On April 27, the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a $41.55 billion FY2019 budget by a vote of 150-4. Over four days of debate, the House considered 1,400 amendments to pass a final budget that authorizes $158.6 million more in spending than Governor Charlie Baker’s budget proposal.

The final House plan closely resembles the Ways and Means Committee proposal and does not contain any major changes. Approximately $79.6 million was added to the Committee’s plan across 146 different line items.

Of the additional $79.6 million in spending, $55 million went to earmarks, and $24.6 million was devoted to programmatic spending. Specifically, $14.1 million went to education and local aid, $10.7 million went to health and human services and elder affairs, $13.46 million went to public safety and judiciary, $6.98 million went to public health, $10.68 million went to labor and economic development, and $5 million went to energy and environmental affairs. Highlights of the changes made to the budget include:

• Nursing home supplemental rates were increased by $2.5 million to a total of $327.1 million.
• An additional $2 million was provided for regional transit authorities, boosting the total funding to $82 million.
• $750,000 was added for community college workforce incentive grants.
• The cap on family size for the Temporary Assistance to Families with Dependent Children program was eliminated, which will cost approximately $10 million when the change takes effect in FY2020.
• The annual caps on the state’s dairy farmer tax credit and conservation tax credit were increased by $2 million and $3 million, respectively.
• Health care amendments notably not adopted include: amendment 538 establishing a special commission to study and provide recommendations on the feasibility of implementing a drug repository program for high cost pharmaceuticals; amendment 542 prohibiting contracts for pharmacy services from containing a provision prohibiting or penalizing a pharmacist’s disclosure to an insured individual of information pertaining to the cost of the medicine, the availability of a generic alternative, or the potential savings by paying in cash; amendment 557 funding an academic detailing program; amendment 620 authorizing the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) to directly negotiate supplemental rebate or value-based pricing agreements with manufacturers of prescribed drugs; amendment 621 authorizing EOHHS to determine the extent to which to include within MassHealth’s covered services federally optional coverage of prescribed drugs; amendment 1266 transferring funds to the Mass Life Sciences Investment Fund; and amendment 1285 changing the implementation date for eliminating exceptions to the ban on pharmaceutical company inducements to certain goods, products, or services.