BRIGHT Act Could Borrow Billions for Massachusetts Campus Upgrades

Massachusetts taxpayers are about to be on the hook for billions of dollars as state lawmakers put the finishing touches on legislation allowing the state to borrow money for upgrades and repairs to higher education campuses across Massachusetts.

What Is the $3.28 Billion BRIGHT Act?

Senators recently approved their version of the BRIGHT Act, a $3.28 billion bond bill that according to a Senate press statement will "strengthen the learning experiences of students at community colleges, state universities, and UMass campuses."

The House approved its own version of the legislation submitted by Governor Maura Healey last year. A joint conference committee of the two legislative branches must now iron out the differences between the bills before the full Massachusetts Legislature can vote on a compromise version.

How Fair Share Tax Revenue Will Fund Borrowing

According to the Senate statement, the legislation will "update facilities and address the backlog of deferred maintenance by harnessing the power of 'Fair Share' (millionaires tax) revenues to back a new state bond issuance."

Lawmakers claim the investment will make higher education more affordable as students will no longer pay for upgrades and maintenance through their tuition and fees.

Or something like that.

The statement quotes Senate President Karen Spilka as saying, "Massachusetts students deserve campuses that match the quality of their ambition."

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Lawmakers Cite Aging Campus Infrastructure

Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Senator Mike Rodrigues of Westport, a graduate of UMass Dartmouth when it was still SMU (Southeastern Massachusetts University), told State House News Service that his alma mater needs an upgrade.

"Now, when I go on campus, as I do regularly, and I look around and I realize that those are the same windows, these are the same doors, these are the same roofs, this is the same HVA system, this is the same broken concrete that was here when I was a student there last century," he said.

UMass Dartmouth began in 1960 as SMTI (Southeastern Massachusetts Technological Institute), a consolidation of the New Bedford Institute of Technology and Fall River's Bradford Durfee College of Technology.

"The three largest outlays in the Senate bill are the $1.25 billion to be allocated to the UMass system, the $1.25 billion that would flow to the state universities and the community colleges, and the $275 million specifically for the Mass. College of Arts and Design's Hunting Tower," according to SHNS.

UMass Dartmouth launched a $100 million reconstruction of the Liberal Arts and Sciences (LARTS) building in 2025.