 Hello, everyone. I'm James Milan. Welcome to Talk of the Town. And to this legislative update with our state senator Cindy Friedman. We're lucky enough to talk to Cindy several times a year. We try and do it once a quarter and we've been doing a pretty good job at that for a while. Cindy, thanks for being here. I understand your day is as busy as a state senator's day as always are. It's nice to see you, James, although still virtually, but it's really nice to see you. Yes, and in fact we do hold the hope that, and I think it probably has as much to do with your schedule as anything else at this point, we do hold the hope of inviting you into the studio and having you back in those cozy confines again. Perhaps next time we get to speak. Keep my fingers crossed. That would be nice, yeah. Good, good. So we are going to cover, you know, probably a fair amount of ground as we always do with these updates. But let me start off by saying that we did reach out to you in the immediate response to the budget being passed and your announcement thereof. And I was particularly excited to do so because, wow, I have not seen a budget that looks like this or sounds like this in the years I've been speaking to you. So who could pass up an opportunity to have you share what feels like from our end a lot of good news. Let's have you, the authority, be able to confirm that. But, you know, basically in whatever way you choose, if you can just, you know, introduce us to the good news that is the 2022 Massachusetts state budget. Sure. So this was quite a surprise to all of us as the numbers came in in terms of revenue as they started to come in in March and April and May, and then the incredible work of the federal government to actually pay attention to the states and help people through the pandemic. And there were just another number of other factors that came together and really made such a huge difference. And it was just a polar opposite of what we thought we were going to be doing for a budget for 2022. So and a pleasant surprise too. I would think so. But you know what, I'm going to interrupt you right off and just ask you, this was a huge surprise, as you said, almost like the polar opposite. Is that just the nature of the beast when it comes to budgets and to revenues coming in? Or is this a really a strange phenomenon where, you know, you just were completely blindsided to the positive side, as we've said, but nonetheless blindsided by the revenues coming in? I would have assumed, I guess, that the whole process needs to be a little bit more predictable than it seemed like this one is. Well, I think that made what made this so unpredictable was number one, COVID. I mean, and number two, COVID and number three, COVID. It was, you know, we just didn't expect to see the revenue that we saw, which in a lot of ways was fueled by the stock market and capital gains. And when you look at the, when you look at what was happening in the labor markets over the past year, which frankly were not very good, right, until March, and then they really started to pick up. And then you looked at what happened and what's happening in the stock market over the past 18 months, they're just, how would you predict, right, what you were going to be seeing? We were ready to take, you know, another $1.8 billion out of the rainy day fund, and we expected that we would need to do that. We were really concerned about how we were going to pay for mass health, and it turned around. And that just the tax revenue performance in FY 21, just we weren't expecting it. But I guess if you look back and you see what was going on, in a lot of ways, you know, you could say, oh, okay, maybe some of this makes sense, right? I've given the strong performance of revenue, and especially of the tax, of the stock exchange. Yeah, I mean, it's a good explanation, really, as far as I'm concerned, in that I just didn't have, I didn't fully grasp, perhaps other members of our audience might say the same, just how much a really robust, really kind of crazy strong stock market and the capital gains that that in turn generates and the revenues on the tax side that those in turn generate could have such a such a profound effect, you know, it's always a part of the mix. But, you know, again, I can appreciate better after your explanation, just how much that can actually turn into results like this. And yay, because obviously, as we both know, relatively few or relatively small percentage of the population gets the lion share of the benefits from stock market gains. So isn't it nice to know that they also can be reflected in a state budget that will tend to vulnerable populations, as well as those who barely need any more, it feels like. And I also think that knowing, you know, the real reversal of the federal government in being more predictable and helping states get through this pandemic had not only had has had a financial effect, but I think it's also had a psychological effect. So people are a little more, they're not as worried. And I don't mean people who still don't have jobs and are in arrears for rent and the moratoriums coming up. But I think just sort of general more people who have jobs and have, you know, the means and and own businesses, there was a little more of, I think, comfort and comfort in being able to go out and do do things that they wouldn't have thought of doing if the government wasn't, they didn't feel supported by the government. So you have mentioned, you know, well, I think that that again, it makes sense. And I think we can see the evidence of that kind of all around us, just in terms of, you know, the amount of spending in local economies, including Arlington's that's going on and the clear enjoyment of a resumption of some kind of normal life and normal, the expenses that attend that normal life. People seem to be really embracing that. But I wanted to say that you had mentioned earlier that, you know, you thought you're going to have to draw from the rainy day fund and in fact, won't have to do that and may may be able to supplement it to some degree. But what are the other, you know, most prominent aspects of this new budget that are, you know, again, brighter news than any might any of us might have anticipated? Well, speaking of the rainy day fund, we have a, I think we'll have an estimated balance of $5.8 billion at the end of fiscal year 2022. $5.8 billion. We were really pleased with ourselves when we had four. And in fact, in their last budget, we took about $2 billion plus out to cover necessary expenses as the pandemic was hitting us. And so now we're going to have a $5.8 billion. And that has such a huge effect on our ability to borrow money. It has a huge effect on our bond ratings. And that really is an incredibly strong position to be in. We also put $350 million away for the Student Opportunity Act for future years. So we're paying our share for FY 2022. But we put $350 million into a trust fund so that we will be able to continue to pay our obligation going forward with the new funding for education. We put in $18.98 billion for mass health. We thought we were going to have to use money for other monies for mass health. But it turns out that with the help of the federal government continuing the supplemental funds, we're going to be able to cover that, even though people know and everybody's presumed still eligible until the end of the year. We put in $15 million to support local and regional boards of health, which have been hit so hard and worked so hard during the pandemic. There was $175 plus million dollars put in for substance use disorder and intervention services. So we're going to be enhancing and bringing back some of those programs that we so desperately need. We've got $98.4 million for Children's Mental Health Services, another area which we are desperately in need of support and services. And we did make the film tax credit permanent. We've upped how much money the producers, et cetera, have to spend in the state in order to get the film tax credit. But it is permanent and I know for a lot of people in my district that was really important. So this is just to explain that a little bit more, Cindy. So the film tax credit is basically an incentive, I assume, for movie producers. Go ahead. It started, I'm sorry now. I can't remember maybe 10 years ago and it was supposed to sunset after five years. And yes, it's in tax incentive for people to come and make movies in Massachusetts. And then there were some very funky things in the legislation that really allowed a lot of money to go out of Massachusetts that we weren't beneficiaries of. And in fact, the film tax credit was costing us money. But at the same time, it did generate a really new and robust to some extent industry for film production. So the people who do the editing and the people who do sound and visual. Right. Those we train at ACMI, frankly, are looking for jobs in the industry in this area. Right. And what I learned is that a lot of people in that industry leave, they go out of Massachusetts to where the production is happening and that they've been able to stop doing that. And now there's a number of companies, strong companies. And some of them are in Wuburn in my district where they're doing great because they have this business. So it wasn't just looking at the numbers of the tax credit versus what we got back, but also in a new industry in Massachusetts. So I think this is a decent compromise. Some people hate the film tax credit. Some people love it and wanted it to go completely the way it was. But this was the compromise that the Senate and House came up with. So. Great. Yeah. So that's really good. And then the other thing I want to point out is we put in an additional 200 million plus into the pension system, the state pension system. And that is such a smart use of our money. And so unusual for the government to be able to say, you know what, we're going to put this away now to help us later. And, you know, our pension system has been, you know, it's a huge investment on the part of the state. We've always had a system that's that sort of paid as you went, which meant that we worried about paying people when they became eligible. We changed that a number of years ago, but we've never really funded it or always funded it to the level we should so that we're we're whole within a certain years, meaning we have enough money to pay the pensions of our state employees who have put away, by the way, at this point somewhere between eight and 12% of their salaries. So this is this is a huge investment on the part of the workers. So we've done something to shore that up. And that's really a wise financial decision. So those were some of the those were some of the big ones. Let me see. Well, well, I'm going to let you keep looking there for a second. I actually wanted to ask you, I don't want to interrupt your train of thought much, but I did also want to make sure, you know, as the as the vice chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, you sit on the six member conference committee that basically resolves the two budgets, the House budget and the Senate budget each year. How just tell us a little bit about how that experience was this year? It was it was fundamentally a good experience. I mean, what we ended up doing, which is always really enjoyable is we took what the chair calls the high, high, high, right? So if if for a line item, the governor asked for $10 million and the House asked for $11 million and the Senate asked for $12 million for that line item, we took the 12 million. The governor asked for 50 million and we asked for 49. We took the 50. So we were able to fund everything at its highest request. Wow. Which was which was really because we had we realized that we had a budget surplus. And so that allowed us to do that as well as to put money into education and pensions and mass health. So that was good. I was pretty much focused on, you know, my focus in the budget committee is sort of is on not sort of is on health care. It's on mental health. It's on criminal justice. So and a couple other things that are my buckets. And so that's what I focus on. Are those like officially designated as your your scope? Or are you saying that these are the areas that you've obviously had a strong interest and focus on for your years in the Senate and that coming from that is where it's official to the extent that I think the chair will look to me and to my staff to to oversee that part, those parts of the budget. So, you know, he's he asks me and I focus on those areas because it's hard to know. You can't know everything. I mean, it's a you know, 48. Right, exactly. It has to be more than the sum of the parts in order for it to work, obviously, because everybody's got to bring something. And then you use that knowledge collectively. So that that all makes sense. But they are of such a piece with the things that you have been so active around and so committed to. So make that that makes good sense. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's just it's efficient. Right. So and there are people in Senate ways and means whose focus is on different areas. So I work with them. My staff works with them. And so we're we're sort of worth that's what we're focused on. Okay, so I did, you know, I do acknowledge I interrupted your train of thought there to ask you about that committee work, partly because I figured that that as well must have been an unusual and pleasant surprise for you this year compared to other other iterations of those negotiations, because I'm sure you do not have the opportunity to go high, high, high all the time. All that often. So the things there's a couple of things that I'll be, I'll be honest that I am really happy about. And if you want me to get bubbly, I can really pleased with her with the local priorities. We got $100,000 for food link $175,000 for the Arlington Youth Counseling Center. We got some money for I think 85,000 for English at large, which is a Wuburn wonderful Wuburn program that teaches English to immigrants. Arlington had got $14.7 million in Chapter 70, and $8.3 million in unrestricted local aid, and that's on top of what they have received through the federal government. So those were direct local priorities in Arlington. I also got money for the Bilrica Food Pantry and the Bilrica Senior Center, which I was really, really happy to be able to do. And then statewide, my priorities were we I got we got $10 million in the budget for a program of assertive community treatment for children. And this is a program where individuals under the age of 22 who have serious mental health conditions and are often resistant to standard forms of treatment or who can't get standard forms of treatment, providers will put together a program that includes a psychiatrist and a nurse and a social worker and a couple other people that will become a team that will completely and totally support that child and their families in their homes. And the idea is we go out to them instead of making them come into a system that is often really hard and really difficult to navigate. So we've added $10 million. And just to give you an idea of what that is, each packed team can manage about 100 children and their families. So for yeah, so it's it's about so it's a huge it's a million dollars for 100 children. So when you think about that, it's a huge number of kids that can have access to that program. We also did a $3 million program for loan repayment for children and adolescent psychiatrists. And the purpose of this is to get psychiatrists at the community mental health centers and community health centers throughout the Commonwealth. What we've done is we've set up a program so that we will forgive a psychiatrist loan up to $300,000 if they agree to work in a community setting for five years and take a certain number of of mass health patients. That's to relieve some of the incredible pressure on the community health system for behavioral health. So those are just a couple of them. Yeah, let me let me just say that those are fantastic. Those are fantastic because that first of all, I love loan forgiveness programs. I think a lot of people out there do if you incentivize great community behavior that way and you relieve somebody of that kind of burden so that they're it really affects their lives going forward. That's a win win. But then that other program I I'm so glad you mentioned what the scale of it was because I wanted to ask you about that. But having a whole team and then of support and then meeting people where they are, you know, clearly it's 100 children at a time or so and their families and and there's probably it'll take it would take a long time at 100 children at a time to get to all those who need it on the one hand. On the other hand, boy, if that doesn't work, I don't see what would. I mean, if you have a whole team of experts in support of child's welfare and his or her families as well, we're taking care of people who deserve it that way and truly taking care of these programs that have been in place for adults for a number of years. In fact, when I was the Chief of Staff to Senator Donnelly, we worked on a package, a pilot for community assertiveness treatment. And it was incredibly successful. And it's still being used. I mean, it's still part of the mass health benefit. And so we said, let's let's do this with kids. And we knew that there are certain places of providers in the West and Central and East that could set this up really, really quickly if they had, you know, if they had the funds. So if you think it's a million dollars, we'll cover 100 children. That's a thousand children that might have access and their families. That's that's huge to me. Yeah. Yeah, no, that that lots to feel good about and what we're talking about today. But boy, I just love, well, you can tell I love the sound of those programs and how effective it feels like they really can be going forward. So yeah, yay for that. Yeah, and we did a number of other things, you know, we another numbers of programs that we funded, we funded a million dollars for the middle sex county restoration center, which is something that we implemented about four years ago to do a pilot for restoration center, which is a facility where police and first responders can take somebody who's suffering from a, you know, severe mental health episode or substance use disorder, they can take them to the to the restoration center where they can get immediate treatment instead of putting them in a cell or taking them to the emergency room where they sit for hours. And so, I mean, I know I've talked to you that that before, but we continued to fund it. And there were other children's children who are involved in the criminal justice system that we've given more money for treatment. So it's just it's just been it's really good. It's really good. Yeah. Should we do more? Sure. But this we need to stop just for a second and say this is good. You know, really, this is your interview. I don't want I've been talking too much as it is. But I feel like I've been talking to you for years and talking to Senator Donnelly preceding that. And it's just so rare to have a conversation like this. So much of your job is really trying to find the right balance between competing interests and limited resources. And it's not like these resources are now unlimited. But for a moment, it feels like you can do an awful lot of things that you've had to put aside in the past or fund much to a much lesser degree, etc. It truly is a remarkable thing, especially again, considering, you know, the circumstances under out of which all of this is arising. And on that note, I have to ask you just to comment as well on on the situation with the pandemic here in Massachusetts. And specifically about the fact that, well, a couple of things that I wanted to ask you about one is, you know, we do have rising case numbers here. There's there is some concern about the Delta variant. At the same time, it's it seems that's compared to very small numbers. And so, you know, the percentages that they're rising still don't add up to large numbers. It doesn't feel like I'm wondering about then two things, one, your level of concern, moving forward and anticipating the school year and other changes in September. And secondly, just if you have any comments on the the incentive like the current incentive programs to get those not yet vaccinated still to get vaccinated, including the lottery that we have here in Massachusetts, and what kind of effectiveness you see those programs having? Sure. I am very concerned about the variant. Massachusetts is probably it's if it's not the most it's the second state with the largest number of people who've been vaccinated. The absolute best way to manage the pandemic is to get a vaccine. It's the most effective thing you can do. We still have places where we need to focus. The problem that I'm, I think we need that we are looking at is the fact that vaccines are the most effective way to treat the pandemic. And everybody under 12 cannot yet get a vaccine. And we know that the Delta variant is very, very contagious. And we know that there can there is evidence that there can be breakthrough, even if you have a vaccine, although the evidence is very clear that you are likely to get a very mild case of the vaccine of the pandemic, if you have the vaccine, which is what vaccines are supposed to do, right? But what do we do with kids and teachers who have to go back into school? And we have to get our kids back to school that the amount of upset and that that that losing a year or whatever it was a year of school is just had a huge effect on kids. And a lot of it is has been emotional and psychological. And we really need to pay attention to that. So we need to get our kids back to school. I think the state is trying to figure out how to do that in the most efficient way until we know that kids under 12 can get vaccinated, which we think is going to probably happen sometime in the early fall or late fall, where the where Pfizer and Moderna will have done their full testing on kids five and over. And and then the FDA can approve it for emergency use if it turns out to be as safe as as the the trials are showing. But until we do that, we really need to protect everybody. And I think that probably the most the probably the best way we can do this is to look at a community, see how many people have been vaccinated, what the numbers are. And if the numbers are low enough, then perhaps you don't have to have everybody in the school wearing masks and social distancing. But as soon as you reach a certain level where you're seeing a spread, then I would argue you need to go everybody needs to go back to wearing masks and at least social distancing inside. That's what the epidemiologists are saying. Some are saying you got to wear a mask. There's no getting around it. Others are saying you don't really need a mask. Schools aren't super spreaders. But I think there's something in between. In terms of your second question, which is how do we keep moving? The most effective way of getting people vaccinated has shown to be direct one on one contact. It's not give you a million dollars. You can join a lottery if you're been vaccinated. That doesn't work. Sort of general public service announcements don't seem to work. People you don't like telling you to get a vaccine doesn't seem to work. Works is also healthcare for all is a perfect example of what works. They have been for the last several months doing an outreach program. They have eight, nine communities. They outreach to people into those communities with information. They knock on doors. They talk to people. The people that are doing the knocking on the doors are people who live in that community. They are hiring and training community workers to go in their communities and talk to people. That is incredibly effective. It's incredibly effective when your doctor tells you that it's okay to get a vaccine. It's pretty effective when your bishop or your pastor tells you that it's okay to get a vaccine. It's got to be somebody you know, somebody in your community and somebody you trust. People trust teachers as well. That seems to be the most effective way of getting people over their hesitancy. A lot of people are hesitant especially in Massachusetts. They are hesitant because they don't know. They don't have data. They don't have information. They've heard something from somebody. When they talk to somebody directly, they trust. He's just giving them information, real information and support. They are much more likely to go and get a vaccine. You can see in certain communities that have done a lot of outreach, especially in Latinx communities, those numbers of people being vaccinated have gone up significantly. I think that's the key. We've got to keep doing it and we've got to put our resources into it. That's great. We don't have a whole lot more time, but I wanted just to make sure that there is nothing either in terms of your general duties and priorities as you're looking forward over these next months in the beginning of the next session, etc. Or in talking about the budget as we did, which felt like comprehensive, but I just want to make sure we don't leave anything unmentioned or undiscussed. No, I think we're going to be taking up the governor's small number of vetoes in the next little while, so I look forward to doing that and hopefully we'll override all those vetoes. This is the perfect budget. What can I say? And that, folks, is the bubbly Cindy Friedman we've been looking for. Seriously, we catch you at the tail end of a busy day. I mentioned this at the outset, but we know that there is value in these conversations for you, certainly for your constituents. We never want to fail to mention our appreciation for you taking the time because it is important that we hear directly from you things that really you are the best source for. Again, thanks for your time. Well, thank you, and I appreciate you having me on. And it's great to be able to talk to you and to feel like I'm talking to my constituents. So thank you. We get so focused on what we're doing. So thank you. Absolutely. And I know you also have a lot of one-on-one conversations, etc., which this is in a sense, but we all know I'm just a proxy for much larger audience and and, you know, so we needless to say look forward to the next. I mean, we don't expect we're not going to hold the bar up here like this in terms of just having such wonderful things to share next time we speak with you, but we look forward to doing so in the fall. I hope that the rest of your summer contains at least a little bit of R&R for you. And, you know, again, with appreciation for the work that you do, I have been speaking to our state senator, Cindy Friedman. This has been Talk of the Towns legislative update with our state senator. Our thanks to Cindy. Our thanks to you for joining us. I'm James Milan. We'll see you next time.