Sen Rausch, District Delegation Achieve Big Wins in FY2020 Budget

Boston, MA – Senator Becca Rausch (D-Needham) voted in favor of the $43.1 billion final budget for Fiscal Year 2020 on Monday, July 22. The budget, passed to be engrossed by both the House (158-0) and the Senate (39-1), makes significant investments in public education, health care, state parks, regional transit authorities, and workforce development, while also directing $476 million to the Stabilization Fund. Through her amendments, Senator Rausch secured statewide funding for Councils on Aging and $1 million (representing an $850,000 increase over last year) in grants to promote healthy dating relationships among young people, as well as notable improvements in transparency and oversight on executive spending and data management. The Senator and her many colleagues representing the 12 municipalities of the Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex District also secured over $2 million in local funding and infrastructure development.

“A budget is a comprehensive statement of our shared values,” Senator Rausch said. “Especially in my first budget experience, it was a privilege to collaborate with my legislative colleagues to improve local infrastructure, prevent unhealthy behaviors, advance public safety, promote experiential learning for our students, and improve our open spaces and playgrounds. Our teamwork is a real achievement. I am also proud and grateful that this budget contains several of my statewide priorities, including the largest investment in decades to prevent teen sexual assault and domestic violence, full funding for innovative programs supporting our seniors aging in communities of choice, and improved administrative transparency, efficiency, and effectiveness.”

Senator Rausch’s statewide budget successes include: (1) full funding for the Service Incentive Grant (SIG) program to our Commonwealth’s Councils on Aging, while maintaining the Formula Grant rate of $12 per senior per year; (2) $1 million to fund the Healthy Relationships Grant Program, which supports partnerships between the Department of Public Health and community- and school-based organizations to offer effective programming that promotes healthy intimate partner relationships among our young people and reduces teen dating violence; and (3) a policy change to significantly improve transparency and fiscal oversight of the Executive Office of Technology Services and Supports (EOTSS), as the office’s expenditures could reach $1.5 billion in a five-year period if Governor Baker’s recent bond bill passes. The Healthy Relationships Grant Program stems in part from the advocacy of one of Senator Rausch’s Wayland constituents, whose daughter was murdered by her former intimate partner.

The municipalities in Senator Rausch’s district received a combined total of more than $2 million in local aid through the coordinated and collaborative teamwork of Senator Rausch, Senate President Karen E. Spilka (D-Ashland), Senate Majority Leader Cindy Creem (D-Newton), Senator Mike Rush (D-West Roxbury), Representative Denise Garlick (D-Needham), Representative Alice Peisch (D-Wellesley), Representative David Linsky (D-Natick), and Representative Carmine Gentile (D-Wayland). For the towns of Natick, Needham, Wayland, and Wellesley, the legislative delegation secured funding to support the following programs, upgrades, and developments:

• Improved playground space in Wayland
• Renovations to Hunnewell Fields in Natick
• Traffic signal improvements at the Bacon St. / Route 135 intersection in Wellesley
• Needham Heights streetscape improvements
• At-risk youth mentoring program in Wayland
• After-school programming in Wellesley
• Veterans Oral History Project in Natick
• Education programs at the WWII Museum in Natick
• Public health and substance use programming for veterans in Natick
• Senior Center improvements in Needham
• Expansion study of the Needham Rail Trail
• Wayland permitting software
• Conditions assessment of the Stone Building in Wellesley

“Education is a top Senate priority, and I am therefore proud of the significant investments we make in K-12 education in the final FY2020 budget,” said Senate President Spilka. “Not only have we voted to advance the largest year-over-year increase in Chapter 70 education funding in the last two decades, we have also made a substantial down payment towards funding the recommendations of the Foundation Budget Review Commission (FBRC). I commend all of the members of the conference committee for their very fine work on this budget.”

Representative Garlick said Monday, “the Needham legislative delegation is strong. We have brought attention to the concerns of the communities we represent and to the needs of many individuals we serve. Throughout the budget process, we have been united in representing the individuals, families, older adults and veterans of Needham. This final budget reflects the values and priorities that make our town exceptional, and delivers tangible results that improve our safety and quality.”

“I am pleased that my amendment for $50,000 for the Town of Wayland was included in the final conference committee report,” said Representative Gentile. “This funding will help streamline and automate permitting functions in the town through new software which ultimately will enhance the experience of residents, developers, business owners, and others while at the same time serving the Town by clarifying areas where further improvement is needed.”

Senator Becca Rausch represents the Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex District, comprised of Attleboro, Franklin, Millis, Natick, Needham, Norfolk, North Attleborough, Plainville, Sherborn, Wayland, Wellesley, and Wrentham. Currently in her first term, Senator Rausch serves as the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government and the Senate Vice Chair of the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs.