While the new fiscal year for Massachusetts begins Saturday, the commonwealth’s legislature has yet to approve a final budget. A monthly stopgap budget approved this week allows for conference meetings for the House and Senate to continue. The 2024 spending plan currently hovers around the $56 billion mark between the various drafts in play. In office since 2003, Massachusetts State Representative Smitty Pignatelli is the dean of the all-Democratic Berkshire legislative delegation. Pignatelli spoke with WAMC today about the ongoing budget negotiations and more.
PIGNATELLI: It's always disappointing when we don't get the actual budget done by July 1st and signed by the governor. But the supplemental budget will get us through July. It gives us a little bit more time. So, I'm really not sure. When you have conference committees, it's three members of the House, three members of the Senate, to hammer out any dramatic differences. I don't think there's that many dramatic differences between our versions going into the conference committee, but it's very tight lipped. But I'm still optimistic that they're not going to be too far apart. They've been meeting on a regular basis. So, I'm still hopeful and optimistic this thing will get done probably next week. But the stopgap supplemental budget was kind of as a placeholder to make sure we can keep the government operating and keep organizations and agencies funded when the newest the new month begins.
WAMC: Are there any Berkshire earmarks that you've hammered out for the budget that you think will be safely maintained when the full budget is finally addressed, again, in the coming weeks?
I'm very optimistic that all of the earmarks that the Berkshire delegation got, those are usually the non-negotiable items between the House and the Senate. That's what's happened the last several years anyways. So, whatever the House gets into earmarks will be honored by the Senate and vice versa. So, like I say, I have no concerns about the earmarks. It's just a question of getting the budget done so that these agencies that did receive earmarks can start receiving their dollars to keep their operations going as well. But I don't believe that's the hiccup whatsoever.
Do you want to draw any attention to any specific earmarks that you're looking forward to seeing enshrined in the final budget for Berkshire County?
Well, I've gotten an earmark for CATA, Community Access to the Arts. They've done some incredible things all throughout the Berkshires. I mean, they're based in my district, but they do things in every school in Berkshire County during COVID. And now that we're post COVID, I think it's time to shift our focus a little bit and in getting the in-person programs going again. CATA has done a fantastic job. Greenagers is another one of my pet projects that I think Will Conklin has done a fantastic job, and what they're doing is really getting young people to understand environmentalism, to understand the value of the environment and the quality that we need to protect it, and offering some services to other agencies through their good work, especially in the summertime. So those are just two items that I think are really important. But I think, we look at our travel and tourism, the Mass Cultural Council budget was probably the highest it's been in certainly my 21 years in the legislature. We've come a long way from the recovery of the devastating almost 74% cuts from the governor back in 2001, or 2002. So, I think recognizing the value of travel and tourism, recognizing the cultural development economy, not only of Massachusetts, but especially the Berkshires, it's the economic driver. So, when you invest $1 in the creative economy, and we can document $10 is returned, that's one heck of an investment. And I think we need to double down on that. And then we're also doing some key things on housing affordability. So that's why some of these programs really have to get done soon, so we can start laying the groundwork to try to reverse that trend of people getting squeezed out with the high real estate market and give people opportunities, especially our workforce, to live and stay in the Berkshires.
What do you see as the best mechanisms to achieve that?
Well, I think there's got to be greater incentives. I've actually met with Secretary [Yvonne] Hao from Economic Development a couple of times. There's always these big incentives with housing tax credits, historical tax credits, low income tax credits for larger developments. But, you know, if I look at West Stockbridge or Dalton or Egremont, I told her, 20 units in Egremont would be a game changer. And she was shocked to hear that. 20 units of housing affordability in Egremont will be a game changer, but it's hard to get a developer who can make money building only 20 units. The economies of scale telling me that we have to build 100, 150, 200, or 250 units. I don't believe there's a town or city in Berkshire County that would love to have one development with 400 units. But if we do 20 in West Stockbridge, five in Alford, 15 in Egremont, 30 in Great Barrington, we scattered them about, we could reach that aggregate amount of 400, but yet not making that big impact and we can scatter them about in the Berkshires. And I think that's more realistic. So, she's thinking very differently about it, how do we incentivize the developer. Developers always have deep pockets, Josh, but most of them have very short arms. So, we should expect more from them to spend some of their own money. And the other thing that we should be getting money out the door much quicker. For example, the Eagle Mill project in Lee that I've been working on personally for 10 years- These projects should not have to take 10 years. The town was overwhelmingly supportive of it. It's just waiting for those dollars to trickle out from the state and the federal government. So, if we believe in a project, let's get the money out the door, get a shovel in the ground, and start making some changes. A project like Eagle Mill, we can't afford to wait 10 more years for the next project to take root and give people an affordable housing opportunity.
This week, Anne Gobi – the Director of Rural Affairs for Governor Maura Healey’s administration – visited Lenox to meet with you and other representatives in Western Massachusetts. Tell me about that meeting- What kind of messages about life in Southern Berkshire County were you trying to underscore to the new Director of Rural Affairs?
Well, Anne Gobi I've known for over 20 years. I served with her in the House, we were co-chairs of the Environment Committee a few years ago, and she's going to be terrific. I'm very excited about her. She was on this tour, she covered all of Berkshire County. I think she was up in North Adams earlier yesterday, and then came down to Lenox and several of my communities agreed to meet with her. So, she heard common themes about housing affordability, Chapter 90 formulas that you and I have talked about in the past. Things that I would love to have her takeaway is getting the input from these communities, the smaller towns, and developing a municipal relief package. I think there's a lot of good things that this administration could do to provide relief for municipalities, especially the smaller ones that are feeling the pinch of public safety. There's a lot of independent volunteerism, but shrinking populations, aging demographics, a rising real estate market, what can we do to find some affordability, develop a workforce, providing some relief to cities and towns? And I think that was her take away yesterday. So, I think she’s heard some very strong common themes. I think there's 189 what they say are small towns in Massachusetts, so, I think her takeaway and hope her takeaway is, what we can do to provide relief? I think these towns desperately need relief. Infrastructure is one of those big issues that I've said very publicly, infrastructure, there's one of those issues that could potentially bankrupt a small town. So, the state has to play a larger role in alleviating some of that financial burden on roads and bridges and sewer and water infrastructure. That's how we can make that change. And the fact that the administration finally has someone whose only focus is on the rural parts of Massachusetts I think speaks volumes. But like I say, I want to see what comes out of it at the end of the day. But sooner than later, I hope that they would file a municipal relief package.
This week, House Judiciary Committee co-chair Representative Michael Day filed a major new piece of gun safety legislation in the House. Talk to me- What were your thoughts on Representative Day’s legislation? And what are your thoughts on its likelihood of making it through the legislature into law?
Well, the fact that he came out to the Berkshires and we held a hearing out here I thought was very important. I mean, I think the frustrating part with some of the attendees from that meeting is that the legislation came out, and it didn't really address some of the concerns that the local people had. So, we're still sifting through it. And I've actually shared the legislation with some key people that I know, especially in the sportsmen's world, these are legal, law-abiding firearms owners. That's a strong constituency that we have. So, we’ve got to find that balance between the urban and the rural aspects of what guns are. And so, we're still sifting through it, trying to understand it and reaching out. I'm actually doing, I'm been very proactive, actually, to reach out to some key people in my district for their opinions as well. So, we'll see what happens. I hope we don't fast track it too much. But I'm also hearing rumblings that maybe this will get done before the end of July. But I think public hearings would have to be established now that the legislation is out, and I hope that some good ideas that environmental sportsmen out here in the Berkshires have will be listened to. But we'll see what happens in the next few weeks.
