2021-03-09 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Ways and Means
2021-03-09 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Ways and Means
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
with secretary across the J A.
Yeah. Application.
Okay. Very Augusta.
Who's you? You. Oh,
from secretary of Foster's office.
Okay. Mhm. Mm. Uh huh.
We're doing Secretariat Costed.
Okay, well, he says you, you and I am not sure, Okay?
Right. And I am, and I am here. Okay.
Mhm.
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Good morning. Good morning. Morning. And let me start off by thanking all of those who are going to participate in today's hearing and, uh, thank to the executive office for the opportunity to get some insight as to, uh what, uh, the pandemic has done where we're going to go, and and I know that you have been, uh you have been under a great deal of stress, madam Secretary, with regard140 to, uh, unemployment. So we appreciate your being here, and we appreciate the efforts that you and and the governor and the executive office has done for for our constituents. So I hope that, uh, that today's hearing will, uh, some insight and give us some opportunity to understand where we are and where we're going to be in the future. And I'm165 here with Michael Chair Senator Lester.
Thank you, Gerry DiNardo, And thank you. good to see you. Virtually Secretary. I think I'm looking at you. Uh huh. Mhm. Thank
you, Madam Secretary. And, uh, just point out that the topics to discuss
No, it's everything. You know,
I think we can all acknowledge and understand that side by side, health crisis we faced over the last question and economic, Uh, just
I
also want to introduce a representative McKenna, who is also here as a part of our I'm hearing so, Madam Secretary. You're right. Thank you. And I will say, Senator Lester, I'm having a hard time hearing you. Uh, So, um, so hopefully we'll, uh if I have to ask you what you said, I'll, um, over. You know, I'll ask you to repeat yourself, but
ROSALIN ACOSTA - LABOUR AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT - Thank you so much for allowing me to testify today on the on behalf of the Governor's budget.244 Chair Donato, Senator Lesser, REP McKenna, and any of the other legislators that maybe they're obviously you can see the room all that well from my little box here, but I'm very pleased to be here259 to represent and talking about our budget for the labor and Workforce Secretariat. Joined with me today is Jennifer James, Under Secretary of workforce Development, Under Secretary of Labor Mike Donny and Justin Meridian, who probably needs no introduction to any of you is our deputy chief of staff and our legislative director. So, with that, normally I would have my teams stand up and take a recognition but obviously, we're not doing that today. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Jess Meridian will be sharing a power point with you. So what? We'll go along with that. So just why don't we start that, please?
Mhm.
And if we can expand it? Thank you. Mhm.
I just want to make sure that everyone can see the screen.
Mhm. If that's awkward for you, just let me know. I can just speak through it. But, Jess, can you expand that so that we look at it as a slide view?
Yeah.
There we go. Perfect. Thank you. And if342 we can go to the next slide? Mhm.
So this, uh,
ACOSTA - The next slide, slide two is just the look at our organization, it shows the members of our team. Again, normally, I would have them all stand up to be recognized but they're not here, and they're the ones that make everything happen in our Secretariat. So I always have a great appreciation for everyone behind those those red and white boxes. So today, we'll be discussing overview of our workforce training programs, which is so incredibly important as we come out of this pandemic. We'll be talking today about how we're strategically investing $53 million in fiscal year 22 resources to meet existing and future talent demands across the Secretariat and over 87 million in staffing and strategic initiatives for EOLWD.
Please note that the Department of Unemployment Assistance, as you all know in much of the Department of Career services, is funded through federal grants, so you will not be seeing those specifically on this presentation. Additionally, in fiscal year 20, the Department of Family and Medical leave was started with $3.85 million from the General fund and moving forward, the department and benefits are funded by the trust fund, so they428 will be self funding. The workforce skills cabinet investments are designed to impact thousands of new students and workers statewide through the proposed funding expansion across multiple line items and Secretariats. In order to ensure impact and alignment, the package of expanded resources are managed and deployed through an integrated team across the workforce skills cabinet agencies.
Every year we show you the slide that I'm about to454 show you, an integrated budget of462 both the Executive Office of Education, Executive Office of health, as well as the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development as well as LWD. The only things that are LWD that will be chatting about more detail on this chart are the yellow line items but I wanted to show this to you as an integrated budget. As I've said in previous testimony in other years were very interdependent and the way the workforce skills cabinet works together, we really align ourselves with our goals and our grants to make sure that we're all working towards the same mission. So here you see that and you see the integration of the youth pipeline initiatives as well as adult pipeline initiatives and then the career technical initiative, which I will spend a few moments on because I think it's one of the most important initiatives that we have in this budget.
So let's start with career technical initiatives. This was a line item for the first-time last year, and thanks to the Legislature, we were able to approve $4 million and put those $4 million to work for adults that needed training. What we did was this really an expansion540 of the capital skills grants, and thank you again, Legislature because of you, we have put out $92 million already in549 workforce skills, Capital grants, that has gone to over 339 programs. But as a reminder about the career technical initiative, it really is a three-pronged strategy where from nine o'clock to 2:00 PM, students that are enrolled in the vocational schools do their normal schedule. From 2:00 to 5:00 with the desi line item of a million and a half dollars, it's also part of this, other high school students from the region can join that vocational school and take advantage of the incredible equipment that's already in the vocational school.
Then the magic for me is in the 5:00 to 9:00 slot where you have adult worker training, so this is where we bring folks in from the community in combination with Mass hire and employers that already ready to receive these folks that are being trained to train them in all kinds of different career paths. Here we have an example of an H fact certification, but this can be in any of the trades and it could be in manufacturing, can be in medical devices. So, this is a really important pathway for us and an important program for us, especially now as we come out of this623 pandemic, and we look624 at who has been affected by this pandemic, being able to offer training, being able to offer training in an institution631 that already has modern and state of the art equipment is going to be really important and an important formula for us to begin getting people back to work.
The way this works, it works in coordination with our Mass hire system, we have brokers that make this happen. We recruit from our claimant pool, we recruit from the community, and we always have an employer on the other side of this to make sure that these folks are getting job placed. Our regional employers, as you can see on the right-hand side of this chart, includes construction companies, manufacturing, hotels, Hvac, healthcare, etcetera, so it's really important that we have that solid partnership and collaboration with all three parts in order to make this work. So, in this slide, we talk a little bit about the results of the first year of funding.
So the $4 million that was passed by the legislature did several different things, it included also, the $1.5 million that was in desi line item for that second shift that I spoke about, so701 vocational701 students that don't702 go to those schools can take advantage of vocational training and we put through about 375708 to 425 students in this program of fiscal year 21, and now we have an additional opportunity here to add another 428 that we've already done with round one and round two of funding and we're about to issue another round three of grants early in April so that we have about 700 adults that we put through this vocational CTI training. As you can736 see on the right-hand side, I list the career pathways that some of these folks will be going through and again, really focused on the manufacturing side, on the trade side, because we know that there's an incredible need in our economy for those occupations.
This is really, really based on what is needed and these are very strategic paths as we did our regional planning process several years ago, we update that every single year, these are the pathways that our regions are showing us that they need most help in and again, this is all772 regionally driven. So, it is the Voc schools in the local regions that are telling us what they need and the employers are telling us what they need, then in conjunction, in partnership, we work to get the training through the vocational schools. So our goal for fiscal year 22 is to increase that funding from four million to $15 million so that we can put more people to work and more people through this training. Our goal is over a four-year period to put 20,000 people through training in this CTI program.
We want to expand this program this year to 12 or 16 additional vocational schools, depending on the responses that we get. We're projecting up to 3200 participants just on the adult side and an additional831 1500 on the second shift, for a total of 4700 folks going through the CTI program, which again, I think that in the economy that were in, the training piece is so necessary, and it's really fascinating for me when I talked to employers and when we were at that wonderful 2.8% unemployment rate back last March before things really shifted and changed, I was hearing lots from employers that they really needed skilled workers. Here we are at over 7% unemployment, and I'm still hearing the same thing, we still really need skilled workers, and this is a direct answer to that need.
So next I want to shift to youthworks, another very important program for us and I think one that the Legislature has helped us year after year after year, and you're all, I think, pretty familiar with this program. This893 program directly provides young adults with a chance to work, learn and thrive, income eligible adults ages 14 to 21 expanding now to 40 cities, we were 31 last year, we've expanded it by nine this year. It's the 20th year of this program, and the Youthworks program will follow an innovative path for improvement aimed at building the tremendous foundation of pass work to provide stronger services for today's participation who need to compete in tomorrow's economy. The Governor's budget calls for $16.2 million931 in this line item and this will support about 4200 young people. It's a multi-tiered year-round program and accounts for the942 increase in the minimum wage.
This funding also represents a commitment to the Black Advisory Commission and the Latino Advisory Commission. Now, one of the highlights I think of this year for youth works was the ability to really shift the service from an in-person deliverable to a virtual deliverable. This was quite the feat; we've always had this program in person. In the summer of 2020, youth work transitioned from being that 100% to a virtual model, and they participated, students participated in live training and project-based learning. We had over 130 adult professionals offering virtual career exploration through daily lunch and learns, where the youth got to meet professionals from not just Massachusetts but actually around the world. We also offer career pathway courses that were offered in a variety of industries and occupations, including certified nursing assistants, advanced manufacturing, Google IT support, business services, and we were able to increase participation in this1019 career path by over 500%.
It was really significant, and as we emerge from now, this pandemic and people all go back to work, we have to take lessons from what we learned here in1033 Youthworks and look at the virtual model as well as the in person, because the person is so important but a combination of1042 probably a hybrid model will be something that will be looking at for the next coming summer. The students learned and met each other from all over, from Berkshires, from the Cape and this wasn't an opportunity that we had before, when we were not virtual, we had to meet in a central location, you know, a couple of times in the summer, but they never got this daily exposure and they made friends, which was very satisfying thing for all of us to see.
So next I want to talk to you about another very important line item for us, which is our registered apprenticeship expansion program. Very much like the CTI initiative, the apprenticeship program really focuses on expanding training to industries, both in trade, but also other industries, like healthcare, manufacturing, and IT. We have seen on the enormous uptick in folks taking advantage of apprenticeship programs in the last five years, we've experienced a net growth of approximately 6600 new apprentices, or a 78% growth. In the same period, we added 408 new apprenticeship expansion industries, which was a significant growth for a program that wasn't even in existence. In 2020 despite of Covid and the challenges of Covid, we were able to add 146 new apprentices and expansion industries with manufacturing really1144 driving the growth, this will help us become more competitive.
It also helps address the needs of many of our low wage workers that have now been displaced. If you think about the access and the cost of most training, it's difficult to do that when you're working a couple of different jobs. So, the apprenticeship program really allows people to be on the job, employed and being trained, so they are learning and earning at the same time, and that's a very important model as we look at the claimants that we have now in our claimant pool that are going to need that extra help. So, the Governor's budget calls for $500,000 in resources to really continue leveraging the federal funds that we have. We have federal funds, we have about $11 million in apprenticeship dollars through the federal government through the Department of Labor and this really helps us expand those training capacities and helps more training providers develop those programs so they can leverage those federal funds.
The Workforce Competitive Trust Fund is one I think that the Legislature is very familiar with, this has been with us for many, many years, it's also known as a Senator Kenneth Donnelly grant and it's really one of the only tools in the state budget that directly invests in unemployed and underemployed individuals to address talent needs and industry shortages. These grants go through really meet the needs of companies while also providing high job placement rates for unemployed individuals and particular job seekers who face barriers to employment. Through the fiscal year 2020 allocation, the WCTF funded 21 new grants with 60 employer partners and 630 trainees, and we listed some examples but I wanted you to see that some of the career paths that we are funding through this and again, this is only four programs out of the 21 but with the Asian American Civic Association, they received $245,000 to provide training and placement services to prepare underemployed and unemployed folks to participate in banking and finance positions and we've partnered with large institutions around the Commonwealth Bank of America, East Boston Savings Citizens Bank Mass, Higher Metro North and Asian Task Force against domestic violence.
Comp TIA received 180,000 to provide training and placement services to prepare unemployed folks to participate in IT support specialists and we partnered there again with Welsh consulting, Cengage, Apprenti, Mass hire workforce, Mass hire downtown Boston to create these career pathways. Then we also gave Pioneer Valley 25,000 for training grants as well as Lawrence Community works almost 200,000 to provide placement services for childcare, educator and power professional positions, and we worked very closely there with the Lawrence Public Schools, the community group, LPs Adult Learning Center and Northern Essex Community College. Again, it really takes a village and this is the village and there's no better example of WCTF where we have to bring in multiple partners to make this work.
The $7 million in fiscal year 22 will support training and certification programs for in demand jaws to close to 900 unemployed individuals with this line item. So,1384 reentry1384 programs.1384 Over the last four years, the Executive Office of Workforce Development has been engaged in funding a strategic sector-based approach to development and implementing job training programs for returning citizens and these dollars again leverage existing1401 partnerships with HOC and DOC to make sure that we are ready to receive our returning citizens, Mass Hire also works very closely with returning citizens. During Covid, HOC, the House of Corrections and Department of Corrections, they do this their prerelease program, obviously because of the virus. But those programs were started up again in January of this year, and formerly incarcerated individuals have been re engaged in this programming.
As you can see from the left-hand side, you can see some of the grantees on this program that received some of this funding from all over the Commonwealth, from the Central Franklin, Hampshire, Boston, Brockton, Greater Lowell, as well as South Shore Central, Metro Southwest, and again Boston for planning grants. So now let's talk a little bit about the core operations of LWD. Without this funding, we couldn't make any of this work. So, Mass hire career centers, this funding goes to our locals. As you all know, we have 29 career centers, and we've got 16 local workforce boards around the Commonwealth and the career centers are tasked with providing job seekers with career guidance and referrals to jobs and training, as well as assisting businesses in finding qualified workers. The career centers provide 16 local boards with oversight and assistance with the extensive federal monitoring.
MDCS also is responsible for the integrity of local programmatic and fiscal systems through extensive federal monitoring. As we look at the volume of the career centers this year, you can see that in fiscal1523 year 20, we had a dip from 129,000 the year before to 203,000. As expected, all our career centers were closed to in person traffic, but open virtually, they were all open virtually almost instantaneously and through these1542 virtual platforms, we were able to hold, and we still do every single week, we hold virtual job fairs. We've been able to do all of our sessions virtually with our claimants and now we have seen people coming back to the career centers as some unemployment benefits exhaust and as folks get ready to get back to work as childcare becomes more available, etcetera.
So, from July to December, we've had about 37,000 people served, and just to give you an idea, year over year, March over March, we've had about 64,000 folks that we've served in our career center, and we are obviously expecting this to increase as we start opening up businesses. So the Mass hire Department of Career services. These are dollars that are allocated to basically the administration of all of the career centers around the commonwealth as well as workforce investment boards. As the economy has improved post-recession, the workforce, innovative and opportunity act Wagner, Peyser, the Department of Unemployment assistance, all of these federal formulas have declined and we have obviously felt that declined.
The Mass hire Department of Career Services Line item funded at two million shows the commitment that the administration has to helping those in need of career services and finding a new career as those who lost jobs seek re employment. The Mass federal formula funding for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of Wagner Peyser funding declined from 62 million in 2017 to 50 million in 2021. The Governor's budget outlines the necessary resources to maintain the Mass public workforce system to offset past federal lines. We don't know at this point what are funding will be going forward, we1674 expect1674 that1674 there may be more federal funding for the career centers based on where we landed in our unemployment numbers.
Massachusetts was one of the hardest hit states in the country with the third highest job losses. So, when we think about that and normally, federal funding follows those kind1718 of numbers and formulas, so we do anticipate an increase in federal funding and we look forward to seeing what that budget looks like. So the department of Labor standards has taken a real front seat this year with Covid related activities, and the Department of Labor standards is charged with a variety of jobs, and they include issuing lead and asbestos licensing, regulating employment, staffing and temporary agencies, regulating minimum wage and overtime laws, issuing prevailing wage sheets to municipalities, counties, districts, authorities and agencies of the Commonwealth for public work and protecting workers' safety through workplace inspections and programs such as OSHA Consulting Program.
The program expansion over the past year has been through prevailing wage, we've processed over 24,000 prevailing wage requests in 2020 and the regulation of professional employer organizations, or PEOs, there are 966 staffing agencies and 37 PEOs, consisting of about 100 entities. So, we have had oversight over those. Covid related activities have really expanded the DLS and all of the work that it did this year. With essential services, DLS coordinated the enforcement and the closure of all businesses except those designated as essential services. DLS received the 2020 Hillard Award for their work with the Mass health offices, they assisted with reopening of the economy and fielded thousands of complaints regarding alleged Covid violations in workplace. They managed over 1500 cases of Covid reopening standard noncompliance and businesses.
Typical caseload for a year is about 550 and Covid clusters, they provided support to 500 businesses experiencing Covid clusters to stop the spread of the virus in the workplace. They did inspections, they conducted over 400 in person inspections at construction sites to ensure employers safety and they've collaborated with ABCC to review opening plans for 50 restaurants and bars who had their licenses suspended by ABCC. Over the next couple of years, this map shows you all the municipalities with inspections that need to be conducted over the next year. So, you know, it's a small department, but it packs a lot of weight and does a tremendous amount of work to ensure the safety of the workers of the Commonwealth.
The next department I'm going to talk to you about is the Department of Labor Relations. H1 funds the Department of Labor Relations at approximately 2.9 million and the Joint Labor Management Committee, at 250,000. DLR is charged with enforcing collective bargaining laws for public sector workforce and through the Commonwealth and all 351 cities and towns. The DLR and its component entities the commonwealth Employment Relations Board or the Serb, the Joint Labor Management Committee and the Dispute Resolution Office process a variety of cases, including unfair labor practice charge, representation, petition, contract mediation and grievance mediation but unfair labor practice cases constitute the majority of the DLR caseload.
As you can see from our intake chart here for 2020, we saw about 417 under their labor practices. The department has also been working very hard to make sure that the decision timing is quicker. As you can see, in 2020, we hit a peak of 200 days before a decision was made, some of that was the disruption of Covid but in 2021 as you can see so far, we're down to 100 days. So, we really put a lot of effort into making sure that we hear these cases and decision these cases quicker, and I think also last year we expanded our hearings to Springfield, and thanks to the Legislature, we were able to do that and that has also helped our hearing cadence quite a bit and why some of them we were able to reduce their finding in DLR. Last but not least, the Department of Industrial Accidents, also under our Secretariat. This budget proposes 18.9 million in funding for the Department of Industrial Accidents, which is responsible for overseeing the workers compensation system in Massachusetts.
This means that we assist injured2037 workers, insurers and employers navigating the system. In addition, we ensure employers doing business in Massachusetts have a workers compensation insurance policy in place. Proper insurance coverage protects both the employee and the employer. Employers without insurance are issued a stop work order and, by statute, must pay a civil fine. By using stop work orders as an enforcement medium, we are able to protect employees from loss of salary if a workplace accident were to occur. It's important to realize that DIA reimburses its line-item funding plus benefits such as health care and pensions to the General fund. From fiscal year 21 funding, DIA will reimburse the General Fund approximately $24 million when the department was funded at 19.4. The department's headquarters is in Boston, but in addition, we have four regional offices located in Fall River, Lawrence, Springfield and Worcester.
The DIA is the court for disputed workers' compensation claims and2106 DIA has injured workers support functions, including the Office of Safety, Office of Education and Vocational Rehabilitation and the Office of Health Policy. Each year,2117 DIA determines an assessment rate that will yield revenues sufficient to pay the obligation of the Workers Compensation Trust Fund and the operating costs of the DIA. The assessment is paid by all workers in Massachusetts on their workers' compensation policy, our self-insured program is the primary source of revenue for the DIA. In fiscal year 19, the assessment rate was 3.83% and for fiscal year 20, it went down to 3.51% and it has remained at that rate. So, we have stabilized that rate. But we look at it every single year through actuarial analysis, whether that rate will stay the same or whether that rate will go up but it has been stable over the past three years and has been a reduction since the Governor took office.
So, with that, I believe that's the end of our slide, and then the very2174 next slide just gives you kind of the wrap up in the summary of all our line items, and we are happy to send you this presentation. I know it's hard to remember all of this, but with that, I will stop and take any questions. Thank you so much for listening today. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, Madam Secretary. I I do have one question and a comment. Just a quick question
REP DONATO - On the vocational pathway, a lot of vocational schools are participating in this program? SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Are all of them? I'm sorry? Did you say are all of them participated? Well, not all schools.
ACOSTA - So all of the vocational schools have the ability to participate, so they apply. So when we put out the grant, for example, will put out more funding in early April, schools are all welcomed to apply for those grants, some vocational schools are more ready than others to operationalize this, so those that are ready will apply for the grant, but it is open for all vocational schools.
DONATO - Could you send me a list of2243 those who are participating?
ACOSTA - Absolutely. We have schools all over the Commonwealth right now that are participating. I can tell you quickly that Essex North Shore is participating, Greater Lawrence Technical but I will send this to you, Wittier on Nashoba Valley, Greater Lowell technical, did I say that twice? It was Greater Lawrence and Greater Lowell, Minuteman Regional Vocational School, Madison Park, Montachusett, Southeastern Regional, Greater Fall River. So those are the participants so far, but we expect more. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Okay. Thank you. The second thing, I'd be remiss not to thank your UI department being overburdened and attempting to do the best they can with regard to the number of unemployment compensation people who are calling. And I know that your department is inundated with calls from members of the legislature trying to assist those who are seeking, uh, the unemployment program. Um,
DONATO - Do you have a quick comment on where you are at this point with regard to the UI?
ACOSTA - Thank you for that question. I I knew we wouldn't get through the budget without a UI question which of course is so important. For us in DUI the most important thing is that we get people paid quickly, and we have folks that are working2336 seven days a week to make sure that happens. You know, in 2020, just to give you a perspective dollar that that were paid, in all of 2020, $22 billion was2348 paid through DUA in unemployment benefits, between the trust and federal dollars with all the new programs with the Department of Labor issued. In 2019 just to compare, we paid $1.4 billion in benefits. So, 1.4 billion in 2019, 22 billion in 2020 which I think are staggering numbers.
We know that we need to make sure that we get through our backlog as quickly as possible, there's nothing more important to us and getting folks paid quickly. Last Friday, I think we took a big step towards helping that backlog, we implemented a new program called id.me, one of the biggest backlog items that we have is identification. As you all know, we got hit pretty hard with fraud as well as the rest of the country and we need to prove that when we're paying you, you are who you say you are. So, through Id.me, we'll be able to do2414 that much quicker and that program is already in place. We have over 300 people right now, physically looking at ID verification. Those people will now be shifted over to our regular adjudication and backlog items.
So, we're putting more people there and I believe that's going to really help us get through this backlog quicker. We continue to look at you know, how much more we need to do, whether it's technology, whether it's people power to make sure that we get through this backlog as quickly as possible but I certainly do appreciate the help of the legislature. You have all sent us claimants that have been stuck and we do our best to get back to very, very quickly and make sure that we escalate those claims. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Mhm. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Madam Secretary. I want to reiterate, Chaired analyst comments, right? Yeah. Yeah, sure. But I do have a pressure, Senator. Lesser. I'm sorry. I cannot I cannot hear you if you are speaking. Yeah, It's very faint
testing. Right.
You are all frozen now. So
mhm. Can you hear me now?
Thank you.
And you? Yeah. Yes.
Sorry. I could hear Rep. Donato. Um, but for some reason, I cannot hear Senator Lesser
faintly, but I'll try. Why don't we go ahead,2543 right? Yeah, are There's something that's out and described to the sea shells to the sea. Session lunches? Yeah. The painting playoffs and specific right. And, if necessary, Lifetime. Bye, Senator. Lesser. I'm sorry. I hate to interrupt you,2563 but I really cannot hear you. I'm so sorry. Okay?
I just don't want to miss the question. No, he needs a lightly this morning. Okay.
I'm sorry.2588
2588 Yeah, you can move over. There you go. Is this heart? That's better. Thank
you. Back to the2600 question, which is, you know, that it's been kind of now described in the media and luck early as a oh2609 about mhm. I can hear you loudly. You can hear me. I can hear you perfectly. Okay, great. Uh, so just to repeat,
SEN LESSER - I just wanted to ask specifically about the impact of female unemployment and some of the economic trends described at the beginning regarding female unemployment specifically. I know this2633 has been a topic you've talked about, and we've talked about in the past, but if you can kind of just address the unemployment issues for this coming year specifically around female unemployment in sectors, they're disproportionately point female workers.
ACOSTA - No, absolutely, thank you, Senator, Lesser. This recession has hit our populations differently than previous recessions. Women have been hit exceptionally hard and there are a lot of different reasons for that, right? One is the sectors that were hit hardest. In this recession, healthcare is an industry where there are a lot of women and the health care sector got hit very hard. This recession versus in 2008, where healthcare really was not hit hard, so that's one. Another is everything related to2692 childcare, everything related to early childcare, everything related to school-based learning has been very, very hard2702 for women. So, right now, if you look at our claim and pool, 54% of our claimant pool is women and that is a change.
We used to be closer to an even skewed less than the majority, now, women are the majority of the claimant pool. Also, I would be remiss not to mention that also, people of color have been hit very, very hard by this pandemic because of the sectors that were damaged here, right? The leisure and hospitality, retail, where you have a disproportionate number of black and brown folks working in those industries. Right now, 20% of our claimant pool that are taking advantage of extension programs are Latinos, and 16% are black. Of all of the claimants that have been hit the hardest, it's Latino women. Latino women specifically have been hit the hardest.
So that's where our focus needs to be coming out of this and that's why when I look at programs like CTI, it's imperative upon us that as we bring those folks into these training programs that we're doing that very intentionally and we're doing that with accountability to make sure that we are helping folks that probably will not be able to go back to work that they had previously. We're estimating probably about 250,000 or so permanent job losses and that's significant, that is a significant number. So those are the people that we're going to have to find and, in our Mass hire system has its work cut out for themselves this year. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, Madam Secretary. That's very important. Guidance for us moving forward just in terms of our mandate in the legislature. Focus.
LESSER - I just want to reiterate Chair Donato's comment about DUA backlog. We know you're working through it, and I was just wondering if you could comment about specifically the federal aid package and the extension of federal unemployment that is hopefully going2849 to be signed very soon. If you could just comment about how that's going to work the interplay here at the state level, how that's going to get a hold in what the preparations are to2859 make sure that it is possible? And if there's any additional support there for the call center and some of the just about administrative issues you identify.
ACOSTA - No, thank you, Senator, and we're really hoping that that happens sooner rather than later because we don't want a repetition of what happened in December where departments had to start basically shutting down these programs only to turn them back on and that created destruction. The other thing is that2889 we are looking out for2890 very, very carefully is this merely an extension of the programs, or is it going to come with other things? We've seen that over and over where there'll be new wrinkles added to the programs which causes us to stop the presses, have to reprogram in order2911 to meet those new guidelines and then we start again. So, we are really hoping that these are just extensions without a lot of new requirements, so that we can continue these programs without disruption.
Now, these programs are all2929 set to expire on March 13th, so if we don't have legislation that tells us what we're doing, hopefully now, there may be a disruption, and that's exactly what we want to avoid. But it looks like the benefits right now look like they're going to stay the same with an extended date out to end of August, beginning of September. That's what I'm seeing right now, what we're all seeing, and2958 if that's the case and this gets passed soon, they'll be minimal to no disruption in payments. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Representative. Question.
REP MCKENNA - Thank you, Madam Secretary, and I want to echo my colleagues in our appreciation for all that you're doing with the unemployment system to try and make sure that our constituents get the benefits they so desperately need. Also, the career technical initiative, which you spent a lot of time discussing, the Chairman essentially asked my question as to how the schools were participating and I had to follow up on, do you see that becoming more of a directive to all tech schools as this gets funded more fully?
ACOSTA - No, I think they are ready. Remember this, vocational schools did a terrific job this year staying open. Most of them did stay open and they really did a magnificent job applying for these grants and making sure that they took advantage of these dollars and now, with the expansion to $15 million, we hope that we'll have at least 16 more schools participating in this program and that's going to be significant. That's 3200 people trained just in that third shift, so that begins making a dent. What I love about this training is that its specific training and that there's an employer on the other side, we don't want to train just for training’s sake, right?
We want to make sure that when we're training and we're putting out public money to these programs that there's someone already out there ready to hire them and then from there, we can also link that to apprenticeship programs. So, these programs are all linked and that's what we're trying to build. We're trying to build career journeys here, not just the job, we want people to have the training they need to get into that job but then to have a career path once they are with that employer and apprenticeship programs serve that beautifully because now they can get credits for some of the work they've done in the vocational school as a pre apprenticeship credit and we're working on that, and then they can get into their apprenticeship program much quicker and become full apprentices in a quicker process.
So, all of these are linked, and this is, I think, the way we need to start thinking as were imagine what our economy is going to look like. We can't go back to business as usual; I think we have to rethink business, and we have to rethink how we're training to make sure that we're making those connections and giving people that perhaps didn't have those opportunities, the access that they've never had before by opening up these programs.
MCKENNA - One other very quick question on the Mass Hire career centers, obviously Covid kind of completely disrupted things but looking at the trend from Fy 17 forward up until Covid, there was a downward trend in customers served. Is that as simple as a strong economy and less demand or was it a branding thing? I know that there was a rebrand in that process or is it a funding thing?
ACOSTA - It was very much due to the fact that people were working, we almost had full employment, and at 2.8% I mean, we were for stopping people on the street to3175 see if they wanted to come into Mass Hire. You know, our economy looks so different than it did but so many of the needs are the same, which again, I find quite interesting. It's really more the economy, Representative than anything else and why that was so low or why that declined. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Yeah, well, thank you, madam Secretary, for your input3203 and for your comments. And we appreciate the fact that you took the time to, uh, enlighten the members of the Ways and Means Committee. Thank you. Well, thank you very much for, uh, for listening, uh, to me today and for your questions. Representative, Auto Senator. Lesser. Uh, McKenna. And, um and obviously, you know, there any further questions, contact our office, and we're happy to, but these But these are important programs, and we appreciate your consideration. Thank you. Once again. Thank you. Okay, we're now going to hear from Secretary Connally. Mm. Can l? Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Mhm. Okay. Yeah. Airport is home to Mhm. Yeah, he's not logged in. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah. Did you text him? Uh, Ben. Mm. Mhm. That's right. Yeah. Mhm. Mhm. You have, uh, under3393 Secretary Maddox listed, uh, pen Mhm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Thank you. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, Secretary. I know that Secretary Connally must be still with another function. We've been trying to get trying to get him, but I know that you are going to3478 talk to us about the housing and community development. So, uh, still the secretary, can I get on? Maybe you could bring the sun on that aspect. Mhm. The secretary should be on any second. Now. I know he's uh, jumping over. And I apologize for the delay, Mr. Chairman. Okay, so then, uh, should we wait for will Highlight. We'll wait. Madam Secretary, if you don't mind, we'll wait for secretary Chameleon, then Then jump onto you after. Sure. Sounds like a plan.
Mhm.
Mhm. Mhm. Yeah.
Thanks.
That's true.
Yeah.
Uh huh. Mm hmm. Mhm.
Yeah. Going forward.
Hello. Good morning. Oh, Good morning, Mr Secretary. Good morning. Where are you? There you are. Can you see me? Okay. You see you now? Yep. Thank you, Mr Secretary. Boris. Mhm. And you talk. Yeah.
Okay. We're ready anytime you are, Mr Secretary,
but Well, great. MICHAEL KENNEALY - HOUSING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - Thank you so much, it's great to be with you all this morning. Of course, I want to acknowledge and thank Chair Michael Woodson, Chair Rodrigues, great to be here with you, Senator Lesser, Rep Donato, members of my team as well. So I'm going to go through the first part of the presentation and touch on the economic development parts of the budget, Under Secretary Maddox will touch on the housing matters in the budget and Undersecretary Polanski will take the a consumer affairs portion. I thought we might do here is recap a little bit of where we've been with regard to economic development over this last3662 very challenging period of time. Of course, in December 2019, we released an economic development plan, we call partnerships or growth that was the output of the year 2019 going around the Commonwealth and holding large regional what we call the engagement sessions, getting feedback from a lot of constituencies in Massachusetts on what should the new economic development plan for the state look like?
Following the release of the plan, the Governor filed an economic development bill in March of 2020 an act enabling partnership for Growth. Obviously, a lot happened right after the filing of the bill. The bill was filed on March 4th, we didn't know at the time, of course, we have six days before the state of emergency, and as we got deeper into the spring and summer months and into the legislative session, you might recall we came back and proposed some changes that bill to make it a bit more3715 responsive to the new times we find themselves in now. There was a new roadmap for economic recovery that we released in October of 2020. As we got further into the process of reopening the state's economy, we thought we should come forward with the comprehensive blueprint for economic recovery for the state.
So, the recovery plan was announced in October of 2020 and of course, the FY 21 budget signed into law in December 2020 and then finally, to complete our roadmap here, Governor signed the economic development bill passed by the legislature in January of this year with $626 million of new capital authorizations to drive economic growth. So,3759 a lot has happened over these sorts of captured 15 months here in this slide, but grateful, as always, for the close partnership with the Legislature on all matters of economic development. You3774 know, when we released our economic development plan,3777 we identified what we call four pillars that would be focused on the work of that plan, support business competitiveness, build vibrant communities, trained and skilled workforce in respond to the housing crisis. Notably folks have heard me say this before.
We use the term housing crisis before we ever heard of Covid 19. But those are the four what we call pillars of the economic development plan and that guided the bill ultimately filed and then passed but as we get into this recovery mode, we thought, well, let's take a look at our pillars and then identify what we call five recovery imperatives. These are the things we felt like we absolutely had to get done to have the kind of economic recovery we all want to see, and those are support small business, continue to innovate and lead, revitalize our downtowns, get people back to work and promote housing, equity, opportunity and stability so that, collectively, the topics in this slide, I think serve as useful guides3835 on how we thought about our plan, our bill and our budget and particular now that we're in this economic recovery mode.
So, a few highlights on the economic recovery plan and how that's rolled out. Obviously important context for all of our plans on recovery is making sure we have a continued safe reopening, making sure the reopening plan as always, is conditioned on public health trends, that's something we're mindful of right now. We are currently in the third phase of our four-phase recovery plan, with visibility and when the start of phase four may begin later this month. But while we continue to stay vigilant, we also have deployed a variety of tools and resources to help this economic recovery to help support people, businesses and communities and I'll highlight a few of those. To date, we've rewarded $602 million in grants, small business grants to the massacre of Capital Corporation to 13,000 businesses.
I'll give a few highlights on the grant program, which I know you are all aware of but so far, $250 million of those grants have gone to restaurants, about 90 have gone to personal services businesses. The objective here was to in the second phase of the Grant program, highlight the sectors that have been hard hit by the pandemic and notably as well, $200 of those grants have gone to minority owned3921 businesses. So, there's sort of a dual mandate in the program, one is to serve women and minority owned and veteran owned businesses to look at the profile of the entrepreneurs running those businesses and their communities to have a focus on gateway cities and similar communities, and then also have a focus on the hardest hit sectors, the places we felt like needed the most relief, so that's been an important part of the recovery strategy.
The cultural organization Economic Recovery Grants, under which 183 cultural nonprofit organizations received about $10 million in grants back in January. The nonprofit part of our economy has been as hard hit as the for-profit part of the economy, so it felt like we had to come forward with those grants as well. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
just the invite and then I'll call on Monday. Uh, someone’s not on mute there. You still we still in here? Okay, Uh, okay.
KENNEALY - Local recovery planning grants. Just as we at the state level had planned a design an economic recovery plan, we thought such efforts might occur at the local level as well and so we've launched this local Recovery plan grant program $10 million for cities and towns to create their own recovery plans for their municipalities. $10 million in grants to community foundations, you know, this response to the pandemic has just required, all of4005 us being actively engaged statement, the business sector, nonprofits and others and community foundations, I think it played a particularly helpful role in that regard. So, these are $10 million granted to 15 organizations, and you look at the activities they're engaged in here, food security, housing, utilities, support, emergency childcare, transportation, other4026 unmet needs.
They played a very helpful role, filling gaps in their communities and then serving their citizens with these needs. A mass Internet connect as a public private partnership with the Mass hire system recognizing their broadband connectivity is more important than ever as we operate more and more in a virtual world and this was meant to address the fact that folks who are unemployed, perhaps might need more help with connectivity to access training and access jobs, we've launched that program. Finally, the final recovery program will touch on. Here is a regional pilot Project grant program. It's a $5 million competitive4062 program to support municipalities to really kind of work with each other in their region and come up with a recovery plan on a4069 regional basis.
Additional programs are kind of rolling out, we've got something that are in the review phase, some will be announced in the coming week. And, of course, this budget will complement those ongoing initiatives, which will make4081 use of a combination of federal and state resources. That's a bit on the evolution and roll out of the economic recovery plan. Under supporting small businesses,4095 we have in this budget $4 million for small business technical assistance. Just as we have endeavored to provide our small companies with capital, we also have sought to provide them with technical assistance. During the very dark early days of the pandemic, our Mass4112 Growth Capital Corporation, working with Mass Association Community Development Corporation, stood up a Covid 19 small business stabilization network and it was 50 technical assistance providers around the state that came together provide hands on assistance to our smallest companies.
This type of work has been going on for some time, we've had small business technical assistance money and the budget now for a while, but particularly during Covid 19, we saw how valuable this help can be helping small companies deal with the pandemic, helping them operate successfully and a lot of cases, helping them access federal funds. So, it's been an important part of the recovery plan, I think will be critical recovery going forward. We also propose $1.7 million for the Mass Office of Business Development. So, just4159 as we have funded third party technical assistance providers, the team at MOBD has played a very important role with the companies in their regions providing assistance, being in constant touch, I think it's been a very valuable tool for our companies.
We have endeavored over the course of time to make MOBD a much more proactive entity where those folks are calling on companies all the time seeing how they can help out and that service, of course, has been very valuable as of late. We have no, it'll be prioritized engagement with black and Latino owned businesses. Under the heading of continue to innovate and lead,4198 you know, we've as part of recovery notice that we had to provide relief for certain sectors of our economy and certain companies in certain regions, we also Frank, we have to continue to play some offense here. We've always been a world leading innovation economy, we want to remain that way, and so we propose here funding in support of domestic collaborative to continue their great efforts in the innovation economy.
So here we have $2.5 million in funding for the John Adams Innovation Institute allowing the continuing their core functions. We've had a process now at Mass tech of trying to identify really kind of what's next in innovation. We've got such a strong position and dedicated programs for a while around life sciences and various parts of the information technology, economy and advanced manufacturing and others. The team did a great job really trying to4271 articulate what's next4272 in innovation, what other sectors of the innovation economy with the state might have some natural competitive advantages and designing strategies around those. I will say part of that effort has been around startup mentoring and talent pipeline development.
There's now an internship program that has a real focus on diversity and4292 inclusion. So, the goal would4294 be to have about 125 internships through this program, of which 25% will be from a diverse background. So again, the focus on innovation, the focus on talent. $950,000 for the4307 Cybersecurity Innovation Fund designed to support our cybersecurity ecosystem and also support the resiliency of our public and private communities. So, as part of this, there are workshops with municipalities to a system what we call cyber incident response plans and to fund Webinars to help municipalities meet their kind of baseline cybersecurity goals, and there's a talent component to this one as well, so a cybersecurity mentorship program to support diverse college students as they enter the cyber security4339 field.
As you can see, our focuses both on trying to drive growth and innovation across these sectors and also make sure we've got the talent pipeline to serve these sectors and to make sure that talent pipeline is a diverse one. So, again, the exciting sectors were focused on now the kind of next iteration of the innovation strategy will be on areas such as robotics, artificial, intelligence, Blockchain, fintech, quantum computing and others. I will say as a final note on this slide, you know, when you make these kinds of investments in innovation, you never know exactly where they might lead. I think over the last year we saw some incredible work that came out of our focus and innovation in the form of the manufacturing emergency response team and so we all know back in the earliest days of the pandemic what we heard around the challenge of procuring personal protective equipment while we mobilized our Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative and got a number of folks involved in helping our manufacturers start to produce these types of products, masks and face shields and gowns and other products.
We now have over 50 manufacturers of Massachusetts engaged in network; they have produced 15 million pieces of such equipment. So far, the forward pipeline on the pieces they may produce is now an excess of 100 million, so a very promising effort and it does speak to the fact that when you make these investments in innovation, that can be some really pleasant consequences of doing so perhaps one we didn't foresee when we did so. On strengthening communities. We've got this focus on revitalizing downtown, and we've always believed in developing downtown and main streets. I think it's even more important than ever in the wake of4442 Covid 19, given that the impact the pandemic has had on the companies, the main street companies that occupy our great downtowns across the state.
So, I highlight a few things here. $2.5 million for the Urban Agenda Grant program, this is meant to expand targeted workforce development and technical assistance programs with a special focus4464 on gateway cities and black and Latino populations. We announced 30 awards last week, it's part of the FY 21 program in 23 communities across the Commonwealth. Since 2015, there have been $8.5 million in grants, again issued in partnership with the legislature and grateful for the partnership there. Notably, the urban agenda, this year will become part of something we call4489 our community one stop program and maybe to spend a 30 seconds on this one but as we were going through the economic development planning process, I referred to before, we heard a lot of feedback on our programs along the lines of, you've got a lot of great programs, but there's a fair amount of complexity in terms of applying for those programs, accessing the funds and really trying to put our programs together in a way that they are aligned against common objectives.
So what we've done this year in community development, this really speaks more so to the capital programs4521 we have. But a little bit here, with the4523 urban agenda in terms of programs in the budget as well is put 10 programs together this year and have those programs be accessible through a single application portal and really, frankly, change up the dialogue we have with our cities and towns, where we're not just responding to funding requests for individual programs for individual projects but the start of the dialogue will in fact be a dialogue. We have cities and towns committed, articulate what their priorities are, what their aspirations are, what their key programs are and then we engage in a dialogue about the best way to support the programs, those projects, rather through our various programs.
So, I think a very different, more aligned and frankly, this better way for us to deliver4564 our support for our communities, so that's a bit on the urban agenda. A million dollars for the regional economic4571 development organizations to reduce, we've been awarding redo grants is of state4576 since 2010. We received 11 applications this year, which to our new4581 ones, I think it's been4583 a good program supporting these regional economic development organizations. In particular, this year, each reduced submitted a Covid impact an action plan, really again, the steam of planning4595 and recovery strategy to detail of the Covid impacts in their regions and provide a national plan to address those impacts.
Finally, in this slide is $250,000 for the transformative development fund that the TDI program operated under Mass development. This is one of the programs I just routinely hear great things about around the state. It supports the TDI fellows’ program for Gateway cities where there are folks working on the ground in our gateway cities with technical expertise on community development, and they played a really important role in the gateway cities. I hope someday soon to get back into travel mode and visit our cities and towns of regularity like I did pre pandemic, and I'd have a number of sessions where I'd get a tour from the TDI fellow of the TDI area in the Gateway City, and it was just marvelous to see the level of collaboration on the ground in our gateway cities or a TDI fellows were playing an important role in making good things happen there.
A bit more on revitalizing downtown on tourism in particular. Obviously, to say the least,4669 the pandemic has been incredibly disruptive to our tourism economy and we need to be mindful of our ongoing investments there. I think the dedicated dollars of tourism to this tourism trust fund are probably more important now than ever. So, this budget provides $11.5 million in funding to support the Massachusetts Marketing Partnership and the regional tourism councils and this fund is supported through a transfer of $10 million from the room occupancy tax collections and 1% of the Gaming Revenue Fund, about $1.5 million from that source. Then the fund is allocated, with 40% going to the Mass marketing partnership and 60% out to the regional tourism councils. So similar funding, similar formula, what we've had before.
A brief note here on my local MA campaign, we launched this last year and I describe this campaign as one that is meant to appeal to people's hearts and minds, that before they go and spend dollars online, they should think about where else they can spend their dollars. Before they go buy a product from an online source, think about a Main Street business that might sell that product and think about shopping and dining and traveling locally and so this has a commerce component to it, shopping and dining but it's also got a real tourism component as well. Obviously, the travel part of travel and tourism has been upended but encouraging people to shop locally but also be tourists locally as well and I think these additional funds for tourism will be nicely complemented by my local MA campaign and really trying to call attention to the just the fantastic resources we have here in the Commonwealth and getting people to think about how they can support their main street businesses.
We've got a couple slides on workforce and I just heard from my colleague secretary cost of Let me touch on a couple of things. We have in this budget under the imperative of getting people back to work, we have $2.5 million for the advanced manufacturing training program. I know this is a very critical program within the workforce Skills Cabinet suite of tools. As you might know, the Workforce Skills Cabinet is myself and Secretary Acosta and Secretary Peyser, Economic development, education and labor. We've had this Cabinet now since the early days of the administration, I think it's been great work. The Cabinet was launched in an environment that was very different than where we are now that the mandate for the workforce skills Cabinet then was how do we close skills gaps and develop more promising talent pipelines in the context of a beyond full employment economy where at that point in time, there were probably more jobs available than there were people looking for jobs.
Our mandate is very different now, it's quite simply got4838 people back to work but I think this manufacturing training will be increasingly important. Really the goal for these dollars is to create a fully coordinated manufacturing training system to meet the needs of manufacturers across the state and we're integrating innovative training models that we've found during the pandemic, and we think between the traditional programs, newer models, we're going to really help our companies find people to have the right competencies and skills and help develop our citizens4869 to get employment in this very promising area. So, for example, expanded use of online training programs, development of a virtual welding training program, increased collaboration with our community colleges to expand online incumbent training, there's a lot happening in the world of manufacturing.
I mentioned4888 before the Manufacturing Emergency Response Team. We've had a very large focus from a capital standpoint of manufacturing through M2I2 program. We're very bullish on manufacturing and excited now to have additional training funds here. I'm sure Secretary Acosta touched on this, but the career technical initiative, the budget proposes $16.9 million of funding for this initiative. It is a hugely important focus force right now again getting people back to work, and the goal is to enroll more high school students as well to expand the capacity of adults4931 to4932 earn these industry-based credentials and to align that with apprenticeships and post-secondary degrees.
Thanks to the support of the Legislature, the first $1.3 million in awards went out in early February of this year to train 256 people across eight schools, we're continued to roll out the FY 21 part of this program, but we've proposed a substantial increase in the program for this year, and you can see the model here on the right-hand side. The goal is to have we call three shifts at a vocational technical high school, the first shift being the students who are enrolled in that school, the second being students who are enrolled in the local high school where they start their day in the high school and come over in the afternoon and get some exposure to vocational technical training and then the third shift being adults, having adults come in during the evening hours for retraining every skilling. So that's what I have around economic development, innovation and workforce and similar4989 matters. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Let me turn it over to under Secretary Maddox to talk about housing.
JENNIFER MADDOX - HOUSING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - Thank you, Secretary, and good morning, everyone. So, the rental assistance for families in transition program, known as RAFT, is the largest part of the eviction response. Prior to the pandemic, the RAFT program was a homelessness prevention program providing up to 4000 years to low-income families from moving costs, rent, utilities and security deposits, and was administered by 11 regional administering agencies known as RAAs across the state, and RAFT had an annual budget of approximately $20 million. Now, during Covid 19, RAFT has transformed into a disaster relief program, seeking to avert widespread harm to landlords and tenants alike due the protracted economic impacts of Covid 19.
Now evidenced by the chart, which captures a comparison of RAFT expenditures from July 2019 to February 2020 with only 12.6 million versus the same timeframe this past July to last month, where we expended over 48 million and you can also see the increased number of households served from 4660 to 11,514 households. RAFT now has an increased maximum benefit level of $10,000 per household, with an annual budget that is increased by almost five times and the RAs have received an unprecedented volume of applications and to assist the RAs with processing applications, we've removed the sustainability requirements. We also simplify the housing crisis list and expended crisis types. We also implemented automatic income eligibility for DTA and Mass health recipients to help streamline the RAFT process.
On January 11th, we launched the Rental Assistance Processing Center, known as RAP Center, to help rapidly process RAFT applications and accelerate housing payments to families experiencing a housing crisis. We have been working very closely with RAs to provide them with the necessary support, and the rap center will supplement ongoing work at all our regional agencies and will get us to the goal of processing applications promptly. We are encouraged by recent positive trends in application processing and we've seen a major increase in the number of households assisted in February. For an update on evictions, we continue to work very close coordination with the courts.
While there was an initial increase in post moratorium eviction filings, thankfully, new weekly eviction filings for nonpayment of rent have declined5158 and have consistently remained below pre pandemic levels in calendar year 2021. So, this slide captures RAFT monthly spending in fiscal year 21. From July to February, RAFT spending totaled 48.4 million, assisting 11,514 households. You can see that February was a momentous month, with more than 21 million in RAFT expenditures and serving approximately 5400 households in one month. More money was spent on RAFT in February than what was normally spent in an entire fiscal year. As a state, we received 457 million in federal rental assistance. Now, 20.6 million is going to go straight to the city of Boston, leaving us with 436 million for the state to administer.
Now this slide captures the waterfall of programs and how we see this new federal funding as a key resource for providing emergency housing assistance under one overarching goal, to keep people housed and safe during the pandemic. To meet5235 this goal, there are many sources of funding and programs, each with its own set of rules and constraints, RAFT, IRMA and now, the federal Emergency Rental Assistance. However, all these programs fit within one framework. Most renters impacted by Covid with the repairs after March 13th, 2020 will fall under the Federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program. Our plan is that every application for assistance that comes in, we work to fulfill it first with federal funds. We need to use federal funding wherever possible and reserve state funds for cases that do not qualify for federal aid, so RAFT is still very much a live program.
In addition, RAFT will continue to be an important resource for those seeking assistance with mortgage and non-Covid 19 related housing crisis is that cannot be covered by the federal program. Of course, we still have IRMA on the left side of the slide for the homeowners who have been impacted by the crisis and are not eligible for RAFT or the federal funds. Now, the Governor's budget continues to fund services for homeless families and individuals. DTD is committed to reducing the number of people that are homeless and upholding the statutory right to shelter for homeless children. House One provides 54.9 million for homeless individuals shelter programs, which ensures immediate safety5327 by providing temporary emergency shelter to homeless individuals. The homeless individuals shelter line-item funds approximately 1900 shelter beds down from prior fiscal years due to the need for indoor Covid distancing.
This item also pays for meals and for individual shelter client encounters with medical health care providers, including behavioral health5351 care. The funding also assures individuals experiencing homelessness have access to the winter overflow beds. DTD will continue to work to meet providers extraordinary costs by facilitating FEMA reimbursement. Now, DHD anticipates receiving over 40 million through the FEMA reimbursement process to support shelter depopulation. The proposed funding level in the Governor's budget will allow DTD to maintain current shelter rates through FY 22. Now there's a projected surplus of 1.5 million in FY 21 that we intend to make available in FY 22 to support the operations of a new 22 bed, non-congregate individual shelter in Malden.
House One includes 4.9 million for homeless individuals rapid Re Housing Program This program was new to DTD in FY 2019. The program is for the rapid transition of homeless individuals into sustainable permanent housing. These programs include vocational training, temporary5418 assistance and permanent supportive housing. DTD works with each individual community partner to design programming based on what each provider believes will be most impactful for its community. 967 people were diverted from shelter at the front door in FY 20 and 2773 people were re housed from shelter using short term rental assistance and supportive services during FY 20. House One includes 16 million for RAFT, and as I mentioned on the previous slide, we also have 436 million in federal funding for emergency temporary rental assistance.
The RAFT funding will continue to be an important resource for those seeking assistance with their mortgage and non-Covid 19 related housing that cannot be covered by the federal program. Now, the Governor's budget includes 26 million for home base, home base provides financial assistance up to 10,000 per household and serves two purposes; the first, diverting families who are approved for a A shelter from entering the front door of shelter and instead5492 housing them in stable housing outside of the shelter system. Now, the second purpose is to help families successfully exit out of the shelter5501 system. Anywhere from 2800 to 3200 households5506 will use the home-based benefit in FY 22. Now, in addition to the financial assistance, home based provides 12 months of5515 stabilization services to help families maintain and improve their housing stability.
Now, the House One budget funds the emergency assistance for family shelters at 195 million, which is the projected annual cost of operating EA. Now, the role of the shelter system is to provide families experiencing homelessness, safe shelter primarily and shared content unit apartments and provide quick connections with housing and services. Just remember, Massachusetts is the only state in the country with a right to shelter, and we anticipate there will be about 2537 families in shelter by the end of FY 21. Now, that's down from 46005562 at the beginning of the Baker Polito Administration. This represents a 45% reduction in families needing shelter. We are proud to report that there are only nine families living in one hotel, down from5578 1500 families in hotels at the beginning of the administration.
The FY 22 budget also includes funding for a rate increase to providers. DTD conducted a competitive procurement process for the EA system, through the RFR, DTD specifically aimed to shorten shelter stays and5597 reduce reentries back in the shelter and we expect to implement new rates at FY 23 from the re procurement of the shelter system, which was last procured back in 2008 by DTA. Now this slide captures the total EA shelter and hotel caseload since the start of the administration, the blue reflects shelter units and the green represents hotels, and as of and as of yesterday, the total5626 EA caseload was 2711 families. As I mentioned on the previous slide, there are only nine families in one motel. Now, this graph on the top captured the total shelter and hotel caseload by month since March of 2020 and reflects how our EA shelter caseload is lower than5649 in the previous year. Now the chart on the bottom captures shelter and hotel entries by month, and you can see that during Covid 19, the number of families in the EA shelter system decreased. In part, this is likely due to the dramatic decrease in evictions during 2020 and 2021 to date. Next slide, please.
Now the Governor is proposing 135 million for the Massachusetts rental voucher program, known as MRVP, which is a rental assistance program for low-income households that provides mobile and project-based vouchers to eligible applicants. Approximately 8900 households are in stable housing as a result of this program. The budget funds an increase in the number of least vouchers to 10,071 and by the end of FY 22. DTD continues to use MRVP to make housing units and new developments available for families with extremely low incomes. A minimum of 200 project-based vouchers will be awarded for this purpose during FY 21 and FY 22.
Now in Fy 21, in light of the increases and the most recent and the most recently signed budget along with the anticipated surplus, we are targeting 767 MRVP vouchers, both project based and mobile vouchers for homeless households. Because of the length5735 of time, it take to issue vouchers and then have households find5739 a unit, we expect to see increased spending from these vouchers in Fy 22. Now, we issued guidance in January asking all RAAs and RAs to issue all of their mobile vouchers by May 15th. DA today is actively working with housing agencies to increase utilization of existing vouchers by the end of Fy 21. This slide reflects the 73 million in MRVP expansion since the beginning of the Baker administration. Now this graph captures5777 the annual appropriation from Fy 15 to Fy 21 along with the actual spending.
House one includes an appropriation of 122.6 million plus, we are projecting that 12.4 million in funding will not be spent in Fy 21. This brings the MRVP funding level to 135 million, which is consistent with the Fy 21 GAA. Now here's how we are targeting the 767 MRVP vouchers. We're really excited about these MRVPS and we are targeting a number of populations for the vouchers. These vouchers will support housing5821 development specifically supportive single room occupancy housing, which has been a high priority. We're also making a substantial number of MRVPS available to homeless families in the EA shelter system. Individuals experiencing homelessness, including individuals and nursing homes who can live on their own.
We have engaged with providers including Pine Street, Bahasa and Father bills, to how they could best use these resources to serve individuals experiencing homelessness and move clients into permanent housing. The Governor's budget includes 10.6 million for the alternative housing voucher program. AHVP provides housing factors to non-elderly disabled individuals. The budget supports the expansion of the number of least vouchers from 409 at the start of the administration to 750 at the end of Fy 22. This represents a $7 million expansion since the beginning of the administration, and we're excited to report there are four new housing authorities; Fitchburg, Mansfield Taunton and Wrentham have opened or will open their5892 waiting lists for AHVP by the end of Fy 21.
In January, in order to boost AHVP utilization, we have created Issuance, um, and leasing incentives to support housing authorities work to get more vouchers out into the community. Finally, the House One budget5913 includes 75 million for subsidies for public housing authorities, which is five million below the fy 21 GAA. The reason being is that the operating costs of LAJ's increased in Fy 21 because of Covid 19, and we're expecting costs to return to pre Covid level adjusted for inflation. The state aid of public housing portfolio5935 provides critical, affordable housing to 80,000 people in Massachusetts and consists of 45,000 state units for our most vulnerable residents. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Now I will turn it over to Undersecretary Pulaski.
Yeah, Yeah. Thank you very much. Undersecretary Matter?
EDWARD PALLESCHI - OFFICE OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS AND BUSINESS REGULATION - Good afternoon, Representative Donato, Senator Lesser. My name is Edward Palleschi, I'm the Undersecretary for the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation. Thank you very much for this opportunity today. The Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, OCABRA5978 as5978 we call it, empowers Mass consumers through advocacy and education. In fiscal year 20, we hosted over 150 community-based education events. With the arrival of pandemic, we shifted to virtual events and have already done close to 100 this fiscal year. This includes a joint event just last week with the Better Business Bureau and the AARP for National Consumer Protection Week, in which more than 250 people participated. So much of the information that we share with consumers is about fraud protection.
We've seen a number of6016 Covid related scams over the past year, including vaccination scams. We tell consumers to beware of scams that offer you early access to the vaccine for a fee. As you know, Mass has a three-phase vaccination distribution plan, and currently we're in Phase two. We urge everyone to be aware of spoof calls that appear to be from organizations like the CDC promising early access. This is basically a government impostor scam. There's no way to skip the line for a fee, that's a scam. Additionally, we've been warning consumers to be aware of phony Covid 19 vaccine websites. Scammers have created counterfeit sites that look like legitimate6062 pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Moderna.
One fake site is offering vaccines for as little as $30 per dose, but of course, the vaccines are being provided for free by the federal government. The Department of Homeland Security investigators analyzed close to 80,000 Covid related domain names and confiscated approximately 33 million in illegal proceeds as of mid-February. So, while I have your attention, I'd like to remind the committee to stay vigilant and don't let your guard down, stay one step ahead of the fraudsters, scammers and criminals, protect6101 yourselves6101 your loved ones and your neighbors, and particularly older folks, and remember, we're all in this together, and then an informed consumer is an empowered consumer. Now, OCABRA also oversees and supports five regulatory agencies, and I'll go through each one of those momentarily, and we strive to ensure a fair and competitive marketplace for the businesses we regulate.
The total budget amount for OCABRA for House One is 67 million. This includes 1.8 million for the Executive Office of Consumer Affairs, which is flat funded from fiscal year 21. The funding supports our core programs, including the Home Improvement Contractor program, also known as the HIC program. The state's Lemon Laws and the Data Breach Notification Law. The HIC arbitration program resolves disputes between homeowners and registered contractors regarding home improvements. The guarantee fund serves as a last resort that allows eligible homeowners who have unpaid final judgment against the contractor to recover up to $10,000 and the fund is just over $3 million.
Concerning our management of the state's lemon laws in fiscal year 20, we received 73 applications for arbitration, and this is an updated number and 44 of those were accepted. Of that group, 19 were settled pre hearing and 25 went on for full hearings, and 11 were won by consumers. The6203 data breach notification law requires businesses to notify OCABRA and the Attorney General in the event of a security breach. OCA acts as a repository for all breached data and provides resource information to consumers on what to do in the event of a data breach. As6222 everyone knows, a data6223 breach is the unauthorized use of personal information that creates a substantial risk of identity theft or fraud. In fiscal year 20, there were 1836 breaches reported affecting 431,000 residents. We've seen an uptick in data breach reporting6244 since the pandemic started. From the start of fiscal6247 year 21 till today, we received a total6250 of 1,661 data breach notifications affecting close to one million Massachusetts residents.
Finally, the Governor's budget supports our consumer hotline, which is available Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM for citizens all across the Commonwealth to call with consumer questions. Moving on to the division of banks. The budget6283 amount is 21.3 million for the division, which is an assessed account. That's 1.2 million, or 5.5 less than fiscal year 21. The DOB regulates 159 state-chartered banks and credit unions with combined assets of 516 billion and is charged with licensing and examining almost 12,000 non depository institutions, including mortgage lenders and brokers,6312 individual mortgage loan originators, debt collectors, loan services and other entities. The division conducted 390 examinations in fiscal year 20, 2.6 million was returned to almost 4000 Mass consumers and 2.6 million in administrative penalties were collected by the division.
The DOB continues to monitor industry's response to the pandemic to ensure that it is honoring consumer protections for the Commonwealth under Chapter 65 of the Acts of 2020 and the Federal Cares Act. Additionally, Commissioner Mary Gallagher and her team remain responsive and available to Governor Baker, Secretary Keneally and the Legislature to provide technical guidance on pandemic related financial services concerns including mortgage forbearance and foreclosure. Finally, through its administrative fees, the DOB funds financial literacy programs, including the Chapter 206 grants. In 2019 and 2020, the division awarded 1.5 million each year in Chapter 206 grant money to Homebuyer education centers and foreclosure counseling agencies throughout the Commonwealth.
The division also works with the Treasurer's Office of Economic Empowerment to fund credit for life fares for high school students throughout6400 the state. Live events have been put on hold during the pandemic, however, the DOB has extended the funding to give our education partners more time to transition to virtual platform using the funding. I serve as a member of the Economic Empowerment Trust Fund Board shared by Treasurer Deb Goldberg, and I can't wait to attend the first live credit6424 for life fare when6425 these resumes. Moving on to the division of professional licensure, the budget amount is 22.8 million for the DPL, that's 750,000 or 3% above fiscal year 21. DPL is oversight of 28 boards of registration, the Office of Public Safety inspections, OPSI and the Office of Private Occupational School Education.
Collectively, DPL licenses and regulates more than 580,000 individuals, businesses and schools to engage in over 150 trades and professions and that's everything from cosmetologists, barbers, plumbers to electricians and real estate agents to veterinarians. DPL has played an important role in the Covid response, specifically by providing guidance to local cities and towns, working with CVS pharmacies to coordinate approval of emergency permits for 45 Covid testing and vaccination kiosks to ensure that they are compliant with Massachusetts building, plumbing and electrical code requirements. Additionally, they have worked closely with its boards on policies6504 that provide guidance to licenses so they can6508 be compliant with Covid standards and restrictions.
Deputy Undersecretary Jim Duggan and I even helped Commissioner Leila Amelia and Governor Baker's Covid 19 Enforcement and Intervention Task Force CIT Conduct a few Covid 19 compliance checks at occupational schools on the North Shore last fall. Finally, the commissioner participates in the CIT. The Governor's budget provides for customer service improvements with a new dedicated welcome center. Commissioner Demelia is always working to enhance the6547 customer service experience at the agency. The DPL remains committed to public safety and protecting consumers through the duration of the pandemic and beyond. Moving on to the division of insurance. The budget amount is 15.6 million for the DOI. This is also an assessed account, and the amount is flat funded from fiscal year 21.
The DOI supervises an insurance industry that rights 60 billion in Mass premiums. The division licenses and regulates 150 individual producers, 8000 business entity producers and 1600 insurance companies. In fiscal year 20, the division collected 168.8 million in revenue. Now H1 supports the divisions, continued review and approval of rate filings to ensure compliance with state laws. For example, in fiscal year 20, the DOI processed 4122 products in rate filings. To date, in fiscal year 21, it has processed close to 3000, these numbers include filings related to the implementation of PFML. DOI Consumer Services unit has recovered 5.3 million for consumers and closed about 1000 complaint cases.
Since March of 2020, the DOI has issued 31 bulletins specific to Covid 19 on everything from telemedicine to urging automobile insurance carriers to issue discounts to customers driving less frequently and we worked with the health connector to establish three enrollment periods for consumers who lost health benefits. Now, ordinarily, the division issues about 10 bulletins in a year, so it gives you some perspective of all the work that they've done over the past year. Finally, our insurance commissioner continues to be a leader on the national and international stage. The National Insurance, The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the NAIC has chosen Gary Anderson to Chair the International Insurance Relations Committee for 2021.
The commission was also recently selected for another two-year appointment to the International Association of Insurance Supervisors Executive Committee. As insurance has become increasingly global, having a voice and national and international standard setting is vital to ensuring the protection of Massachusetts policyholders and the domestic insurance market. Maintaining a competitive insurance market with a level playing field not just domestically but also internationally enhances the availability of products to protect consumers from financial loss. Moving on to the Department of Telecommunications and Cable DTC. The budgeted amount is $3 million for the department.6733
DTC is another assessed agency, and the amount is flat funded from fiscal year 21. DTC regulates 263 telecommunications providers and eight cable television providers. In fiscal year 20, the agency investigated over 1700 complaints, resulting in 190,000 in refunds to consumers. It submitted 19 filings with the AFCC advocating for consumers and businesses and the Commonwealth. DTC worked with the Mass Broadband Institute, and the executive Office of Housing and Economic Development and broadband providers to help ensure broadband availability and protection from shut offs during the pandemic. The outside sections will allow DTC to better understand broadband and wireless of availability in the Commonwealth.
To continue this work, Commissioner Karen Charles Peterson and her team continued to participate in the Lieutenant Governor's weekly Make Ready Summit teleconference calls to coordinate make ready efforts with poll owners, the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, Mass broadband institute and broadband providers to ensure construction delays are minimized. While the winter weather has caused some minor adjustments to schedules in certain areas, most of the construction in Western Mass is on schedule and proceeding. The DTC has been extra vigilant about working with cable providers during the pandemic so that all citizens in our state are able to connect to broadband.
The DTC worked with AGD and MBI to identify communities where Mass residents lacked access to services or could not afford the cost of these services. To assist with this, DTC provided guidance and advice on the structure of the Governor's Pandemic Broadband Relief package, which is now providing subsidized broadband to residents who are unemployed. Finally, the Division of Standards. The budget amount is 1.7 million for the division of Standards, and this is flat funded from fiscal year 21. The DOS ensures compliance with weights and measures of packaged food products, scanner pricing accuracy, the measurement of fuel and auto body6893 repair shops to eliminate fraudulent practices. The division has moved to create paperless inspections by fiscal year 22 and this is part of an overall modernization plan to upgrade all DOS technology and move licensing and records to online digital format.
Director Jimmy Cassidy and his team at the division were particularly helpful in the early days of the pandemic and the Covid 19 response by assisting the Mass food6920 association and developing guidance for grocery store capacity limits. Additionally, by developing pandemic specific guidelines to assist local restaurants to understand and adhere to safety protocols and state regulations for selling groceries to Mass consumers. For example, products need to be sold by weight and include packaging that lists the net weight content. This allowed for a safer marketplace for both consumers and businesses. Finally, DOS manages a metrology lab that tests and certifies weights that are used by sealers of weights and measures to verify and certify the accuracy of scales from 0.1 of an ounce to £1000. This concludes our presentation; I want to thank you again for this opportunity. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Uh, thank you, Mr Secretary. Answer your undersecretary. I do have a few questions, Mr Secretary of, uh, Secretary. Yeah. Yes, I'm here. Okay.
DONATO - The first question is, can you provide an update on the economic recovery grant programs that were in place in fiscal 21? And6993 do you have an estimate on the total number of small businesses that you've been able to reach in grant funding allocations?
KENNEALY - Yes. So far, it's been $604 million in grants to 13,338 businesses. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
13,000? Yeah. 3 13,038
Dream. And
DONATO - How has the end of the state eviction moratorium impacted renters and families throughout the Commonwealth? And which programs have seen a spike in demand after the end of the state eviction moratorium?
MADDOX - So upon the expiration of the state's eviction moratorium in October, the administration launched the eviction diversion initiative known as EDI and a comprehensive strategy and a set of resources to preserve housing stability and support tenants and landlords during the Covid 19 pandemic. So,7056 the administration committed significant funding resources, 171 million for EDI in Fy 21 including 100 million for the allocation to the raft program. We also provided 12.3 million for legal representation as well as community mediation to assist both tenants and landlords and nearly 50 million for post eviction rapid re-housing.
Some of the key takeaways7085 is that thankfully, eviction filings are currently much lower than normal and have been since the beginning of the year, and so we're really pleased to see that. Second, our EA shelter caseload is lower than in previous years due to the home-based utilization as well. So, in fact, we actually launched a meter program to rapidly re house program for potentially EA eligible households, with a bit of a 10,000, and we launched it during EDI to supplement home base but there has been zero demand for it. So, the primary response to the EDI is raft and so we're really excited7133 that the benefit level is up to $10,000 as needed for rent and that has been just a tremendous resource.
DONATO - Hopefully, it appears to be a considerable amount of federal funding coming from the state for housing and homeless prevention. Can you estimate how much funding7151 will be coming for those purposes and how we might use the funding in the state?
MADDOX - Yes. So, we will be receiving $436 million in federal funding, which we're really excited about. You know, it's just wonderful to have this amazing resource of federal funding to support the raft program to provide emergency housing assistance under that one overarching goal of keeping people housed and safe during the pandemic, so we're really excited about it. Two weeks ago, we received the final guidance from the US Treasury and so we're really pleased to have these resources and potentially there could be more coming down the pipeline.
DONATO - The fiscal 22 H1 proposal includes a substantial increase in emergency assistant programs. Could you walk us through how the additional funding will be used and an update on the shelter procurement efforts and whether you anticipate the contracts that we finalized?
MADDOX - Okay, great question. So, we have been working very closely with our shelter providers to, you know, basically, you know, we have 195 million available in House One, which is the projected annual cost of operating EA, and the reality is that there has been a significant reduction of families needing shelter. So, we're proud that we only have, you know, nine families living in one motel in Fy 22. The budget also will provide for rate increases for providers. We did conduct a competitive procurement process for EA and so, you know, our goal is to short shelter stays and reduce reentries back into shelter, and we expect to see new rates in Fy 23 from the re procurement of the7280 shelter system. This is our first time that we've had an opportunity to procure the shelter system since it was done by DTA back in 2008. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Okay, on a personal note, since I represent the city of Medford and Malden, let me thank you for the opportunity of your excess funds for, uh, the 22 1st 22 shelter fits that we do have in in Maldon. And, uh, it is our fervent hope that, uh, you'll find additional excess funds to continue the program in Maldon because it's a very, very important program. So thank you. Thank you, Sydney, for that, you're welcome. Okay. And, uh, thank you, Mr Chair.
LESSER - Just a quick follow up on the housing, Mr. Secretary, are you aware of what the current wait list is for raft or MRVP or what are the current time line where we need to get those to get those wrists or some of that call volume dressed. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
I'm sorry, could you repeat the question? I I couldn't hear it all. You hear me now? Yes.
I'll talk close to the microphone. Uh, I just It was a question about the wait lists specifically regarding rap and, uh, and just the sort of capacity to work through the applications and the waiting periods for those applications. You just give us, you know, a little bit of an update or this operation. What you're seeing with the No, the application process is in the speed of the because. Yes, sure thing.
MADDOX - Great question. So we continue to make significant progress every week in addressing the number of applications in our pipeline, and as I mentioned earlier, we have 11 regional administering agencies that run the program on our behalf. We also on January 11th, we stood up the rental assistance processing, RAP center to help with processing applications. We have approximately 16,000 applications currently in the RAP pipeline. Now, of those, 13,000 are active applications where there is documentation missing and agencies are actively working with landlords and or their tenants to complete the application and move it forward.
I have to say, you know, we've noticed when we get the reports from the RAAs, that 85% of the applications that are submitted are incomplete and so we've been working very aggressively with the RAAs to provide them with the necessary support, to basically add additional staff to the regional administering agencies and to make sure that they are staffed adequately to be able to chase down those applications that are incomplete and get updated information as necessary. Approximately half of the application of the entire pipeline, the RAP center is currently working on a majority of the applications submitted into 2020. So we're making progress. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Appreciate it.
LESSER - Switching gears to consumer protection. Can you just give a little bit of an update? I saw it in one of the slides, a bullet for the student loan borrower bill of Rights Implementation of student loan servicer, supervision, funding. Can you just give us a sense of first, what those funds will be used for and then also the sense of the timeline of the implementation of a new servicing oversight will be? SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
So I'm gonna I'm gonna defer to my, um I see CFO Diane Hanrahan, who I know is with us. Otherwise, Senator I'd like to get a little more detail fighting on that from Commissioner Gallagher and, uh, get back to you. Maybe I can7544 jump in on this one. So we are gonna
KENNEALY - The division of banks is going to stand up regulations ahead of July 1st of this year and that will support the three FTEs we want to bring in. The idea is to really build out a customer assistance unit within the division of banks. So, more to come both with regard to the ranks and the hiring plan and how that unit will function. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Hey, mhm
the question representative to Kenneth.
MCKENNA - Thank you. A question for either Secretary Kennealy or Undersecretary Palleschi on DPL. I know, certainly through the height of Covid, there were delays and extensions given on renewals. Do you have any update on the current status of individual licensure renewals? Is there a backlog, whether that is up to date, how are we looking with that?
PALLESCHI - So, to my knowledge, with Commissioner Amelia, we7607 currently are working through any backlogs that we have. I can get a more specific kind of schedule of any backlogs that we have at the division, but to my knowledge, the division has done a great job with dealing with the extensions and and licensure. Again, to my knowledge, there's not a great deal of backlog they're dealing with due to the pandemic or for any other reason. What I'm going to do is I will check with the commissioner, get a little bit more detailed for the committee in terms of any significant backlogs that exist, but I'm confident that the commissioner and her team have done a really great job at accommodating first time licenses and renewals, and I'll get a little more detail and and get back to you all.
DONATO - Thank you. Last question, Mr. Undersecretary, and that is have you had a pushback from a number of communities with regard to the peg program where cable are now, they're streaming and cable revenues to the peg program to the cities and towns that are participating are sort of taking a big hit?
PALLESCHI - So that that's a great question. Representative, I am going to speak with Commissioner Karen Charles Peterson after this meeting, we will get back to you on that one. I'm a little bit unclear about the specifics of that program and an update, and I want to make sure that I'm not giving you incorrect information. So I'll speak with Commissioner Karen Charles Peterson, and we'll get back to you today on that one.
DONATO - There is a bill7723 in the house just for your information that is, seeking to tax the streaming industry, since the cable industry is now having taking a hit on the street by the streaming industry and to see, I don't know how they would be able to do that but I just know that the peg systems for the communities that are in involved in the peg program are having some difficulty because the cable companies are taking a hit, one particularly the younger people who are not buying cable and they're doing streaming instead. So you may want to just7764 be aware of that. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Sure. Thank you very much. Okay, Secretary Connally, Thank you. And your under secretaries For the terrific information, we7775 appreciate the time and the effort that you've given us, and we thank you and have a good day. Great. Thank you all. Have a good day.
Okay. Next is the Border Library Commission has been
James Lonegan.
Uh huh. Mm. Bob
Mission Lanigan.
I'm here. Sorry. Just one second. Okay. Here we go.
JAMES LONERGAN - MASSACHUSETTS BOARD OF LIBRARY COMMISSIONERS - Good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity to present testimony for this hearing of the Ways and Means committees on the House and Senate about the importance of statewide library programs and services administered by the masters of sport of7833 library commissioners or7834 the MBLC. We thank you for your ongoing commitment to libraries and library services in your individual districts and statewide. The MBLC new strategic plan, our mission statement states, as a state agency, the MBLC most equitable access, advances innovation and fosters resilience in libraries across the Commonwealth through funding, guidance, partnerships and coordination of statewide services.
Since 1890, the MBLC has worked to fulfill this mission and much more. We do this working with our affiliates and partners, the Massachusetts library system, Boston Public Library and its role as the library for the Commonwealth, the Perkins and Wister talking Book Libraries, the Massachusetts Center for the Book and the nine automated networks. The commissioners and the Massachusetts Library community are emphasizing one item in our fiscal 22 legislative agenda, our state Age of Public libraries Line 709501. Thank you for increasing this line by just over two million for this current fiscal year to a total of 12 million. We are requesting an additional one million increase for this line for fiscal 2022. We are requesting 3% increases for most of our other lines, however, larger increase for the message of the center for the Book Line 709508, which had been level funded from fiscal 2016 until this current fiscal year.
Our total requested increase for all seven lines is 1.7 million. State and public libraries is an annual voluntary program that we administer that it distributes local aid to municipalities, approximately 98% of the Commonwealth libraries currently participate.7942 It encourages municipal support and improvement of public library services, bolsters reciprocal resource sharing among libraries, compensates for differences in municipal funding capacities and offsets cost to libraries that circulate materials to patrons from other certified municipalities. State aid funds may be used in any way that supports the library and will be essential to helping communities both during the Covid7969 19 crisis and in the economic recovery, and will be particularly important given the challenging budget situation that many municipalities are7983 and will be experiencing.
During these challenging times, librarians and library staff are helping patrons find jobs, apply for unemployment and other needed benefits, and to start and grow small businesses. Many libraries have also been providing wireless access outside their buildings, while they have been either closed to the public or offering restricted access and they will again be a key and sometimes the only source of free community access to the Internet when their facilities are fully open to the public again. Recent examples of how libraries have used state aid include updating technology, paying network membership fees and expanding digital collections, which has been particularly important during the Covid 19 pandemic. Libraries that are state aid8029 certified also have access to reciprocal borrowing of over 59 million items from other libraries and, MBLC library construction grants, Federal Library Services and Technology out grants funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the MBLC Small Libraries and Networks program, which provides libraries that sort of communities with populations under 10,000 with funding, support their network memberships.
Our Agencies Legislative Agenda Web page includes links to our fiscal 22 legislative agenda, fact sheets for each of our affiliates that8063 include updates on how they have responded to the Covid 19 pandemic, the top five reasons you should care about the legislative agenda, the benefits of state aid and more. The Massachusetts Library funding organizational chart is also available on this Web page, and it displays how the MBLC supports libraries and library organizations in the Commonwealth with both state and federal funds. In addition to the state of the public libraries, the commissioner's requesting increases for support or other line items, including the board of Library Commissioner 709101. The MBLC statewide programs and services help level the playing field and provide equal access for everyone in the Commonwealth,8106 regardless of where they live, whether in a small town, struggling but improving gateway city or in a wealthier community or their social economic status, age, level of physical and intellectual ability or cultural background.
This line funds staff that administer our state aid program, also our construction program, also staff that provide advisory and technical support to library directors, trustees and friends of libraries across the state, and stuff that worked to raise the awareness about the availability and value of libraries and8139 library services. State Aid Regional Library 709401 funds the Massachusetts Library system and the Library for the Commonwealth, LFC and MLS. MLS provide services to over 1600 member libraries of all types public, school, academic and special, including statewide delivery of over 15 million items a year on average between libraries, continuing education programs for library staff, advisory assistance for libraries, licensing statewide access for electronic content, including databases and e books, which we do in partnership with the MLS, cooperative purchasing discounts and the statewide summer reading program, which the MLS and MBLC partnered with the Boston Bruins.
The line for the Commonwealth of the Boston public Library consists of three elements Specialist Reference services to any resident, the commonwealth in person by phone or email access to electronic content through BPL card available by online registration to any resident of the Commonwealth and the service digitize and provide access to images, documents and sound recordings from cultural heritage institutions from all across Massachusetts through the digital commonwealth. Making these resources available for everyone no matter where they live. We thank you for your significant increases to this8219 line for both fiscal 2020 and 21 which helped to stabilize funding for the MBLC and MLS and in particular, strengthened our statewide delivery program, making it more sustainable for the future. Line 79402 and 79406, the Talking book Libraries of Parkinson in Worcester provide acts accessible Library services in Massachusetts to over 25,000 individuals with disabilities who are unable to read traditional print materials due to a visual or physical disability or anti institutions and organizations that provide services to this population.
Both libraries enable blind, vision impaired and physically disabled users of all ages to enjoy the pleasure of reading and pursuit of lifelong learning opportunities equal to short sighted individuals. The libraries provide free delivery of audio, large print and Braille materials, putting books, magazines and newspapers. Both libraries are part of the Library of Congresses National8278 Library service for the blind and Print disabled. Line 79506 library technology and resource sharing primarily funds our nine automated networks and the portion of the state by databases and the resources that we provide in partnership with the Mass library system, including trust resources like The New York Times, Boston Globe, Encyclopedia and Journal articles.
Every database contained vetted, reliable information, making them indispensable research tools for students of all ages. The networks provide the Commonwealth residents with critical library infrastructure. They provide online Cadillacs that allow patrons to find library materials at their member libraries quickly and easily, we're also part of the Combos Inter library loan system. They're collaborative work makes these services affordable and accessible to local libraries. Residents who live in communities whose libraries are network members have access to the 59 million items that are available through network catalogs, as well as access to databases, E-books and streaming audio8339 and video. Networks also provide high speed Internet to member libraries,8343 which patrons used to apply for jobs, conduct research for school projects, or to start small businesses to sign up for health insurance or register for government programs and to do columnists other things. Some parts of the state, particularly in small towns in Central and Western Massachusetts like Cape Cod and the islands, these high-speed Internet connections are sometimes the only ones available in town.
For many low-income households, libraries provide the only source of access to computers and the Internet. Massachusetts center for the book, line 79508 is the Commonwealth's affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the book, which promotes books and libraries, literacy and reading, as well as poetry and literature. The center for the book administers the annual Massachusetts Book Awards and the Commonwealth Letters about Literature Program, post an online and mobile tool for literary trails and tourists, and develops literacy and literary programming to offer in library statewide. The center for the book has struggled due to receiving level funding from fiscal 2016 until this current fiscal year. An increase in funding for this line would enable it to fulfil its promise to operate as a public private partnership supporting lifelong literacy.
On the capital side, thank you for your support for a new bond authorization of 115 million for the Masters of the Public Library Construction program, which was approved last August. The new bond will fund the 17 projects on our wait list. We will seek funding to support our next construction grant round, for which over 40 municipalities have expressed strong interest in applying in the future. We respectfully request that you share in our vision of supporting libraries as the great equalizers in our communities that provide opportunity and hope for all entrepreneurs, students, job seekers, people experiencing homelessness, new Americans, Children, young adults, adults and seniors all find the path to success at the library. Libraries truly do transform lives. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
I'd like to turn it over if I made to our board chair. Marianne Clog ish.
MARYANN CLUGGISH - MASSACHUSETTS BOARD OF LIBRARY COMMISSIONERS - Thank you, James. My name is Maryann I currently serve as James just said as the8481 Chairman of the MBLC. I'd like to reinforce with Director Lonergan said about line 79501, state aid to public libraries. As a cherry sheet offset separate from local aid, state aid to public libraries can be spent by public libraries for any legitimate library purpose without appropriation. It is based on a formula specific to and only for local libraries. In 2020, when the pandemic hit, library buildings closed but services did not stop as libraries continued to deliver a broad array of online resources and programs to their communities. Many offer curbside pickup, outdoor and virtual programs, and it's time passes, some libraries have been able to offer limited indoor services.
Across the country, people trust local libraries more than any other institution, and whenever times get tough, people head to the local libraries for reliable help. For instance, there is a direct correlation between unemployment and library visits. As unemployment figures rise, library visits increase in person and or online. Libraries provide help with job searches, resume preparation and applying for jobs online. Libraries offer job seekers, workshops and programs, numerous technology classes, lettering up from elementary to sophisticated software skills, along with self-directed tutorials to build technological ability. Massachusetts public libraries also offer a robust series of ESOL programs, enabling new Americans to increase their earning potential and that study,8591 show that workers proficient in English or in 25 to 50% more than those with limited English skills.
There are long waiting lists for almost all of the ESOL programs. Way back in 2014, Congress passed the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which identified public libraries as, 'one stop partners with the ability to provide an extensive array of job search services and providers of training and employment8623 services.' Libraries literally reinvented themselves during Covid, and while curbside service virtual programs and WIFI hotspots are keeping people connected for now, local libraries in each of your communities will need funding to reinvent themselves once again to create safe environments for in personal services. Rebuilding after the pandemic won't be simply a matter of putting things back where they were.
In response to demand,8656 libraries provided higher cost electronic content and virtual programming, resulting in an ongoing burden on local library budgets. It is expected that demand will continue post Covid. Permanent changes may need to be instituted, and many of those changes will result in otherwise unusual cost. Because every local library building is different, the configuration of individual8688 library buildings dictates that specific workplace changes and physical requirements for each building would be unique. Each library will likely require different physical items to reopen safely for both patrons and their workforce. State aid to public library funds will be needed to absorb many of the costs for these changes, as local funds may be inadequate, so state aid to public libraries is once again our legislative priority.
While we're very appreciative of last year's funding, our request this year is for $1 million increase in this line. You know, local libraries are expected to play a large part in the recovery, and we'll need more state8736 aid to public libraries funding this year than ever before. The total of all of the8743 line items that director Lonergan listed is no more than 0.7% of the whole state budget. Libraries don't need big money to be effective, but they do8756 need enough money. So, thank you for your time, I'll turn this back to Director Lonergan to answer any questions you may have.
DONATO - Director, I do have one quick question, and that is you're asking for an additional $1 million. Could you expand on what the distribution and the use is going to be on that one million?
LONERGAN - Certainly, Rep Donato. So, our program and I should point out, actually based on inflation, I think our program back in 2001 was that at the high if inflation had been taken into account, our program would currently be funded at about $15 million. So, the state aid8805 public libraries program is made up,8807 there are three elements to it. There's a library incentive grant, which is based on population, the municipal Equalization grant, which uses a version of the lottery formula basically looking at community wealth in which cities and towns that are less wealthy get more funding, and then the nonresident circulation offset, so, basically, that's helping to support libraries that are lending, particularly if they're well-resourced in their lending and folks are coming in from surrounding communities and borrowing8838 materials.
So, the extra million really would help to keep in, again, if inflation have been taken to account this funding had not been increased in a number of years. While we very, very much do appreciate the 21% increase that we got for this current fiscal year, the funding is still relatively low and its key, as both Commissioner Cluggish and I talked about in helping these local libraries deal with the extra costs related to Covid, the curbside checks out that they've been doing, the extra costs related to that and then really reopening when they reopen more and more, they're going to be trying to continue to do the extra virtual programs. Frankly, we've heard residents like Curbside, they'd like to continue that, even when they can come in regularly to the library.
So, I think in some ways it's almost like, you know, when libraries went from books to electronic materials, well, the expectation is folks want all of the above, so we're doing our best because state aid, really, it's a small I think most Senators and Reps probably do know, public libraries are primarily supported by their local property taxes, what state aid does is help to equalize the support. So we really try and it's so particularly important for smaller under resourced communities. I'd say the most important thing about our program on top of the money is the statewide reciprocity, anywhere in the state, you have access to materials from all of the libraries and anywhere else in the state and the Commonwealth, which is just so key. So, if you are in a very small town, for example, on the Cape in Western Mass, you have access to those millions and millions of items that everyone else in the Commonwealth has, physical items, electronic materials and so forth.
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
I should point out Mary Rose Quinn, who is our government liaison and also a head of state aid, she's on the cause. I don't know if Mary Wells would like to add anything to that
missing. Um,
MARY ROSE QUINN - MBLC - Thank you, James. I would just like to add that in this particular year with Covid, we had the highest number of applicants for state aid since 1961 and 347 municipalities that participated in the state aid program started to receive funding last week, and the increase this year of 20% from the previous year to the current year will go a long way to assisting those libraries in the program. So, thank you very much. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, thank you.
LESSER - Just one quick comment and one question, just a comment. As one of the Co-Chairs of the library caucus, I want to thank our libraries and our librarians, they have done a really great work over the last year under very difficult circumstances and I just want to thank our libraries and our public library. So, I think something that's very unique about our state is that every single city in town, no matter its income or its size, has a public library or access to a public library and that's so that's very unique about Massachusetts.
I wanted to just ask if you could talk a little bit more about libraries and reopening and just how you're approaching reopening? Is it library by library? Is it town by town? Is it tied to schools in respective communities? Is it tied to other health metrics? Just giving a sense, as I am getting questions from constituents about what they can expect in terms of timeline metrics for the reopening process.
LONERGAN - Thank you, Senator Lesser and thank you for your leadership on the Senate side of the library caucus. We've been working with the Mass library system to develop guidance, and as we pointed9103 out to our library colleagues, we are not public health experts, so we have pointed them to reliable information, we've sent information regarding the Governor's reopening guidelines and libraries actually were included in the reopening guidelines, so I think that that has been helpful. There have been studies done by the Institute of Museum and Library Services looking at materials because materials the guidance has been to quarantine9129 them based on the type of material for a certain period of time, which, of course, you know that can be challenging as well.
But as we know, one of the major issues really is air quality and HCAC, so that's something our library construction specialists have given guidance on basically how to improve, how to really get a sense of and assess the current Hvac systems. You know, of course, our construction program has helped to build and renovate hundreds of libraries since the 1980s, however, we do have lovely historic buildings, but in some cases with Hvac. That's9172 actually9172 something, if I may just mention that on the federal side there's a Senator Reid from Rhode Island back in January, and then representatives just last week, in the House introduced the Build America's Libraries Act, which potentially would bring some federal funding, which were thinking we would use for a special purpose like Hvac, AVA access broadband and things like that rather than using it for regular construction and renovation.
So, as far as the reopening, I'd say really, we have been saying because every library is different and that that's actually very much true in the Commonwealth, we've been guiding local libraries to work with their local municipal officials or local departments9216 of health because, for example, while all libraries are doing curbside service, only some libraries have been comfortable fully reopening, at least say, for appointments, computer use and so forth based really on the square footage, based on the layout of the library, based on staffing abilities and so on. So, what we've tried to do is say, we want to be as supportive as possible, however, we are not telling them they have to do anything in particular beyond their best and I can tell you libraries as Senator Lesser, as you said, libraries have really, really stepped up and gone above and beyond.
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So, I don't know, Rob, if there's anything right Savini again if I believe he assigned, if there's anything you'd like to add to that, uh, sure thing,9267 um, so, uh, sent a letter. What?
ROBERT FAVINI - MBLC - One of the big challenges that we have is, as James mentioned and you mentioned, every town has is very different as their own library. A couple of points that we kind of work in, we've been emphasizing safety above all, not only9284 for library users but for library staff. A lot of our libraries have populations that are at higher risk for Covid, thankfully, with the vaccination program, a lot of the age-based categories are being dealt with. Another feature of Massachusetts Library is a lot of cooperation, we do know there are towns that get a lot of outside traffic from their neighboring communities, so it's not only the what's happening in their town or their city, but it's also the surrounding population that you may have a yellow zone surrounded by some red zone towns.
So again, our guidance has been going slow and even if buildings are opened, they will not be able to be open for business as usual, so they are concentrating on very needed things like photocopiers, access to a fax machine is9338 crucial for a lot of people who need to get medical records and things like that and also just for materials for helping with job search, schoolwork and things like that. So, I'm very happy that most of the libraries out there are going next and slow, and they are taking safety first, and they are rarely following that that guidance and making it a good experience for everyone.
LONERGAN - If I may just add very quickly to what Rob was saying, the other issue we've been hearing from local library staff is they don't want to jump ahead of anyone, but they would love to be in the group, being vaccinated with, for example, retail workers and so forth because they are public facing staff. So, we have actually reached out and I know the Massachusetts Library Association has reached out to the Governor. I've written to the vaccine advisory team, and so I know there's been some, it's challenging, we realized limited supplies and so forth but we do feel like for the public library workers who are directly dealing with the public, ideally, they can be vaccinated as soon as possible. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
just including comment. I think that's the point where point well taken and I would just want to reiterate just a reminder for the record that there's a lot of essential services happening at libraries, including unemployment assistance, Internet access. Not all of our communities have reliable Internet, so I think as we're thinking through the reopening priorities, that's really going to be at the9427 top of the top of mind. Thank you. Well, thank you. Thank you, Director, for your testimony. And, uh, on behalf of the citizens of the city of Medford, we look forward to you and Marianne coming for our ribbon cutting and brand-new public library sometime in the fall. Have you seen? Have you seen? Have you seen where it is now? Yeah, drive by. Beautiful. Thank you. Well, I represent the city of Medford. That's why I'm excited. I know. I know. I'm excited about it. Thank you very much for having us. Thank you very much for your testimony.
Okay, Next is going to be, uh, Michael Bobbitt, The Cultural Council.
Hello. I am here. I can see my I think I'm here on9479 screen and see a little picture down the bottom. Yeah.
Nice to see you, commissioner. And welcome to your new job. And I know that, uh, my friends in Watertown told me you did a fantastic job there, and so we're excited that you're now the head of a cultural council and we look forward to great things from you. Oh, that's great to know that my reputation precedes me.
MICHAEL BOBBITT - MASS CULTURAL COUNCIL - So thank you so much for allowing me to come and speak, Chair Lesser and Chair Donato, and also welcome to Rep McKenna, my pleasure to join you for this important conversation today. For the record, my name is Michael J. Bobbitt, executive director of Mass Cultural Council. I'm joined today by David Slattery, my deputy director, and Bethann Steiner, our public affairs director. Today is the first time I have had9528 the opportunity to speak with you, this is my sixth week at Mass Cultural Council, and I look forward to meeting you both one on one, all three of you, one on one and hopefully soon in person. I thought would be interesting to tell you a little bit about myself since we haven't had a chance to meet in person. I was born and raised in Lowell Northwest Washington, DC, now I live in Cambridge with my husband, Steve. We are the fathers of our 19-year-old son, whose name is Sang. Sang was adopted from Vietnam when he was eight months old, he is now studying marine biology at the university of Florida.
In grade school, college and trade school, I studied theater, art, classical trumpet, opera and ballet, and while in DC, I taught theater and dance at several universities and worked at numerous DC theaters as an actor, director, choreographer, playwright and spent many hours volunteering on arts and community boards, committees and commissions around the region, helping to build a stronger,9582 well supported and more diverse ecosystem for both nonprofits and for arts and culture, sector in the DMV. While in DC, I worked at the Smithsonian as the director of touring productions and the artistic director at Adventure Theatre, which, under my tenure became one of the nation's top theaters for young audiences, quadrupling its patron9601 base and transferring two shows off Broadway, launching four national tours, numerous awards and 40 commissions, and world premieres from some of the country's leading playwrights.
I even got to co-write plays with Bob Marley and Garfield's creator, Jim Davis, it was kind of fun. I moved to the Commonwealth to be the artistic director of Watertown New Repertory Theater in the summer of 2019. In my first year, which was the year of the Pandemic, I was able to wipe out years of debt, build several months of reserve and bring national visibility to the company. I also had the pleasure of a brief run as associate professor of theater at Boston Conservatory at Berkley. So, I truly look forward to building strong collaborations with each of you, and in that spirit, thank you for this opportunity to offer testimony and feedback on Governor Baker's fiscal year 22 H1 Budget Recommendations for Mass Cultural Council.
As you know, Mass Cultural Council is an independent state agency that promotes excellence, inclusion, education and diversity in the arts, humanities and sciences. It also fosters a rich cultural life for all Massachusetts residents and contributes to the vitality of our community and the economy. The council pursues this mission through a wide range of grants, initiatives and advocacy for artists, communities, organizations and schools. To put it another way, Mass Cultural Council works to elevate our rich cultural life in Massachusetts. It is through the agency's annual state budget appropriation that the Commonwealth makes its primary investment into arts, humanities and sciences, disciplines which together comprise the Massachusetts cultural sector.
Governor Baker's Fy 22 H1 proposes funding Mass cultural councils line item 0640-0300 at 16.3 million, representing9724 a 10.4% reduction from our current 21 state appropriation of 18.2 million. In fact, the legislature has now funded Mass Cultural Council at 18.2 for two years in a row, which we are extremely grateful for. Accepting the Governor's H1 proposal will undo two years of work and investment in the cultural sector. In fiscal year 2022, we are not only asking you to restore the funding that the Governor Baker has eliminated, but Mass Cultural Council urges the committee to make a significant investment in the cultural sector in Fy 22. We are seeking a total appropriation of 20 million in the coming fiscal year. The once booming Massachusetts cultural sector has been economically devastated by the Covid 19 pandemic. Our9777 stakeholders, which includes artists, communities, nonprofit cultural organizations and students will further suffer from reduced programming and grant making activity if Mass cultural councils funding is cut as proposed by the Governor's H1 spending plan. Reducing the Mass cultural councils line item to the H1 recommendation at this time of economic crisis is untenable. Just yesterday, Mass Cultural Council announced the data collected in our fifth Covid Economic Impact Survey of the cultural sector. Our data shows that 981 nonprofit and municipal cultural organizations have lost an overwhelming $588,334,079 in revenue since March 2020, while 2951 artists, teaching artists and sciences and humanists’ site $30,403,616 dollars in lost personal income due to the pandemic. These numbers are only from those reporting, we know there are many more organizations and cultural workers in the Commonwealth.
The sector in this state is in crisis.9850 Cultural organizations located in every region of the Commonwealth have been financially devastated by the closures and cancellations necessitated by the9859 Covid 19 pandemic. Our colleagues in California are calling it a cultural depression. On average, Massachusetts cultural organizations are dealing with the loss of $599,728 each. Difficult decisions have been made to contend with this new reality. 65% of the organizations with employees have or plan to lay off, furlough or reduce the hours and or wages of their employees. Across Massachusetts, 30,009 individual culture sector employees have seen their jobs impacted by Covid 19 in these ways. Massachusetts creative professionals are also facing dramatic financial loss from the pandemic.
As I mentioned, a total of 2951 artists teaching artists and scientists, reporting more than $30 million and lost personal income and 67,986 canceled gigs and jobs since March of 2020.9923 On average, an individual artist, teaching artists or scientists’ humanists9929 in Massachusetts has lost $10,303 in personal income and 23 canceled jobs or gigs due to the Covid 19 Pandemic. The gig workers already struggle to pull together enough income to just survive. Public investment in the arts, humanities and scientists through Mass Cultural council delivers significant return to the Commonwealth whether or not you're in Greater Boston, Cape Cod or the Berkshires, or in between, nonprofit cultural organizations drive local economy in every region of the state.
Prior to the COVID 19 pandemic, the cultural nonprofit organizations supported by Mass Cultural Council generated $2.3 billion in annual economic activity across the Commonwealth, supported more than 71,000 full time equivalent jobs statewide, so the 30,000 lost jobs is devastating to that, produce more than $128 million in new revenues for Massachusetts and every dollar awarded was leveraged to raise another $157 in private funds. Mass Cultural Council's annual programs10000 and services are a major stabilizing force for the cultural sector. Of stakeholders, and the overall state economy will10008 suffer further economic10009 distress if these state10011 services are diminished10012 due to the10013 reduced funding for the agency in the Fy10015 22 state budget.10016 I urged the10018 committee to fund Massachusetts Cultural Council at10021 $20 million in Fy 22.
This level of support will make a10026 demonstrable impact10027 to the state economy10029 and among Massachusetts cultural stakeholders. With this funding, the agency will continue10035 to invest in10036 artist, communities, cultural sectors, cultural10039 nonprofits and10040 students to provide10041 meaningful core services to help stabilize the sector as it continues to10046 recover, rebuild10047 and renew post Covid. Thank you for your continued support10052 and partnership with Mass Cultural Council. Together, I believe10056 we will continue to advance the power10058 of culture across the Commonwealth, and I'd be happy to answer and address any questions that you10064 may have.
10066 DONATO10066 -10066 My10066 first question is; has Covid affected the advisory role that you generally play, typically play with communities and municipal partners in any way.10077
BOBBITT - It has in that we have bumped10080 up how much services we're providing people. Last month, we10086 launched a series of10087 45 webinars for10089 organizations to10090 learn many things they can learn about how to survive during10093 this process, we have added many,10097 many, many, many more services to that advisory work we're doing. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
David, you want to say anything more about that?
DAVID SLATERY - MASS CULTURAL COUNCIL - Yes, and we10106 made sure from the beginning of the pandemic that our staff has10110 held regular office10111 hours and made a concerted10113 effort to stay in touch with our constituents10115 out in the10116 field. So, we have attempted because we10121 are used to traveling around the Commonwealth during non-pandemic times to main maintain our contact with10128 all of our constituents and the communities throughout the commonwealth.
DONATO - The competition for fellowships and grants that you offer, was that affected positively or negatively throughout the10141 commonwealth?
BOBBITT - Well, in some instances, we were able10145 to actually give more money by rerouting some of the income that wasn't normally used. We had things10151 like school field trips and such that weren't needed. So, we10155 were able to reroute money10156 and give10157 more funding to artists as needed. In fact, I think last10161 week we announced that10162 we were able to fund almost 800 artists with $1500 grants.10167 So,10168 we used the money wisely and pivoted as much as we could.
DONATO - To pursue your mission, have you been taking10176 any adaptations that you envision to continue a post pandemic?
BOBBITT - Mostly, it's just responding to the crisis that everyone needs. I know that some of our10189 cultural facility funds are now adapted so that people can do upgrades to equipment and Hvac as10196 was10196 mentioned by the library10197 group. We are10199 adapting and pivoting as much as we can. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
10202 Yes.10202 Do you want to add anything?
Yeah. No, I10208 think you're doing great. Thank you, Mr.10212 Chairman. And welcome Director. Quite a quite a time to start.
We wish you we wish you10221 luck and had a close relationship with the walker. Your predecessor10225 and I just want to just10227 stay Just how warning our cultural sector is in10231 Massachusetts of10232 the statistics that you're going through our frankly very distressing. And as a Western10237 mass legislator, it's a particularly vital10240 sector for us in10242 Western Mass.
LESSER - I have a couple10244 of questions, but one10245 thing I wanted to ask is specifically regarding public school programs as10250 public schools10251 have been remote. For example,10253 the MCC has been a supporter of10256 several programs of the spiritual public schools. I just wanted to ask how you've adapted or adjusted some of those school-based programs during this remote10266 environment and10267 how that's been10268 a transition back as10274 things start to turn a corner here.
BOBBITT - So what I know, again, this is my sixth week10284 on the job, and10285 there's a fire hose of information coming to me but I do know that a lot of schools pivoted to digital programming,10290 and so many of our artist10292 residencies still continued through the digital medium. The one place10296 that was hit a lot was the field trip money10298 that we provide to schools, and so again, as I mentioned, we10301 were able to pivot some of10302 that. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
David, can you talk a little bit10304 more about some of the adapting we did for the schools? Yes, Michael. Thanks.
SLATERY - So, this year,10311 because the fy 21 the state budget was later than normal and because of10317 the pandemic, we adapted our10320 typical artist residency program for the schools to a remote basis. So, while10327 we saw a reduced demand10328 for that program, it was10330 still a significant demand for the need10333 for artist residencies. Usually, we put10335 out about $1.1 million on10337 artist residencies this year, even with the shortened year we have, we've had over $700,000 in requests for funding for10347 artist residencies10348 and we're in the process of finalizing those right now. We also have if, you know, the Legislature put in money in the10355 recently passed economic development bill to work on remote technologies with schools, and10360 we are developing a response along those lines as well.
BOBBITT - I did10365 want to highlight one point you made that those statistics are staggering, but those are only the organizations and the artists that are reporting. I honestly can't even imagine if we had every artist and10376 every organization reporting what those numbers would look10378 like. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
No, I appreciate the work you're doing. And,10382 you know, I just I10383 stayed. I mean, I think it's unconscionable10385 that we10386 would be cutting support to cultural assets of10391 cultural10391 programs right10392 now, especially given by the unknowns and10395 the dire circumstances the sector is facing as about10399 buying. So, thank you for eliminating.10401 And for us. Thank you. Thank you very much.10405 for your testimony, and we10407 wish you well in your new venture. And I'm sure that those of us10412 who have cultural councils, local cultural councils10415 and venues that we have I have one in Medford. That's Chevalier10420 Theater. And10421 we're looking forward to bringing you there.10423 And, uh, as you said, it's, uh the pandemic10427 has devastated some of the,10430 uh, the cultural councils10432 and some of the venues that made it possible10435 for the people to grow10437 and enjoy themselves. I can't10439 wait to get on the road. Sadly, most of my year has been stuck in my apartment in Cambridge, so10444 can't wait. Can't10445 wait to visit Medford. Thank you10447 so much for your time today. Thanks. Thank you, Dexter. Ben is, uh, mission status of women.10455 Jill Ashton.
DENELLA CLARK - MASSACHUSETTS COMMISSION ON THE STATUS FOR WOMEN - Good afternoon. My name is my10466 name is Denella Clark,10468 and10468 I am the proud Chairwoman of the Commission on the Status of Women. I want to begin by thanking each and every one of you for10477 having us this afternoon. Jill Ashton, our director is in fact with us, and10483 I am also joined10484 by Audrey Hall, who is the Chair of our budget and personnel committee. So, we10492 want to walk you through a few10495 slides, but want to start out by sharing with you10501 that we are here today seeking fair and equitable funding for fiscal year 22 to support the valuable deliverables of the Massachusetts Commission on the10513 Status of Women and what we provide and finally to recover from severe budget10519 cuts that was enacted upon us in 2009.
In 2009, our budget was drastically reduced, and we have10530 never recovered from that, but over the past 23 years, we have continued to amplify our work on behalf of the 51% of women in our great commonwealth and we have10543 done even more work during10546 Covid. So, for fiscal year 22 we are10550 requesting approximately $500,000 and specifically 486,700 dollars. We are here to answer questions at the conclusion of our presentation. Again, we thank you so10568 much for your time and10570 your attention today and your willingness to hear10573 us out. So, our mission is to advance the status of women and girls towards full equality in all areas10583 of life and to promote the10585 rights and opportunities for all10587 women and girls in our great commonwealth.
The commission, which again was10592 established 23 years ago by this body, exist to empower women and to provide a permanent and10599 effective voice for women and girls all across our state. So, our statutory charges are we study, review and report10622 on the10623 status of women in the Commonwealth, we advise both the10627 executive branch and the legislative bodies on10630 the effect of10631 proposed legislation on women and recommend policies to state and10636 local government. We inform10638 leaders of10639 business, education, healthcare, state and local10642 government and10643 communications media of10645 issues pertaining to women. We identify and recommend qualified women for positions of all10652 level of governments10653 in terms of boards and commissions.10655 We promote and facilitate collaboration among local women's commission and also nationally.
The Mass status of women now is the time for change. As you've heard all of you,10678 I'm sure have heard not just here in our commonwealth, but Covid10682 in particular, has really impacted women10685 again, not just here in10687 the10687 state but all across the country. You may have heard10690 that in December, the United States lost 140,000 jobs, all of those jobs were women. What we10700 have been focused on this past year due to10703 Covid is job loss, pregnancy and postmortem care, reproductive10707 health, access to10709 health care, anxiety, depression,10711 suicide, loss of childcare services, abuse of incarcerated women, domestic10717 violence, food insecurity, racial disparities. The Mass Commission on the Status of10724 Women is 23 years old and is still not10727 properly funded to fulfill the agency's statutory charge10731 and10732 mission.
10743 Recently,10743 Treasurer Deb Goldberg presented a mind-boggling figure about the economic10750 crisis and its disproportionate impact on women, reflecting the widely reported trends about disparate impacts across gender lines. Across the United States, women10764 as a demographic group10766 have lost 5.410767 million10768 jobs during10769 the pandemic. In December, men as10772 a group made gains in employment, leaving women representing virtually all the net losses,10778 Goldberg said. I can't even say10781 more about that, she said, it just stuns me. So, mission critical for us,10795 as we all know, on March 3rd, Governor Baker declared a state of emergency here in Massachusetts and I want this body to know that the10804 Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women took10808 immediate action and one of the first things we did was10812 we formed a Covid action committee led by10815 my sister commissioner, who's here10817 with me today, Audrey10818 Hall, and we deliver data to many of you where we surveyed over 10,000 women from across the Commonwealth.
We had hearings, we did surveys and then we did legislative briefings to many of you, we also reached out to legislators, committees, commissions, organizations to provide that data and we've continued to partner10847 with the Governor, the Senate President, the Speaker, and we are really proud of our partnership with the caucus of women's legislators.10855 Women today make up 51% of the Commonwealth, and we believe that the Massachusetts10863 Commission on the Status of Women is10866 severely underfunded, and10868 again10868 we ask you to consider our requests10871 of $486,000. I will tell you that last year, when I was at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury and testified before this body prior to10886 Covid, we had resounding support to try to move our budget to $500,000 and then Covid hit and we were left10896 with the same budget10897 that we had in Fy 20.
What this chart shows you is that we were funded at about $310,000 1310909 years ago10910 and today, our budget has decreased but Audrey Hall will share with you that our work and our impact has10919 increased. So, we thank you very much for your10922 consideration, but again, the10924 time is now10925 to ask that you increase10928 or consider10929 increasing our funding. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
I'll now turn it over to Audrey.
You're on you.
Thank you. I thought I had that nailed by10941 now. Thank you, Daniella. So much. And
AUDREY HALL - MASSACHUSETTS COMMISSION ON THE STATUS FOR WOMEN - Thank you to all of you for having us here today. We greatly appreciate it, and10948 we greatly appreciate all the work that you do and the partnership that we10951 have with so many of you, it means a lot to us and the work that we do on a regular basis. Looking at this slide, I just want to point out to you that the red line10959 indicates the rate of inflation at 1.8%, and when we go back and10964 look at where we were in 2009 versus where we are today, we remain severely underfunded, we have never been adjusted for inflation, Nor10972 have we been accommodated for any kind of10974 growth and10975 yet10975 our commission has continued to grow, and our output10979 has continued to increase primarily10981 because of10982 the ambitious nature of our dedicated commissioners but it's unsustainable, and we're asking10988 you now that now, please recognize that now10991 is the time and10992 to support us properly.
We will see when10998 we look at that next slide11001 that after looking at this11004 to see where we're $46,000 below 2009 funding of 12 years11008 ago, looking at that11010 in terms of the numbers, what you can see11012 right here is back in 2009, we have the same number of11015 commissioners, but we only had three regional11017 commissions. We now have grown11019 to have 11 regional11020 commissions, we11021 have11021 regional commissions11022 set up all across the Commonwealth reaching every single corner of the Commonwealth, representing and bringing the voices11029 back from women from every corner.11033 When we grow from three commissions to 11, that's11039 about 222% increase,11042 our regional commissioners back in 2009, we had11045 31. Now we11046 have 10311047 regional commissioners that we are accountable11050 for, that we are supervising, that we are coordinating,11053 that we are helping to run their regional operations as well.
In that time frame, you can see that11059 in 2009, we had only 3.5 FTEs and now, with all this growth, we only have 2.5 FTEs. You11067 can11067 see that in 2009, at a11069 much smaller operation, we were significantly11071 well,11072 we were $48,000 or $46,000 higher funded than we are right now. So, when11081 we look ahead to 2022, we take into consideration11086 all of the growth11087 and the work that has to be11089 done and what we are delivering11090 right11091 now to all of our stakeholders, we're asking for increased funding11095 to finally get11096 us to the point where11097 we're properly resourced. Again, if you think back to that chart on showing rates of inflation, you can see that even with this ask that we're11107 coming to you with today, that we're11110 trying to accommodate the growth and we're trying to accommodate the needs for the deliverables that are coming our way11116 with proper funding, bringing11118 us to a level of11119 six FTEs and a11121 funding level of $486,700 from fiscal11125 22.
Now is definitely the time and here is how11129 we have broken this out and want to share with11132 you that the salary budget11136 here at 355,000 makes up the majority11139 of this request. Most of the work that11142 we do is labor intensive,11145 it's work we do internally, as opposed to having it11147 outsourced, or opposed to hiring independent agencies, which would cost far more. In fiscal 21, with our budget11155 of 206,000, 92%11157 of11158 that budget is accounted for in salaries and11161 required costs such11163 as the printing chargebacks, postage,11165 the HR, CMS maintenance, etcetera. There's really no fluff in our budget, it's11171 people11171 power that will11172 help us do the work that we need to do and11174 then to just give them the minimum level resources that11177 they need to support their work.
There are the employee related costs, the 116,000 for operations, and that's what11184 brings the budget to a11185 total11185 of 486,700. I want to give you a11199 look at what our organization looks like when Jill11202 puts up the next slide and just show you that11205 basically, as Denella Clark, our Chairwoman, mentioned earlier, we11213 are appointed by the Governor, the Senate president, speaker of the house and the caucus11218 of women legislators. I seem11220 to have lost a11221 slide here, so11222 I'm hoping that comes up soon, but with11226 each of our11227 appointing bodies bringing 19 volunteer commissioners11230 to the commission and our 11 regional commissions, we then have one full time executive director, one full time program director and one part time communications and events11243 coordinator.
So, what you can see by doing that is that with 11 regional11249 commissions, we11250 have one full time person whose primary job is to coordinate the activities and the work of 1111256 regional commissions that have 103 volunteer commissioners. So11261 that's the one full time11263 position, the other is the executive director and then just one part time person other than that. But with so11269 many initiatives that we have, we need more of a workforce,11275 we need more labor, and11276 that's really what we're here to, to ask for your11278 support for today. I don't have the slide up there right now, so I'm wondering11283 if something did happen11284 to that but I'm going11285 to speak to it anyway, because I want to make the best use of your time. What we are proposing is really just11293 to add one union, our executive director is a nonunion employee and11304 our 1.5 FTEs are union employees.
So, what we are11308 looking at doing right now, basically, we have business partnerships, we have11327 partner organization, we have legislators that we work with on11330 a regular basis, what we're looking at doing is really just adding a research and policy director, they11336 would11336 be full time, a research specialist, a clerk, and a communication and events coordinator. This is what the organizational structure would look11348 like, they're and those that are11349 shaded our all-volunteer, except for11351 our pointing authorities at the very top. When11358 our Chairwoman Clark mentioned11360 the fact that we11361 immediately took action after the Governor's executive order back on March 10th of 2020,11369 we immediately decided that we needed to hear the voices of women and11375 people11375 were asking, what is the impact of this imp virus11378 on our communities?
What is the impact on women? We launched right away11383 into forming a special committee,11385 and I'm sure many of11386 you have seen our reports, they have been circulated widely, the first report came out in April. We not only conducted hearings virtually, but we conducted surveys and11397 we got responsible11399 for 2500 for that survey and then the next survey that we did with a focus on education and childcare,11404 we had close to 4000 respondents. We have reached over 10,000 women with our virtual hearings, our surveys, they have submitted written11414 testimony and provided11415 oral testimony and then we've11417 conducted briefings with appointing authorities. We've been able11420 to impact so11421 many of the critical11422 decisions that had to be made regarding incarcerated women, regarding domestic violence, regarding prenatal care. There were women who11431 were just on11432 the verge of delivering11434 babies and weren't11435 allowed to have anybody in the hospital with them.
There were so many11438 issues that had to be addressed,11439 that we11440 were able to bring11441 to the authorities, to bring11443 two organizations and to say these are the issues that11446 are affecting people., these are the things where we11448 have to take action. If you would like links to those two reports, we'd be happy11454 to provide them in the chat, we have another report coming out for you in April, where we just11459 recently reached out specifically to women of11462 color across the Commonwealth. We had 399 people sign up for virtual hearing,11467 199 of them showed11470 up and provided us with testimony, they are now completing surveys and then we will be releasing a report in April about11478 the impact of11479 Covid 19 on women of color. Because, as you know, it has11483 been disproportionate and it's having a huge economic impact11487 on the Commonwealth as well.
In addition to the special work that we have done because of the pandemic, I want to remind you about the statewide programs and11496 initiatives that are always underway with the commission, and those are our regular public11501 hearings across the Commonwealth. We were in the mode of travelling11505 across the Commonwealth for those hearings in11507 the past and hope to resume11508 to that at some point. Our regional commissioners are now helping11513 to garner11516 support in their regions and to work on district data to help11521 support our legislators, and to bring regional issues to the forefront that may not affect everyone but may have11528 an impact on the region. What happens on11531 the Vineyard and11532 Nantucket may be different from what11534 happens in Pittsfield and what11536 happens up in Chelmsford, Lemon stir, etcetera, we bring that11539 all together through the11540 work of the regionals.
I'm sure many of you have welcomed us, and we11544 appreciate that when we11545 come to the State House for Advocacy, where we've11548 brought more than 300 people into the State House, working to build support for legislation that's going11554 to help improve the status of women11556 in the commonwealth. Again, many of you are regular11562 participants in our Commonwealth Heroines11564 Program, where we recognize women across the Commonwealth who are making outstanding contributions in their local11570 community. We are being called upon more regularly11573 and more11574 frequently than before to represent the voice of women in the Commonwealth across the country and there are11581 opportunities growing for us at other levels as well with other state commissions, we're working with several state commissions right now from11589 Hawaii, from11590 North Carolina, coming together, sharing data across11593 the states and hopefully bringing them to the national level.
As you know,11597 there is a new commission in the Biden administration that's very likely to be looking for the input that we are providing through our studies and through the data that11608 we're achieving through our research,11609 we'll keep you posted on that,11611 it is very exciting. So what are11619 we11619 looking for in fiscal11620 22? What11621 are our priorities? The research that we're doing each of these studies that we've delivered have a market value out in the11630 business world of maybe 25 to11632 $50,000 if they were hired out and conducted by independent firms. We're11637 very proud to provide all of that data11639 and research within the Massachusetts Commission, but of course, it's taking a toll on our sea levels volunteers who just11648 can no longer sustain the level11650 of volunteerism and need the support of some paid staff with the expertise to help us get11655 this work out in collecting the data. Of course, reporting11659 to the press and business community leaders and all of our legislators on the status of women and helping to11666 achieve greater equality.
What we're trying to do in fiscal11670 22 more than we've ever done11672 in the past, is become much more inclusive. Unfortunately, we have not had11677 the resources to11678 provide translation services,11680 we have not had the resources to provide multilingual documents, interpretation, translation, etcetera, and we just started doing11688 that in our recent hearing, and it's costly, but it's a requirement. If you11693 want to be an inclusive agency,11694 you have to make sure that everyone has11696 an opportunity for their voice to be11698 heard and to participate. So, we have to11700 remove those barriers and we did include funding in this budget as well11703 to help sustain not only the statewide efforts but the11706 regional efforts for translation services and interpretation services.11710
We've also now started to11712 have girls’11713 hearings, we had 18 listening sessions,11715 we were lucky enough11716 to receive a $25,000 supplement last year just to fund11720 girls Initiative, and we had 18 listening11722 sessions with girls11723 all across the Commonwealth.11724 Now, as we said,11726 we're working on a report that's coming out for you on11729 women of color., so we are trying to remove11731 the barriers to the economic and geographical and lingual participation and broadening our reach throughout11739 the11740 Commonwealth through the11741 regional commissions. It's not easy to coordinate the efforts of 103 volunteers spread out all across the11748 Commonwealth. We have become the go to resource for11752 data on women, and we're proud of11754 that because our11755 work has been acknowledged and recognized and appreciated, and we want to continue to give you the resources11761 that you need to do the important work that you do and11764 support your efforts.
We want to continue to build the11767 strong relationships and partnerships with other11769 commissions and organizations and the business community, and we are also becoming much more11774 recognized on a national11775 level. The media is reaching11777 out to us regularly for participation in features and discussions about11783 critical topics that are impacting us. So now is the time, we've been11789 in existence for 2311790 years, but for 52% of that time11793 since 2009, we believe we have been underfunded.11796 We took a big11797 cut in 2009, and we've never11799 recovered from that. Our appointed officials,11802 who are appointed as people set by our four appointing11805 authorities,11806 many are sea11807 level commissioners, and11809 they're11809 volunteering11809 their time in addition to the commanding work schedules, and they're bringing their expertise to the11814 table, and that's also commendable,11816 but the level of volunteerism11817 is11818 not sustainable.
They need the support of employees who have specific expertise and are compensated fairly. Our work is informing and supporting the11829 decisions that are being made to help improve the status of women, to help drive our economy both locally, regionally and now nationally, and our internal expertise is very valuable and providing data and tools that would be costly if11845 they were brought in from11846 external sources. So, we believe that this fiscal 22 budget of 486,700 is realistic, reasonable11855 and much closer to what11857 it would have been if we had11858 been funded for inflation and growth. Just to rehab won a couple of11868 important points. The commission was founded following the 1995 Beijing International Women's Conference. It was at11875 that conference that11877 state governments were directed to form and adequately fund women's commissions in all states and11883 territories where they do not already exist.
At that time, Massachusetts First Lady Susan Roosevelt Well, she came back to the11890 Commonwealth and was determined11892 to create the first commission on the status of women, and it was11896 at that conference when Hillary Clinton's11898 famous quote was made about women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights. We are a nonpartisan commission founded in 1998, first funded11908 in 1999 and now in fiscal 22, we ask you to please fund us at the level that11915 will allow us11916 to continue to grow and to11918 provide the professional services that so many have11921 come to depend upon.11922 We greatly appreciate your support and hope that you will join us in recognizing that now is the time to properly fund the Massachusetts Commission on the status11931 of women, and we, thank you very much. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Yeah.
Thank you. Thank you.
Yeah. Yeah.11943 You all have questions11946 for us, and11947 Sorry. So sorry about that feedback. I'm not sure what that was. Have11952 a question. You hear11954 me? Okay. Thank
11958 you11958 so11958 much. I will just lift up the work of the Hamilton County Commission on Women and Girls. We had11964 a great online conversation with11967 them on Friday. That was very,11970 very popular11971 point. Great feedback11972 on it. Or topics
LESSER - I wanted to just ask about some of the findings of the research and the engagements that you've done over the last year. We spoke earlier in this hearing when Secretary Acosta about, 'she session' or the specific impacts among women in particular women of color of the Covid 19, both social distancing and the virus itself, but also very important in the11999 economic impact. So, I was wondering if you could12002 just quickly address what you've seen, what you SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
have heard?
Okay. Yes, they12010 are.
Yes. Actually, I'm going to ask12017 also for Jill right now. If you would be so kind.
HALL - What I'd love to do is12022 give you the links to12023 our two studies that12024 are already out and those were the first12028 one from April on the impact of12030 Covid on women in general, the second was with12033 a focus on child care12034 and education. The third study, which will be out next month,12037 is about how the disproportionate impact of Covid on women of color and what we have heard are12044 very serious issues that are12046 impacting women of color for many, many reasons. Many who are frontline workers,12051 essential workers, many who have lost their jobs, many who are not able to socially distance, who are going to work even with symptoms, unwilling12063 to stay12065 home even with12066 symptoms because of12067 the potential loss of pay,12069 many who are also looking at whether or not they even want12075 to take the vaccination and doubting whether or not there12078 is a, well, just talking about the trust factor with the vaccination and whether or not they're prepared to trust it which will have an impact going forward as well.
We are seeing that there are very important issues that need to12096 be addressed about domestic violence and the surge in the12099 home of being12100 trapped in a home during social distancing with an abuser. There are very big issues with incarcerated women, some women who are12108 waiting12109 even being charged and who have been put in situations of being exposed to12116 the12116 virus or women who are12119 actually being mistreated and bribed in the prisons. It's very concerning, there are some12128 very sad stories and issues that12131 really need to be addressed. Luckily, when the first report came out and then the second, so many of our representatives on Beacon Hill took immediate12143 action and started to12145 make change and provide12146 resources, we12147 were thrilled that we had that12149 kind of synergy and12150 that kind of dialogue that started to put things in motion.
We're very concerned about child care and the impact that's going to have on our economic recovery because there's12159 a severe lack of childcare. What we're hearing from women12163 right now is that so many of them have had12165 to leave the workforce because of12167 the unavailability of12168 childcare and12170 the cut in their wages is going to impact them long term because obviously, when they're12176 in their prime earning years and their wages are cut, then it's going12181 to eventually impact12182 their social security down the road and12185 what they're going to be able to have when it comes time for retirement. Because, as you know it, it all12190 accumulates,12191 and it all adds to a benefit later in life that is going to be12195 impacted by what's happening in the economy right12197 now.
So, we look forward to12199 submitting a more detailed report12201 to you in April, it is forthcoming. The12203 survey12203 is being distributed throughout the Commonwealth right now, and so far, we12208 were delighted to say that we've seen 50% of the respondents as white women, and the other 50%12213 has been very sizably representative of the12217 black population, the Asian population,12219 and even native American, we're very happy. We've been12223 targeting the12224 distribution of12225 the12225 survey, and we feel very good about the data12227 that we're going to be able to provide12228 you with. So, thank you so much for your interest and the links to the two12232 reports are now in the chat, and we hope12234 that you'll be12235 able to print them out and take advantage12236 of that and call us12237 if you have any questions or needs. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you very, very much for your12245 testimony. And we look forward12247 to getting the link and talking with you in the future. Thank you so much. We greatly appreciate it. Yeah. Okay. Next is
okay. Steven Hoffman, chairman of the Cannabis Control Commission12265 this afternoon.
STEVEN HOFFMAN - CANNABIS CONTROL COMMISSION - Good afternoon,12269 Representative Donato, Senator Lesser and members of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means. As12275 you just said, I am Steve Hoffman, I'm the Chairman of the Cannabis Control Commission. I am12279 joined virtually by12280 the executive director of the commission, Sean Collins, who12283 I think is on screen. I want12286 to thank you for the opportunity to testify on the Cannabis Control Commission's budget request for12290 fiscal year 2022. We'll12292 keep our remarks briefs because I know you're nearing the end of12295 a12295 very long hearing, but12296 we will certainly answer any questions12298 you might have after our presentation.
Our mission as commissioners to honor12303 the will of the voters by safely, equitably and effectively implementing and administering laws enabling access to medical and12310 adult use. Marijuana in the Commonwealth. Since 2017, we have built and efficiently regulated an industry that prioritizes public12318 health and safety, that encourages12320 entrepreneurialism and creating employment opportunities for small businesses and farmers,12326 particularly those who12327 grow outdoors. We have focused on generating significant tax revenues for the Commonwealth and12333 its cities and towns and12334 without stealing too much of executive director, Collins Thunder, to date, we have generated over $20012340 million of tax revenue to the state and cities and towns, and that comes on top of generating fees each year that12348 exceed our budget.
So hopefully, we have done a good job of providing12354 resources to states12355 and cities and towns at very economical cost structure. Importantly, our mission is12361 to ensure robust participation in this new industry by minorities, women, veterans, people with disabilities, individuals of12369 all gender identity and sexual orientation, and communities12372 disproportionately impacted by marijuana prohibition. On behalf of the commission, I'd like to thank the legislature for its12380 support throughout the three plus year history of the Commission, you have12383 supported each of our budget12384 requests over this12385 period, specifically including our12387 supplemental request, which allowed us to12389 get12389 started to meet our aggressive mandates in the fall of12392 2017.12392
We remain committed to use taxpayer money that supports our budget judiciously and carefully. Before turning it over to Director Collins,12401 I'd like to briefly highlight12402 a few of our accomplishments this year that12404 your support for our12405 fiscal 21 budget has enabled. We transitioned to remote operations in March of12411 2020 and continue to work remotely. During this time, we remained effective and efficient, actually increasing our productivity while reducing licensee and patient wait times across the board. My thanks to12423 the leadership of Director Collins and the hard12425 work of our staff in driving these important constituent service improvements. We took significant steps12431 to enhance public health and public safety through enhanced laboratory12434 testing protocols for all of our products12436 sold in our stores as well12438 as enhanced security requirements.
12440 Most importantly, we supported our licenses12442 in maintaining their operations in a way that ensure the12445 health of their customers,12446 patients and employees as well as our own staff during the pandemic. We added 25 staff in12453 2020, so we now12455 stand at 75 commissioners and staffers. Importantly,12460 in the last12461 couple of months,12462 we have added three new commissioners. I am delighted that Commissioner Commissioners Norris Corn ago, Bruce Stebbins and Eva Concepcion12469 have joined Commissioner Flanagan and me to get us12473 back to a full complement of five commissioners. During the year, we took significant steps to12478 improve patient access to medical marijuana by authorizing telemedicine for initial patient consults and expanding12484 the caregiver program.
Last,12487 we12487 made important strides towards our equity mandates. Director12490 Collins will share12491 some statistics, but12492 we brought12493 over 400 people through our social12495 equity program, preparing individuals for careers as employees,12498 managers12499 and12500 owners in the industry. We have 13312503 economic empowerment and12506 social equity applicants that have gotten some form12510 of licensure from the commission,12513 so we are making progress. We created two delivery license types which,12517 due to the much lower initial capital requirements than other types of licenses, opened the door to industry participation to a much broader12525 group of individuals. We know that we have much12528 more work to do in this area to meet12530 our objectives and mandates, and we're committed to do12532 everything that we can to make these aspirations into reality, but I do want to say that I'm12537 very proud of our efforts12538 and accomplishments to date. We respectfully request your support12543 for our budget request12544 for fiscal 22, a total of $16.2 million which is the same as our fiscal12550 21 request as comprised of $12.4 million12554 for the commission's main12555 operating line item, $112557 million for the public awareness campaign required by the legislation and 2.812562 million for12563 the medical use of marijuana12564 program. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
At this point, let me turn it over to Executive Director Collins.
SHAWN COLLINS - CANNABIS CONTROL COMMISSION - Thank you, Mr.12571 Chairman, and greetings, Representative Donato, Senator Lesser, Representative McKenna as12575 well members of the committee, your12577 staff,12577 thank12577 you again for hosting us today. As12580 the Chairman noted in12581 March of 2020, we shifted to12583 remote work in12586 response to the Covid 19 state of emergency. Because of the investments we made in both technology as well as the staff12592 and people of our agency,12593 this transition was successful. Again, both for our staff12597 as well as those that interact12598 with us, namely, our12599 patients and the licenses. We do have 75 full time staff that includes12603 the staff of12604 the medical program and thanks to your continued12606 to support the Fy12607 21 appropriation,12608 we're12609 currently in the process of adding more staff in accordance with12612 that proposal.
Fiscal12614 year12614 to12614 date in Fy 21 we've12616 generated $15 million in non-tax revenue, which primarily includes application12621 license fees as well as revenue that might be generated from any fines that are levied by the12626 commission. We do forecast that12628 the commission will generate $18.7 million in revenue by the end12632 of this fiscal year. We conservatively estimate that12635 our non-tax revenue the amount of 15.712637 million in12639 Fy12639 22. Since the12641 introduction of retail adult use sales in November of 2018, the12645 adult use cannabis industry, has generated $1.2 billion12649 in sales revenue. State and local governments have12652 therefore garden about $240 million in sales,12655 excise and12656 local option taxes over the same12658 timeframe.
In the last calendar year, that commission licensed12661 663 marijuana establishments12664 and approved thousands of new agent registrations equally more than 10,000 individual new jobs. In total, 210 marijuana establishments have commenced full business operations since 2018, which includes more than 100 retailers throughout the Commonwealth. We continue to focus12681 much of our attention on our mandate to ensure12683 an equitable industry here12685 in the Commonwealth in supporting and empowering individuals in those communities that were disproportionately12690 impacted by the war on drugs as well12693 as including a diversity of business types. 240 Economic Empowerment Priority12698 Review Applicants, Social Equity Program Participants and12702 disadvantaged business enterprises those12705 that are owned by women, minority and veterans are currently in our licensing12709 process.
90 equity applicants and disadvantaged business enterprises have already been granted a provisional license and 22 have commenced their12717 full operations. We have12719 also approved 24 outdoor cultivators for licensing, of which five12723 have commenced their12724 operations. One craft marijuana12726 cooperative has12727 a provisional license12728 to date. Changes in our regulations allow for delivery in courier licenses, which will be12733 exclusive to social equity12734 program participants in economic empowerment applicants for12737 at least three years. An important objective of mine throughout the rest of this fiscal year into the next is12744 to bolster and improve12745 our existing open12746 data processes and presentation.
Thanks to our12749 Fy 21 funding, we will continue to automate processes and are in the process of assessing improvements to12755 data presentation, ensuring that we meet12757 the needs of constituents as well as giving12759 you and your staff as policymakers as well as12762 the general public instant unfiltered12764 access to12765 the data you need to understand and evaluate the cannabis industry in the Commonwealth. We've also requested12772 a million dollars12773 for the continuation of our public Awareness Campaign. The request for a million dollars will allow the commission to extend the important work of raising12780 awareness about responsible use, offering information to parents and teachers to decrease the12785 rate of usage among youth12786 and warning against the dangers of home manufacturing.
At the outset of12791 the campaign, the commission collaborated with DPH to develop the more about marijuana12795 campaign. It consists12797 of both digital and print media as well12799 as a dedicated website, more about mj.com. Although not supporting the12804 Fy 21 budget, the commission does seek12806 $1 million to12807 continue this effort that it12809 began with the Department of12810 Public Health. If funded, the Fy 22 campaign would focus12813 on direct to youth12814 messaging about the restrictions12815 and risks of underage12817 marijuana use. Our 2020 report about that effort,12821 Massachusetts Public Awareness Campaign more about Marijuana, a summary of its effectiveness demonstrated that the program had success and limitations, including 85% of adults knew someone12833 who uses cannabis and 50%12835 of a statewide survey reported12838 having seen more about marijuana campaign messages.
Respondents who saw12842 this campaign were more likely to report that cannabis has a greater risk for12846 youth than adults.12847 Those who saw the parent campaign12849 creatives were even more likely to agree with this statement. Respondents who saw the parent messages12854 were more likely to report that they would store cannabis12857 in a locked storage area compared to those who reported Nazi in the campaign, With the funding secured a new12863 campaign, content will be created to resolve key gap areas, such as the need12867 to utilize effective youth prevention strategies. As an example, parents have an honest12871 conversation with their children. Additionally,12873 the campaign will create and distribute content that speaks12876 directly to youth to positively affect behaviors among12879 minors that12880 do not have a parent or12881 guardian that is willing to engage in prevention strategies.12883
As far as the medical use of12886 marijuana program, I requested, $2.8 million represents level funding over12890 this current fiscal year. Spending. In response to12893 the12893 Covid 19 state12894 of emergency, in April 2020, the commission saw experienced a12898 150% increase in12900 new patient registrations. Last month for the first time since the program began, more than 100,000 total patients have been certified by a health care provider for the medical use of marijuana. Despite the large12912 increase in new and renewing12913 patients registering for the program, there has been no lagging processing. In fact, the12918 commission is more efficient than ever in handling these important and timely applications.
12923 At12923 level12923 funding, the commission increased12924 access and streamline the registration process for patients and carriers in 2020. We linked our medical use12931 of marijuana program database with the R&D system to our patients, registering with the12936 Massachusetts12936 ID to automatically enroll into the12939 program with no delay. Parents of pediatric patients can now file12943 their child's application12944 online for12945 the first time, greatly reducing the waiting period for processing these applications. Parents of pediatric patients now have more options to find certified12953 clinicians as12954 well; oncologists, neurologists, pediatric sub specialists and family medicine physicians may now certify pediatric12961 patients for the medical use12963 of marijuana program. This year,12965 the commission will allow out of state12967 patients who are receiving palliative, end of12969 life care or cancer care in Massachusetts health care facilities to certify with the program.12974 Similarly, due to updates on our regulations, patients cannot receive expanded services from caregivers, allowing caregivers to support up to five patients instead of just one.
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Now12985 turning back to Chairman Hoffman Thank you,
HOFFMAN - Thank you,12988 Mr. Executive Director12989 and again, to the Joint Committee on Ways12992 and Means, thank you for the12993 opportunity to provide testimony12994 today. Again, we respectfully12996 ask for your support to fully fund our request of $12.4 million in line item 1070-0840, $1 million in line item 1070-0841 and $2.8 million in line item 1070-0842. This funding will enable the commission to continue our mission of efficiently ensuring a safe and equitable marketplace for legal13022 cannabis, both adult use and medical in the Commonwealth. We look13026 forward to working with you13027 and your staff on budgeting and policy matters in the weeks and months13030 ahead. As promised, we were brief but Executive Director Collins and I would be more than13036 happy to answer any questions you might have. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Okay, Thank you. And, uh,
DONATO - In fiscal 21, you did receive several million dollars13045 additional funding. Can you explain how that funding was13049 used and how that13050 made the commission more effective and efficient?
13054 SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Mr. Collins? Wanna answer that, please?13055 Sure. Thank you, Representative. And I'm happy to answer, um, and
COLLINS - Thank you again for the additional funding, the goal, and we're actually in the process now of beginning that hiring process and continuing it, is really to add in both to our13068 ranks relative to licensing and inspections. So, from a licensing13073 standpoint, we have a team of13075 licensing specialists under the direction of a licensing director, as well as licensing managers that13080 process everything that may come through the door, being a provisional license application, changes to a structure or13086 an ownership of an entity, but then the inspectional process is handled by a team small but mighty, of investigators that13094 are throughout the Commonwealth.13095
So, these are the folks13096 that go into the facility to check with compliance and regulations throughout the13100 license13100 and process, which is both provisional as well as final. We need to add to13105 those ranks to ensure that with13106 that license volume that's coming through the door and our licensing specialists have really been13110 incredibly productive. It's especially under these circumstances that that13115 handoff is seamless and were able to get provisional licenses to a final license and then ultimately to13120 commence operations. So, the goal is really to bolster13122 those ranks and add scalability to a lot of our work, and13126 we're underway doing that13127 now, which is why we're requesting essentially the equivalent of level funding, given that infusion of13133 resources that you have provided this13136 fiscal13136 year.13136 So,13136 thank13136 you again. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you so much.
13140 LESSER13140 -13140 Just13140 a quick question. I know you address you mentioned over 100 retailers currently13145 open. Do13146 you have an estimate or prediction for how many retailers you expect to be13151 open by the end of this current13155 SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
time of the year?
current counsel, you let me let me13157 address that and ask13158 them for additional,13159 uh, executive Greg13161 Collins. Uh,
HOFFMAN - We decided early on in our commission that13165 we were not going to put a cap on the number of retail licenses, we're going to kind of let the13169 market13169 decide. As executive director Collins mentioned, we now have over 100. We have some work done for us by KPMG, respond to a legislative mandate to examine alternative tax structures and they looked at what13188 the potential size of the market was based upon demographics and comparable states like Oregon, Washington and Colorado that were ahead of us. Based upon that analysis, I would say that there is between 200-250 retail stores in total would represent kind of effective capacity.13206 In the state, obviously,13207 you13207 know, the number could vary on either13208 side of that range, but that13209 seems like a reasonable estimate.
So, we're half or slightly less13213 than halfway there. At our current13216 pace, we're13217 approving somewhere between13220 10 and 20 final licenses a month, and maybe a third to half of those are for retail. So13228 if you do that math that suggests that we will probably have between 50 and 75 over the course of your,13236 but it's totally dependent on kind of the sequence and the timing of when13239 those applications come. So I won't be as definitive on a short term answer in terms of what we might do in this fiscal13245 year, but as I said, I think, you know, over the13248 next few years as we get to market maturity,13250 probably between 200-250 retail stores13254 in total, which means another 100-25013256 from where we are currently. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Mr. Collins, I don't know if you13260 have anything to add to that or sure,
COLLINS - Thanks, Mr. Chairman, I can13263 add some precision to these numbers just13265 for where folks stand on licensing right now. So, as I know, there's over 100 that have commenced their operation, the precise number is 113 as of this moment, there are nine retailers that have a13279 final license, so those are13280 the folks right on the cusp of actually13282 opening their doors. There's been another 156 that are provisionally13286 licensed, so those are folks that are still in the13289 process of probably building13290 out their facility, undergoing what we would describe as13293 an architectural review, ensuring that13295 their blueprints and the development plan is compliant with regulations, and then another 3513300 that are provisionally approved, they have yet to pay their license fee, would quickly enter that provisional license queue, we have right now 67 pending applications that are13310 still not13311 gone before the13312 commission. So, there is13314 a workflow that's there, but13316 I13316 think it's also consistent with the Chairman's13318 notes and13319 estimate based on the KPMG study.
HOFFMAN - And just to make that language explicit. Not all the people that are provisionally licensed will go13327 through the entire process and open, not13329 all13329 the people that have pending applications will get provisional license, so there will be some attrition from the numbers that executive director Collins just went through. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Representative,
MCKENNA13341 -13341 Thank13341 you.13341 Just13341 to follow up on that13342 line of questioning. What's the estimated time line from the13345 point someone puts in an application to receiving the various levels of approval?
HOFFMAN - So, we've worked very, very hard, there's several steps in the process, some of which proceed the commission. So13359 prior to the13360 commission actually being able to review13362 license application, the applicant has to have assigned host community agreement with the city or town, which they plan to13368 operate, and we have no control over that13370 process. In some cases,13372 that's a relatively straightforward process, in some cases, it's a lengthy process. So, I can answer questions so directly as it13378 relates to what we13379 can do within the commission. When we have a completed13382 application, Shawn and the staff work incredibly hard to shorten the lead time13387 it takes from when that application is submitted13389 to when our review process starts to the point now, there's virtually no delay.
Once an application is deemed complete by our staff, we have a legislatively mandated 90-day window to take action on13404 that application, approve it or deny it. I13409 won't say it's 100% but I will say it's over 99% of time, we stay within that 90-day window. If we do approve13416 the application and13418 issue a provisional license, it then goes13420 back into the hands of the applicant, the applicant has to do their build out and call us13427 and say, we're ready for13428 a final inspection, and that is, you know, the time frame13431 that requires us up to the applicant, we ask them in their application how long they think it's going13436 to take to open once they13437 get a provisional license13438 and we get answers from between six months to two years.
So again, it's totally dependent on that, once13446 they13446 call us and say they're13447 ready for a final application or final inspection, we get out there13452 within a week or two and it gets13455 in front of the commission13456 shortly thereafter. We meet monthly13457 to review license applications, so we get to13460 it relatively quickly, so you know, again, we're pretty efficient, the front end in terms of the 90-day window to process applications,13469 and we're pretty efficient at13470 the13470 back end, once they told13471 us they're ready for a final inspection. But13473 I think to answer your question explicitly, from the time they file an application to13478 us, it's going to be at13480 least six months before their operational and occasionally more than a year, up to sometimes as13485 much as two years. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Thank13491 you for your testimony. And we thank you for being participating today. Thank you. Thank you13496 so much for the opportunity and again, uh, please, do13499 you have any questions?13500 And we look forward13501 to working with you and your staff13502 as this process unfolds. But thank you for all of your support in the past, it means a lot. Thank you. Any other questions from the members? Alright. Sharing is closed.
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