Voting reforms, COVID relief ahead

Massachusetts House lawmakers will wade through more than 1,100 proposed amendments covering everything from COVID-19 relief to restricting the governor’s pandemic power when debate opens next week on their $47.6 billion budget plan.

Policy proposals lawmakers are trying to slip into the fiscal 2022 budget range from slapping a surtax on opioid manufacturers looking to sell their drugs in the Bay State to requiring voters to show identification at the ballot box.

State Rep. Nick Boldyga’s voter-ID amendment — which also exists as one of the numerous voting reform bills on Beacon Hill — comes as GOP lawmakers nationwide move to change election laws in ways that could restrict voting.

But Boldyga, R-Southwick, noted similar voterID laws in New Hampshire and Rhode Island and called it a “commonsense, nonpartisan issue.”

Other election-reform proposals include one from House Minority Leader Brad Jones, RNorth Reading, to create a commission to study the cost and efficacy of the pandemic-induced expansion of voting options last year.

Medford Democrat Rep. Paul Donato called broadbased mail-in voting a “success” that should be continued — and filed an amendment that would extend the expansion, already in place through June, into 2022.

Beyond election reforms, Boldyga filed an amendment mirroring his bill to limit the governor’s executive powers under a prolonged state of emergency in part by placing 30-day sunsets on emergency orders.

Other amendments like a $5 million COVID-19 burial fund pitched by Rep.

Nika Elugardo, D-Boston, would pump up aid to communities still suffering amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Elugardo’s grant fund would help low-income families earning up to 200% of the federal poverty level — or about $53,000 for a family of four — cover funeral costs up to $8,000 for family members who die from COVID-19.

“People are dying, they have lost their jobs, their kids have lost their jobs, their parents have lost their jobs — it’s always very stressful to pay for funeral expenses and even more so in this time,” Elugardo said. “We’re looking to take some of that stress away.”