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Western Mass. Lawmakers Propose Ways To Spend Money Recouped From GE

In the wake of General Electric’s decision to downsize plans for its Boston headquarters and return $87 million to Massachusetts taxpayers, a State Senator has filed a bill to redirect the funds. 

Under a bill filed by Democratic State Senator  Eric Lesser, any grants over $20 million paid to incentivize corporations to move to Massachusetts, but later rescinded, would be invested in the state’s vocational schools.

"Our hope is that we can get this law passed so that we can continue to create funding streams and resources for jobs and local businesses here in Massachusetts rather than handing carrots to huge corporations located elsewhere," said Lesser.

Another western Massachusetts Senator, Adam Hinds, called for the money GE gives back to go toward the cleanup of the Housatonic River that GE polluted with PCBs.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.