Hidden Link

July 26, 2024

By Bruce Mohl and Gintautas Dumcius

Gov. Maura Healey’s 31-member task force on transportation finance appears to be turning into little more than a large group of bookkeepers, and some members aren’t happy about it.

Hayes Morrison, the undersecretary of transportation, briefed the MBTA board of directors on the task force Thursday. She said the goal is to develop a tool kit listing sources and uses of transportation revenue.

Tom Glynn, the chair of the MBTA board, asked Morrison whether the task force is going to rank sources of revenue – in other words, say which taxes and/or fees state policymakers should pursue.

“We don’t think so,” Morrison said. “What we are really hoping to give [to the governor] is a tool kit that lists sources and uses. I am not so sure – again, I’m not a member of the task force, I’m staff to the task force -- that they will get to the prioritization level. It’s possible, but we haven’t really discussed that yet.”

T board member Mary Skelton Roberts asked Morrison if all revenue sources are on the table, an interesting question since Healey ruled out tolls at the state’s borders in April after Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt set off a firestorm by saying that was one approach she was interested in.

With Tibbits-Nutt, her boss, sitting across from her on the MBTA board, Morrison suggested all sources of revenue could be listed in the final report but not all of them would be given consideration by the governor.

“This is an exercise where we will be, again, looking at all sources, but it will be a tool kit. That doesn’t mean that those sources go beyond the actual report,” she said.

Sources say some members of the task force aren’t interested in just compiling a list of revenue options, but instead want to recommend specific revenue policies to pursue. It’s not clear what these task force members will do, but there has been some talk of a minority report.

The task force is deliberating amid great uncertainty about what Healey wants from it.

In April, Tibbits-Nutt talked enthusiastically about the task force’s potential. “This [task force] is actually different because we’re not censoring it,” she said. “I’m going to talk about tolling. I’m going to talk about charging TNCs [transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft] more. I’m going to talk about potentially charging more for package deliveries, charging more for payroll tax — basically going after everybody who has money. And when I’m talking tolling, I’m talking at the borders. I’m not talking within Massachusetts.”

She added: “We’re going after all the people who should be giving us money to make our transportation better and our communities better.”

Four days later, Healey issued a statement saying Tibbits-Nutt’s comments did not reflect the views of her administration and she had no intention of installing tolls at the state’s borders. She added: “The Healey-Driscoll administration is committed to collaborating with the Legislature and all stakeholders to make Massachusetts a more affordable, competitive place.”

Pushback on merger of state agencies

A group of advocates that backs diversity in small business growth is asking Beacon Hill lawmakers to pump the brakes on the proposed merger of two quasi-public agencies.

Language in the Senate’s version of the multibillion-dollar economic development bill proposes to merge the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency (MassDevelopment) and the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (MGCC). The Senate added the language after conversations with officials in Gov. Maura Healey’s administration, arguing that the two agencies, both chaired by Healey economic development chief Yvonne Hao, have significant overlap.

House and Senate negotiators are currently hashing out a final version of the bill as they face a July 31 deadline, when formal legislative sessions end for the year. The merged agency would keep the MassDevelopment name.

The Coalition for an Equitable Economy earlier this week sent a letter to Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano, as well as the chairs of the Legislature’s Economic Development Committee, urging them to hold off until next year.

“While our group is neutral in principle to the possibility of merging the two agencies, we urge you to omit the Senate Economic Development bill language merging the agencies from the final bill and to consider such a significant proposal through the usual committee process next session so that all of the small businesses, business support organizations, and other impacted stakeholders have an opportunity to share their feedback,” the coalition wrote in the letter.

The letter’s signatories included Nicole Obi of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts and Eneida Roman of Amplify LatinX.

The letter nodded to lawmakers and the Healey administration’s argument to “leverage the strengths of each agency, seek synergies, and deepen the impact of their programming.” But the two agencies also serve “very different and distinct constituencies with very different programs,” the letter added. While MassDevelopment focuses on large real estate and bonding projects and an initiative that focuses on growth in small and mid-sized cities, MGCC’s ambit is grants, loans and assistance for the smallest and underserved businesses.

If the merger language is included in the final bill, and signed by Gov. Healey, the coalition asked for a six-to-nine month transition period and a plan that “protects the jobs of all existing employees at both agencies.” 

The coalition also asked that the new agency be accountable to lawmakers and the public through reporting requirements, “including data on amounts and percents awarded to microbusinesses, minority-owned, women-owned, worker-owned, veteran-owned, or immigrant-owned small businesses that have historically faced obstacles to accessing capital, and data on amounts and percents awarded to businesses in gateway cities and rural communities,” the letter said.