Just the basics. Shelter and food are both on the minds of officials and lawmakers. And one Western Mass. lawmaker wants water legislation considered this session.
Massachusetts House lawmakers are seeking more information about how the emergency assistance shelter systems are currently operating. They say this will enable them to contemplate cuts and changes coming to that system. Reporter Chris Lisinksi at the State House News Service explains what lawmakers are weighing and what's at stake.
Chris Lisinski, SHNS: They are weighing a whole host of information. House lawmakers wrote to the Healey administration last week seeking additional information about impacts on school systems, safety and security in the emergency assistance shelters, citizenship and potential residency requirements and a whole lot more. All of this comes as they weigh Governor Healey's request to inject another $425 million into the system.
And Governor Healey's request to put significant new restrictions on eligibility for the system. Time is ticking. The administration has estimated that the current funding allotment will probably run out around the end of this week, maybe give or take a week. So, the fact that they are still seeking more information does not bode well for getting funding injected by that potential run out date.
Carrie Healy, NEPM: Well, does the state running out of shelter money mean that shelters would close and programs just stop?
No, this is not a parallel to the federal level where you see constant threats of a federal government shutdown if ongoing funding resolutions are not passed. It might not be good. It might not be an easy situation. The administration might have to pull funding from other sources and create deficiencies elsewhere. But we are not looking at a situation where it's ‘approve money by X date’, or every single shelter will stop and throw people out on the street.
Sticking with housing, last week, Gov. Maura Healey released her proposed spending plan for the next fiscal year. In it, she outlined cuts to the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition, or RAFT program. Now that funds struggling families facing eviction. So, Chris, Healey says she's a strong supporter of the raft program, but yet she's making cuts, proposing slashes of 50%. Don't elected officials usually invest in what they believe in?
Yeah, it does absolutely seem like the governor is saying one thing and doing another thing. At a press conference rolling out her budget, she tried to point to her past work as Attorney General, working on fair housing matters.
But the bottom line is, if the governor gets her way, families would get the maximum amount of raft aid over a 24 month period, not over a 12 month period, effectively halving how much money they could get per year for this program that helps stave off evictions, foreclosures, things like that.
Moving on to food. Another basic need. When you go to the grocery store in Massachusetts, in general, food items on the shelves are not taxed. In the governor's proposed budget, she puts a candy tax into place. Healey says "it's not a candy talk." It brings in revenue. Chris, can you explain how this is, or is not, a tax on candy?
Under state law right now, candy is not subject to the 6.25% sales tax that applies to most other purchases, (not all of them) some grocery items, like bread, are exempt from the sales tax, but snacks and confections otherwise should be in Healey's mind. This is something that would bring in several million dollars per year in additional revenue. And you know, if you go to the grocery store and buy a Snickers bar, you might have to pay 6.25% more for that come next year.
And we should note that Healey's proposed budget is the first of three spending plans that the Legislature will pull pieces from and negotiate for the next five or so months (maybe more) before voting on a final budget and sending it to the governor for her signature.
Yes.
And continuing with the theme. The final need is water. Rep. Nathalie Blais, D- Sunderland, has co-filed a bill proposing statewide water quality standards for private wells, citing equity and public health. Briefly, Chris, will this issue gain traction in the session?
As always, it's pretty unclear if that's going to get any momentum. This is something that has not gained traction in prior sessions when other lawmakers proposed significant water reforms. So, time will tell if this will be a different outcome.
