Last week, both the House and Senate passed a $48.07 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2022. On Friday, the Governor signed into law substantial portions of the budget, while sending back amendments and vetoes on specific items. The Legislature now has the option to vote to override any of the Governor’s vetoes.

The FY22 state budget, as passed by both the House and Senate, increases revenue assumptions by $4.2 billion over the December consensus revenue projection for a new tax revenue projection of $34.35 billion. The FY22 budget does not make a withdrawal and instead transfers funds into the Stabilization Fund, projecting an estimated balance of approximately $5.8 billion for this fund at the end of the fiscal year.

Click here to review the budget, as passed, in its entirety. Note the budget accessible here does not reflect Gubernatorial vetoes or amendments.

Items of note in the budget as passed by the Legislature include, but are not limited to:

The Governor issued his veto message on Friday, July 16th, outlining vetoes and amendments he had issued to the budget as passed, while signing the majority of its provisions into law. Throughout the budget as passed, the Governor elected to veto $7.9 million in line-item and outside-section spending. Of the 149 outside sections presented in the conference report, the Governor signed 122, vetoed 2, and returned 25 for amendment.

The Legislature may, as the final step of the FY22 budget process, vote to override gubernatorial vetoes.

On Friday, July 16th, Governor Baker signed into law H.3903, An Act Financing Improvements to Municipal Roads and Bridges, a $350 million transportation funding bill which authorizes $200 million in Chapter 90 funding for municipalities, and increases the bonding capacity across six transportation grant programs established for municipalities and Regional Transit Authorities in An Act Authorizing and Accelerating Transportation Investment, a landmark piece of legislation signed by the Governor in January that authorizes funding across all modes of transportation to invest and modernize the Commonwealth’s transportation system. The law carries an emergency preamble, thus making it effective immediately.

While the House version of the bill prioritized spending on enhancing bus transportation infrastructure and bolstering public transit station accessibility and accommodations, the Senate bill focused efforts more broadly, from addressing local bottlenecks to opportunities for municipalities and Regional Transit Authorities to study and plan for fleet electrification. Both bills maintained Chapter 90 funding at $200 million, and authorized an additional $25 million in spending for the municipal small bridge program. Ultimately, all House and Senate funding provisions were adopted in the final bill, but a House provision requiring MassDOT to maintain two-track service on the Framingham/Worcester Line during construction of the Allston Multimodal Project was excluded.

Grant Programs & New Funding Authorizations

Click here to access the full text of the legislation.

The Mass. Clean Energy Center’s Accelerating Clean Transportation for All (ACT4All) Program aims to pilot equity-focused transportation programs to address the fact that transportation currently produces more greenhouse gas emissions than any other sector. Awarded projects will help to inform future funding under the Transportation Climate Initiative Program. To achieve program goals, MassCEC will offer Planning Grants to non-profits and community organizations that represent overburdened and underserved populations.

ACT4All aims to address inequities in the clean transportation sector by seeking applications that increase access to clean transportation technologies and decrease health impacts and related burdens from the existing transportation system; demonstrate replicable innovative business and/or incentive models; demonstrate effective program delivery, community partnership, and/or implementation models; broaden the market for clean transportation technologies through consumer education and awareness; and represent the diversity of Massachusetts communities, from a geographic, demographic, and socioeconomic lens.

Eligible topic areas include:

Applicants are expected to form teams that include all members necessary to ensure project success and are strongly encouraged to include an organization that represents an overburdened or underserved community. Teams may include:

Click here for complete program details. Proposals are due September 7th. Virtual Office Hours regarding the program will be held on July 29th, August 11th, and August 23rd.

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) will hold public hearings on proposed amendments to 310 CMR 7.71: Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and 310 CMR 7.75 Clean Energy Standard.

The intent of the proposed amendments are to:

To provide consistency with the EPA program, MassDEP is proposing to replace the requirement to quantify emissions in accordance with the General Reporting Protocol (GRP) with a requirement to utilize methods specified in 40 CFR Part 98. The amendments to 310 CMR 7.75 Clean Energy Standard will add a reporting option for municipally-owned retail electricity sellers and clarify the authority of MassDEP to require certain reporting be directly to the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources.

Two public hearings will be conducted online and via telephone. The public hearings will both be held on Tuesday, August 3rd:

Testimony may be presented orally at the public hearing, or written comments may be submitted until 5:00 PM on August 16th. Written comments must be submitted via email to [email protected] or by mail to Climate Strategies, MassDEP, One Winter Street, Boston, MA 02018.

On Saturday, August 7th, the MWRTA will expand its app-based Catch Connect service to Saturdays and Sundays, serving downtown Framingham, Natick, and the Golden Triangle shopping area (including the Natick Mall, Shoppers World, Wal-Mart, and other nearby locations).

MWRTA has been operating this service in Wellesley since February 2021. The service is intended to offer added flexibility to riders. MWRTA has also opened this Catch Connect service to its Demand Response riders on Sundays in Framingham and Natick for any purpose, and on weekdays for medical appointments.

By operating Catch Connect service in Framingham and Natick on weekends, MWRTA will be able to gather data and information on how MicroTransit services interact with traditional Fixed Route services.

Catch Connect will operate as a first-come-first-serve shared ride service, meaning that while it is on-demand, riders may need to wait for a driver to become available depending on levels of service. The accessible vehicles utilized will be able to accommodate 4-8 passengers at a time. Click here to access additional information on this upcoming service.

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