March 19, 2024

Representative Steven Howitt helps craft $200 million bond bill for local road and bridge repairs

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Boston – State Representative Steven S. Howitt (R-Seekonk) played a key role in finalizing a multi-million dollar bond bill which will provide cities and towns with funding assistance for critical infrastructure work.

As one of six legislators serving on the Chapter 90 conference committee, Representative Howitt helped produce House Bill 3648, An Act providing for the financing of certain improvements to municipal roads and bridges, which was approved unanimously by the House of Representatives on April 24. In addition to authorizing $200 million in bonding for local road and bridge repairs, the bill includes funding for information technology upgrades at the Registry of Motor Vehicles and transportation services for the elderly and disabled.

Established in 1973, the Chapter 90 program allocates funding to cities and towns using a formula based on the weighted average of a municipality’s population, employment, and total road miles. The funds are paid out as reimbursements to communities for qualifying infrastructure work, including road resurfacing, sidewalk repairs, traffic control measures and street lighting.

“I was honored to be selected by the Minority Leader to serve on this conference committee,” said Representative Howitt, who is the Ranking Minority Member on the Joint Committee on Transportation. “I understand the importance of the Chapter 90 program to our cities and towns. I’m pleased we were able to reach an agreement to enable communities to address some of their most critical infrastructure needs.”

House Bill 3648 represents a compromise between the two versions of the bond bill previously approved by the House of Representatives on March 29 and by the Senate on April 5. Representative Howitt worked with his colleagues to reconcile the differences between the two branches to produce a bill to be sent to Governor Charlie Baker for his signature.

Representative Howitt noted that “The bond bill will provide Chapter 90 funding for each of the four communities I represent, in whole or in part, as follows: $579,988 for Seekonk, $613,063 for Rehoboth, $556,618 for Norton and $569,929 for Swansea.”

In addition to the Chapter 90 funding, the bill authorizes the state treasurer to issue $60 million in 10-year bonds to replace the current information technology system used by the RMV, which is more than 30 years old.

The bill authorizes the state treasurer to issue $30 million in 20-year bonds for the implementation of the Mobility Assistance Program and the Regional Intercity Bus and Intermodal Service, $22 million of which will be used for vehicle and equipment purchases, including fully accessible vans for local councils on aging. Additional language included in the bill requires the Executive Office of Administration and Finance to review its bond issuance policies and to file a report with recommendations on those policies with the legislature by November 1, 2017.

The bill must be approved by the Senate and signed by Governor Baker before the funding is finalized.

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