Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
The House and Senate today passed a fiscal 2024 supplemental budget bill that would provide funding for the state’s emergency shelter system, place new limits on shelter stays, and codify pandemic-era authorizations related to outdoor dining and to-go cocktails.
The $426 million compromise bill, released yesterday by a House-Senate conference committee, was sent to the governor for her signature.
The bill would codify local licensing authority for permits for expanded outdoor dining, and would allow to-go cocktails with take out food orders, excluding beer and wine. Both of these popular pandemic-era provisions had expired on April 1.
The bill appropriates $251 million from the state’s transitional escrow account to fund ongoing emergency shelter needs through the end of fiscal 2024, while allowing another $175 million to be pulled from the account for fiscal 2025. The transitional escrow account was created in recent fiscal years when the state realized substantial surplus revenue.
The bill includes a nine-month limitation on the length of stay for families in emergency shelters. Families would be eligible for up to two 90-day extensions if they meet certain requirements, including if they are employed, in a training program, pregnant or disabled. The bill allows for a further hardship waiver in certain circumstances, but these must be certified by the state housing secretary.
Some of the bill’s shelter funding would be dedicated to workforce development, with the goal of helping families exit the system, including $10 million for an approved training program.
Roughly 7,500 families are enrolled in the state’s emergency assistance shelter program, according to the administration’s shelter data dashboard, with about half of them living in overflow accommodations in hotels and motels in communities across the state.
On March 18, Healey filed an additional fiscal 2024 supplemental budget bill aimed at funding human services and early education programs. The second bill, totalling $535 million, would be funded primarily through federal reimbursements, using just over $88 million in state spending. That bill is now with the House Committee on Ways and Means.
The supplemental budget approved yesterday was a compromise between a $260 million version passed by the House on March 7, and an $825 million version passed by the Senate on March 22.