After the House Committee on Ways and Means released its FY25 budget draft, and the full House of Representatives debated the content, the House passed its proposed budget at the end of April. The debate ultimately failed to yield any new support for food system priorities, but did continue forward some important investments.
The House budget once again includes $25 million for the Food Security Infrastructure Grant (FSIG) program, matching Governor Healey’s proposal. A permanent FSIG program demonstrates a strong commitment to sustaining local food system enterprises; the FSIG program has been oversubscribed in previous rounds of funding, and this funding will help more local food system enterprises to flourish. The House budget again included funding for universal free school meals, increasing the proposed funding to $190 million as more students eat at school.
However, funding for HIP fell short with level funding at $15 million compared to the $25 million requested by the Campaign for HIP Funding, which the Campaign estimates may better fulfill the current need by supporting year-round program operation and continued growth in SNAP households using the program. The House also failed to pass a budget that would continue to fund food literacy and the local food policy council grant program, as well as approving other earmarks. Additionally, the House failed to approve the request for funding increases for the Buy Locals and the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program (MEFAP), and failed to renew state-funded SNAP.
The budget process now moves to the Senate chamber, where the Senate Committee on Ways and Means is expected to release its budget draft on or around May 7, 2024; the call for amendments and debate will take place thereafter. Watch the Collaborative’s email and social media calls to action for opportunities to advocate for important food system programs during the debate process. Food system requests are a small part of the budget; if the Senate were to approve all of the Collaborative’s and our statewide partners budgetary requests, state funding dedicated to the food system would equal roughly 0.6% of the total $57 billion in the FY25 budget.
