Today, the House of Representatives passed legislation to fund a $36 million COVID-19 Food Security Infrastructure Grant Program. Fisheries, farms, and other local food system businesses will be eligible for grants under the program to help them adapt to disruptions and to allow them to provide greater access to local food. Over the past several…
As fall begins and our formal sessions resume at the State House, I want to update you on some of the important work that is happening on Beacon Hill and around Cape Ann! First, some exciting news on education. The Joint Committee on Education released an education funding reform bill last week that fully implements…
Donald Trump’s trade war with China has economic salvos striking in places you’d never expect. Like, say, the retaliatory tariffs that are bursting over the New England lobster industry. In September 2017, US lobstermen shipped over 1,100 metric tons to China alone. Distributors selling more lobsters resulted in beneficial stable prices for lobstermen and more…
State Rep. Ann Margaret Ferrante, D-Gloucester, said the trade wars are hurting not just lobstermen but other sectors of the seafood industry connected to it, such as processors, wholesalers, supermarkets and restaurants. “The lobster is commodity that feeds a chain of industries,” she said. “You’re talking about a supply chain of about five industries that…
Representative Ann-Margaret Ferrante, of Gloucester, said in a June letter that the state’s lobstering industry “has become collateral damage in the Trump Administration’s trade war with China.” Ferrante has proposed a bill that would require state officials to prepare an annual strategic report for the state’s commercial fishing and shellfish industry. The evaluation would come…
The fiscal year 2020 budget also includes $580,000 in amendments authored by Tarr and state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, D-Gloucester, to fund Cape Ann initiatives in public safety, water quality, economic development, marine genomics research, the Blue Economy, as well as community celebrations in Gloucester and Essex. Read more on the Gloucester Daily Times website→
This week, I joined my colleagues in the Massachusetts House of Representatives to pass a balanced fiscal year 2020 budget that invests heavily in education, economic development, and local aid, strengthens Cape Ann’s local economy and celebrates its history. The funding in this year’s budget for Cape Ann is reflective of our area’s people, our…
Last week, I sent a letter requesting that the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Export Development hold a hearing on Cape Ann to determine the effects of the Trump Administration trade war with China on the Massachusetts lobster industry. I am concerned that two prominent Cape Ann seafood businesses, National Fish & Seafood and Pigeon Cove Whole Foods have recently shuttered…
In Boston, state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante of Gloucester pushed for a hearing in Gloucester by a joint committee of the Massachusetts Legislature on the Trump administration’s trade policies with China “and its effects on the Massachusetts lobster industry and corresponding ports.” In a letter to the leadership of the Joint Committee on Export Development, Ferrante…
Representative Ann-Margaret Ferrante (D-Gloucester) joined her colleagues in the Massachusetts House of Representatives to pass a balanced fiscal year 2019 Budget and the House Economic Development Bill which contain funds to support our fishermen, create new opportunities for those seeking a decent living, help protect the most vulnerable members of the Cape Ann community, and…
