiday. The House returns Monday in an informal session, according to State House News Service.