Hello everyone,
I hope you are all doing well as we wrap up July! Hard to believe we are already this far through the summer.
It was a busy week for the district and the state house, starting off with the swearing in of West Springfield’s new Fire Chief, Christopher Bartone, on Monday at the Justin Morgan Auditorium. Chief Bartone was previously the Deputy Fire Chief, and we are all grateful that he will be continuing his service with the Department and the community of West Springfield.
On Tuesday the Joint Committee of Public Service held a hearing on Senate Bill 1753, a bill I filed to increase the current veteran allowance for public retirees. This allowance has been an important recognition of military service for public employees who are veterans, but the allowance has not been updated in years. Wednesday the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight held a public hearing on S2393, a home rule petition that I filed on behalf of the City of Westfield to assist the City in the Westfield River Levee multi-use Path project. As with all legislation I have filed, my team submitted testimony in support of these bills and will continue to advocate however we can.
On Thursday the Senate passed a FY2023 Supplemental Budget that funds relief for fiscally stressed hospitals, assists schools with special education obligations, and provides important support to our Commonwealth. I am especially pleased that the legislation includes $20 million in flexible assistance for farms and rural communities impacted by recent severe weather events. Farms throughout Western Massachusetts continue to rebuild following the devastating flooding earlier this month. This funding will be a critical lifeline and I am grateful to my colleagues for supporting this initiative.
This week I’m glad to share that Easthampton’s Park Hill Orchard and Holyoke’s WestMass ElderCare, Inc., were among 165 organizations chosen to receive state grant money through the Food Security Infrastructure Grant Program. This funding is awarded with the goal of strengthening local food programs, promoting local agriculture, and offering support to projects that will help farms through extreme weather events. This funding will help these local organizations become more efficient at what they do and bolster their ability to expand operations to impact even more people.
This week my office held office hours in Westfield, Russell, Southampton, and Agawam. While we are not holding any office hours next week, we will be back on Wednesday, August 9th, for office hours at the West Springfield COA at 11AM. If you can’t make office hours, I can always be reached by email, john.velis@masenate.gov, by phone, (413) 527-3920, and you can find me online at senatorjohnvelis.com
Sincerely,
John Velis