Conference committee agrees on bill with $300M for Ch. 90 in FY15

Early last night, a House-Senate conference committee reached agreement on a five-year transportation bond bill that includes $300 million for the Chapter 90 local roads program for fiscal 2015.

The House plans a vote on the compromise bill on Wednesday, and the Senate plans a vote on Thursday. Following its expected enactment, the governor will have 10 days to sign the bill.

The final bill includes the so-called “terms bill” language that has usually been passed as separate legislation after the governor signs a bond bill. This is intended to eliminate the sometimes-lengthy delay between enactment of a bond bill and the official release of Chapter 90 and other transportation funds. Barring unforeseen developments, this means that, once the governor signs the bond bill into law, cities and towns are immediately authorized to spend the amount in their fiscal 2015 provisional Chapter 90 authorization letters that the Department of Transportation sent on April 1.

The Chapter 90 authorization for fiscal 2015 included in the sweeping $13 billion bond bill matches the fiscal 2014 authorization passed last summer. Despite the $300 million authorization from the Legislature, however, the Patrick administration has already announced that it plans to release just $200 million, a decision that was made clear in the provisional letters of authorization sent to cities and towns.

The release of the full $300 million Chapter 90 authorization continues to be a major issue of contention between the Legislature and the governor, with lawmakers siding with local officials in support of releasing the full amount. The House chair of the Transportation Committee stated this week that the Legislature will continue to support $300 million for Chapter 90, and that the authorization would stay in place so that the current administration or the new governor who takes office in January may act to release the full amount.

“Clearly, municipal leaders have succeeded in convincing representatives and senators of the need to increase Chapter 90 funding to $300 million a year,” said MMA Executive Director Geoff Beckwith, “and that is a significant victory. Winning release of the full $300 million will continue to be a top priority for the MMA, and we will not cease until all of the funds flow directly to cities and towns.”

Earlier this year, lawmakers in the House and Senate had each approved different versions of the five-year transportation bond bill with funding for the Chapter 90 program. The Senate bill included a $1.5 billion Chapter 90 authorization intended to provide $300 million in annual funding over the next five years, from fiscal 2015 through fiscal 2019. The House bill provided only one year of funding at $300 million for fiscal 2015. Language in the Senate bill included several new rules governing the use of Chapter 90 funds that would have reduced local flexibility to address municipal needs by imposing new reporting and accounting requirements. The House did not include this language.

The final compromise bill settled on the House’s one-year Chapter 90 authorization at $300 million and softened the restrictions proposed by the Senate. The final bill states that a community will only be able to carry forward more than 50 percent of the allocated Chapter 90 authorization from one year to the next if the city or town submits a five-year spending outline to the Department of Transportation.

The bill also includes language requiring the MassDOT to provide “preliminary notice” of the Chapter 90 authorizations by March 1 of each year. This is a change from past practice in previous Chapter 90 bond bills, which included language requiring cities and towns to receive official notice of their Chapter 90 authorizations by April 1.

The MMA will continue to monitor the state’s administration of the Chapter 90 program to secure timely notification and release of the funds to maximize planning and full use of the construction season. The association will also oppose any state rules that would restrict local flexibility.

The MMA is continuing to analyze the details of the transportation bond bill. Any further information will be posted here.

• Download full text of Legislature’s final transportation bond bill for fiscal 2015-2019 (389K PDF)