BEACON HILL BEAT
APRIL 2006
COMMONWEALTH SEWER RATE RELIEF FUND INCREASED TO
$25 MILLION IN FY 2007 HOUSE BUDGET
On April 10th, the House Committee on Ways & Means, under the guidance of Chairman Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop) and Speaker of the House Sal DiMasi (D-Boston) released their FY 2007 state budget recommendations. The $25.27 billion budget proposal increases state spending by 5.7%. Although tax revenues have increased, the House has proposed using $275 million in reserve funds to address critical state funding needs. The House has also lifted the cap on lottery funds allocated to municipalities, thus returning critical state funds back to cities and towns.
UCANE advocated increasing the funding for the Commonwealth Sewer Rate Relief Fund to $25 million, an increase of $12.5 million over last year’s allocation. We worked with members of the House Leadership, including Speaker DiMasi and Chairman DeLeo, and sent several letters to House members detailing the specific funding increases that their communities would receive. UCANE thanks the House for providing the funding level in their budget request and will now focus on the Senate to request that a minimum of $25 million be included in their FY 2007 State Budget Proposal.
UCANE has worked with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Water Pollution Abatement Trust (WPAT), the Executive Office of Administration and Finance (A & F), and the House Ways & Means Committee to assure that the FY 2007 funding meets the needs of the State Revolving Loan Fund (SRF) program. The House matched the funding level needed to maintain the state’s assistance to the SRF program. UCANE also advocated for increased funding for DEP staffing to assist municipalities address their wastewater and drinking water concerns. The House increased the funding level from last year’s allocation and from what Governor Romney recommended in his FY 2007 budget proposal.
Water Pollution Abatement Trust
Clean Water Contract Assistance = $54,907,283
(Matched Governor Romney’ FY 2007 Budget Request)
Water Pollution Abatement Trust
Drinking Water Contract Assistance = $9,308,806
(Matched Governor Romney’ FY 2007 Budget Request)
Water Pollution Abatement Trust
Grandfathered Drinking Water Contract Assistance = $7,852,853
(Matched Governor Romney’ FY 2007 Budget Request)
Department of Environmental Protection’s General Fund = $32,072,670
(Increases Governor Romney’s FY 2007 Budget Request = $31,070,399)
WPAT REACHES $3 BILLION MILESTONE IN SRF FUNDS
LOANED TO MA MUNICIPALITIES
In early April, State Treasurer Tim Cahill presented Fitchburg Mayor Dan Mylott with a check from the Water Pollution Abatement Trust (WPAT) to fund $36 million of work on the city’s wastewater and drinking water facilities. The check represented the $3 billion milestone and one thousandth loan that the WPAT has loaned to municipalities to fund water infrastructure projects. UCANE has worked with the State Treasurer, the WPAT, the DEP, and A & F to assure that there are enough SRF funds available for municipalities to borrow for critical water projects.
The MA WPAT was established in 1989 pursuant to Title VI of the Federal Clean Water Act. It was later amended in 1998 to encompass the provisions of Title XIV of the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act. The Trust’s mission is to fund the implementation of water pollution control and drinking water projects in the Commonwealth through the SRF program. A three-member board administers the WPAT, the Treasurer serves as the Chair, and the two other members are the Secretary of A & F and the DEP Commissioner. The WPAT operates under the direction of Treasurer Cahill and the Executive Director, with an Executive Committee to coordinate efforts between the three members of the Board.
GOVERNOR ROMNEY SIGNS MA HEALTH CARE
LEGISLATION INTO LAW
On April 12th, Governor Mitt Romney signed the MA Health Care Legislation into law at a formal ceremony in Faneuil Hall. Senator Edward Kennedy, House Speaker Sal DiMasi, Senate President Robert Travaglini, and a number of other legislative leaders were in attendance for the signing of what is being touted as the first of its kind in health care coverage in America. The plan will cover the majority of uninsured people in the state and will require everyone who can afford it to obtain health insurance. Currently it is estimated that roughly 500,000 people in MA are uninsured.
Starting on July 1, 2007 all individuals will be required to have health insurance. Those who do not will be assessed on their taxes. Those individuals below 300% of the federal poverty level (roughly $38,500 for a family of three), but not eligible for Medicaid, will have their insurance plans subsidized at a sliding sale rate. Children of families below the 300% federal poverty level will be provided free coverage through Medicaid.
Prior to signing the law, the Governor vetoed eight portions of the legislation that were passed by the House and Senate including the $295 per employee assessment for employers with over ten employees who do not provide health care benefits. It is expected that the House and Senate will overturn the Governor’s vetoes.
DEP ANNOUNCES ENFORCEMENT OF 2 PARTS PER BILLION PERCHLORATE LEVEL FOR DRINKING WATER
The MA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced that they will be enforcing a 2 parts per billion (ppb) perchlorate level for drinking water. The proposed standard is aimed to protect public health, especially pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants, and individuals with low levels of thyroid hormones. Perchlorate has been found to interfere with thyroid function, which could lead to impaired human development and metabolism. No federal standards regulating perchlorate levels in drinking water currently exist. Perchlorate is a chemical that can be found in blasting agents, fireworks, military munitions, and other manufacturing processes, and can be generated in small amounts within existing water treatment processes.
Secretary of the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA) Stephen Pritchard stated, "Perchlorate is an emerging contaminant that has raised a red flag for environmental agencies and public health officials across the country. These proposed standards ensure that the water is safe to drink for all citizens of the Commonwealth, requiring regular monitoring for perchlorate into the future." DEP Commissioner Robert Golledge stated, "Testing results from studies across the country have found perchlorate in many things, including water, food and milk. A perchlorate standard of 2 ppb provides the best overall protection of public health, while setting a cleanup standard that is feasible and attainable."
Perchlorate was first detected in MA in 2002 in the aquifer under the MA Military Reservation on Cape Cod, where it was found to be moving toward drinking water wells in the town of Bourne. In 2004, DEP required all drinking water systems in the state to test for the presence of perchlorate in their drinking water sources. Test results indicated perchlorate above the interim state advisory level at sites in Chesterfield, Southbridge, Hadley, Williamstown, Boxborough, Millbury, Westford, Boxford, Tewksbury and Westport. Those sites were required to take specific actions to address the contamination.
~ Federal Level ~
UCANE & CLEAN WATER CONSTRUCTION COALITION ADVOCATE FOR $2.35 BILLION FOR FEDERAL SRF FUNDING
UCANE has joined the newly formed Clean Water Construction Coalition (CWCC) to support increased federal funding for the SRF program and water infrastructure projects throughout New England and the Nation. UCANE and CWCC have been involved to increase the President’s SRF funding level for FY 2007, including Senator Paul Sarbanes’ (D-MD) Senate Amendment 3103 to increase the Clean Water SRF funding in the President’s budget proposal, Senator Lincoln Chafee’s (R-RI) Water Infrastructure Financing Act (S.1400), Senator George Voinovich’s (R-OH) National Infrastructure Improvement Act (S. 2388), and Congressman John Duncan’s (R-TN) Clean Water Trust Fund (H. 4560).
Members of UCANE recently met with staff from Congressman Stephen Lynch’s (D-MA) office to discuss the proposal by the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition to support $1.35 billion for the Clean Water SRF and $1 billion for the Drinking Water SRF. We have contacted the New England Congressional Delegation to sign on to a letter to the Committee of Appropriations’ Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies to support this funding request and will continue to work with CWCC to seek national support for this proposal.
MA NATIVE ANDREW CARD RESIGNS
AS WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF
President Bush’s Chief of Staff, and former MA State Representative from Holbrook, Andrew Card stepped down from his post on April 14th. His replacement is Joshua Bolton, Director of the Office of Management and Budget for the White House. Replacing Bolton as Budget Director is Rob Portman a former Congressman from Ohio. Card leaves as the second-longest serving chief of staff in White House history. His resume includes serving in President Ronald Reagan’s Administration as Special Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs, and subsequently as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs; serving in President George H. W. Bush’s Administration as US Secretary of Transportation; and prior to being named Chief of Staff for the current President, he was General Motors' Vice President of Government Relations since 1999.
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