Chapter 90 bond bill for FY16 approved by House, Senate

The House and Senate have each unanimously passed a one-year, $200 million Chapter 90 bond bill, which would give cities and towns access to a total of $300 million to repair and maintain local roads during the 2015 spring-to-fall construction season.

The Chapter 90 bond bill for fiscal 2016, filed by Gov. Charlie Baker on March 12, was unanimously passed by the House on March 25 and by the Senate today. The funding will be combined with $100 million in new Chapter 90 authorizations that the governor released in January.

The bond bill must go through two more procedural votes in each chamber before it can be sent to the governor for his signature. Because the Massachusetts Constitution requires a two-thirds vote of each branch to enact all bond bills, the final approval of the legislation will depend on the timing of formal sessions in each branch, which will not take place until next week at the earliest.

The governor is expected to sign the bill immediately after he receives it from the Legislature.

Municipalities look forward to putting the money to work to repair local roads that took a beating during an historic winter.

“We applaud all members of the House and Senate for their strong support,” said MMA Executive Director Geoff Beckwith, “and we urge our lawmakers to send the bill to the governor as soon as possible.”

The Chapter 90 local road and bridge program provides cities and towns with a source of funding to maintain, repair and rebuild 30,000 miles of local roads in every corner of the state. The MMA and other advocates have long argued that adequate and timely funding for Chapter 90 is essential for public safety, economic growth, and quality of life in Massachusetts.

With the state working to erase a $1 billion mid-year budget deficit in fiscal 2015 and a $1.8 billion structural budget gap for fiscal 2016, the Baker-Polito administration decided to file a one-year Chapter 90 bond bill.

Immediately after passage of this one-year bond bill, the MMA and local officials will work in partnership with the administration and legislators to achieve long-range funding for Chapter 90 that is both adequate for cities and towns and sustainable for the Commonwealth.