Gov. Maura Healey’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget includes a roughly 4 percent reduction to the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA), reflecting broader fiscal pressures facing Massachusetts.
The proposal, part of a $63.4 billion spending plan, would reduce EEA funding by nearly $20 million and bring the agency to its lowest funding level in at least four years, following a cut of more than $7 million in the previous fiscal year.
Healey is scheduled to defend the proposal before lawmakers on Wednesday as budget negotiations begin. The administration has cited rising health care costs, slower revenue growth, and reduced federal support as key factors shaping spending decisions.
Nearly half of the proposed reductions would affect the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s (DCR) state parks division.
Additional reductions could impact environmental justice initiatives, recycling and solid waste programs, Clean Air Act enforcement, toxic waste oversight, agricultural resources administration, the division of marine fisheries, and hazardous waste cleanups.
In a Commonwealth Beacon report, the proposal also includes modest funding increases for the dam safety office, watershed and stormwater management, and emergency food assistance.
David Melly, senior policy director at the Environmental League of Massachusetts, which is part of a coalition that criticized the proposal, said the reductions could have broader implications.
“Residents and municipalities – really everybody — benefit from this tiny little fraction of the state budget that is delivering us so much in terms of public health and quality of life. This funding supports the recreation economy and the clean energy economy that makes people want to live and work in Massachusetts,” Melly said.
“What can be perceived as a marginal cut really disproportionately impacts these small but critical agencies.”
A 2021 special report on DCR found the agency faced a $1 billion backlog in deferred maintenance and had reduced its full-time staff by 25 percent since 2009. The Healey administration had previously increased DCR funding before the current proposal, which would bring appropriations below fiscal year 2024 levels.
“We are digging ourselves out of the hole that has persisted for two decades,” Melly said. “It’s disappointing to have made such slow, methodical progress in order to undo the effects of chronic underfunding, only to erode on that progress now.”
The fiscal outlook is also shaped by federal policy changes. The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation projected that a federal reconciliation package enacted last year will reduce federal funding to the state by more than $24 billion over the next decade due to health care changes.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates the law will result in more than 200,000 Massachusetts residents losing health coverage, while also increasing grocery and energy costs and reducing food assistance access.
“Like other states and agencies, we are experiencing fiscal constraints due to federal rollbacks,” Danielle Burney, an EEA spokesperson, said in a statement.
“Governor Healey’s proposed budget ensures we can keep our important energy and environmental work moving forward. We continue to invest in resources that allow us to protect clean air, safe drinking water, and our natural resources. In the face of federal attacks, Massachusetts will stick to our values and seek opportunities to grow.”
Jessica Troe, deputy director of research and policy analysis at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, said, “The lost federal funding has just made it difficult, without other progressive revenue options, to fully fund all these programs that we need in the budget.”
For business owners in the outdoor hospitality, RV park, and glamping sectors, potential reductions to state park operations and environmental oversight may influence visitation patterns, infrastructure maintenance timelines, and permitting processes.
Operators located near state-managed parks or reliant on public lands for tourism may want to monitor legislative deliberations in the coming months, as final budget decisions could affect recreation infrastructure, maintenance schedules, and environmental program capacity heading into fiscal year 2027.