The first term of state Sen. Adam Hinds, D-Pittsfield, who is also a first-time elected official, coincided with two momentous political events: the resignation of Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, who as the senior member of the western Massachusetts delegation was also his mentor … and the Donald Trump presidency.
Yet for the 41-year-old Buckland native, who recently completed the formal session of his first state Senate term and whose background includes negotiations in Iraq, Syria and Israel/Palestine, he’s come through feeling buoyed by some successes despite some frustrations with how things work — or don’t — on Beacon Hill.
So what has Hinds learned?
“I’ve found this a meaningful place to dig into the critical issues for western Mass., and to actually see results, even within the first term,” says Hinds, pointing in particular to the adoption of “sparsity aid” established as a new budget line item for rural school districts.
Those successes reflect plenty of teamwork, he says — particularly the advocacy of Rosenberg leading his chamber until he stepped down from the presidency last December, and that of state Rep. Stephen Kulik of Worthington as vice chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.
Picking up some of the the slack in the Senate since Rosenberg’s departure in May “has been manageable,” said Hinds, in part because of help from colleagues and their staff. But the void has meant the loss of a strong voice about rural issues — a role that the freshman Pittsfield Democrat said he’s tried to fill.
Another, unfortunate reflection of Rosenberg’s departure, said Hinds, was in some parts of the budget that was adopted — especially in halving the Franklin County Opioid Task Force appropriation to $200,000.
“There were some assumptions we could reasonably all make when we had the Senate president here, and that shifted very quickly some regional priorities,” said Hinds. “It’s ironic, to be honest — not only is it a time of such need, but Franklin County has been such an example for other parts of the commonwealth on how to work together effectively. We see evidence of everything the task force has been doing well, and yet this is the outcome.”
Kulik, too, has been critical in moving major pieces of legislation and funding through the process, Hinds said, noting that rural sparsity aid was rescued in the conference committee by the Ways and Means vice chairman after its passage in the Senate but not the House.
The same may have been true with rural ambulance legislation that passed the Senate on Aug. 8 and is now for the first time before the House Ways sand Means Committee as it continues in informal session.
“My fingers are crossed,” Hinds said of his bill, which would amend existing laws and regulations that require two emergency medical technicians to accompany a patient being transported under certain circumstances, in order to meet the staffing realities of small, rural volunteer ambulance crews.
It’s the rural sparsity aid accomplishment, which began as a concept from Mohawk Trail Regional School Superintendent Michael Buoniconti, that Hinds says he’s most excited about, “in part because I hope it will have a tremendous impact on individual students’ lives, and hope its just the start,” with a $1.5 million extra this year for an estimated 62 school districts with enrollment of fewer than 21 students per square mile and below-average per-capita income. Priority funding is given to districts that serve fewer than 11 students per square mile.
“Seeing that get a foothold in budget so can grow from here on out is the plan and the priority,” said Hinds, acknowledging the efforts of Buonicnti, Kulik, Mark and other advocates around the state. “It’s a recognition that rural areas face unique circumstances and challenges, and we’d better do something about it as a commonwealth.”
Still, one of his frustrations was the Legislature’s failure to pass overall education funding reform, which the Senate passed last year with a $1 billion measure in response to a 2015 Foundation Budget Review Commission report, which had found the formula underestimates the cost of education by $1 billion to $2 billion a year by inadequately accounting for expenses associated with health insurance, special education and teaching low-income students and English language learners.
The session ended six weeks after the state’s Supreme Judicial Court knocked off the ballot a proposed surtax on incomes over $1 million, eliminating the revenue windfall backers had looked for additional education and transportation money.
“That’s such a critical conversation in the region and vital for the commonwealth,” said Hinds, who says he hopes to “push very hard” in his second term to be appointed to the Senate’s education committee, and even see if he can be named to a leadership role.
Similiarly, Hinds said he was disappointed that health care reform legislation, which the Senate passed last September, couldn’t get resolved in conference committee.
“We’ve been seeing this as a priority, and we clearly need to roll up our sleeves and come up with a new approach, including single-payer,” said Hinds, who favors adopting that model.”
The session also faced several measures in response to the Trump presidency — including attempts at immigration-related enforcement and net-neutrality legislation as well as rescinding old anti-abortion and contraception laws.
Hinds, who campaigned in a three-way primary race and November contest two years ago on the notion of a “three-legged stool” representing his objectives around education, infrastructure and workforce and employment issues, said he’s pleased to see that broadband has moved closer to a reality for many towns, including a provision in the economic development bond to allow towns like Shelburne and Colrain to use state money to provide broadband across town lines. Two pilot rail projects have also advanced — along the Knowledge Corridor as well as the proposed Berkshire Flyer service between New York City and Pittsfield — that point to some success in the realm of transportation infrastructure, he noted.
In terms of economic development, while Kulik’s proposed “Rural Jobs Act” failed to make it into an economic development bond this session, Hinds said he’s pleased the bond does provide $75 million for technical education and workforce training programs as well as $50 million for the state’s Cultural Facilities Fund and $200 million for the MassWorks program that communities can apply for to build job-focused projects. And Hinds’s own $800,000 initiative as part of the environmental bond bill to map mountain biking trails in the four western counties could also, he said, help in designing a trail system that could market the outdoor recreation attraction outside the region, “playing on our natural assets for economic impact,” he said.
Hinds called the next several months ” an exciting time,” assuming he’s re-elected, with the fall allowing time to consider what worked and what didn’t, as well as rethinking strategies.
“”I look forward to it,” he said.