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.
Top Democrats in both branches of the state legislature are now in agreement on a plan that would carve out hundreds of millions of dollars for one-time safety funding for the MBTA and $250 million to put towards a rail expansion in western Massachusetts.
Less than a week after federal overseers ordered immediate action to fix glaring safety deficiencies at the MBTA, lawmakers charted a response plan that pins blame on the Baker administration and puts hundreds of millions of dollars on the table.
Legislative action to create a new public authority that would oversee a western Massachusetts passenger rail expansion would be “very premature,” House Speaker Ronald Mariano said Wednesday.
