


House and Senate budget negotiators said they reached an “agreement in principle” Friday on an overdue fiscal 2024 budget, though details of what survived private deliberations were not immediately available.
House and Senate budget chiefs Sen. Michael Rodrigues and Rep. Aaron Michlewitz said the Legislature planned to take action on the compromise budget on Monday, 31 days after their deadline.
Top Democrats have kept private this month what caused the weeks-long delay but a breakthrough means lawmakers will likely enter their traditional August recess after handing Gov. Maura Healey a finalized spending plan.
“Our respective teams are actively engaged in ironing out the details and working diligently to finalize the agreement,” Michlewitz and Rodrigues said in a joint statement. “We are confident that the conference committee report will be filed in the coming days, ensuring that both the House and Senate will take up the report on Monday in formal session.”
If the House and Senate send a compromise to Healey on Monday it will be the latest non-pandemic-era budget since 2001, when the fiscal 2002 budget was laid before the governor on Nov. 21. The fiscal 2021 budget made it to then-Gov. Charlie Baker in December 2020 during economic uncertainty and the spread of a society-altering virus.
Healey will have 10 days to review the agreement after it reaches her desk. She gave lawmakers more time on Thursday to come to an accord by filing an interim budget, which the Legislature approved and sent back to her only hours after she submitted it.
A Healey spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.