Governor Charlie Baker filed legislation to make $3.5 billion in investments to support Massachusetts’s path forward as the Commonwealth transitions into a post-pandemic world, including projects to strengthen state infrastructure, create jobs and invest in all 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth.
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The legislation, An Act Investing in Future Opportunities for Resiliency, Workforce, and Revitalized Downtowns (FORWARD) includes $2.3 billion in funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and over $1.256 billion in capital bond authorizations.
The announcement was made in Lynn at Breakwater North Harbor, a 331-unit apartment community that broke ground in 2019 and was built in part as a result of a $1.2 million MassWorks grant to fund roadway and water infrastructure improvements, and a $1 million Seaport Economic Council grant to ensure long-term integrity of the adjacent shoreline along North Harbor.
The legislation filed today would direct approximately $27 million to Lynn including $13 million for improvements to the Lynn Heritage State Park, $10 million for the South Harbor waterfront redevelopment site on the Lynnway, and millions more for traffic and safety improvements at the intersection of Broad and Washington Streets, as well as for local economic recovery in the city.
The FORWARD bill includes $1.2 billion in ARPA funds for climate resiliency and preservation efforts. This includes a $750 million investment in the Commonwealth’s clean energy industry, building on Governor Baker’s October 2021 proposal.
The $750 million will be utilized for a variety of areas within the sector, such as electric vehicle rapid charging stations at Logan International Airport, the expansion of the MassCEC Wind Technology Training Center in Charlestown, over $70 million in investments related to the New Bedford Marine Terminal, and a greater focus on higher education and workforce training in an effort to support the burgeoning clean energy industry.
The bill also proposes $413 million to support over 100 projects across state parks and trails, water and sewer, and environmental infrastructure grant programs.
The FORWARD legislation proposes nearly $970 million for investments to support revitalizing the Commonwealth’s downtowns and communities, including $318 million in ARPA funding and $650 million in bond authorization.
This includes $550 million for the MassWorks program, including $400 million in reauthorization and $147 million in ARPA funds to support 94 local projects.
The Baker-Polito Administration commissioned a Future of Work report last year that found that downtowns will look fundamentally different coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, as many people have changed how and where they work. This funding will help municipalities adapt to this new reality.
The legislation also includes $325 million in ARPA funding for workforce efforts, including $300 million for the Unemployment Trust Fund to address unemployment overpayments. The HireNow program, which provides grants to employers to train and hire new workers, would receive $25 million.
The FORWARD bill includes $270 million in authorization to support housing production across the Commonwealth, including affordable rental housing production and rehabilitation, public housing, climate resilient housing, and transit-oriented development.
The bill also makes several policy proposals to increase housing production, including an increase of the cap on the Housing Development Incentive Program from $10 million to $30 million.
The bill proposes significant funding to support the Commonwealth’s innovation economy including $50 million for a new competitive and secure future innovation program to make strategic investments in purpose-driven research, technology development, and innovation, and in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), robotics, quantum information science, cybersecurity, communications, and digital health.
This legislation would allow the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority to sell the Hynes Convention Center, with proceeds from the sale going to affordable housing development and the Back Bay area. Occupancy levels at the Hynes fluctuated around 60% before the pandemic, and numbers have still not recovered. ■