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Page 12 THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, AugusT 18, 2023 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 selected by widely acclaimed and highly experienced writers Keith Regan and Matt Murphy who introduce each article in their own clever and inimitable way. 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 call votes in the House or Senate last week. This week, Beacon Hill Roll Call reports local senators’ roll call attendance records so far for the 2023 session. The Senate has held 61 roll calls so far in the 2023 session. Beacon Hill Roll Call tabulates the number of roll calls on which each senator voted and then calculates that number as a percentage of the total roll call votes held. That percentage is the number referred to as the roll call attendance record. Thirty-two (82 percent) of the current 39 senators (one seat is vacant) did not miss any roll calls and have 100 percent roll call attendance records. It is a Senate tradition that the Senate president only votes occasionally. Current Senate President Karen Spilka follows that tradition and only voted on 12 (20 percent) of the 61 roll calls while not voting on 49 (80 percent) of them. Six (15 percent) of the 39 senators, other than Spilka, missed one or more roll calls. Sen. Liz Miranda (D-Boston) has the worst record. She missed nine roll calls for a roll call attendance record of 85.2 percent. The other five senators missed one roll call each for a roll call attendance record of 98.3 percent. They are Sens. Mike Barrett (D-Lexington), Adam Gomez (D-Springfield), John Keenan (D-Quincy), Patrick O’Connor (R-Weymouth) and Mike Rush (D-West Roxbury). Beacon Hill Roll Call contactBeacon Hill Roll Call By Bob Katzen ed the six senators asking why they missed some roll calls. Only one of the six responded. “Although present in the Senate chamber for the one roll call in which I did not participate this session, I chose not to vote due to a potential conflict of interest,” said Sen. Keenan. The vote Keenan missed was on Gov. Maura Healey’s reorganization plan that would split the current Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development into two separate cabinet level departments: the new Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities and the renamed Secretary of Economic Development. Keenan did not respond to a request by Beacon Hill Roll Call to explain the potential conflict of interest. Sens. Miranda, Barrett, Gomez, O’Connor and Rush did not respond to repeated requests by Beacon Hill Roll Call asking them for a statement. SENATORS’ 2023 ROLL CALL ATTENDANCE RECORDS THROUGH AUGUST 11, 2023 The percentage listed next to the senator’s name is the percentage of roll call votes on which the senator voted. The number in parentheses represents the number of roll calls that he or she missed. Sen. Sal DiDomenico 100 percent (0) ALSO UP ON BEACON HILL GOV. HEALEY SIGNS $56 BILLION BUDGET – Gov. Maura Healey signed into law a $56 billion fiscal 2024 state budget. The package represents a 6.2 percent increase over last year’s budget signed by Former Gov. Charlie Baker. Healey vetoed $272 million in spending and the Legislature now has the opportunity to override the vetoes with a twothirds vote of each branch. “This budget makes our state more affordable, competitive and equitable,” Healey said. “It will make a real and meaningful difference in the lives of people across Massachusetts, lowering their costs, expanding access to opportunity, improving the quality of their life.” Provisions include $171.5 million to fund a requirement that all public schools provide free school lunches to all K-12 students in all schools regardless of family income; and free breakfast only to the students in schools which participate in the breakfast program. According to Project Bread, which was at the forefront of the coalition working to pass the law, 1,961(91.8 percent) of Bay State schools participate in the breakfast program. Massachusetts has now joined seven states, California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, Vermont and Michigan that have passed laws to make school meals permanent. “Today, Massachusetts made history,” said Erin McAleer, Presidentand CEO of Project Bread. “This victory for families across the commonwealth will have a lasting impact on generations of students to come.” The package also allows 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. Other provisions include $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 incoming and outgoing phone calls for prisoners. THE GOVERNOR DECLARES A STATE OF EMERGENCY – Gov. Healey declared a state of emergency in Massachusetts due to the “rapidly rising numbers of migrant families arriving in Massachusetts in need of shelter and services and a severe lack of shelter availability in the state.” “State employees and our partners have been miracle workers throughout this crisis – going above and beyond to support families and using every tool at their disposal to expand shelter capacity by nearly 80 percent in the last year,” said Healey. “But in recent months, demand has increased to levels that our emergency shelter system cannot keep up with, especially as the number of families leaving shelters has dwindled due to a lack of affordable housing options and barriers to securing work.” Healey continued, “I am declaring a state of emergency in Massachusetts and urging my partners in the federal government to take the action we need to address this crisis by streamlining the work authorization process and passing comprehensive immigration reform. Many of the new arrivals to our state desperately want to work, and we have historic workforce demands across all industries. I am also calling on all of our partners – from cities and towns to the faith community - philanthropic organizations and human service providers – to rise to this challenge and do whatever you can to help us meet this moment.” The Healey administration also urged landlords, houses of worship, universities, businesses and private residents to open their facilities, homes and businesses to help house immigrants. “This is not a crisis that our family shelter system was designed to handle,” said Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll. “For months now, state government and our providers have been doing the work of stretching the system as far as it can safely go. But we really need to bring more people into this work to make it a true team effort. If you have an extra room or suite in your home, please consider hosting a family. Safe housing and shelter is our most pressing need.” Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance condemned what it calls “the Biden administration’s failure to properly secure the southern border and the Healey administration for being complacent.” “Immigration should not be politicalized but the Biden administration is either playing politics or we are watching a historic failure in leadership,” said Paul Craney, spokesman for Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. “While Washington’s dysfunction may seem far removed, their failures are now starting to have a very real and tangible negative impact in Massachusetts.” Craney continued, “It’s no secret Gov. Maura Healey likes to travel out of state, perhaps it is time [for] the governor to take a trip to the southern border to see firsthand the open southern border crisis. Without recognizing the severity of the problem and reasons for it, which is an open border and unaccountable president, it will persist by draining resources from Massachusetts and its taxpayers.” FREE COLLEGE TUITION FOR KIDS RAISED BY NON-PARENTS INCLUDING GRANDPARENTS (H 1257, S 819) – A bill heard by the Higher Education Committee would provide tuition and fee waivers for any Bay State resident attending a Massachusetts public state university and who lives with a grandparent or other family member, other than their parents. “The bill would provide much-needed financial relief for young adults pursuing higher education in the commonwealth who were raised by family members other than their parents – such as grandparents,” said Senate sponsor Sen. Julian Cyr (D-Truro). “Foster children under Department of Children and Families (DCF) care have been entitled to a tuition-free education at state-schools for several years,” said House sponsor Rep. Paul Donato (D-Medford). “With 35,000 grandparents raising their grandchildren throughout the commonwealth, this legislation will allow students being raised by their grandparents to have an equal opportunity to a tuition-free education as their peers in DCF care.” FREE TUITION FOR SENIORS OVER 60 (H 1274) – Another measure before the Higher Education Committee would establish a pilot reimbursement program for Massachusetts public higher education institutions providing tuition and fee waivers to senior citizens above the age of 60.The program would apply, subject to availability and a maximum of four courses per academic years, to qualifying seniors who are enrolled in undergraduate programs, summer sessions, evening classes BEACON | SEE PAGE 14

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