Citizens’ Forums and Surveys Reflect Major Priorities

By Rep. James Eldridge, 1/22/07

With the inaugural and swearing-in ceremonies over and the 2007-2008 Massachusetts legislative session begun, work by the Patrick-Murray administration and the Legislature has gotten off to a quick start. Legislation for the new two-year session was filed on January 10th, and Governor Patrick has already started working on his FY08 budget, due in February. A budget briefing by the Mass. Taxpayers Foundation was given to House members on Monday, January 22nd, preparing legislators for the fiscal realities of this year’s state budget.

Over the past two months, I have sough input from the constituents and town officials of the 37th Middlesex District, both for their top priorities and any specific legislation that they think would help the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

In December, Senator Resor, Senator Antonioni and I organized citizens’ legislative forums throughout the 37th Middlesex District, and invited the general public to weigh in with their concerns, and suggestions. In addition, letters with a survey were sent to town officials in each of the six towns that I represent, to get their feedback on how the state could best help the towns and cities of Massachusetts.

Although a variety of ideas were brought up from these forums and surveys, a few clear themes developed.

In terms of priorities, there is no doubt that increasing local aid is the number one priority at the forums. Most communities have not yet recovered from the 2002 budget cuts, while health care, energy, and education costs have skyrocketed. Given this month’s dire fiscal forecasts from Governor Patrick and Speaker DiMasi, this year’ state budget process will be less generous than was anticipated. In my opinion, town officials, educators, and parents are going to have to show the same amount of energy and organizing in order to ensure that a significant Chapter 70 education aid increase is in the budget.

Beyond local aid, there is a great deal of energy and enthusiasm for Massachusetts to embrace alternative energy, and find ways to reduce energy costs, in an environmentally-conscious manner. People attending the legislative forums in December talked a lot about tax credits for hybrid cars, supporting wind and solar power, and taking steps to reduce global warming through “green” building and a greater investment in non-polluting energy.

Given how scenic the 37th Middlesex District is, it is no surprise that residents talked or wrote a lot about preserving our communities’ rural character. At each of the three forums, the battle cry for reforming Chapter 40B, the state’s affordable housing law, was heard. I am filing several pieces of 40B reform legislation this session, including part of a bill that passed the House in 2004 that would virtually double every community’s affordable housing percentage overnight. That being said, in my opinion the only way that the Legislature will reform Chapter 40B is if more communities and citizens step up and take the lead in building affordable housing on their own terms (e.g. Habitat for Humanity, senior housing, Chapter 40R housing).

Additionally, there was strong support for preserving the funding mechanism for the popular Community Preservation Act, and for expanding state funding under the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs’ Self-Help Grant program, to purchase and preserve more open space. Under former Governor Romney’s administration, the CPA state funds were raided and the self-help grant program was cut. The Patrick-Murray administration will work much more cooperatively with the Legislature to support these programs.

There were of course many, many more ideas at the forums and on the pages of the citizen’s surveys, but the issues of increasing local aid, supporting alternative energy, and helping communities preserve their rural character were the most common themes that were sounded. I am excited to work on these priorities, and many others, over the next two years as your state Representative. If you have something that you have not yet suggested or would recommend to help improve the state, I encourage you to contact my State House office.