Senator Crichton urged support for House Bill 4307 on the Senate floor, calling it “an act financing the long term improvements to municipal roads and bridges,” and described the measure as an expanded chapter 90 program that authorizes $1,185,000,000 in borrowing to fund municipal road and bridge repairs.
The bill directs money into multiple programs, including $500,000,000 for bridge and pavement life‑cycle asset management, $200,000,000 for culvert and small bridge repair and replacement, $200,000,000 for Chapter 98 purposes, $100,000,000 allocated under a road‑miles formula aimed at rural communities, and $185,000,000 for capital projects to ease traffic congestion.
Why it matters: the measure increases the Commonwealth’s bonding capacity by directing fair‑share appropriations through the Commonwealth Transportation Fund and expands funding for rural and resiliency projects that municipalities rely on for repairs and climate adaptation.
On the floor Senator Keenan offered Amendment 1 to require municipalities to report any unspent chapter 90 balances and provide plans for how they will spend those funds. Keenan said the bill’s existing language that the department “shall encourage long term capital plans” was too weak and that the amendment would add specificity by mandating reporting of unspent money and planned uses. The Senate rejected Keenan’s amendment: “All those in favor, say aye. Opposed, no. The noes have it. The amendment is not adopted.”
Senator Tarr and others offered a separate amendment to earmark funding for the Lawrence Municipal Airport (located in North Andover), describing the airport as an “engine of economic development for the entire region.” That amendment was not adopted.
After floor amendments were resolved the Senate passed the bill to be engrossed. The Senate also approved the emergency preamble for the bill with a recorded standing vote reported as 9 in favor and 0 opposed, adopting the emergency preamble required for enactment votes on bonding measures.
Discussion versus decisions: the Senate debated distribution formulas and authorization length (some members asked for a two‑year authorization window to provide more predictability), but the formal actions recorded on the floor were the rejection of Keenan’s reporting amendment, the rejection of the Lawrence Municipal Airport earmark, passage of the bill to be engrossed, and adoption of the emergency preamble.
Implementation and next steps: as the chair and several senators noted, the bill will require final enactment votes and a two‑thirds vote at enactment because it is a bond measure; senators urged timely action so municipalities can capture the construction season.
Details and background: sponsors said the bill uses “innovative financing strategies” and a revised formula to weigh road miles more heavily to help rural communities; it also includes funding aimed at improving climate resiliency of existing roadway infrastructure. The bill builds on prior chapter 90 authorizations, which several speakers described as historically smaller (previous session bills authorized $375,000,000 each).