Last week, the Massachusetts House of Representatives handed a $10.4 billion transportation bond invoice that can let the following Governor of Massachusetts finance a whole lot of latest transportation initiatives throughout the Commonwealth – however, regardless of broad public assist, House management rejected an modification that might have mandated a brand new low-income fare program on the MBTA.
The state’s bond invoice authorizes public borrowing for brand new infrastructure initiatives, with the expectation that federal grants and different funds will reimburse the commonwealth after initiatives go beneath building.
State officers have been eager to move a bigger bond authorization this yr to benefit from increased federal spending that was approved in Washington’s 2021 infrastructure invoice.
“The way this works, is the state authorizes, the state moves forward, the state spends, and the federal government reimburses,” defined Governor Baker at a March press convention. “So it’s critical for us to get this legislation passed as quickly as we possibly can to enable us to move forward aggressively.”
The invoice handed by the House is a significantly amended model of the identical invoice that Governor Baker filed in March, however it retains the broad outlines of what the Governor had initially proposed.
For occasion, the amended invoice retains a $3.5 billion authorization to again MassDOT’s bids for brand new federal discretionary and aggressive grants, like MassDOT’s $1.2 billion grant utility for the Allston Multimodal Project.
The invoice additionally authorizes as much as $1.4 billion in spending for statewide transit initiatives, with particular point out of the MBTA’s “Better Bus Project,” commuter rail electrification, and the acquisition of latest “type 10” trains for the MBTA’s expanded Green Line.
The House additionally added a $400 million line-item “for initiatives to handle ongoing security issues associated to the interim and ultimate findings uncovered through the Federal Transit Administration’s Safety Management Inspection.“
One noteworthy merchandise that didn’t make it into the ultimate invoice was an modification from Rep. Adrian Madaro (D-East Boston) that might have directed the MBTA to “implement a low-income fare program that provides free or discounted transit fares to qualifying riders on all modes of transportation operated by the authority.”
A MassINC ballot launched on June 23 – the identical day that the House took up debate over the bond invoice’s amendments – estimated that roughly 4 in 5 Massachusetts voters assist a reduced fare program for lower-income riders. 26 different lawmakers signed on to Madaro’s modification as co-sponsors.
In spite of that assist, House management rejected the proposal with none debate.
Instead, the ultimate draft of the House invoice requires “a special commission on mobility pricing to investigate, study and make recommendations on the development and deployment of comprehensive and regionally-equitable public transportation pricing, roadway pricing and congestion pricing,” which, if endorsed by the Senate and Governor, would produce a report of findings and proposals by July 2023.
In a press release, the Transit Is Essential coalition expressed disappointment, and urged the Senate to revive the proposal when it debates its personal model of the identical invoice within the coming month.
“A low-income fare program would help thousands who are struggling with the burden of transit costs and the high cost of gasoline, is proven to increase transit ridership, and is supported by more than 80 percent of people across the Commonwealth,” the group wrote. “More than 90 percent of low-income MBTA riders don’t qualify for the limited existing low-income programs for youth and seniors. This current system is simply not equitable. We will advocate vigorously for a low-income fare program as the bill moves to the Senate.”
Legislators within the House additionally added a whole lot of earmarks, with worth tags that add as much as roughly $640 million, into the textual content of their amended invoice earlier than it handed their chamber (see desk beneath).
However, simply because a challenge is included within the bond invoice doesn’t essentially imply that the Governor will truly authorize borrowing and spending to make the challenge occur; it merely authorizes that spending if the Governor agrees to it.
“There are billions in past authorizations for which no bonds ended up being issued, because the administration never went forward with the investment,” defined Phineas Baxandall, Senior Analyst & Advocacy Director on the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, in an electronic mail to StreetsblogMASS final week.
One of these earmarks would fund a rebate program to assist Massachusetts residents purchase new pedal-assist electrical bikes – an concept that the Baker administration has already been contemplating.
“$1,000,000 shall be expended for the department of energy resources for a fund to establish new rebates up to $500 for general consumers and up to $750 for low-income and moderate-income consumers, and not more than 40 percent of retail price, for the purchase of new and used electric bicycles,” in keeping with the textual content of the ultimate House invoice.
The invoice will now go to the Senate Ways and Means Committee for consideration in that chamber.
Searchable desk: Earmarks from the House transportation bond invoice, “An Act relative to Massachusetts’s transportation resources and climate”
Source: “consolidated amendment A” from House invoice 4897