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SUDBURY – Representative Carmine L. Gentile (D-Sudbury) joined his colleagues in the Massachusetts House of Representatives on Friday night to pass a $3.82 billion dollar spending package that would make critical investments with money received from the federal government’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and state surplus revenue.

“This legislation will help to support families in the Commonwealth as we recover from the pandemic. It prioritizes economic assistance to the neediest people and areas, while using these one-time funds to make an impact on underfunded sectors of the economy. I was particularly pleased to see that schools will receive $10 million in funding to provide compensatory services to students with substantial disabilities who turned 22 during the pandemic, when those individuals are not ready to transition to adult programs, which was something that I advocated for,” said Rep. Gentile.

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The spending bill includes major investments including $600 million for housing, $765 million for health and human services, $777 million for economic development, $265 million for education, and more than $400 million for combatting climate change. The bill also includes $500 million in bonus payments to low-income essential workers who worked in-person throughout the COVID-19 state of emergency.

In addition to these investments, several provisions filed by Representative Gentile allocated funding for local projects in the 13th Middlesex District:

  • $25,000 for the Sudbury Community Food Pantry for improvements to food insecurity infrastructure.
  • $75,000 for the Sudbury Housing Trust to provide mortgage assistance to needy families.
  • $150,000 for the Sudbury Water District, which includes virtually all of Sudbury and some of Wayland, for PFAS mitigation efforts.

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By editor

Susan Petroni is the former editor for SOURCE. She is the founder of the former news site, which as of May 1, 2023, is now a self-publishing community bulletin board. The website no longer has a journalist but a webmaster.