State Delegation Secures Funding for Melrose Priorities

Melrose MA

10 December, 2021

4:19 PM

Description

Melrose state legislators Senator Jason Lewis and Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian announced the final passage of a $3.998 billion spending plan that will make significant investments in the Massachusetts economy to further stimulate the Commonwealth's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill, known as An Act relative to immediate COVID-19 recovery needs, uses federal monies received from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) as well as the Commonwealth's Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) budget surplus to provide funding investments in housing, schools, environment and climate mitigation as well as workforce development throughout the Commonwealth. In addition to providing hundreds of millions of dollars for statewide policy and budget priorities such as health care and public health, economic and workforce development, housing, education and the environment, the ARPA legislation includes several funding measures advocated by the Melrose delegation for Melrose community priorities, including: $75,000 for economic recovery efforts in support of small business and nonprofit sectors in Melrose; $150,000 for school elevators at Melrose High School; and $60,000 to support the anti-hunger work of the Food Drive. "Thanks to President Biden and Congressional Democrats, Massachusetts is seizing this historic opportunity to invest in a strong and equitable pandemic recovery for our communities and Commonwealth," said Senator Jason Lewis, Assistant Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means and Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Education. "I'm particularly pleased to have worked closely with Rep. Lipper-Garabedian to successfully secure funding for important Melrose priorities, including funding to support the vital anti-hunger work of the Food Drive." "The legislature's COVID-19 recovery bill is attuned to both broad and discrete challenges and opportunities in the Commonwealth," Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian, who delivered her inaugural speech on the House floor in support of the bill and its appropriation of $10 million to expand eligibility for special education services to students who turn 22 during the pandemic, said. "It invests once-in-a-lifetime funds into programs and resources that serve our constituents, particularly those most impacted by COVID-19. I further am pleased that the bill includes several investments for Melrose, including two that I championed in the House – accessibility and safety improvements for the Melrose High School elevators and support for City Hall's coordination of economic recovery for our small business and nonprofit sectors." Other highlights of the final bill include:-- More than $1.5 billion in investments to help our workers and businesses recover from the impacts of the pandemic, including $500 million for premium pay bonuses to low income workers forced to risk their health and safety as they worked essential jobs throughout the pandemic, and another $500 million to supplement the unemployment insurance trust fund, to help small businesses devastated by the pandemic; Critical investments of more than $500 million to keep people in their homes and to help families find their next home;Investments totaling more than $1 billion in our public health systems to help us recover from the pandemic and better prepare for future health policy challenges, including behavioral health supports and needed investments for our community hospitals; Hundreds of millions of dollars invested in our future to help us respond to and prepare for the climate crisis, including investments in wind and geothermal power as well as investments in our water infrastructure; Nearly $300 million in additional resources for our public schools, including $100 million to improve air quality in our classrooms; and The bill establishes an equity and accountability review panel to track spending of federal dollars and to ensure funds are spent transparently and efficiently, and also that we are delivering funds to those communities that have been historically under-represented and were also most hard hit by the pandemic. An Act relative to immediate COVID-19 recovery needs now moves to Governor Baker for his review.