WORCESTER, Mass. - State lawmakers are weighing in on governor Maura Healey’s recently-announced hiring freeze for the state’s executive branch.

In a statement, Governor Healey said the freeze, which will begin on May 27, is in response to ‘widespread economic uncertainty at the national level and a tightening budget outlook for Fiscal Year 2026’.

“The people of Massachusetts expect us to protect and maximize their tax dollars, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Governor Healey said. “Tariffs and funding cuts from Washington are causing so much economic damage and instability. We are taking this step to prepare for more uncertain economic times, protect taxpayer dollars, and move our state forward while ensuring funding will be available for the vital services people need.”  

State Senator Michael Moore said he wishes the freeze wasn’t necessary, but he supports the decision at this moment rather than down the road when the state’s financial outlook could be worse.

“We have a lot pending with the potential cuts from Washington, I know the last revenue benchmarks that came out, we did well, a lot of the additional funding was coming in through the millionaire’s tax, the other state revenue sources were pretty flat,” Senator Moore said.
“It’s good precautionary measures, we would rather be ahead of the game than having to be behind.”

But while Governor Healey characterized the hiring freeze as a proactive step to manage spending, State Senator Ryan Fattman (R-Worcester and Hampden) believes the some of the blame lies with the Healey Administration, not just uncertainty in Washington.

“A lot of people want to point at the federal government, but right now it’s really about looking inside and saying ‘Hey, maybe we should have managed our budget a little bit better instead of adding 3,000 employees to state government, maybe we should have actually instituted a hiring freeze and kept it solid when the Governor first talked about doing it two years ago,” Fattman said. “Perhaps we shouldn’t have spent $3 billion on nonresidents.”

The Healey Administration said it would reevaluate the need for a hiring freeze once the FY26 budget has been signed and implementation is underway.