LAWMAKERS TUCKED INTO a $1.56 billion compromise surtax spending bill (H 5470) a measure that maintains the 20-cent fee on rideshare trips and a section addressing numerous collective bargaining agreements across the state.
The per-ride fee established in a 2016 law regulating transportation network companies is set to sunset in January 2027. The Senate quietly voted in April to extend the per-ride fee tacked onto all rideshares in its version of the surtax bill, and that language survived into the bill released Tuesday.
Debate had begun over whether to raise or redesign the fee to get more transportation funding to cities and towns most impacted by the vehicles. The state collected $18.17 million in 2024 from the 20-cent fee.
The compromise proposal also puts into effect “salary adjustments and other economic benefits authorized” by numerous collective bargaining agreements, including those between the University of Massachusetts and units of the American Federation of Teachers on the UMass Dartmouth campus, and between the Board of Higher Education and the Massachusetts State College Association/Massachusetts Teachers Association/National Education Association.
The same section also includes a collective bargaining agreement between UMass and Professional Staff Union units at the Amherst and Boston campuses. The sides came to an agreement in February after the “largest” bargaining campaign in PSU’s history, according to the union.
Several other agreements included are those between the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office and a unit of the Barnstable County Correctional Officers Union, between UMass and a unit of the New England Police Benevolent Association, and between the state and units of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, the International Association of Fire Fighters, and the Coalition of Public Safety.
The House on Wednesday voted to accept the conference report. The Senate is expected to do so Thursday.
