WESTERN MASS. – The Massachusetts Legislature recently announced committee assignments for the 2021-2022 session. State Rep. Nick Boldyga was appointed to four committees.

He will serve on the Special Joint Committee on Redistricting, the Committee on Rules, the Committee on Financial Services and will serve as the ranking minority on the newly created Committee on Federal Stimulus and Census Oversight.

According to the legislature website, the Joint Committee on Redistricting will study a new division of the commonwealth into Congressional districts under the United States Constitution.

Boldyga said every 10 years, the U.S. does a census process, and part of that is each state looking at whether their population went up or down. The legislatures are then in charge of redrawing the congressional and state legislature maps.

While serving on the Committee on Rules, Boldyga and the other members will establish and recommend policy procedures for the General Court to consider all orders, resolutions, and petitions related to recess studies and rule changes.

The Committee on Financial Services will consider all matters concerning banks, banking institutions, credit unions, insurance companies insurance, motor vehicle insurance, and small loans.

The newly created Committee on Federal Stimulus and Census Oversight will be tasked with reviewing federal spending, including stimulus bills, block grants, and recommending ways the state can tap into additional federal resources.

Legislative Director and Adviser Joel Dusoe said the committee will also scrutinize census data and work closely with the Special Joint Committee on Redistricting.

“This year, obviously, with COVID going on, the committees, for the most part, are probably going to be virtual, and I want to make sure that people know that they should absolutely still be involved in the process if they want to. We want to hear from people; we want to hear the concerns, whether that be signing on to the meetings, submitting testimony, or whatever that may be. People’s concerns and thoughts about the redistricting process are very important, and they should make them known to the committee throughout the course of the next several months,” Boldyga said.

People who wish to express their concerns directly to Boldyga can send him an email at, Nicholas.Boldyga@mahouse.gov or call him at his district office number, 569-3137, ext. 103.

Boldyga has been fighting for small business assistance. A prepared statement reads that he called on the House and Senate leadership to act quickly to pass legislation that will assist the state employers struggling financially during the pandemic.

“Most of the people I heard from in the district, small business owners are struggling to make ends meet and struggling to stay open. A lot of them have permanently closed down,” he said.

The first bill he is working on is to ensure that Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) loans are not taxed as income. Boldyga expressed that businesses are struggling to make it week to week, and this should be a time where they give them a break.

The second bill that he supports is House Bill 55, an unemployment insurance rate freeze. Every year the unemployment insurance rates are adjusted for people who have had unemployment claims against their business. Boldyga said right now, with thousands of people on unemployment, each one of those employers would see the insurance tax jump from $539 to $858 per worker this year.

Boldyga said they are saying that the state should freeze those rates until the economy picks  back up, ensuring that employers do not have a more significant burden on them.

On March 11, the bills were merged into one, H89. According to Dusoe, the bill passed the House to be engrossed 155-0.