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Date: 3/15/2023
AMHERST – On March 6, state Sen. Jo Comerford and state Rep. Mindy Domb met with the Amherst Town Council to discuss the legislative process and their goals for the upcoming legislative session.
When discussing their work this session, both Comerford and Domb reflected on their priorities for this session and Domb said she has three categories that stand above the others for herself.
“The three categories I am prioritizing this year are economic and food security, climate and public health. Under economic and food security I include student hunger so in that category I am also talking about college affordability because the more we help with students being able to afford dinner, the more you can have resources for other kinds of things,” Domb said.
As the House chair of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development, Domb said she was looking forward to exploring the intersection of those topics.
“I’m extremely excited about it, in Amherst I know from our time at the beginning of COVID[-19] that tourism, arts and cultural development are essential not only to our personal development but to our economic development,” she said.
Domb will also serve as a member on the Joint Committee on Higher Education.
When discussing the committees that she is a part of, Comerford said she was looking forward to working on the Joint Committee on Racial Equity, Civil Rights and Inclusion.
“This was a committee stood up by the Legislature after the murder of George Floyd. I was a member last session, and I am glad to come back. I think we can do more with this committee and it’s got good leadership and I am excited about seeing what we can do,” Comerford said.
Alongside the Joint Committee on Racial Equity, Civil Rights and Inclusion, Comerford said she will be the Senate chair of the Joint Committee on Higher Education, the Senate vice chair of the Joint Committee on Agriculture and the assistant vice chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, in addition to serving as a member on several other committees.
When discussing her bills for the session, Comerford said she was working on a bill regarding polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and farms.
“On climate I focus a lot on PFAS. There was a task force on PFAS which was led by [Senate] Leader Kate Hogan and Sen. Julian Cyr. While I had a very large PFAS bill last session, rather than clutter up the space, they filed it, and I co-sponsored it. But I have one on farms and farmers because PFAS and our farmers are on a collision course unless we do it right,” she said.
Domb said one area she and Comerford are both working on is trying to generate state contributions for the town’s library project as well as the project to build a new elementary school through the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).
“Jo and I have been involved with both trying to make sure we maximize state contributions for the library and for the new school project. One of the things we did before advocating successfully for a change in the reimbursement rate with MSBA for schools, we were able to get Amherst successfully back on the line for MSBA,” Domb said.
Comerford said Amherst and the Legislature’s ability to come together is important as several communities are facing cuts to libraries.
“Amherst with the library work, the kind of organizing that Amherst is doing is kind of unparalleled but we have three libraries potentially at risk in Amherst, Orange and Deerfield. We’re only going to succeed here if we work together, and all the legislators feel the heat and the responsibility here in Western Massachusetts. If we were not stronger together, they would pick us off and not get funded,” she said.
Comerford also stressed the importance of passing all four of the region’s rail initiatives, including the East-West rail from Boston to Springfield and Pittsfield, the north to south Valley Flyer, the Berkshire Flyer that goes down to New York City and the norther tier from North Adams into Boston.
“I think we should go for all four, Mindy and I are pretty solidly aligned here and are really talking with regional colleagues,” Comerford said. “We have a right to be hooked up north, south, east and west and to continue to fight for our fair resources, people pay a penny of their sales tax to the MBTA, it’s time for the people to get their money back.”
Following Comerford and Domb’s presentation, councilors then asked questions about their work and how they are trying to help Amherst.
When Councilor Cathy Schoen asked about Chapter 90 funding for roads, Comerford said that was a funding source that should be reworked to benefit communities with more roads as opposed to cities.
“The formula is completely unworkable for communities with more roads, that’s more road mileage. Chapter 90 works if you’re a dense little city with not a lot of road miles to maintain, that’s why we did the winter road program last session. We need to continue to push for Chapter 90 reform or fund something that does mileage versus population,” Comerford said. “We did that once; we can do that permanently.”
One concern Councilor Andy Steinberg had was a limited state budget increase of 2 percent, despite the current inflation rates.
“For us and all municipalities – I heard it universally from every community that reported during the MMA [Massachusetts Municipal Association] Fiscal Policy meeting, that 2 percent is under inflation and represents a substantial problem in just trying to maintain the core services,” he said.
One concern that resounded with many of the councilors that spoke is the Fair Share Amendment, which is expected to generate about $2 billion per year from an additional tax on high-income homes but Comerford said the focus is to get more of the larger funding sources that are available.
“In the brief proposal on fair share, they are setting up things like a pilot fund for micro transit, they are also going to put real money into Western Mass. rail. We hear a lot about fair share because we did a lot for it, but that’s our job. It’s not just fair share, fair share is a tiny little piece of this sea of money, and I think it’s more important for us to focus on that larger pie,” she said.
The Amherst Town Council next meets on March 20.