News Gov. Baker signs $52.7 billion FY ’23 budget

After months of deliberation by the Legislature, Gov. Charlie Baker signed a $52.7 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2023 today, which calls for a $5.1 billion spending increase from the current year’s budget and a $4.2 billion increase from what he originally recommended in January.

The spending plan includes $230 million for the Chapter 257 Reserve, as well as language that mandates 75 percent of Chapter 257 funding go toward front-line direct care, medical and clinical staff with uses including “hourly rate increases, wraparound benefits, shift differentials, overtime, hiring and retention bonuses or recruitment,” the line item reads.

“When we took office the provider community was suing the state government over the fact that it had not implemented the Chapter 257 law,” Gov. Baker said at a press conference Thursday morning. “We settled that suit shortly after we took office and every year since then we have lived up to the requirements and the promise of what 257 was all about, and that’s translating for next year into a $230 million increase in that budget.”

The Providers’ Council truly appreciates Gov. Baker’s historic level of commitment to the human services sector over the years and, with our fellow members of The Collaborative, will continue to advocate for market rate wages and for the state to fairly fund our sector.

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