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80 (and counting!) State Representatives Co-Sponsor Amendment to Increase DCR Funding

A quick note from our Executive Director, Doug Pizzi–

Dear MCV Members and State Representatives,

Massachusetts Conservation Voters thanks you for contacting your state representatives to ask them to co-sponsor Amendment #13 to H.4700, the House’s FY2023 proposed budget. If the House adopts the amendment, the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s (DCR) Parks and Recreation Operations line item (2810-0100) would jump to $83 million. While we appreciate that the House Ways & Means Committee increased the Governor’s proposed $73.5 million to $78.7 million, MCV thinks the higher figure is justifiable given the pandemic-driven exponential increase in use of our forests, parks, beaches and other DCR facilities.

As of this writing, 80 of the 160 House members (list below) have signed on to the amendment offered by state Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli. MCV thanks Rep. Pignatelli for sponsoring the amendment, and those who have already signed on as co-sponsors. If your state representative is on the list, please make sure to thank her or him. If not, it’s not too late to contact your representatives and ask them to join their colleagues in co-sponsoring Amendment 13 to H.4700. While the House began debating the budget yesterday, the environmental agencies’ budgets have yet to be considered.

So again, thanks to all for supporting the increased funding that DCR needs to begin recovering from more than a decade of chronic underfunding of our state parks, and let’s get Amendment 13 over the finish line. Remember, the park you save may be your own.

Yours in conservation,

Doug Pizzi
Executive Director

List of Co-Sponsors for Amendment #13 to H.4700 (DCR)

  1. John Barrett, III
  2. Brian M. Ashe
  3. Steven C. Owens
  4. Mary S. Keefe
  5. Kate Lipper-Garabedian
  6. Natalie M. Higgins
  7. Lindsay N. Sabadosa
  8. Daniel R. Carey
  9. Tram T. Nguyen
  10. Carmine Lawrence Gentile
  11. Steven G. Xiarhos
  12. William J. Driscoll, Jr.
  13. Patricia A. Duffy
  14. Danielle W. Gregoire
  15. Russell E. Holmes
  16. Meghan Kilcoyne
  17. Timothy R. Whelan
  18. Brian W. Murray
  19. Angelo J. Puppolo, Jr.
  20. William C. Galvin
  21. Tommy Vitolo
  22. Rob Consalvo
  23. Jacob R. Oliveira
  24. Joseph D. McKenna
  25. Michelle L. Ciccolo
  26. Danillo A. Sena
  27. Jay D. Livingstone
  28. Tricia Farley-Bouvier
  29. Linda Dean Campbell
  30. Mathew J. Muratore
  31. Steven Ultrino
  32. David M. Rogers
  33. Paul A. Schmid, III
  34. Thomas M. Stanley
  35. Sarah K. Peake
  36. Ruth B. Balser
  37. Bradley H. Jones, Jr.
  38. Natalie M. Blais
  39. David T. Vieira
  40. Jack Patrick Lewis
  41. Dylan A. Fernandes
  42. Patricia A. Haddad
  43. Kelly W. Pease
  44. Christine P. Barber
  45. Carol A. Doherty
  46. Bruce J. Ayers
  47. Jessica Ann Giannino
  48. Peter Capano
  49. Joan Meschino
  50. Mike Connolly
  51. Susan Williams Gifford
  52. Paul W. Mark
  53. Jon Santiago
  54. Christina A. Minicucci
  55. John J. Mahoney
  56. Michael S. Day
  57. Adrian C. Madaro
  58. Tackey Chan
  59. Elizabeth A. Malia
  60. Marjorie C. Decker
  61. Josh S. Cutler
  62. Jamie Zahlaway Belsito
  63. Norman J. Orrall
  64. James K. Hawkins
  65. Kay Khan
  66. Kimberly N. Ferguson
  67. Edward R. Philips
  68. Tami L. Gouveia
  69. Erika Uyterhoeven
  70. Hannah Kane
  71. Nika C. Elugardo
  72. Michael P. Kushmerek
  73. William M. Straus
  74. David Allen Robertson
  75. Daniel M. Donahue
  76. David K. Muradian, Jr.
  77. Paul McMurtry
  78. Kathleen R. LaNatra
  79. Marcos A. Devers
  80. Brandy Fluker Oakley