Page 8 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, JULY 22, 2022 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 47 - Report No. 28 July 11-15, 2022 Copyright © 2022 Beacon Hill Roll Call. All Rights Reserved. By Bob Katzen 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 infl uence. 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: Beacon Hill Roll Call records representatives’ and senators’ votes on roll calls from the week of July 11-15. $4.2 BILLION ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PACKAGE AND TAX CUTS (H 5077) House 154-0, approved and sent to the Senate a $4.2 billion economic development package. The bill provides $500 million one-time tax rebates to an estimated 2 million eligible people. A $250 rebate would go, by September 30, to individual taxpayers and a $500 rebate to married taxpayers. Eligibility will be determined by annual income reported in 2021, with the minimum income required to be $38,000, and the maximum $100,000 for individual fi lers and $150,000 for joint fi lers. Beginning in 2023, several permanent tax reductions would take eff ect including increasing the Child and Dependent Care Credit from $180 per child to $310 per child, as well as eliminating the current cap of $360 for two or more children; increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit from 30 percent to 40 percent of the federal credit; increasing the Senior Circuit Breaker Tax Credit from $750 to $1,755; increasing the rental deduction cap from $3,000 to $4,000; and increasing the estate tax threshold from $1 million to $2 million. The measure would break new ground for the Massachusetts Lottery by allowing it to sell some of its products online. Some of the revenue collected from online sales will go to fund an Early Education and Care Fund. Other provisions include $80 million for community health centers; $30 million to support rest homes; $15 million for grants to reproductive rights providers for security, workforce and educational needs; $175 million for state parks and recreational facilities upgrades, with $25 million for communities of color; $100 million for the Clean Water Trust Fund; • • • Rocco Longo, Owner $125 million for small businesses, with $75 million for minority-owned businesses; $50 million for broadband investments in underserved communities; and $75 million in grants to hotels across the state who saw fi nancial loses during the pandemic. “Today, the House passed much needed relief for the citizens of the commonwealth,” said Rep. Mark Cusack (D-Braintree), House Chair of the Committee on Revenue. The onetime stimulus program we adopted, along with the Essential Premium Pay Program from earlier this year, means that nearly three million residents will have received direct payments totaling nearly $1 billion this year. We are also making permanent changes to our tax system that will provide over $500 million in relief every year going forward.” “As Massachusetts residents continue to face severe infl ation and economic uncertainty, I’m proud of the action taken by the House today that will provide low and middle-class taxpayers with much needed fi nancial relief,” said House Speaker Ron Mariano (D-Quincy). “Included in this legislation are several signifi cant tax relief proposals, over $2.5 billion worth of one-time industry targeted investments, economic relief rebates for qualifying taxpayers and a newly established source of revenue to fund the state’s early education and care system. These are vital forms of real, tangible economic relief.” “This legislation will ensure Massachusetts continues its strong economic growth and puts us in solid footing to rebound from the pandemic,” said Rep. Jerry Parisella (D-Beverly), House Chair of the Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies. “Some highlights include providing a boost to our local theaters, giving our academic institutions the ability to lead the nation in fi elds like artifi cial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, cyber security and robotics. And also provide funding to create thousands of units of housing throughout the commonwealth. (A “Yes” vote is for the bill). Rep. Jessica Giannino Yes Rep. Donald Wong Yes REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE (S 2996) Senate 40-0, approved a bill designed to further protect reproductive health care and those who perform abortions in the Bay State. The measure specifi cally declares that both reproductive health care and gender-affi rming care are rights secured by the constitution or laws of Massachusetts and would shield providers of reproductive and gender-affi rming care and their patients from out-of-state legal action. Other provisions include preventing the state’s cooperation with anti-abortion and anti-gender-affirming care laws in other states; mandating health insurance coverage for abortion and abortion-related care with no cost-sharing; ensuring access to emergency contraception; and providing confi dentiality to providers of reproductive and gender-affi rming care. “Passing this legislation is a monumental step forward in Massachusetts, as we are seeing increasingly more anti-abortion and anti-gender-affirming care legislation rise across the country,” said Sen. Cindy Friedman (D-Arlington), Senate Chair of the Committee on Health Care Financing and the sponsor of the bill. “We must do everything to protect the rights of our providers, patients and visitors to the commonwealth. As we further realize the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision … we will continue to fi ght these attacks on reproductive and gender-affi rming care with meaningful action.” “A fundamental teaching of the Catholic faith is that an unborn child is a human person with the inalienable right to life and this life must be protected from conception to birth,” said a statement from the Massachusetts Catholic Conference. “It is in this light that the Catholic Bishops of Massachusetts have always strongly opposed abortion and all legislative efforts to expand the practice.” “We cannot let other states threaten Massachusetts’ pregnant and transgender people, or the providers who take care of them,” said Senate President Karen Spilka (D-Ashland). “Massachusetts will not waiver in protecting our residents’ rights. The Legislature prepared for the end of Roe v. Wade by passing the ROE Act in 2020, which ensured the continuation of reproductive healthcare services when we could no longer count on the federal government. Now, we must prepare our commonwealth for the potential further erosion of our rights and protections at the federal level.” “The Legislature’s myopic pursuit of abortion and gender identity extremism is out of sync with the voters of MasBHRC | SEE PAGE 9 OUR OFFICE HAS MOVED TO 519 BROADWAY, EVERETT SABATINO INSURANCE AGENCY 519 BROADWAY EVERETT, MA 02149 PHONE: (617) 387-7466 FAX: (617) 381-9186 Visit us online at: WWW.SABATINO-INS.COM
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