10 Things To Know As Major Transportation, Economic Bills Pass

Lawmakers early Wednesday morning agreed on long-debated transportation and economic recovery bills, stretching well past midnight — and their own deadline before the legislative session was supposed to end — to do so.

The Senate and House remained in session until after 4 a.m., less than seven hours before a new crop of lawmakers is sworn in for the 2021-22 session.

The $16.5 billion transportation bill and $627 million economic development bill now head to Gov. Charlie Baker's desk. Baker can sign or veto the bills, but any vetoes cannot be overridden by the Legislature because that session is now over.

Here are five things of note from each bill, including one important omission from each.

Transportation bill

• The bill was trimmed back from $18 billion to $16.5 billion, mostly due to concerns of lack of state revenue. A new funding source in the form of increased rideshare fees — like Uber and Lyft — was tucked into the bill. The current 20-cent fee would grow to 40 cents for shared rides, $1.20 for non-shared rides and an additional $1 for rides in luxury vehicles.
• A low-income fare program "that provides free or discounted transit fares to qualifying riders on all modes of transportation operated by the [MBTA]" would be implemented.
• MBTA fare evasion would be decriminalized, meaning people can no longer be arrested by Transit Police for not paying for the T.
• Hundreds of millions of dollars would be earmarked for local road improvements, reimagining and repurposing street space, increasing access to transit and commuter stations and more.
• Something that did not make it into the bill was a Baker provision that allowed for a tax credit for employers who encouraged employees to work at home.

Economic development bill

• The bill would make available tens of millions of dollars in loans for restaurants and small businesses impacted by the pandemic, with a focus on minority- and women-owned businesses.
• There is a "bill of rights" for student loan borrowers, which would allow for state regulation of some loan providers, including forcing some who take advantage of borrowers to pay them back. It would also establish a student loan ombudsman who would help students and borrowers become more educated on the loan process and repayment strategies.
• Third-party delivery services such as GrubHub and Uber Eats must not charge restaurants more than 15 percent of their online orders through the remainder of the pandemic. That only applies to restaurants that have fewer than 25 locations. The delivery services may not pay workers less as a result.
• In what is hailed as a boost to housing production, the voting threshold for certain zoning changes lowers from two-thirds to a simple majority.
• Something that did not survive negotiations was the state legalizing sports betting. Baker initially proposed legalizing sports betting two years ago.

Materials from the State House News Service were used in this report