Page 24 THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, MAy 16, 2025 proved its own version of the budget and a House-Senate conference committee will hammer out a compromise version that will be sent to Gov. Maura Healey. The surtax was created by GET A FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO MASSTERLIST – Join more than 30,000 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 infl uence. The stories are drawn from major news organizations as well as specialized publications. MASSterList will be e-mailed to you FREE every Monday through Saturday 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: www. massterlist.com THE HOUSE AND SENATE: Beacon Hill Roll Call records local senators’ votes on the only roll call from the week of May 5-9. There were no roll calls in the House last week. $1.3 BILLION FOR TRANSPORTATION AND EDUCATION (S 2512) Senate 40-0, approved a $1.3 billion supplemental budget that uses funds generated from the recent surtax imposed on taxpayers’ earnings of more than $1 million annually, to fund $617 million for education-related projects and $670 million for transportation-related ones. The House has already apCITY OF EVERETT ~ Legal Notice ~ ~ Legal Notice ~ PUBLIC HEARING FOR PETITION FROM MASSACHUSETTS ELECTRIC COMPANY D/B/A NATIONAL GRID OF NORTH ANDOVER, MASSACHUSETTS & VERIZON, NEW ENGLAND To all parties interested in the public hearing. Be it hereby ordered: Massachusetts Electric Company d/b/a National Grid of North Andover, Massachusetts and Verizon New England requests permission to locate poles, wires, fixtures, including the necessary sustaining and protecting fixtures, along and across the following public way or ways hereinafter named. The following are the streets and highways referred to: No. # 31114927 – Main Street - National Grid to install underground facilities on Main Street beginning at a point approximately 105 feet Northeast of the centerline of the intersection of Main Street and Linden Street and continuing approximately 8 feet in an Easterly direction. National Grid to install approximately 8’of 1-3” conduit from existing manhole B-530 to private property to provide a permanent underground service at 229-231 Main Street. Everett MA Wherefore it prays that after due notice and hearing as provided by law, it be granted a location for and permission to erect and maintain poles and wires, together with such sustaining and protecting fixtures as it may find necessary, said poles to be erected substantially in accordance with the plan filed herewith marked: Main Street - Everett - Massachusetts. Hearing to be held with the Everett City Council, held on Tuesday at 7:00PM, on the 27th of May, 2025 at the Everett City Council Chambers, 3rd Floor, Everett City Hall. May 16, 2025 voters in November 2022 when they voted for a constitutional amendment, dubbed by supporters as the “Fair Share Amendment,” that allows a graduated income tax in Massachusetts and imposes an additional 4 percent income tax, in addition to the fl at 5 percent one, on taxpayers’ earnings of more than $1 million annually. Language in the constitutional amendment requires that “subject to appropriation, the revenue will go to fund quality public education, aff ordable public colleges and universities, and for the repair and maintenance of roads, bridges and public transportation.” A total of $370 million of the $670 million for transportation will be used for various MBTA projects. The $617 million for education includes $248 million for special education; $190 million for higher education; $50 million for local school construction; $25 million for literacy growth; $100 million for Career Technical Education Capital Grants; and $10 million for English Language Learning Programs. Senators had filed 317 amendments to the budget but there were no roll call votes on any of the individual amendments. Instead, the Senate approved or rejected some individual amendments, some with debate and some without debate, on unrecorded voice votes which do not allow the public to see how individual senators voted. To move things along even faster, the Senate also did its usual “bundling” of many amendments. Instead of acting on each amendment one at a time, dozens of the proposed amendments are bundled and put into two piles—one pile that will be approved and the other that will be rejected, without a roll call, on voice votes where it is impossible to tell which way a senator votes. Senate President Karen Spilka, or the senator who is fi lling in for her at the podium, orchestrates the approval and rejection of the bundled amendments with a simple: “All those in favor say ‘Aye,’ those opposed say ‘No.’ The Ayes have it and the amendments are approved.” Or: “All those in favor say ‘Aye,’ those opposed say ‘No.’ The No’s have it and the amendments are rejected.” Senators don’t actually vote Yes or No, and, in fact, they don’t say a word. The outcome was predetermined earlier behind closed doors. “This bill answers the clear message that our residents sent us in 2022—to invest these dollars across the state to continue building the high-quality education and transportation systems Massachusetts deserves,” said Senate President Karen Spilka (D-Ashland). “At a time of economic uncertainty, we are committed to supporting our schools and making sure that residents can travel safely, and these Fair Share funds allow us to do that.” Although no senators voted against the budget, there was opposition to it from outside the Senate. “The Senate’s $1.3 billion supplemental budget is yet another example of Beacon Hill’s addiction to unchecked spending,” said Paul Craney, executive director of the Mass Fiscal Alliance. “Instead of showing restraint or using this opportunity to reform broken systems like the MBTA, lawmakers are rushing to shovel taxpayer money into a badly mismanaged MBTA that is riddled with inefficiency. Voters were told surtax revenue would be used responsibly—this bloated bill proves otherwise. Massachusetts taxpayers deserve accountability, not another blank check for Beacon Hill’s failures.” “I’m pleased the Senate has passed this Fair Share supplemental budget, prioritizing regional equity while also maintaining fi scal integrity during these highly uncertain times,” said Sen. Mike Rodrigues, (D-Westport) Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. “By utilizing almost $1.3 billion in one-time surplus surtax revenues, the proposal strengthens the commonwealth’s economic foundation by making meaningful investments in education and transportation. This budget plan reaffi rms the Senate’s strong commitment to educational excellence, provides significant resources for special education and makes substantial investments in our transportation infrastructure. It goes above and beyond to give everyone a ‘fair share.’” “Amid waves of uncertainty at the national level and devastating federal cuts, the Massachusetts Senate answered the call of residents to use surplus Fair Share Amendment funds to invest BEACON | SEE PAGE 25
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