To: Members of the Massachusetts
Senate
March 4, 2008
Re: H. 4534 Senior Override Abatement bill
What you may not know or remember about Proposition 2½
and its friend the Massachusetts Senate
Long-time Senators may recall the early legislative battles
on the Prop 2½ issues; newer Senators may find this
interesting.
When Prop 2½ was passed by the voters, 59-41 in November
1980, one Senator filed a bill to repeal it. The Senate as a
whole did not move forward with this bill.
Before 1981, there was very little sharing of state revenues
with the cities and towns. CLT and MMA were lobbying for the
state to share in the first year implementation of the new
law by finally giving the long-promised local aid. There was
resistance from the House leadership, but House Republicans
and many conservative Democrats almost passed the substitute
"Better Budget," with $350 million in new local aid.
Meanwhile, over in the Senate, Ways & Means Chairman Chester
Atkins was quietly drafting the new Senate budget, which did
contain that local aid. The Senate passed it, the House
concurred, and Proposition 2½ was properly launched.
Many bills were filed during the ‘80s to amend it and CLT
supported the reasonable amendments. Few of the damaging
amendments passed; some that did pass the House were stopped
in the Senate. Later, a bill exempting seniors from
overrides passed the House but not the Senate. We hope this
will happen again with H. 4534, which is intended to get
more overrides passed, raising property taxes on working
families, homeowners with giant mortgages, and under-65s on
fixed incomes.