Fault lines are developing on MBTA Communities Law

3A zoning law should not be a partisan issue, but it's becoming one for all the wrong reasons.

State legislators on Beacon Hill most certainly know that the MBTA Communities Law (3A) is terrible legislation that is proving both unpopular and heartbreakingly divisive. That’s why members in both parties submitted dozens of bills that would delay, amend, and even repeal this onerous mandate.

There was a chance for lawmakers to stand behind their convictions, and stand up for their constituents, when the House was in budget sessions last week and two amendments came up for a roll call vote to make modest changes to 3A.

House Minority Leader Brad Jones (R-North Reading) filed an amendment to make sure grants for things like fire safety would not be included in the list of grants cities and towns would lose for not complying with the law. Ken Sweezey (R-Duxbury) submitted an amendment that would delay compliance with the law for 18 months so that cities and towns would have more time to comply with the law.

Both amendments were voted down pretty much along party lines but a look at the roll call vote on Sweezey’s amendment provides a very telling picture.

Roll call vote on amendment by Rep. Sweezey to delay compliance with 3A.

The only Democrats to vote with Republicans in delaying compliance with 3A are newbies who just got elected along with Representatives Colleen Garry (D-Dracut) and Dave Robertson (D-Tewksbury). Every other Democrat voted against these very modest changes and against the interests of their districts and constituents.

What this shows is just how much Speaker Ron Mariano (D-Quincy) has his members under his thumb. His promises of chairmanship and leadership positions (and the giant raises that go with them) far outweigh any duty State Reps have to their districts and constituents. Mariano knows full well that 3A is causing serious problems for the cities and towns it’s imposed on, but he can choose to turn a blind eye to it because his minions will always cave to his demands.

Rookie Reps know they’re not going to be in line for these positions (yet) while veterans like Garry and Robertson have to be content with not getting a part of the largesse that comes with putting leadership over constituents. Meanwhile cities and towns in eastern Massachusetts are stuck with an oppressive mandate that will undoubtedly dump costs on them with no help from the state to pay for it.

The other thing this shows is how consolidating power into the hands of a few people who live in big cities in greater Boston means that those of us in the suburbs have no representation. We’ve been sold out.

Budget deliberations will now go to the Senate where members there can certainly put these or similar amendments in the budget to address 3A, but that’s unlikely to happen. Senate President Karen Spilka (D-Ashland) is also one of the few insiders calling the shots on Beacon Hill, and as a big city resident living in greater Boston she has little sympathy for the concerns of small town residents.

She was Senate President when, in typical Beacon Hill manner, members secretly slipped 3A into an economic development bill on an unrecorded voice vote. This was done by people who have little regard for anyone who chooses to live in a small town, or any regard for who will pay for the infrastructure improvements needed for all this new housing.

The budget will eventually go to a conference committee to hammer out differences between House and Senate versions. As with too much on Beacon Hill, these hearings will be held in complete secrecy by insider loyalists behind closed doors where the public will ever know what was said or done. The only thing we can be sure of is that the concerns of small towns will take a back seat to the big city insiders calling the shots.