Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
The House late last night passed a multi-year state transportation bond bill that includes $300 million for the Chapter 90 local roads program for fiscal 2015.
The bill had been amended earlier by the House Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets to include the Chapter 90 provision, and it was favorably reported by that committee as well as the House Ways and Means Committee.
“The committee added $300 million for Chapter 90 to the transportation bond bill so that these vital funds will be available for this year’s construction season,” said Rep. Antonio Cabral of New Bedford, chair of the House Bonding Committee.
The bill (H. 3860) now goes to the Senate.
In a letter to House members today, the MMA applauded the inclusion of $300 million for Chapter 90 and urged swift passage so that the bill can be signed into law by April 1 – the target date for timely release of Chapter 90 funds – so that cities and towns can access the funds this spring.
In the long term, the MMA is also calling for bond authorization for a five-year Chapter 90 program providing $300 million per year, indexed to inflation. Following three years of lengthy delays in the release of Chapter 90 funds, the MMA has been urging the Legislature to take early action on Chapter 90 for fiscal 2015 and beyond in order to give local officials the ability to plan ahead, take advantage of the full construction season, and use the funding efficiently.
The administration, meanwhile, has released a five-year, $12.4 billion transportation spending proposal that calls for level-funding Chapter 90 at $200 million through fiscal 2018. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has scheduled six public hearings on the draft plan, which was released Jan. 10. The MMA testified at the first of these hearings, on Jan. 29 in Boston. Additional hearings are set for Feb. 3 in Amherst and Pittsfield, Feb. 5 in Dartmouth and Feb. 10 in Lynn.
For the current fiscal year, both the House and Senate unanimously passed a $300 million, stand-alone Chapter 90 bond bill, and the governor signed it into law. But the amount that is actually released is at the discretion of the governor, and he decided to hold back $100 million.
A statewide survey conducted by the MMA a year ago documents that the state’s cities and towns would need to spend $562 million each year to maintain local roads in a “state of good repair,” the industry standard, but communities spend far less due to inadequate resources. With this in mind, local officials and the MMA have been consistently calling for an increase in the Chapter 90 program from $200 million to $300 million per year.