Compromise Raises Transportation Bill’s Bottom Line
Source: State House News Service
House Vote Expected July 27
7/26/23: Conference committee negotiations can sometimes be about compromising between House and Senate priorities. But even though it took four months no compromising was necessary to get to a final version of an annual road and bridge maintenance funding bill that the House plans to accept Thursday.
The bills that the House and Senate each unanimously passed in March were nearly identical going into conference talks that officially started in early June: both authorized $200 million for the Chapter 90 program that reimburses cities and towns for road and bridge maintenance and another $150 million in transportation-related infrastructure grants.
The disagreement was where to direct $25 million worth of grants — the House bill called for $25 million for the municipal pavement program while the Senate bill instead directed $25 million to a new supplemental municipal road formula program.
The six lawmakers who negotiated the compromise that was filed Wednesday — Reps. William Straus, Brian Murray, and Steven Howitt, and Sens. Brendan Crighton, Paul Mark and Patrick O'Connor — didn't pick one option or the other and instead increased the total amount of transportation-related grants to $175 million while including $25 million outlays for both the municipal pavement program and the supplemental formula program, according to a report filed with the new bill text.
That $375 million conference committee report (H 4013) is slated to go before the House for an up-or-down vote Thursday. The conference report cannot be amended. It will similarly need to be accepted in the Senate, which is also meeting in a formal session Thursday, and enacted in both branches to reach Gov. Maura Healey's desk.
Once Gov. Maura Healey signs off on the so-called Chapter 90 bill, it will take another act of the Legislature before cities and towns start to see that money. The Mass. Municipal Association said that approval of both the bond bill and a yet-to-materialize bond terms bill "is required before the Massachusetts Department of Transportation can program the funding for municipal use." – Colin A. Young/SHNS | 7/26/23 4:34 PM