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Photo courtesy of the MBTA
Lawmakers decided they need at least another week to work through the billions of dollars in borrowing and spending that Gov. Charlie Baker proposed to invest in the state’s infrastructure.
On Friday, the same day the Transportation Committee faced a deadline to report on Baker’s $9.7 billion infrastructure bond bill, its co-chair Rep. William Straus filed an extension order pushing its due date back to May 13.
Straus said his panel has been “working on the details” and sought an additional week “because of the technical wording on a couple of things.”
Baker unveiled a summary of the bill on March 17 and filed it four days later, pitching it as a way to unlock the potential of money that will flow to Massachusetts in the coming years under a new federal infrastructure law and position the state to compete for even more in available grants.
The bond bill calls for $5.4 billion in highway funding, $2.2 billion for the MBTA, $591 million for regional transit authorities, and $1.4 billion to improve environmental infrastructure.
When the Transportation Committee held a public hearing on the proposal in April, environmental advocates urged lawmakers to expand its focus on preparing for and mitigating the effects of climate change.
