BOSTON—State Senator Jason Lewis joined his colleagues in the Massachusetts Senate to pass a supplemental budget primarily using Fair Share revenue from the state’s wealthiest earners to support municipalities and invest in education and transportation projects, alongside passing other innovative policies and investments to lower housing costs, support immigrants, and more.
To directly support Reading, Senator Lewis successfully advocated for the Senate’s bill to include $50,000 specifically allocated to support transportation improvements in Reading.
The legislation also sends significant funding to cities and towns to help with the costs of major winter storms, increases local reimbursements for special education services, and supports the operation of the MBTA, including the low-income fare relief program.
“This bill shows the incredible success of the Fair Share Amendment in action,” said Senator Jason Lewis. “Impactful education and transportation projects across Massachusetts are receiving critical support from the state, including funding for transportation upgrades in Reading.”
Statewide highlights of this Fair Share supplemental budget include:
- $535 million for the MBTA for operational funding, commuter rail support, and the low-income fare relief program.
- $232 million for municipalities for special education costs and circuit breaker reimbursements, including $32 million to provide immediate relief for strained municipal budgets by increasing special education reimbursement rates in the current fiscal year.
- $150 million to support high-quality and accessible early education and care.
- $100 million to help towns and cities with extraordinary winter costs.
- $100 million to help public higher education institutions adapt to reductions in federal funding for research and development by establishing the Public Higher Education Bridge Funding Reserve.
- $40 million for early literacy initiatives.
- $20 million for home heating assistance (allocated from the state’s general funds) for increased Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) fuel assistance, supporting households with children, veterans, disabled, and elderly residents facing strain with their heating bills because of the colder than average winter.
- $18.3 million to expand financial aid offered to Massachusetts students enrolled at state universities and UMass campuses.
- $10 million to address Massachusetts’ shrinking primary care workforce through full-tuition scholarships for UMass Chan Medical School students pursuing family medicine if they commit to remaining in Massachusetts and serving populations in need for five years after graduation.
- $2.5 million to boost school-based mental health support.
- $1 million to help public schools implement bell-to-bell cell-phone free school policies.
- $1 million for legal defense services for immigrants (allocated from the state’s general funds), following the success of the legislature’s initial $5 million investment that created the Massachusetts Access to Counsel Initiative, which has already provided legal aid to hundreds of residents.
- Incentivizing new affordable, moderate-income, and middle-income housing construction through a new targeted sales tax exemption for building materials in areas with the greatest need.
Senator Lewis was also successful in allocating an additional $1 million for METCO (Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, Inc.) to supplement costs for student transportation and targeted wellness, social-emotional and academic support resources for the 33 METCO school districts, including Melrose, Reading, and Wakefield.
The legislation’s transportation and education investments are possible because of the Fair Share surtax on households that earn more than $1 million per year. Fair Share revenues have continued to exceed expectations year after year, leading to mid-year supplemental packages such as this one.
The Senate passed the legislation with a vote of 35-4. A similar version having previously been approved by the House of Representatives, a Conference Committee will now be formed to reconcile differences before the bill is sent to Governor Healey for her signature.
