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Senator Driscoll withdraws amendment to expand gateway municipality designation
Summary
Senator William J. Driscoll introduced then withdrew an amendment that would have expanded eligibility and created an appeal process to designate additional gateway municipalities for state discretionary grant programs.
Senator William J. Driscoll proposed an amendment to broaden the Commonwealth’s gateway municipality designation and then withdrew it after a brief floor explanation.
Driscoll presented amendment number 33 to expand eligibility criteria so that “similarly situated” communities could qualify for programs and discretionary grants currently limited to gateway municipalities. He explained the current gateway criteria — population between 35,000 and 250,000, median educational attainment below the state average, and median household income below the state average — are applied every 10 years using decennial census data.
The amendment would have added additional categories and provided the Executive Office of Economic Development with authority to review and certify whether a municipality could qualify as a gateway or similarly situated community between decennial updates, effectively creating an appeal or application path. Driscoll said the change would address communities that have moved on or off the existing list due to demographic shifts and would allow targeted access to discretionary funding for communities that meet a subset of the criteria.
After explaining the proposal and its intent to continue conversations on the issue, Driscoll asked unanimous consent to withdraw amendment 33 because the floor was not the right vehicle for detailed work on the measure. Without objection, the amendment was withdrawn and the Senate moved on to other business.
Driscoll said he looks forward to further conversations and potential future action on updating gateway city criteria and administrative review procedures.
