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Finance, Revenue and Bonding panel advances substitute for Senate Bill 12 amid objections over $50 million bond and school-grant housing condition
Summary
The committee voted to send Substitute for Senate Bill 12 to the floor after brief debate focused on a $50 million new bonding authorization and a provision tying school building grant increases to local affordable housing goals; several members objected and voted no.
The Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee voted to send Substitute for Senate Bill 12 to the floor after a roll-call vote following brief debate over a $50 million bonding authorization and a condition linking school building grants to local affordable housing levels.
Madam Chair opened the item and Senator Fonfera moved the bill to the floor; Senator Compereira seconded the motion. Representative John Piscopo, speaking remotely, said he opposed the $50,000,000 in new bonding in section 3 and that the state already had substantial bonding for housing. “I just object to this new $50,000,000 sum of bonding that’s going into this proposal,” Piscopo said. Representative Haynes said she could not vote for the bill because section 2 conditions school building project grant increases on the amount of affordable housing in a town; she said many small towns lack infrastructure and jobs that make rapid affordable-housing production difficult and that tying school grant dollars to a 10% affordable-housing metric would unfairly penalize towns. “Tying the affordable housing grant money… to grant money for school building projects is just asinine. And I… cannot vote for this bill,” Haynes said.
After discussion, the administrator called the roll and the committee approved the substitute bill to be reported to the floor. Votes were recorded on the transcript during the roll call.
Why it matters: Committee members framed their debate narrowly on fiscal impacts — bonding levels and the bill’s fiscal-condition language for school construction grants — consistent with the committee’s limited cognizance on fiscal versions of bills. The bonding amount and school-grant condition could affect local school capital funding and the state’s housing finance priorities.
The committee held votes open for an hour after the roll call; the transcript records numerous individual roll-call entries and the administrator confirmed the motion passed out of committee.
What’s next: The bill was advanced to the floor for further consideration. Any amendments or fiscal changes would be addressed in subsequent stages. Relevant committee staff and the administrator recorded the roll-call outcome.
