BOSTON, MA — State lawmakers on Thursday sent a $3.8 billion spending plan to Gov. Charlie Baker. The bill uses a combination of federal pandemic stimulus dollars and state surplus money to pay for an enormous variety of initiatives — but omits permanent tax cuts that were part of discussions earlier this year.
The spending plan is on top of tax refunds heading to about 3 million state residents, the result of an obscure law that caps how much income tax revenue the state can collect in a given year.
There are key items that were omitted from the bill on top of tax cuts, including bringing back happy hour, and proposed $250 stimulus checks for some state residents.
What did make it into the bill? Here are some of the larger items:
- $112 million to the MBTA to make safety and service upgrades
- $200 million for a COVID-19 response fund
- $20 million to help immigrants and refugees relocating to the state
- $50 million to increase broadband internet access statewide
- $57 million to home heating help programs across the state
- $153 million to support businesses hurt by the pandemic (includes $75 million specifically for hotels, $3 million for movie theaters)
- $195 million for nursing and rest homes for COVID-19 recovery
- $80 million for community health centers for pandemic recovery
- $350 million for hospitals strained by the pandemic
- $20 million to reduce gun violence
- $115 million for the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust
- $100 million for “investments in publicly-owned lands and lands otherwise protected and conserved for public access”
The bill also includes earmarks specifically for cities and towns across the state — for example, $300,000 for the renovation of a shuttered auditorium in Worcester, and $8 million to improve a rail crossing in downtown Ashland for pedestrians and the disabled.
Baker has not signaled if he’ll veto or sign the bill, but has criticized lawmakers for not including tax code changes. Baker submitted his own $840 million spending plan earlier this fall, suggesting $200 million for the MBTA, $108 million on continued COVID-19 care — including vaccines, testing and personal protective equipment — and about $90 million on housing for the homeless, people leaving skilled nursing care centers and recent immigrants.
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