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THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, April 18, 2025 Page 15 Beacon Hill Roll Call By Bob Katzen If you have any questions about this week's report, e-mail us at bob@beaconhillrollcall.com or call us at (617) 720-1562. Beacon Hill Roll Call Volume 50 -Report No. 15 April 7-11, 2025 Copyright © 2025 Beacon Hill Roll Call. All Rights Reserved. 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://MASSterList/subscribe/ THE HOUSE AND SENATE: Beacon Hill Roll Call records local representatives' votes on roll calls from the week of April 7-11. There were no roll calls in the Senate last week. $1.3 BILLION FOR TRANSPORTATION AND EDUCATION (H 4005) House 140-14, approved and sent to the Senate 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 $353 million for education-related projects and $828 million for transportation-related ones. It also includes non-surtax spending that pushes the combined bottom line to roughly $1.3 billion. The surtax was created by voters in November 2022 when they voted for a constitutional amendment that allows a graduated income tax in Massachusetts and imposes an additional 4 percent income tax, in addition to the flat 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, affordable public colleges and universities, and for the repair and maintenance of roads, bridges and public transportation.” A total of $818 million of the $828 million for transportation will be used for various MBTA projects while $10 million will fund unpaved roads. The $353 million for education includes $190 million for Circuit Breaker reimbursements, which provide financial assistance to public school districts to offset the cost of delivering high-cost special education services to students; $50 million for capital improvements at vocational schools; $40 million for early education and care workforce; $10 million for universal school meals for all public-school students; and $10 million for Green SchoolWorks to decarbonize and increase efficiency in schools through green energy projects. “Ensuring that every Massachusetts resident has access to a safe and reliable public transportation system, and that every student in the commonwealth receives a high-quality education, are two of the most fundamental responsibilities that we have as elected officials,” said House Speaker Ron Mariano (D-Quincy). “The investments being made in this supplemental budget are representative of the House’s continued focus on meeting those responsibilities and were made possible as a result of years of fiscally responsible, consensus driven budgeting.” “The use of these one-time surplus of funds are a unique opportunity for us to better strengthen the commonwealth in numerous ways,” said Rep. Aaron Michlewitz (D-Boston), chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means. “By further improving our educational and transportation sectors, we will build off the work we have done in the last several budget cycles with a judicious use of the Fair Share funds.” “[The] session was dominated by votes that favored pork barrel spending and neglected support for cities and towns in transportation and education,” said Rep. Marc Lombardo (R-Billerica) who voted against the package. “Instead of allocating critical funding for roads and bridges to benefit all communities, the bill was filled with pork spending for House leadership. Moreover, instead of fully funding special education costs that are straining municipal budgets, we allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to the MBTA. Overall, the bill failed to provide comprehensive financial support to communities across the commonwealth. Beacon Hill needs to do better.” “While the education piece was strong, the transportation piece was not,” said Rep. Joe McKenna (R-Webster). “The stark disparity in funding between the MBTA getting nearly the entirety of funding while the 277 cities and towns without direct MBTA access were effectively left out, was too large a gap to support the bill.” (A “Yes” vote is for the bill. A “No” vote is against it.) Rep. Paul Donato Rep. Steven Ultrino Yes Yes $50 MILLION TO CITIES AND TOWNS FOR LOCAL ROADS (H 4005) House 25-125, rejected an amendment that would reduce funding for the MBTA by $50 million (from $818 million to $768 million) and instead give the $50 million to cities and towns for roads using a formula based strictly on each municipality’s local road mileage. Currently, communities receive roads funding based on their population, employment and total road miles. “The amendment would have shifted only $50 million - just 6 percent out of $828 million - for the MBTA and reappropriate it to Chapter 90 to be allocated based on a town's road mileage,” said amendment sponsor Rep. Joe McKenna (R-Sutton). “This would have shown a strong commitment from the commonwealth to provide regional equity in transportation infrastructure in all corners of the state, while still infusing a massive $743 million dollars to the T.” Rep. James Arciero (D-Westford) said that adequate funding for roads and bridges is always important, but it's part of a larger discussion. This is a subject that's better suited for examination before the public at the committee level. The Transportation Committee will take up this very subject tomorrow when it hears the governor's $1.5 billion proposal for the Chapter 90 program. The committee looks forward to hearing from legislators, stakeholders and municipal leaders across the state as we examine the governor's proposal. (A “Yes” vote is for $50 million for cities and towns. A “No” vote is against it.) Rep. Paul Donato Rep. Steven Ultrino No No ALSO UP ON BEACON HILL TRANSGENDER STUDENTS AND SCHOOL SPORTS - During the debate on the surtax, Freshman Rep. John Gaskey (R-Carver) proposed an amendment that would prohibit any public school from allowing a biological male athlete to participate on a girls’ sports team and also prohibit a biological female athlete from participating on a boys’ sports team. Any school found not in compliance with this ban would forfeit all games which violate the ban. “For too long Massachusetts has put girls at risk in sports,” said Gaskey. “There have been several instances of boys seriously injuring girls on the field during matches. This is not a transgender issue alone, this is protecting children and creating a system of fair competition. Boys are stronger, faster and more aggressive, and put girls, who are more prone to injury (Harvard study), at greater risk. Massachusetts is putting federal funding at risk by not addressing this requirement as well." The House did not vote on the ban itself because Rep. Ken Gordon (D-Bedford) offered a further amendment that would delay the ban from taking place until the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education studies the transgender students in school sports issue. The House approved the delay and essentially killed Gaskey’s bill. The vote was conducted on a voice vote without a roll call. Rep. Gordon said that the issue is not a simple one but rather a complex one, involving issues of federal and state law, and also is the subject of multiple bills that are being considered by the Committee on Education, including one proposed by Gaskey himself. He argued that the study and a public hearing on the ban should be complete before the House votes on it. In his first speech on the floor of the House, Gaskey called Gordon's maneuver "a way to bury this and make sure that nobody ever gets this on the record." "We don't need a study on how this is going to affect people," he said. "We already know this is going to affect people. We already know how many students are going to be affected — every student is going to be affected. Every student athlete will play on the team they were born to play on. That's what this bill is." He said his proposed ban would bring Massachusetts in line with the federal government because President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February prohibiting transgender women and girls from competing in female sports. CONTRIBUTE VIA A MASSACHUSETTS TAX RETURN TO COUNTRIES COPING WITH GLOBAL WARMING (S 1922) – The Revenue Committee held a hearing on a measure that would give Massachusetts residents the option, on their Massachusetts income tax form, to contribute to a special United Nations Fund -- the Least Developed Countries Fund -- to help developing countries cope with the effects of global warming. Supporters say the state income tax form currently features six “tax check-off" options that give residents the option, when filing their state income tax return, to contribute all or part of their tax refund to various causes. Sen. Mike Barrett (D-Lexington), the sponsor of the bill, did not respond to repeated requests by Beacon Hill Roll Call to explain why he filed the bill. “Sen. Barrett’s idea is incredibly silly and just shows how out of touch some lawmakers become when they get elected,” said Paul Craney, executive director of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. “As ratepayers see their utility and energy bills increase by 30 to 50 percent to fund climate mandates passed by the Legislature, the senator wants to send more money to the climate causes.” BHRC| SEE PAGE 16

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