​H.3922, An Act Relative to Immediate COVID-19 Recovery Needs

The $3.65B House Ways and Means bill utilizes  funding from the American Rescue Plan Act and the FY21 fiscal year surplus to make significant one-time investments across the state to address disparities exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Category                                                              Amount
Housing                                                                $600M
Environment & Climate Change Mitigation   $350M
Economic Development                                   $777M
Workforce                                                            $750M
Health and Human Services                            $765M
Education                                                            $265M

Housing
  • This bill appropriates $600M for homeownership aid and housing production and maintenance, with a focus on developing both affordable housing and supportive housing stock as a much-needed response to ongoing housing instability and homelessness.
    • $150M for Supportive Housing Production
    • $150M for Public Housing Maintenance
    • $100M for Homeownership Assistance
    • $100M for CommonWealth Builder Program
    • $100M for Affordable Housing Production

Environment and Climate Change Mitigation
  • This bill appropriates $350M for environmental infrastructure and development spending, with a focus on environmental justice communities, climate change resilience, and clean energy, including:
    • $100M for Marine Port Development and Offshore Wind
    • $100M for Environmental Infrastructure for communities to become more climate resilient
    • $100M for Water and Sewer infrastructure improvements
    • $25M for Greening the Gateway Cities
    • $25M for State Parks and recreational facilities upgrades
 
Economic Development
  • The bill aims to assist the recovering cultural sectors of the economy by allocating $125M for grants to be administered by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, with a special focus of those grants being on cultural events and programs that are related to minority populations.
  • To address the needs of small businesses who are experiencing financial challenges because of the pandemic, this bill allocates $500M in unemployment insurance funding, $25M for small businesses, and $25M for minority-owned businesses.
  • Due to the size of this bill, and in the interests of transparency and accountability, this bill includes $5M for the Inspector General’s office to create a public database to ensure that funding is spent in communities that have been disproportionately impacted. communities, and track the number of contracts awarded to minority-owned entities
  • $40M for YouthWorks to support summer and school-year jobs for young people from economically disadvantaged communities.
  • This bill also includes:
    • $50M to closing the digital divide in low-income areas.
    • $12M to assist in the resettlement of Afghan refugees in the Commonwealth.
      • $200M worth of tax relief for small businesses that paid personal income taxes on State or Federal relief awards over the last year and a half. 

Workforce
  • Countless frontline workers put their lives at risk to ensure the people of the Commonwealth could access essential goods and services during the height of the virus. This bill includes $500M for premium pay bonuses for essential workers.
    • The program would be for low-income workers who worked in person throughout the Governor’s State of Emergency.
  • This bill also includes:
    • $150M for the Workforce Competitive Trust Fund to support individuals who need training and/or additional education to re-engage with the workforce.
    • $100M for Career Technical Institutes and Vocational Schools.

Health and Human Services
  • Thanks to our provider system, patients suffering from COVID-19 received the best care possible. To help mitigate the financial strain hospitals experienced as a result of the pandemic, this bill allocates $250M for financially strained providers and $70M specifically for nursing facilities.
  • $250M in funding is included for behavioral health programs, with a $100M carved out for workforce initiatives ranging student loan assistance, tuition reimbursements to workshop training programs.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic re-affirmed our need for a strong public health system, which is why this bill invests $150M over three years to better address health disparities and improve data systems.
  • $20M for improve technical infrastructure for community health centers.
  • This bill also includes:
    • $15M towards prison re-entry grants, focusing on supports for individuals who were released during the pandemic.
    • $10M for community-based gun violence prevention programs in high-risk areas.

Education
  • To address the disparities in public school facilities, this bill includes $100M for grants for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning to be distributed by the department of elementary and secondary education in consultation with the Racial Imbalance Advisory Counsel.
  • This bill also includes:
    • $75M for capital and maintenance projects for higher education
    • $25M for the Endowment Incentive Program
    • $20M for Special Education needs including $10M for workforce
    • $10M to fund opportunities for Black, Indigenous, and other educators of color to achieve licensure

Food Insecurity
  • This bill also includes $78M in funding to address food insecurity across the Commonwealth.