Senate accepts conference report on $1.39 billion fair-share supplemental budget

Senator Michael J. Rogers, chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, presented the conference committee report for the so-called fair-share supplemental budget and urged members to vote yes. The conference report contains $1,390,000,000 in spending drawn from surplus surtax revenues designated for public education and public transportation; the Senate adopted the report and ordered enactment by roll call.

Rogers described the transportation allocation at $716,000,000, of which $535,000,000 is earmarked for MBTA improvements and infrastructure upgrades, $103,000,000 for aids to cities and towns (including $80,000,000 for supplemental Chapter 90 road and bridge funding), $73,000,000 for regional transit authorities, and $5,000,000 for transportation improvements related to 2026 World Cup events at Gillette Stadium.

On education, Rogers said the package includes $593,500,000. Key items named on the floor included $248,000,000 for special-education circuit-breaker reimbursements, $115,000,000 for deferred maintenance at public higher-education institutions, and $100,000,000 for career-technical education capital grants.

Senators discussed the long-term sustainability of relying on surtax surplus dollars and noted the spending is constrained to the uses named in the referendum that created the surtax. The Senate called the roll and passed the conference report; the clerk announced the vote as 40 in the affirmative, none in the negative (recorded on the roll call). The conference report was placed on the order’s day for immediate consideration and then adopted.

The supplemental appropriation implements priorities described by the Senate leadership and will proceed to the next steps of enactment and administrative implementation.