State Sen. Jake Oliveira sat down with hosts Chris Maza and Tyler Garnet on the latest episode of “So That Reminds Me.”
Reminder Publishing photo by Dennis Hackett
On the latest episode of “So That Reminds Me,” state Sen. Jake Oliveira sat down with co-hosts Chris Maza and Tyler Garnet to talk about everything going on in the Hampden, Hampshire and Worcester district.
In this week’s conversation, the Ludlow Democrat talked about the challenges of having a district with broad needs, the state’s fiscal year 2026 budget, the work going on in the Legislature and the challenges of working with the federal government.
Oliveira explained the unique challenge he faces in a large district with several towns and cities.
“It’s great to have the local government experience because you can talk to a select board member, a town administrator or school superintendent or a school committee member about their community and those individual needs. It makes it challenging because I don’t have a population center in my district,” Oliveira said.
He explained that while Ludlow has the largest population of the towns he represents at 21,000, that represents just over 12% of his district.
“It adds into a lot of diversity, which allows me to be, I think, an effective legislator because I can understand the urban issues that places like Springfield and Chicopee are facing, I can understand the suburban issues that places like East Longmeadow and Longmeadow really gravitate towards and Wilbraham, and I can also understand the rural issues in places like Hampden, Warren or Granby,” Oliveira said.
While he mentioned that Massachusetts was the first state to institute universal health care and the state is number one in healthcare in the country, Oliveira said state revenue is not growing as fast as healthcare costs — the number one expense in the budget — which makes it challenging to fund other needs.
“Finding ways to try to contain those costs is something that’s essential because that 55% of our budget continues to crowd out all the other priorities we want to invest in like our public schools, like our roads, like our bridges, like our highways, like our public transportations systems, like East-West Rail,” he said.
While healthcare is a significant expense, Oliveira said that the number one employer in his district is Baystate Health with over 5,100 employees, followed by the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
“So, healthcare and education are really the areas that the state plays a real significant role in, and I think this FY26 budget really built on some of those things to try to invest in areas that drive our employment cycle, but also improve the quality of life,” he said.
He said another important part of the budget was an increased investment in regional public transportation.
“PVTA is free for users now, and so many people, particularly low-income folks, rely on PVTA to get from work to work, to get to doctor’s appointments, to get to the grocery store, to get their kids to school … That was all invested in significantly in this budget,” he said.
One part of the budget that Oliveira called a “game changer” was the reformation of the commission that revises the Student Opportunity Act funding formula for rural communities.
“So, communities like East Longmeadow, Hampden, Wilbraham, Longmeadow, South Hadley, Granby, can get the changes to that funding formula necessary so they don’t have to go to the voters locally for an override in order to fund their schools,” he said.
Oliveira also discussed the difficulties of working with the federal government in President Donald Trump’s second term.
“We don’t have a reliable partner in the federal government, especially in the White House, but also a complicit Congress, not our representatives in Massachusetts who are continuing to fight for resources for our region and for New England in general, but it’s very challenging when you’re trying to plan when you see cuts being announced to so many groups of individuals,” he said.
Oliveira explained that the pullback of federal funds and their effects on veterans, small farmers, Medicaid and education are significant problems in the state. For Medicaid specifically, Oliveira said nearly 2 million Massachusetts residents rely on it.
“As the federal government begins to pull back resources toward Medicaid, it puts states like Massachusetts in an extraordinarily difficult position to budget because you don’t have a reliable federal partner anymore,” Oliveira said.
Oliveira also condemned the repeal of federal funding for programs like Job Corps., which help vulnerable populations.
“The last thing we should be doing are cutting programs to vulnerable individuals, cutting programs to individuals who, without these programs, could end up on the streets, could end up homeless and not be self-sufficient long-term for themselves and their families,” he said.
He said that federal cuts were also made to English as a second language programming, but the state set aside additional funding for these programs.
“The cost to individuals that these programs could cut would be devastating for our region. It would only add to people living in poverty, only add to homelessness in our area and would further, further degrade our economic opportunities for the workforce, for the employers that constantly ask for skilled employees,” he said.
When asked about the Fair Share Amendment, which imposes additional taxes on households with incomes over $1 million and was billed to have that money be spent on education and transportation, Oliveira explained that the money is placed into several different buckets for use and goes beyond K-12 funding.
“Take education for example, in education we have our K-12 school system, which is important, which is kind of the backbone of our economy, but we also have public higher education and we have needs there. We also have early childhood education and the amount that families are paying to provide a high-quality early childhood education for their children,” he said.
Oliveira also discussed the Legislature’s hesitancy to allow an audit from state Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s office when an independent audit of the Legislature is conducted each year.
“I think this has to do less with actual spending and more to do with politics. Unfortunately, we have someone that got elected to the state auditor’s position who is more interested in raising her personal profile than actually doing her job as a state auditor, unfortunately,” Oliveira said. “We want to comply with the spirit of the voters, which means showing our independent audit, getting it out there, we have made rules changes within the Legislature to make our processes more transparent.”
He added that he believes it is unconstitutional to have a member of the executive branch “to tell the people’s branch how to operate.”
“That’s a violation of not just the U.S. Constitution, but also our state constitution. That’s why the Senate has created a committee to try to work with the state auditor to try to come up with the solution, understanding these unconstitutional questions,” he said. “Unfortunately, we don’t have a willing partner in the state auditor who has refused to meet with this committee, who has refused to answer questions, so it’s unfortunate when the Legislature is trying to comply with the will of the voters and we have a person in the executive branch, a constitutional officer, not willing to come to the table and engage in it.”
To hear the full conversation and learn more about Oliveira and some of his favorite ice cream shops, head to thereminder.com/our-podcast or search for “So That Reminds Me” on your favorite podcasting platform. Stay tuned for the next episode on Aug. 8 when the crew sits down with organizers from local county fairs as fair season ramps up in August and September.
