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Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senate leaves housing law alone in $1.3 billion spending bill
BOSTON (SHNS) – The Massachusetts Senate on Thursday avoided making any changes to the controversial MBTA Communities Act while advancing a $1.3 billion spending bill packed with one-time investments in education and transportation. The Senate voted 40-0 on a bill (S 2512) deploying surplus surtax revenues after a smattering of commentary about some pressure points and the adoption of dozens of earmarks following off-the-floor decision-making. Over the course of deliberations, senators opted not to tweak the MBTA Communities Act, a zoning reform law that got little commentary when it was first enacted in 2021 but has since become a point of contention in the state's response to a housing affordability crisis. Sen. William Driscoll, a Milton Democrat, moved to resurface the debate by filing an amendment that would have excluded the Mattapan Line from being considered 'rapid transit' under the law. Milton officials have argued that they should not be classified as a rapid transit community, a designation that carries the heaviest zoning-reform lift under the law, because the only T stops within its boundaries are part of the Mattapan Line trolley. Driscoll stood on the Senate floor with a trio of easels behind him displaying maps and language of the MBTA Communities Act, but before he began a 22-minute speech, he withdrew his amendment, preventing any of his colleagues from taking a recorded stance on whether Milton should be classified as a rapid transit community. After taking any legislative action off the table, Driscoll argued that each single trolley vehicle on the Mattapan line can only transport about 130 people, less than the capacity of Green Line trolleys, heavy-rail subway lines or commuter rail trains. Driscoll stressed that Milton leaders, who unsuccessfully challenged the constitutionality of the law, now are not seeking exemption but instead to be recategorized as an MBTA-adjacent community instead of one that hosts rapid transit. 'Chances are if we were included in the designation that most of the other communities are included in, you would never have heard of this issue,' he said. Without debate, the Senate also shot down other amendments related to the MBTA Communities Act, including measures from Republican Sen. Kelly Dooner of Taunton that would give so-called adjacent communities an extra two years to come into compliance or create some defined exemptions from the law. Revenue from the voter-approved surtax can only be spent on transportation or education investments, two areas that Senate budget chief Michael Rodrigues described as 'cornerstones crucial to the commonwealth's broader economic foundation and success.' The Senate bill would direct $370 million toward the MBTA, a sizable investment but less than half as much as the House proposed in its version. Sen. Paul Feeney, a Foxborough Democrat, noted that he does not have subway service in his district but that the commuter rail 'runs right through the heart of it.' 'It's quite literally the engine that fuels economic activity for many, certainly throughout my district, and I know we all share that,' Feeney said. 'We need it to be running efficiently and effectively, not limping and in flames.' Senators rejected an amendment from Minority Leader Bruce Tarr that would have required the MBTA to, within the next year, craft and submit a 'comprehensive plan' to achieve a state of good repair, then update the roadmap annually for at least five years. The T in 2023 estimated it would cost $24.5 billion to fix all of its assets that at the time were not in a state of good repair. The Senate tackled the majority of the 317 amendments to the bill with a pair of bundles, which rejected or adopted dozens of changes to the bill at once with a single unrecorded voice vote. The 'yes' mega-bundle added language calling on the MBTA to study expanding the commuter rail to Buzzards Bay and extending the Orange Line to Roslindale Village. House and Senate Democrats will need to iron out differences in their approaches before the money can be put to use. Both versions of the bill would appropriate about $1.3 billion in surtax dollars, but the House wants to divide it up with $857 million for transportation and $405 million for education, while the Senate bill broke it down with $670 million for transportation and $617 million for education before amendments. The surtax divide is one portion of a broader disagreement between the two branches on the scope of state aid to the MBTA. Combining the mid-year spending bill and the annual state budget, the House would provide the T with about $1.4 billion while the Senate across the same two bills would give the agency serving the Boston metro area and beyond roughly $820 million. That's in addition to the T's dedicated portion of the sales tax. Sen. Robyn Kennedy of Worcester pointed Thursday to the Senate's push for higher investments in the 15 regional transit authorities outside the T, contending that 'advocating for more regional public transportation does not mean less for the MBTA.' 'When we invest in regional transportation, we invest in every community, every worker, every student who relies on our buses to get ahead,' Kennedy said while introducing an amendment that added $200,000 for Worcester Regional Transit Authority capital projects. Another major spending debate is on the horizon. The Senate plans to begin considering its Ways and Means Committee's $61.3 billion fiscal year 2026 state budget on Tuesday, May 20. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senators target MBTA housing law with amendments
BOSTON (SHNS) – Senators came up with 317 ways in which they'd like to amend the Senate Ways and Means Committee's nearly $1.3 billion transportation and education spending bill this week, and the MBTA zoning law is once again a popular target. The committee's supplemental budget (S 2512) backed by mostly excess income surtax revenues is on the Senate Calendar for debate Thursday. The package directs $613 million to education and $670 million to transportation. The $370 million billed for the MBTA is expected to be a common point of debate given the committee's divergence from the roughly $790 million the House approved to go toward helping the T replenish its depleted deficiency fund and maintain service gains. Senators from both parties want to make the debate also about the MBTA Communities Act, a 2021 law that passed without much fanfare at the time but has since become one of the tensest topics in state government. The law, which requires cities and towns with or near MBTA service to zone for multi-family housing by right in at least one reasonably sized district, was designed to help address the state's housing supply shortage. Much of the public concern surrounding the law has revolved around Milton, a town deemed a 'rapid transit community' because it hosts the light-rail Mattapan trolley, which some have argued is not equivalent to the rest of the T's core transit system. House Speaker Ronald Mariano said last month the town had a point about 'this crazy little trolley car,' but said he wasn't open to legislative action to change the situation. Democrat Sen. William Driscoll of Milton will try to convince the Senate that some legislative action should be taken. His amendment #308 would amend the MBTA Communities Act to declare that the 'Mattapan High Speed Line shall not be considered a rapid transit modality,' which could affect Milton's requirement's under the law. Republican Sen. Kelly Dooner of Taunton filed a small handful of MBTA Communities-related amendments, including one (#76) to exclude municipalities that have no MBTA service but are currently subject to the zoning law as 'adjacent' communities from the law. A number of communities in her district are considered 'adjacent' towns, including Seekonk, Rehoboth, Berkley, Raynham, Carver and Wareham. Dooner is also seeking (#77) to give 'adjacent' towns two extra years to come into compliance and (#78) to create five exemptions from the MBTA Communities Act, including if a community's population is fewer than 8,000 people or if the town 'lacks basic infrastructure or sufficient state funding for infrastructure improvements.' Minority Leader Bruce Tarr filed an amendment (#183) that would remove compliance with the MBTA Communities Act from the criteria that makes a city or town eligible for certain grant funding. The Senate supplemental budget also attracted amendments that contemplate an expansion of MBTA service. Sen. Dylan Fernandes is pitching the idea (#163) of giving the T $25,000 specifically so it can 'perform a feasibility study of the cost of upgrades required for extending commuter rail service to Buzzards Bay station.' Fernandes backed the rail expansion idea as a member of the House in 2023. Sen. Michael Rush of West Roxbury is proposing (#132) to give the T $100,000 to study the feasibility of extending the Orange Line from its current terminus at Forest Hills Station to the existing Roslindale Village commuter rail station about 1.5 miles away. Given that the supplemental budget is spending surtax revenue that must be used for education and transportation investments, many of the 317 amendments seek earmarks for specific local projects and needs. Others seek to boost state aid across the board, like a proposal (#3) from Tarr to create a $50 million Supplemental Local School District Grant Program to provide additional aid to school districts that are eligible for the minimum per-pupil aid from the state, and Republican Sen. Peter Durant of Spencer is looking to add $15 million for regional school transportation reimbursement (#87) and to add $50 million in supplemental Chapter 90 roadwork funding (#93). President Donald Trump's tariffs could become a talking point in Thursday's debate. Sen. Michael Moore is proposing (#1) to require the attorney general to issue regulations declaring it to be an 'unfair and deceptive practice' for any company to misrepresent or fail to disclose 'the nature, purpose, and amount of any import fees, import charges, or other import duties that would be imposed on the transaction due to the purchase' in Massachusetts. When the House debated its version of the surtax supplemental budget last month, House Speaker Ronald Mariano got a $25 million earmark for a parking garage at a medical facility in his Quincy hometown. For that earmark to become reality, it will need to either be added to the Senate plan or survive House-Senate negotiations over a compromise version. Local News Headlines WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WWLP.
