Linda Dorcena Forry

The Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Business has reported S90 “An Act to Sustain Community Preservation” out of committee favorably.

“For the last nine years, the Community Preservation Act has been a great success across the Commonwealth,” said Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry, co-chair of the committee. “This bill will help ensure its lasting success.”

Since becoming law, the Community Preservation Act has been adopted by 142 communities.  By matching locally raised revenues with funding from the statewide CPA Trust Fund, the CPA has strengthened local action in core Commonwealth priority areas: affordable housing, open space preservation, active outdoor recreation and historic preservation.  This comprehensive bill would ensure the lasting success of the Community Preservation Act by setting the state match of local funds at 75%.  The CPA Trust Fund would be funded by a floating fee, which cannot exceed $70 under any circumstance, at the registry of deeds. The fee will be determined each year by the amount of local CPA revenue that is generated by municipalities across the state.

S90 was slightly amended to include the definition for “Support for Community Housing,” which was taken from H3799, “Act relative to the community preservation act  expenditures to provide housing for low and moderate income community residents,” filed by Representative Stephen Walsh.

“At our committee’s hearing for Senate bill 90, we had hundreds of people from across Massachusetts testify to the success of the Community Preservation Act,” Forry said. “From rehabbing historic town halls to creating playing fields to preserving open land, the CPA has made our state a better place to live.  I look forward to working with my colleagues to continue that history by passing S90.”