The Arc of Massachusetts Analysis: House of Representatives FY26 Budget Wrap-Up

During the week of April 28, the House of Representatives debated its version of the FY26 budget. House members filed over 1,600 amendments to the House Ways & Means proposal. The Arc of Massachusetts worked with legislators and our advocacy partners to prioritize these amendments:

• Restoring full funding to the DESE/DDS Residential Placement Prevention Program
• Continuing the state’s investment in Operation House Call
• Increasing funding for Turning 22 and Community Day and Employment Services
• Funding training for mobile crisis teams
• Raising human service worker wages

Along with your advocacy, we worked to build support among House members for these amendments. Thank you to the over 1,100 people who completed our action alerts!

Our collective advocacy paid off: two of our amendments were successful.

The Arc led the charge in fully restoring the DESE/DDS Residential Placement Prevention Program line item, which had been reduced in error. Immediately after spotting this cut, we worked with over 700 of you to advocate for this restoration. Thank you to Representative Ken Gordon for leading this amendment.

We also secured $150,000 for Operation House Call, to allow this critical program to continue to grow and reach more students. Thank you to Representative John Lawn for sponsoring this amendment.

Thank you to Speaker Ronald Mariano and Ways & Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz for prioritizing these issues!

Going into this debate, we knew that this was a tight budget year. With revenue concerns at the state and federal level, the state is walking a fiscal tightrope – remaining fiscally sound and secure while also protecting the most vulnerable communities. We were glad to see our community uplifted through the acceptance of these critical amendments. Though our other priorities were not accepted, the budget process is not over and there are more opportunities to advocate.

The budget now moves to the Senate, where a similar amendment and debate process will occur in May. We look forward to continuing to work with Senate members on our priorities and will again need your advocacy.

Please stay tuned and stay engaged.