Senators will try to convince their House colleagues the time is right to make another pass at mandating a low-income fare program at the MBTA, reviving the specter of a gubernatorial veto during the coming late-session flurry.
The Department of Revenue is still counting, but the budget watchers at the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation expect that the Legislature will have a surplus of $3.6 billion when the final accounting of the fiscal year that ended last week is complete.
Gov. Charlie Baker’s $3.5 billion economic development bill, one of his priorities for the remaining three months of formal lawmaking this year, will get its hearing Monday before the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu proposes to boost funding for the city’s Main Streets nonprofits and rental rebates for retailers to stem business displacement and fill vacancies in outlying neighborhoods.
A grant given to fund an affordable housing project reduces the cost basis for developers and thereby reduces the amount that can be raised in private funds through the LIHTC program.
A $3.5 billion economic development bill that Gov. Charlie Baker announced on Thursday looks to chart a post-pandemic pathway for Massachusetts with investments in housing, downtown revitalization and climate resilience, administration officials said.
Without the crutch of pandemic-era emergency rental assistance, Antonia De Leon of Lynn worries that she and her family might not have been able to remain in their home.
Acknowledging that surplus tax collections and federal aid have kept Massachusetts afloat through the darkest days of the pandemic, House leadership on Wednesday unveiled a nearly $50 billion budget for fiscal year 2023 that Speaker Ron Mariano said will reinvest in the state’s lower- and middle-class residents and gird the post-COVID economy for “tough times” in the future.
About half of the state’s 47 mayors got together Wednesday morning in Brockton to compare notes on some of the most pressing issues facing Massachusetts municipalities – homelessness, housing and the use of federal COVID relief funds.
The latest batch of employment data estimated that Massachusetts had about 181,000 unemployed workers in January, a month when the statewide count of jobs stood 131,000 below where it was before COVID-19 hit.
In a joint statement, Speaker Ronald Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka said the House will take up the bill Thursday, with the Senate planning to follow suit Friday.
With billions of dollars in federal pandemic aid burning a hole in its pocket, the state legislature is looking for ways to invest in the future of Massachusetts.
