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Supporters tell revenue committee regional ballot initiatives would give Massachusetts municipalities new tools to raise money for transportation
Summary
Advocates from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council and Transportation for Massachusetts told the Joint Committee on Revenue that Senate 2009 would allow municipalities or groups of municipalities to place local ballot questions to raise revenue for transportation projects, a tool commonly used in other states.
Georgia Barlow of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council and Pete Wilson of Transportation for Mass told the Joint Committee on Revenue that Senate Bill 2009 would authorize municipalities or groups of municipalities to place regional ballot initiatives (RBIs) on local ballots to raise revenue for transportation projects.
“MAPC has long supported legislation to enable a regional ballot initiatives in Massachusetts,” Georgia Barlow said, describing RBIs as a flexible tool that can be tailored by community — for example, sales taxes, room occupancy taxes or other locally chosen sources — and used to fund transit, roads, bikeways, bridges and right‑sized projects.
Pete Wilson emphasized that S 2009 does not itself raise revenue but simply authorizes the local mechanism: “This is not a revenue raising bill. This does not raise any revenue.” He and Barlow pointed to examples around the country where RBIs have funded transit electrification, rail projects and regional operations, and said many jurisdictions have used sunset provisions and project‑specific accountability to win voter approval.
Witnesses said Massachusetts municipalities face a constrained federal funding environment and that local voters should be able to decide whether to raise money for agreed‑upon projects. Barlow said the tool adds transparency because voters see exactly what a revenue question will fund and can hold implementers accountable.
Committee members asked for further detail on how Massachusetts would implement the measure and how local revenue options would interact with state funding. Witnesses recommended tailoring options to local needs and noted the bill contemplates flexibility so different municipalities can choose revenue instruments that work for them. No committee vote was recorded during the hearing.
Advocates asked the committee to consider RBIs as one part of a broader menu of transportation finance tools the Commonwealth might pursue.
