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The Garlick Press – FY22 Budget Week Edition

Apr 29, 2021

The Garlick Press – FY22 Budget Week Edition
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Tonight, I joined with my colleagues in the House of Representatives to vote in the affirmative on the FY22 budget. The House budget makes targeted investments across the Commonwealth to support and meet the needs of its now seven million residents.
Budget Highlights
  • Chapter 70 Education Funding – Fully funds 1/6 of the Student Opportunity Act by increasing funding by $219.6 million to historic highs and has new money for district transportation and COVID-19 support to mitigate against enrollment swings caused by the pandemic.
  • DCF Clinical Support Services – Inserts $600k in the Department of Children and Families clinical support services to support mental health services for vulnerable children and families.
  • Institute for Asian American Studies – Inserts funding for the institute for Asian American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston to study the history and experiences of anti-Asian racism.
  • Lift Our Kids Out of Deep Poverty – Increases cash assistance grants through the Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children program by 10%.
  • Food Security – Increases funding for Emergency Food Assistance to $30 million and for the Healthy Incentives Program to $31 million.
  • Elder Affairs – Increases the Elder Affairs Appropriation by over $45M to support older adults across the Commonwealth in their homes and communities.
  • Substance Use Disorder Treatment – Increases funding for the Bureau of Substance Addiction Services and funds life saving Medically-Assisted Treatment in state and county correctional facilities.
  • Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation – Invests $35 million in civil legal aid to ensure that low-income individuals with legal needs have access to legal information, advice, and representation, including in eviction cases.
  • Criminal Justice Reform – Invests $9.6 million in community-based re-entry programs and increases funding for pre-and-post release service grants.
  • Sexual Assault Evidence Kits Testing – Provides funding for testing backlogged sexual assault evidence kits and requires the executive office of public safety and security to report on the number of tested and untested kits.
  • Developmental Services – Increases funding for day and work programs to support these programs in adapting services based on the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • COVID-19 Mental Health Trauma – Provides targeted outreach to frontline workers, about supports and resources available to individuals and families experiencing trauma.
  • Access to Birth Control – Funds a public awareness campaign on the ACCESS Law, which allows people to obtain a 12-month supply of copay free birth control.
  • SAPHE Act – Devotes $850K to the State Action for Public Health Excellence program to strengthen local and regional public health while investing in critical public health infrastructure.
  • Massachusetts Cultural Council – Provides $20M, the highest level of funding in decades, an acknowledgement of the important role the cultural sector will play as we move towards economic recovery post-COVID.
  • Human Services Transportation – Establishes a task force on non-emergency human services transportation to explore ways to improve services.
  • Permanent Commission on the Status of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders – This commission will be a resource in the commonwealth on issues pertaining to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
  • Transportation Trust Fund – Invests funding into the transportation trust fund to support the transportation system in post-COVID recovery.
  • Residential Assistance for Families in Transition – Provides $22M in funding for the RAFT program to support families and combat the eviction crisis. We anticipate around $800M in federal funds for rental assistance, bringing the total allocation for rental assistance to roughly $822M.
  • Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program – Increases funding for the MRVP to create new vouchers that will keep at-risk families in their homes.
  • Local Housing Authorities – Invests $84 million for local housing authorities to support between resident service coordination for public housing tenants.
  • State Parks and Recreation – Includes $50 million for State parks that reflect the increased usage of the parks during the COVID-19 public health emergency.
  • Department of Environmental Protection – Increases the Department of Environmental protection’s funding by $6.88 Million includes funding to protect water resources.
  • Division of Ecological Restoration – Increases funding in the division of ecological restoration to support communities in protecting their wildlife and mitigating increased flooding.
  • YouthWorks Summer Jobs – Invests $24 million for the YouthWorks summer jobs program to support teens and young adults in finding and keeping jobs.
  • Rural Growth Fund – Creates a program administered by the mass office of business development to approve rural growth funds that invest in small businesses in rural communities.
  • Wind Jobs Initiative – Invests $10 million to create a new offshore wind energy career training program.
  • Small Business Technical Assistance – Invests funding into the Small Business Technical Grants Program which support small businesses with creating and preserving jobs.
  • Local Tourism Recovery Marketing – Invests funding into local tourism to support recovery through marketing.
Thank you to those who have contacted me regarding the budget and have shared their support for certain amendments. You can find information on the final House budget here: https://malegislature.gov/Budget/FY2022/HouseBudget
Additonally, you can find my steps to “How the Budget Becomes Law” here: https://repgarlick.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/How-the-Budget-Becomes-Law.pdf.
Yours in Service,
Denise