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S 2629

Authorizes certain owners of residential real property in the city of New York to opt out of planned city tree planting

2025 Regular Session Introduced by John Liu

Reclassifies MBTA-assessment groups by updating town counts from 51 to 52 and 14 to 13, with explicit lists; changes which municipalities face assessments and related budgets.

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Bill Summary · S 2629

Summary — S.2629 (filed as “An Act adjusting the MBTA assessment”)

Note: The bill text you provided is for a Massachusetts bill titled “An Act adjusting the MBTA assessment” (filed 3/7/2025 by Sen. Cindy F. Friedman). This conflicts with the separate title you listed (about New York tree planting). This summary covers the Massachusetts MBTA-related bill in the provided text. Please confirm if you instead wanted a summary of the New York tree-planting measure.

Purpose / Intent

The bill updates statutory definitions and cross‑references in several chapters of the Massachusetts General Laws related to MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority) assessments and municipal classifications under chapter 161A. Its primary effect is to reclassify and renumber two defined groups of municipalities — changing the count and explicit lists of municipalities that fall into each group — and to update related statutory references throughout affected chapters.

Key provisions / changes

  • Amend multiple statutory sections (chapters 6C §2; 40A §1A; 160 §147; and numerous sections of chapter 161A) to revise the labels, counts, and lists of municipalities used in MBTA-assessment and related statutes.
  • Replace references to:
    • “51 cities and towns” with “52 cities and towns”; and
    • “fourteen cities and towns” (or “14 cities and towns”) with “13 cities and towns”.
  • Insert explicit lists for the two redefined groups:
    • “52 cities and towns” (the bill’s explicit list of 52 municipalities): Arlington, Bedford, Beverly, Braintree, Burlington, Canton, Cohasset, Concord, Danvers, Dedham, Dover, Framingham, Hamilton, Hingham, Holbrook, Hull, Lexington, Lincoln, Lynn, Lynnfield, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Marblehead, Medfield, Melrose, Middleton, Nahant, Natick, Needham, Norfolk, Norwood, Peabody, Quincy, Randolph, Reading, Salem, Saugus, Sharon, Stoneham, Swampscott, Topsfield, Wakefield, Walpole, Waltham, Wellesley, Wenham, Weston, Westwood, Weymouth, Wilmington, Winchester, Winthrop and Woburn.
    • “13 cities and towns” (the bill’s explicit list of 13 municipalities): Belmont, Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Medford, Milton, Newton, Revere, Somerville and Watertown.
  • Conforming edits throughout chapter 161A to reflect the new counts/names where they are referenced (sections 7, 7A, 9, etc.), and similar edits in chapters 6C, 40A, and 160.

Who is affected

  • The named municipalities (the two groups listed above) — their classification for MBTA assessment and any statutory rights or duties tied to those groupings.
  • The MBTA and the Commonwealth entities that administer or compute municipal assessments under chapter 161A (potentially affecting assessment allocations and governance-related appointments where eligibility or representation is tied to those groups).
  • Municipal taxpayers and budgets in municipalities whose classification changes — depending on how assessment formulas or apportionments are applied under existing law.

Procedural status & timeline (from provided record)

  • Bill text filed / docketed: March 7, 2025 (S. 2629 / Senate Docket No. 2739).
  • Sponsor/petitioner in the bill text: Sen. Cindy F. Friedman (Fourth Middlesex).
  • Legislative actions (selected entries from provided history):
    • Introduced in the Senate and read twice (dates in 2025).
    • Referred to the Committee on Transportation; later readings show referral to Finance; hearing scheduled for 11/04/2025 (1:00–5:00 PM, A‑2) per the provided calendar.
    • Other entries in your metadata (sponsors Raphael Warnock, John Barrasso, John Liu; alternate titles; earlier referrals) conflict with the file text and may reflect a different bill/session or data-entry error.

Notes / considerations

  • The bill is largely technical and administrative: it changes which municipalities are in statutory categories and updates cross-references. The substantive fiscal impact depends on how chapter 161A uses those groupings to allocate MBTA assessments or determine municipal responsibilities; this bill does not itself spell out new assessment formulas.
  • Because your supplied metadata and the bill text conflict (different title, sponsors, jurisdictions), confirm which measure you want summarized if you intended the New York tree‑planting bill instead.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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