Good news! Last month we asked for your help to get eviction record sealing language (HOMES Act) into the Senate’s housing bond bill. Thanks in part to the many of you who contacted the Senate Chair of the Housing Committee, it worked! Now, there is one more big step to get the language on Governor Healey’s desk: We need the six-person “conference committee” to include the Senate’s language in the final bill, because it is not in the House’s version. The role for the conference committee is to reconcile the differences in the House’s and Senate’s versions into one bill that is mutually agreeable. Naturally, some compromises will be made, but we need the eviction record sealing language to remain. You can help by emailing the Conference Committee for the Affordable Homes Act to request just that. And, in the same email, you can also urge them to include language to create the MA Healthy Homes Program with $50 million in bond authorization over five years.
There are additional conference committees meeting to reconcile other bills before formal sessions must end on July 31. If a bill does not pass this month, there is essentially no hope for them until the legislature starts a brand-new two-year legislative in January 2025. In the next several days, PHIWM will be doing what it can to help pass our priority bills including:
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The $58 billion FY25 budget, which contains level funding for 413Cares.org and Public Health Excellence grants; additional funding for the Cliff Effect Pilot program and regional transit authorities; and new funding for a pilot Access to Counsel program for low-income tenants facing eviction.
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The nearly $3 billion economic development bond bill, which among many other things, contains the Statewide Accelerated Public Health Act (SAPHE 2.0) to create a public health system that provides ALL Massachusetts residents with high-quality public health protections, regardless of race, income, or zip code.
