Government Briefs: EV Funding, MassReconnect Results
The following is a roundup of state and federal announcements and programs this week.
• Members of the state's congressional delegation have announced $60 million in funding for commnities to transition to low- or zero-emission buses. This is expected to reduce transit systems' reliance on fossil fuels, and reduce diesel-related air pollution along major transit corridors for Black, brown, and low-income communities that disproportionately bear environmental health burdens from transportation emissions.
Some $40 million of the funding goes to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority for battery-powered buses; the MBTA was awarded $116 million in August 2022 for that purpose.
This funding comes through the Federal Transit Administration's Low or No Emission Grant Program. Since 2022, Massachusetts has received $280 million in federal funding for low- or no-emission buses. In Fiscal Year 2023 funding,
four Regional Transit Authorities in Massachusetts received a total of $31.3 million.
• The Healey-Driscoll administration has joined fellow New England states, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and New York in signing a memorandum of understanding to establish a framework for coordinating their activities to improve interregional transmission planning and development.
Last year, Massachusetts led a request to the U.S. Department of Energy to lead the Northeast States Collaborative on Interregional Transmission in a first-in-the-nation effort to explore mutually beneficial opportunities to increase the flow of electricity between three different planning regions in the Northeast and assess offshore wind infrastructure needs and solutions.
Through this MOU, the collaborative sets forth its agreement to work together on interregional transmission infrastructure and establishes mechanisms for sharing information. Enhancing transmission ties between regions lowers prices for consumers through increased access to lower-cost energy and bolsters reliability during periods of extreme weather and system stress. The Collaborative also announced plans to produce a strategic action plan for promoting the development of interregional transmission projects for offshore wind.
• The first year of the MassReconnect program has supported more than 4,500 students. Launched in August 2023, Gov. Maura Healey's free community college program for students 25 and older without prior degrees has seen a total of 8,411 students enrolled, nearly a 45 percent increase from the previous year. These new students drove an 8 percent overall enrollment growth across community colleges, reversing a decade of declines.
More than 4,500 students received grant awards, provided after all other forms of federal and state financial aid are applied. The Department of Higher Education's recent legislative report found that the new students included 1,667 who identified as Black or African American and 1,966 who identified as Hispanic or Latino, representing significant enrollment growth over the prior year and demonstrating that MassReconnect is attracting students from across racial subgroups.
The governor's proposed fiscal year 2025 budget included $24 million in funding for MassReconnect, a 20 percent increase from the prior budget. The DHE will continue to measure the program's results, including enrollment, graduation and transfer rates.
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