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THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, FEbRuARy 16, 2024 Page 17 GET A FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO MASSTERLIST – Join more than 22,000 people, from movers and shakers to political junkies and interested citizens, who start their weekday morning with MASSterList—the popular newsletter that chronicles news and informed analysis about what’s going on up on Beacon Hill, in Massachusetts politics, policy, media and influence. The stories are drawn from major news organizations as well as specialized publications. MASSterlist will be e-mailed to you FREE every Monday through Friday morning and will give you a leg up on what’s happening in the blood sport of Bay State politics. For more information and to get your free subscription, go to: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/aPTLucK THE HOUSE AND SENATE: There were no roll calls in the House or Senate last week. This week Beacon Hill Roll Call reports on some of the bills that were approved by the 20232024 Legislature through February 9, 2024 and signed into law by Gov. Maura Healey. Of the more than 6,400 bills that have been filed for consideration, only 108 have been approved by the Legislature and signed into law by the governor. Of those 108, 16 were bills that affect the entire state while the other 92 were either sick leave banks or other local-related measures applying to just one city or town. Sick leave banks allow public employees to voluntarily donate sick, personal or vacation days to a sick leave bank for use by a fellow worker so he or she can get paid while on medical leave. Here are six of the important statewide-related bills signed into law including comments from legislators at the time the bill was approved. $56.2 BILLION FISCAL 2024 STATE BUDGET (H 4040) House 156-2, Senate 39-0, approved a $56.2 billion fiscal 2024 state budget for the fiscal year that began July 1, 2023. The price tag represents a $3.8 billion increase over last year’s fiscal 2023 budget. Provisions include $171.5 million to require public schools to provide universal free school meals to all students; $50 million to support free community colleges; $50 million to create Green School Works, a program to fund projects to install and maintain clean energy infrastructure at public schools; $6.59 billion in Chapter 70 education funding for cities and towns, an increase of $604 million over last year; $504.5 million for the special education circuit breaker; $181 million for MBTA capital projects; $19.81 billion for MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program that provides health care for low-income and disabled persons; and a new law that prisons must provide free unlimited Beacon Hill Roll Call By Bob Katzen incoming and outgoing phone calls for prisoners. Another provision would allow undocumented/illegal immigrants to qualify for the lower in-state college tuition rate if they attended high school here for at least three years and graduated or completed a GED. “Massachusetts continues to move in a positive direction by making significant investments in this budget,” said Rep. Todd Smola (R-Warren), the ranking House member of the Committee on Ways and Means. “We prioritize local funding by increasing general government aid to municipalities and double the minimum aid contribution per pupil for education.” “While there were many good provisions in the budget, the final version contained policies, unrelated to the budget itself, that we could not support,” said Reps. Nick Boldyga (R-Southwick) and Marc Lombardo (R-Billerica) in a joint statement. The statement continued, “Seniors, renters, small businesses and hard-working families can barely afford to make ends meet. As a result, Massachusetts continues to see one of the highest out-migrations in the country. At the same time, this budget provides a massive expansion in financial benefits for illegal immigrants. It’s easier for Hollywood movie studios and multi-national corporations to get massive tax cuts than for the working-class to catch a break. The people of Massachusetts deserve better.” (A “Yes” vote is for the budget. A “No” vote is against it.) Rep. Joseph McGonagle Sen. Sal DiDomenico Yes Yes $388.6 MILLION FISCAL 2023 SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET (H 3548) House 153-0, Senate 39-0, approved a $388.6 million fiscal 2023 supplemental budget. Provisions include $65 million for free school meals; $130 million to keep expanded nutrition assistance in place for a few more months; $2 million for the reimbursement of SNAP benefits for victims of benefit theft; $250,000 for a free abortion-related legal hotline; $45 million for emergency shelter assistance; $40 million to support affordable housing for immigrants and refugees; and $2 million for the Boston branch of the NAACP for costs of some programs to be included in its 114th National NAACP Conference in 2023 in Boston. Other provisions keep some pandemic-era programs, set to expire, in place including allowing restaurants to sell beer, wine and cocktails for take-out; expanding outdoor dining; and extending the authority, set to expire in a few weeks, for public bodies, agencies and commissions to hold their meetings remotely. “This supplemental budget ensures that our commonwealth continues to support the most vulnerable among us while also building on the lessons we learned during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Senate President Karen Spilka (D-Ashland). “I’m proud to say that the Legislature has proven once again that it has the courage to chart a course that leaves no place or person in the commonwealth behind.” (A “Yes” vote is for the $388.6 million supplemental budget.) Rep. Joseph McGonagle Sen. Sal DiDomenico Yes Yes $375 MILLION FOR ROADS AND BRIDGES (S 2375) House 157-0, Senate 38-0, approved a bill that includes authorizing $200 million in one-time funding for the maintenance and repair of local roads and bridges in cities and towns across the state. The $375 million package, a bond bill under which the funding would be borrowed by the state through the sale of bonds, also includes $175 million for several transportation-related grant programs. The programs funded by the $175 million include the municipal small bridge program; the complete streets program; a bus transit infrastructure program; and grants for municipalities to purchase electric vehicles and the infrastructure needed to support them. “Providing funding for critical infrastructure projects through investments in the commonwealth’s public transportation, roads and bridges is one of the most important responsibilities that we have as members of the Legislature,” said House Speaker Ron Mariano (D-Quincy). “I’m proud of the support for regional infrastructure that this legislation provides, and of the funding that it allocates for the purchasing of electric vehicles by transit authorities.” (A “Yes” vote is for the $375 million package.) Rep. Joseph McGonagle Sen. Sal DiDomenico Yes Yes TAX RELIEF PACKAGE (H 4104) House 155-1, Senate 38-1, approved a tax relief package that supporters say will provide $561.3 million in tax relief in fiscal year 2024 and $1.02 billion per year in subsequent years. Provisions include increasing the rental deduction cap from $3,000 to $4,000; reducing the estate tax for all taxpayers and eliminating the tax for all estates under $2 million by allowing a uniform credit of $99,600; increasing the refundable tax credit for a dependent child, disabled adult or senior from $180 to $310 per dependent in taxable year 2023, and then to $440 in subsequent years while eliminating the child/dependent cap; doubling the refundable senior circuit breaker tax credit from $1,200 to $2,400; increasing the refundable Earned Income Tax Credit from 30 percent to 40 percent of the federal credit; and reducing the short-term capital gains tax rate from 12 percent to 8.5 percent. Other provisions double the lead paint tax credit to $3,000 for full abatement and $1,000 for partial abatement; ensure that employer student loan payments are not treated as taxCITY OF EVERETT able compensation; make public transit fares, as well as ferry and regional transit passes and bike commuter expenses, eligible for the commuter expense tax deduction; increase from $1,500 to $2,000 the maximum that municipalities may pay seniors to do volunteer work to reduce their property taxes; raise the annual authorization for the low income housing tax credit from $40 million to $60 million; and allow cities and towns to adopt a local property tax exemption for affordable real estate that is rented by a person whose income is less than a certain level set by the municipality. The measure also includes two provisions which the Mass Fiscal Alliance says will result in tax hikes. One would require Massachusetts married couples who file income tax returns jointly at the federal level to do the same at the state level. The other changes the system under Chapter 62F that requires that annual tax revenue above a certain amount collected by the state go back to the taxpayers. Under current law, the money is returned to taxpayers based on what he or she earned and paid in taxes. The new tax package changed that and provided that each taxpayer will receive a flat rate refund, unrelated to what they earned or paid in taxes. “This is the most significant tax relief package in a generation,” said Senate President Karen Spilka (D-Ashland). “This legislation is going to put real dollars into the pockets of the people who need it most, including parents, seniors, young people and middle class families who are struggling to keep up with rising costs. This bill includes BEACON | SEE PAGE 18 PUBLIC HEARING FOR PETITION FROM MASSACHUSETTS ELECTRIC COMPANY D/B/A NATIONAL GRID OF NORTH ANDOVER, MASSACHUSETTS To all parties interested in the public hearing. Be it hereby ordered: Massachusetts Electric Company d/b/a National Grid of North Andover, Massachusetts that it desires to construct a line of underground electric conduits, including the necessary sustaining and protecting fixtures, under and across the following public way or ways hereinafter named. The following are the streets and highways referred to: No. # 30742492 Second Street - National Grid to install approximately -75’, 2-4” PVC conduits from Pole #2161 to customer owned manhole #170. Wherefore it prays that after due notice and hearing as provided by law, it be granted permission to excavate the public highways and to run and maintain underground electric conduits, together with such sustaining and protecting fixtures as it may find necessary for the transmission of electricity, said underground conduits to be located substantially in accordance with the plan filed herewith marked: Second Street - Everett - Massachusetts. Hearing to be held with the Everett City Council, held on Monday at 7:00PM, on the 26th of February, 2024 at the Everett City Council Chambers, 3rd Floor, Everett City Hall. February 16, 2024

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