A sudden Senate push to allow higher passenger fees on Cape and Islands ferry trips fizzled out in the House.
In the final session of the two-year term, the Senate Ways and Means Committee on Monday released a bill enabling passenger fees to rise from 50 cents to $1 per trip, down from a $2 increase featured in previous drafts.
Supporters of the higher fee say it’s part of an effort to generate revenue to help communities cope with rising costs associated with the heavy traffic and usage that comes with hosting a ferry terminal operation.
Committee members at 11 a.m. Monday were given one hour to vote on the bill (S 3016), and it was pushed through the Senate on a voice vote by 1:30 p.m.
The branches met until after 1 a.m. Tuesday, moving dozens of bills to Gov. Maura Healey’s desk, but the so-called embarkation fee bill never returned from the House.
Sen. Julian Cyr, a Democrat, who represents the Cape and Islands, supported the fee increase in testimony submitted to the Revenue Committee.
Ditto for Tisbury Select Board Chair Roy Cutrer, who said Steamship Authority vessels were expected in 2023 to move more than 2 million passengers, 428,000 automobiles and 146,000 trucks.
In July 2023 testimony on the bill, Cutrer cited rising costs ranging from dredging to road repairs and additional police, fire and traffic patrols.
He wrote that 19 years “is too long for a fee to remain static when the costs that embarkation fee is supposed to cover have increased exponentially during that same time.”
