“Spending that money is critical to making Massachusetts better than before,” House spokesman Ron Mariano, D-Quincy, told reporters at a briefing. “Our goal is to responsibly fund priority areas that will prove themselves over time and bring about systemic and equitable change.” Spend dollars to make “once in a generation” investments in housing, human resource development, safety net hospitals, schools, and the health system to support workers. Businesses and communities hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Details of the workers’ aid program were not released on Monday, but legislature leaders said the bonuses would be between $ 500 and $ 2,000. Also, they would be limited to workers who earned up to 300% of the federal poverty line and stayed on during the COVID-19 state of emergency last year.
A key part of the aid package calls for US $ 500 million to be spent on “bonus payments” for “essential” frontline workers who stayed on during the pandemic.
Overall, the spending plan is about $ 2.5 billion. About half of the $ 4.8 billion of unspent ARPA money would be left in a legislature-controlled escrow account.
A significant portion of the aid package, approximately $ 600 million, would be devoted to addressing the housing shortage. Funding would be split between ongoing programs to boost market rates and produce affordable housing, mortgage aid for first-time home owners and improve public housing.
At least $ 500 million would be used to reduce a massive deficit in the state trust fund for unemployment benefits. Employers are required to contribute to the trust fund.
That is significantly less than the $ 1 billion business leader and Governor Charlie Baker called for to make up the deficit, which is nearly $ 3 billion in the hole. The fund’s deficit is driving up insurance rates paid by employers, many of which are still grappling with the financial repercussions of the pandemic.
The plan would allocate at least $ 200 million to relief small business owners who have paid personal income taxes on state and federal aid grants.
“That small allocation will barely cover a fraction of the $ 7 billion deficit employers have to pay,” said Chris Carlozzi, state director for the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Federation of Independent Businesses. “In fact, $ 500 million may not even be enough to offset the estimated cost of overpayment and fraud within the UI system.”
The plan also calls for $ 350 million to be spent on environmental infrastructure, climate change resilience and clean energy, with a focus on gateway cities and “environmental justice” communities disproportionately affected by the state’s dependence on fossil fuels are.
Of this, at least US $ 100 million would be earmarked for upgrading water and wastewater infrastructure, with a focus on mixed water overflows that spew partial or untreated wastewater from aging culverts into rivers during heavy rain.
Meanwhile, an additional $ 250 million would go to financially troubled hospitals focused on improving behavioral and mental health services.
Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, D-Gloucester, vice chair of the Ways and Means Committee, said the additional funding was critical in dealing with a mental health crisis exacerbated by the pandemic.
Some of the money would be used to increase staff and beds in psychiatric facilities to reduce emergency rooms for psychiatric patients in need of care, she said.
“There are two crises in health care: one is COVID-19 and the other is mental health,” Ferrante said on Monday. “We have heard a lot of statements from parents whose children are in the emergency room every day until a bed is opened.”
The state Senate is expected to release its plans to issue ARPA and excess funds in the coming weeks, but both houses issued a statement agreeing on key House provisions.
The spending plan has been drawn up over the past few months in private discussions between members of the Joint Committee on Legislative Ways and Means and the House Committee on Federal Stimulus and Census Oversight. The committees held several virtual public hearings to seek input into the deliberations.
Baker has argued with lawmakers over control of money. He originally suggested spending $ 2.8 billion and lawmakers distributing the rest. But lawmakers rejected his plan and most of the money went into a lawmaker-controlled fund.
Massachusetts received approximately $ 5.3 billion from the $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package signed by President Joe Biden.
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