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Date: 4/13/2023
LONGMEADOW — State Sen. Jacob Oliveira (D-Ludlow) met with the Longmeadow Select Board at its meeting on April 3 to formally introduce himself, ask for earmark requests and offer to “be present” in the district.
Oliveira, who was elected to the Senate in November 2022, is the Senate chair of the Joint Committee On Municipalities and Regional Government, which deals with home rule petitions and some animal welfare issues. He mentioned Select Board member Mark Gold’s research into alternatives to Proposition 2½, which limits the taxes that can be raised in a given fiscal year, and said that if the town approved that measure it would likely come before his committee. Oliveira is also the vice chair of the Joint Committee on Health and Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development. He said the latter of these is important in Western Massachusetts as one in six jobs is “tied directly to the creative economy.” He also serves on four other committees.
Select Board Chair Josh Levine asked Oliveira if he had any insight into the Eversource Western Massachusetts Natural Gas Reliability project, which would run a pipeline through the town. Oliveira said that the project “doesn’t meet, as far as I’m concerned, the standard of the climate goals I was very proud to vote on as a legislator, of reducing our dependency on fossil fuels.” He added that state regulators should come out to Longmeadow and meet with residents in person.
On the topic of crumbling concrete foundations, Levine noted that residents are afraid to conduct a pyrrhotite test on their homes because a positive result would essentially render them worthless. Oliveira said a group of legislators with affected constituents are pursuing a “pot of funds” to help with the cost of replacing foundations and a testing system for concrete to be used in new buildings.
Select Board member Thomas Lachiusa recalled that U.S. Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield) had said foundation replacement could be deducted from federal taxes and asked if the same was true of state taxes. Oliveira said he had not heard of that at the state level but would discuss it with his colleagues.
Lachiusa also asked Oliveira about “finding a way to help perpetrators of violence.” He said perpetrators of domestic violence “aren’t that much different than perpetrators of school violence and violence against police.” He noted there are no inpatient programs for violent men and went on to say, “It isn’t like we’re going to have a net that catches everybody, but right now I’d say we have a net that isn’t catching very many people at all.”
Oliveira told him that legislators are likely to be examining mental health programs, including those created by county correctional facilities and sheriff’s departments to “see what works.” He said the goal is to “increase funding on the front end” before violence happens.
Gold commented that the state has had “windfalls” of revenue but the increase to municipalities is “pedestrian.” He said aid under the Student Opportunity Act is “woefully inadequate” and noted special education costs to the district are increasing by $365,000 in fiscal year 2024.
Oliveira said special education costs are “rising well on a rate that is outpacing inflation.” He said he has filed a bill to increase the special education reimbursement program known as the circuit breaker from 75% to 90% and said he had filed a bill that would examine special education funding as a whole.
Select Board member Dan Zwirko said that population as a part of the Chapter 90 calculation “doesn’t help Longmeadow.” Oliveira agreed and noted that one of his other communities, Belchertown, is the fourth largest municipality in land area, but as a bedroom community, it represents a small amount of employment, which is also part of the calculation.
“The inequities in Western Massachusetts are massive. We rely on our roads and bridges more than the eastern part of the state” because the public transit systems are not as robust, Oliveira said. A bill focused on Chapter 90, which funds roads and bridges, is in the works and had passed in the Senate, he said. The state’s total Chapter 90 appropriation has been consistent at $200 million for more than a decade, even as “buying power has diminished,” he said.
On a related topic, Gold noted there is a budget deficit of more than $4 million for the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority. Oliveira told Gold he was a “proud member” of the Legislative Regional Transit Authority Caucus in the legislature and said the bigger administration had underfunded regional transit authorities. He recognized that residents in their daily life and college students also use it to get classes.
Gold also asked Oliveira to investigate the Hampden County Regional Retirement Board and said a more “equitable system of management and control” is needed to protect municipal employees’ retirement.
Zwirko asked about remote participation in municipal meetings. Oliveira told him that the governor had signed an extension of remote participation provisions that would expire in March 2025, but he had filed the bill to make remote and hybrid meetings permanent. “We’ve seen over the last three years how well this has worked out,” he said. Oliveira added that other legislation would allow for remote and hybrid state boards and commissions. He said people in Western Massachusetts were at “a disadvantage” in serving on state boards that are in Boston because “it takes a whole day” to travel and attend meetings. He is also working on how to incorporate remote and hybrid functionality into town meetings, he said.
On healthcare, Oliveira said the closure of Baystate Urgent Care was “a blow to the community.” He noted that the region lacks other healthcare providers, too. He said there was “not a single adolescent mental health bed” in the Pioneer Valley and will not be until Holyoke’s Baystate Behavioral Health Hospital opens in August. Oliveira said he is personally searching for a primary care physician and “trying to find somebody that’s taking in patients right now is pretty hard to do.”
Select Board member Vineeth Hemavathi asked about teacher shortages. Oliveira responded, “We’re trying to break down barriers, addressing the teacher pipeline issue.” To do this, he said the Legislature is looking at loan forgiveness, as well as “homegrown programs” such as a Springfield Public Schools program in which teachers studying education at Westfield State University who agree to teach in Springfield Public Schools after graduating receive “a significant discount” on tuition and fees.
Oliveira said barriers exist in education as well, such as the “expensive” Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure test, which Oliveira said, “disadvantages communities of color and low-income residents.” He said the Legislature is examining “alternative licensure pathways” as well as pathways for paraeducators and classroom aides to become credentialed.
Hemavathi raised the topic of mental well-being among educators and asked if there were programs focused on that.
“The burnout rate is very high,” and “concerning,” Oliveira said, though he acknowledged he was not aware of any programs or bills focused on that topic.