Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
A conference committee appointed to resolve differences between House and Senate Chapter 90 bond bills held its first meeting yesterday.
In March, the House and Senate passed similar bills to authorize $200 million for the fiscal 2024 Chapter 90 local road and bridge program plus a total of $150 million to support transportation-related grant programs. The differences lie in the grant authorizations.
The House bill would authorize $25 million for each the following multi-year transportation-related grant programs:
• Municipal Pavement Program
• Municipal Small Bridge Program
• Complete Streets Funding Program
• Municipal grants for infrastructure focused on the enhancement of mass transit by bus
• Funding for the study, design, construction or improvements that increase access to mass transit and commuter rail stations
• Grants to municipalities and regional transit authorities to support fleet electrification
The Senate bill would replace the $25 million for the Municipal Pavement Program with a new $25 million municipal road formula program. The formula would be calculated based on road miles and population density, favoring less-dense communities.
The conference committee members are Reps. William Straus, Brian Murray and Steven Howitt, and Sens. Brendan Crighton, Paul Mark and Patrick O’Connor.
Advocates are hopeful that the differences can be reconciled within the next few weeks, at which point a bill would receive final approval in the Legislature before heading to the governor’s desk for her signature. An additional bond terms bill would follow.
Gov. Maura Healey kicked off the Chapter 90 bond bill process in January, when she filed a two-year bill totalling $400 million, or $200 million per year. The Legislature revised the bill to authorize bonding for only one year at $200 million.
The MMA and municipal officials testified before the Joint Committee on Transportation in March in support of the two-year authorization proposed by Healey, while requesting an increase to at least $330 million per year, indexed to inflation. In written testimony, the MMA emphasized community needs and the impact of inflation on the Chapter 90 program, which has lost two-thirds of its purchasing power while being essentially level-funded over the past 11 years.