BOSTON – Governor Charlie Baker filed a bill on Wednesday, August 19, that would provide $1 billion in unemployment insurance relief for employers.
The bill, which totals $1.568 billion, also proposes:
- $3 million in supplemental campus support for Quinsigamond Community College and Worcester State University as it absorbs nursing students displaced by the closure of Becker College
- A tax provision to make funding from the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) advances, Shuttered Venue Operators grants, Restaurant Revitalization Fund grants, and state MGCC grants nontaxable for all Massachusetts recipients, consistent with federal tax treatment
- Funding for charities and nonprofits
- Implement the income tax charitable deduction
The bill applies $1 billion to the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund from a $4.63 billion budget surplus in fiscal year 2021, which ended in June. Baker’s office says the funding would help stabilize the UI Trust Fund and lessen employers’ future UI obligations.
Other funding allocations in the proposal:
- 405 million for a collective bargaining reserve to fund the retroactive and fiscal year 2022 (FY22) costs of agreements that are either in place or anticipated but not yet signed, thus mitigating pressure on the FY22 budget
- $39 million to support rate increases for the human service workforce
- $20 million to support the workforce in Chapter 766-approved special education schools
- $17 million to support an additional 800 temporary individual shelter beds throughout FY22 and pay for a one-time six-month 10% increase in provider rates, ensuring the Commonwealth’s individual shelter system has the resources necessary to protect vulnerable populations
- $5 million to pilot an evidence-based permanent supportive housing model for individuals experiencing homelessness, creating fast and sustainable pathways out of homelessness
The bill also makes policy proposals including:
- Allow survivors of servicemembers who die in training incidents to be eligible for a Medal of Liberty
- Grant MassHealth the authority to directly negotiate rebate agreements for certain medical supplies and other non-drug products
- Extend the municipal vulnerability preparedness grant program to tribes and other regional and local entities who are not municipalities
- Allow civil service evaluations to be in an electronic format and provide greater flexibility in administering civil service evaluations.
