Legislature wrap-up

Monday, August 1, 2016

LEGISLATURE WRAPS UP FORMAL SESSIONS BY ENACTING MAJOR BILLS AND OVERRIDING BUDGET VETOES

In a rare weekend session, the House and Senate worked until just past midnight on Sunday, July 31, to wrap up formal proceedings for the 2015-2016 legislative session. The Legislature will continue to meet throughout the remainder of the calendar year in informal sessions, but legislative rules essentially prevent action on all but the most routine bills or any bill that needs a roll call vote for passage.

With the July 31^st deadline looming, the House and Senate were able to reach last-minute agreements on five major bills that had been in the works for a number of months, including the Municipal Modernization Act, an economic development bill, an energy bill, and legislation to regulate the ride-sharing industry (Uber and Lyft). In addition, the Legislature approved a state highway/municipal small bridge bond bill and overrode dozens of vetoes the Governor had made to the fiscal 2017 budget bill. The Governor will have ten days to review and decide whether to sign all of the bills that were sent to him over the weekend.

Since all of the major bills were last-minute redrafts of complex measures, there are still many details to review and analyze, but here is a rundown as of today:

The Municipal Modernization Act is a sweeping 125-page, 253-section bill that contains dozens of welcome provisions to eliminate or streamline outdated and obsolete statutes and state requirements, provide some new local options, and generally help cities and towns operate more efficiently. The bill updates the procurement and construction laws by increasing the dollar thresholds in current law, offers a model law for OPEB trust funds, provides easier use of revolving funds, allows parking revenues to be used for transportation-related activities, allows the expenditure of insurance proceeds to replace damaged equipment without appropriation (below $150,000), allows communities to implement reduces speed limits in certain areas, makes it easier to establish joint powers agreements, allows for the delegation of many financial tasks to ease burdens on local boards, simplifies many financial reporting requirements, and much, much more.

Because the negotiations were last-minute, the House-Senate conference committee did not include several controversial provisions that local officials have long sought, such as local control over liquor licenses, Civil Service reform, or unemployment insurance reform.

Below is a link to the final bill (H. 4565) that is now on the Governor’s desk for his review. We expect that the Division of Local Services (DLS) and other state agencies that administer the different provisions will be releasing guidance and further details on the full scope of the legislation once the Governor signs the bill into law, and the MMA will be working with state leaders to provide a complete summary in the coming days.

https://malegislature.gov/Bills/189/House/H4565

The Economic Development Bill released by a separate conference committee includes bond authorizations for a number of top-priority programs for cities and towns, such as $500 million for the MassWorks Program, $45 million for brownfields fund recapitalization, $45 million for the Gateway Cities Transformative Development Fund, as well as other provisions that would impact communities. The final bill also includes authority for cities and towns to establish Community Benefit Districts (CBD) to help revitalize downtowns. The conference committee bill did not include the MMA-backed provisions supported by the Senate that would have extended the room occupancy excise to “transient” accommodations, including Airbnb and other short-term private rentals.

Below is a link to the final economic development bill (H. 4569) that is now on the Governor’s desk for his review.

https://malegislature.gov/Bills/189/House/H4569

The Energy Bill conference committee members overcame some major disagreements between the House and Senate to reach agreement on the scope of new hydroelectric power and other renewable sources of energy for Massachusetts.

The final bill includes language that would expand the requirement that gas companies survey and repair gas leaks in public ways to include grade three leaks (least hazardous) that are deemed harmful to the environment. A related provision would delegate to the Department of Public Utilities (DPU), in consultation with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the task of developing criteria to identify the impact of grade three leaks on the environment and establishing a plan and timelines to repair leaks that have a significant impact. The bill also includes a local option that would allow cities and towns to participate in a new energy efficiency program for commercial properties, called Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (CPACE).

Below is a link to the final bill (H. 4568) that is now on the Governor’s desk for his review.

https://malegislature.gov/Bills/189/House/H4568

Passage of the Small Bridge Bond Bill. In another good-news development, the House and Senate also approved and sent to the Governor a transportation bond bill (H. 4557) that includes a 5-year, $50 million bond authorization to provide state funds to assist with the repair of small municipal bridges (under 20 feet in length), and a $750 million authorization for state highway projects. The small bridge program includes a requirement that all areas of the state share equally in the funding.

Below is a link to the final bill (H. 4457) that is now on the Governor’s desk for his review.

https://malegislature.gov/Bills/189/House/H4557

In a last-minute disappointment, the Legislature voted to override the Governor's veto of section 45 in the fiscal 2017 budget. Gov. Baker vetoed Section 45 of the Legislature’s fiscal 2017 state budget, which is the provision to freeze changes in municipal retiree health contributions for another two years. Now law because of the insistence of lawmakers, Section 45 suspends the ability of many cities and towns (those that adopted the municipal health insurance reform provisions passed in 2011) to decide whether to adjust contribution percentages for retiree health insurance. Section 45 unilaterally extends the existing freeze on contribution ratios until 2018. There was a lot of pressure from retirees and unions to override the veto, even as the MMA and the Administration called on the Legislature to let the Governor's veto stand. The House and Senate voted to override the veto with less than 2 hours remaining in the legislative session.

Thank you again for your advocacy and efforts on all of the municipal issues that were decided during the closing days of the legislative session!

Please contact MMA Legislative Director John Robertson or any member of the MMA’s Legislative staff at any time (617-426-7272) if you