During the last week of April, the House of Representatives, at its budget week, I am proud to report that the Methuen delegation, comprised of myself, Representative Estela Reyes and Representative Francisco Paulino secured $175,000 in local earmarks. I secured $50,000 for mental health resources in Methuen Public Schools, $25,000 for the Cogswell art centre in Haverhill, and $25,000 for improvements to Forest Lake.
These funds will ensure that our students will receive the mental health resources they deserve, that we will have a Location for artists in the Merrimack Valley to go and express their creativity, and that we are ensuring our local natural resources are maintained so residents can enjoy them.
Some statewide highlights from the house budget include $161 million for universal school meals in the Commonwealth, $100 million for Green school works, $50 million for high-demand targeted scholarships, and $315 million for children’s behavioral health initiatives.
In the house budget, the City of Haverhill would receive $94.5 million, $82.63 million in Chapter 70 funding and $11.57 million in unrestricted local aid.
Methuen will receive $71.18 million in local aid, $64.68 million in Chapter 70 funding, and $6.4 million in unrestricted local aid.
Both Methuen and Haverhill saw drastic increases in funding in the FY 24 house budget compared to the FY 23 house budget.
It was a pleasure working with representative Andy Vargas, representative Francisco Paulino, and representative Estela Reyes to deliver for the cities of Methuen and Haverhill.
This past week I introduced “Rep’d” to my constituents. Rep’s is a program that will allow me to connect directly with constituents through a series of videos. The way Rep‘d works is that constituents go to https://www.repd.us/ryan and submit a question that they would like to ask me.
Once that question is posted, they will get it to vet a video response from me answering the question. Rep’d New technology will allow my office to become more transparent and interact directly with constituents on concerns that matter to them. I’m excited to use it, and I decided to interact with constituents, so please, if you have any questions, go to my Rep’d account, and submit them.
It certainly has been a hectic few weeks on Beacon Hill and from a personal perspective, I have participated in several committee hearings.
I am currently a member of the committees on Financial Services, Higher Education, Municipalities and Regional Government, and The Census and Federal Stimulus.
I’m thankful to Speaker Ron Mariano for picking me to serve on these committees, and I look forward to helping shape legislation with my colleagues on the committees.
If anyone would like to appear in front of these committees to give personal testimony on a specific piece of legislation, don’t hesitate to contact my office, as we can help you arrange that. You can also contact my office if you’d prefer to send in written testimony to the committee.
Ryan Hamilton is a former Methuen City Councilor and is in his first year as a state representative in Massachusetts. You can email him at ryan10hamilton@gmail.com ◊