This from the Massachusetts Municipal Association this afternoon –
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
LEGISLATIVE LEADERS ANNOUNCE TRANSPORTATION FINANCE FRAMEWORK AND PLAN
SPEAKER & SENATE PRESIDENT EMBRACE $300M FOR CHAPTER 90
Leaders Commit to Forward Funding and Increases for RTAs
Plan Includes $500m in Targeted Taxes, $250m in Agency Revenues
Earlier today, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, Senate President Therese Murray, and the respective chairs of the House and Senate Ways and Means and Transportation Committees announced agreement on a comprehensive framework to address the state’s transportation finance crisis. The plan includes a commitment to increasing Chapter 90 funding to $300 million a year, and forward-funding regional transit systems across the state.
The details of the framework were announced at a State House press conference, and the highlights include:
• $300 million for the Chapter 90 program, a fifty percent increase in funding, beginning with passage this month of a one-year bond bill for fiscal 2014 to avoid delays during the current construction season, and passage of the $300 million amount in a multi-year bond bill to be considered by the Legislature later this session;
• Forward funding of all regional transit systems in the fiscal 2014 budget (an $80 million commitment), and funding increases for RTAs in future budgets;
• Closing the state government’s existing transportation funding gap and investing in new projects through a combination of $500 million in new targeted tax revenues and $250 million in agency revenues phased in over several years, which would be distributed in the state budget and passage of a multi-year transportation bond bill that will be considered this summer or fall.
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE LEGISLATURE’S POWERPOINT PRESENTATION ON THE PLAN
There are many steps remaining in this process, including: passage of the one-year $300 million Chapter 90 bond bill that will be before the House tomorrow (Wednesday, April 3) and the Senate as early as next week; debate and passage of the tax and agency revenue proposals in April; passage of the fiscal 2014 state budget with the necessary funding; and passage of a multi-year transportation bond bill to maintain and increase investment in our transportation infrastructure.
Please contact your Representatives and Senators to discuss the Legislature’s plan, ask them to support the Chapter 90 increase, and tell them you will support the revenue increases necessary to fix our broken transportation finance system.
Thank you very much!
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