Massachusetts lawmakers agreed to a compromise spending bill featuring $388 million in spending directed at what the Senate's budget chief called "time-sensitive, urgent" needs along with $740 million in borrowing plans.

Funding for urgent needs, essential services will be the 1st major measure Gov. Healey signs

Beacon Hill in 5 is a weekly check-in at the Massachusetts Statehouse from New England Public Media. Get a quick look at the week ahead in state politics and government with Carrie Healy, NEPM’s Morning Edition host, and a journalist from the State House News Service.

Government

Alcohol oversight has traditionally all been done by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, until the House's spending plan re-assigned oversight at casino restaurants last month.

Mass. officials at odds over liquor license oversight at the state's 3 casinos

Legislators in the Massachusetts House passed a bill, among hundreds attached in amendments to the budget, aimed at disclosing the use of artificial intelligence in political messages.

Mass. lawmakers propose installing guardrails on A-I aimed at transparency in political messaging

Deliberations on hundreds of amendments to the $57.9 billion Mass. House Ways and Means committee budget for fiscal 2025 are set to consume attention this week.

On tap for the Mass. House: a budget debate including about 1,500 amendments

The Massachusetts House budget makes $500 million available to cover emergency assistance shelter costs for FY'25. The House budget debate is set for Wednesday, April 24.

Sizable shelter funding gap between projected costs and Mass. House lawmakers' proposed budget

While an expected Massachusetts House budget redraft is expected, and talks are ongoing over a FY'24 spending bill, the solar eclipse might distract lawmakers, if only for a few moments, from focus on these and other pressing legislation.

Funding for urgent needs, essential services will be the 1st major measure Gov. Healey signs

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