Legislative delegation secures funding for numerous Malden priorities

  State Senator Jason Lewis as well as State Representatives Steven Ultrino, Kate Lipper-Garabedian and Paul Donato recently announced the final passage of a $3,998 billion spending plan that will make significant investments in the Massachusetts economy to further stimulate the Commonwealth’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill, which is titled An Act relative to immediate COVID-19 recovery needs, uses federal monies received from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) as well as the Commonwealth’s Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) budget surplus to provide funding investments in housing, schools, environment and climate mitigation as well as workforce development throughout the Commonwealth. On December 13, Governor Charlie Baker signed An Act relative to immediate COVID-19 recovery needs – vetoing some content and returning one section to the Legislature with proposed amendments – with the goal of changing content that would cause delay in putting funds to use.

  In addition to providing hundreds of millions of dollars for statewide policy and budget priorities – such as health care and public health, economic and workforce development, housing, education and the environment – the bill includes numerous investments secured by the Malden delegation, including:

• $250,000 for Bread of Life to address food insecurity in the homeless population
• $50,000 for the Town Line Brook floodgate to mitigate local flooding problems
• $150,000 for Malden River Works’ environmental remediation and climate resilience efforts
• $100,000 for urban and community forestry greening
• $85,000 to Malden for the replacement of inefficient street lighting with energy-efficient alternatives
• $100,000 for upgrade and advancements of online services at the Malden Public Library
• $60,000 to Malden Overcoming Addiction (MOA) for capital improvements to Club 24, an important MOA facility for the recovery community in Greater Malden
• $250,000 for capital improvements to The Immigrant Learning Center
• $100,000 for capital improvements to the Malden YWCA’s Wilcox Hall
• $125,000 for an accessible city archive
• $75,000 to fund a feasibility study for a fire station in East Malden

  “Thanks to President Biden and Congressional Democrats, Massachusetts is seizing this historic opportunity to invest in a strong and equitable pandemic recovery for our communities and Commonwealth,” said Lewis, who is the assistant vice-chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means and Senate Chair of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Education. “I’m particularly pleased that the Malden legislative delegation was able to work together to include funding in the bill for so many vital local priorities to help the City and local nonprofits better serve Malden residents.”

  “The final American Rescue Plan Act spending bill places a particular focus on communities across the Commonwealth that have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Representative Steven Ultrino. “I am proud to have helped secured significant funding for Malden, including expanding food insecurity and homelessness services, facility upgrades for the City and our community organizations as well as environmental infrastructure – all of which will help Malden emerge from this pandemic stronger and more sustainable. I want to thank my colleagues and the Malden delegation for their hard work ensuring these key investments in our community became reality.”

  “The legislature’s COVID-19 recovery bill is attuned to both broad and discrete challenges and opportunities in the Commonwealth,” said Lipper-Garabedian, who delivered her inaugural speech on the House floor in support of the bill and its appropriation of $10 million to expand eligibility for special education services to students who turn 22 during the pandemic. She added, “It invests once-in-a-lifetime funds into programs and resources that serve our constituents, particularly those most impacted by COVID-19. I further am pleased to work with the legislative delegation to champion many important investments in Malden across many City departments as well as nonprofit community partners like Bread of Life, the Immigrant Learning Center, and Malden Overcoming Addiction.”

  “The landmark ARPA bill that passed the house yesterday will be of great benefit to the city of Malden. The bill includes funding for community forestry greening, the creation of an accessible city archive, increased funding to address food security and more comes at a critical time as we continue to navigate out of the pandemic that has been so hard for so many,” said Donato. “The ARPA Bill will be a major step towards building an ever more prosperous Malden.”

  Other highlights of the bill:

• More than $1.5 billion in investments to help workers and businesses recover from the impacts of the pandemic, including $500 million for premium pay bonuses to low-income workers forced to risk their health and safety as they worked essential jobs throughout the pandemic, and another $500 million to supplement the unemployment insurance trust fund, to help small businesses devastated by the pandemic
• Critical investments of more than $500 million to keep people in their homes and to help families find their next home
• Investments totaling more than $1 billion in public health systems to help us recover from the pandemic and better prepare for future health policy challenges, including behavioral health supports and needed investments for community hospitals
• Hundreds of millions of dollars invested to help respond to and prepare for the climate crisis, including investments in wind and geothermal power as well as investments in water infrastructure
• Nearly $300 million in additional resources for public schools, including $100 million to improve air quality in classrooms
• The bill establishes an equity and accountability review panel to track spending of federal dollars and to ensure funds are spent transparently and efficiently, and also that the government is delivering funds to those communities that have been historically underrepresented and were also hardest hit by the pandemic.