SOUTH HADLEY — During a short appearance at Tuesday’s Select Board meeting, state Rep. Dan Carey gave his farewell as South Hadley’s representative with a short recount of his work this session tackling Chapter 90 and Chapter 70 funding, as well as advocating for grant funding for the town.

State Sen. Jake Oliveira was also present, and used the opportunity to explain upcoming legislation he is working on, as well as his work fighting book banning through the Freedom to Read Bill.

“Just on behalf of the Senate side — we usually don’t praise the House whatsoever — so this is a rare occasion,” he said. “Thank you, Dan, for being such a great partner for the communities you serve.”

Carey, who is giving up his House seat to run unopposed for Hampshire County Clerk of Courts, said he has secured $3 million for the town just in the past six months, according to Town Administrator Lisa Wong.

“As far as I’m concerned, I’m on the clock until Dec. 31,” Carey said.

Most recently, Carey secured $50,000 to update the Ledges Golf Course Development Plan. He also touched on two pieces of legislation passed during the current legislative session: an overhaul of the state’s firearms laws, which put stronger regulations on unregistered guns and adopted “red flag” laws, and the Affordable Homes Act, which will add 65,000 homes to the commonwealth.

The two legislators also spoke about a bill signed by Gov. Maura Healey on Tuesday that allows the state to leverage $750 million in interest from the state’s stabilization fund to more aggressively go after $17.5 billion in federal funds. As Oliveira explained, instead of using operating money or municipal funds to meet the matching requirements for certain federal grants, the interest from the stabilization funds will be used as matching requirements from the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the CHIPS & Science Act.

“(This) could be a benefit not just to the commonwealth as we pursue those federal funds, but our 351 cities and towns that also require some skin-in-the-game dollars to access those federal dollars,” Oliveira said.

Oliveira also noted some minor changes in the Chapter 70 and Chapter 90 formulas that could bring in more state funding for schools and roads. While he mentioned that some of the language in this year’s budget will begin to close the education funding gap for suburban and rural communities, Oliveira did not specify what language was included. He added that more money this year was invested into the infrastructure budget to address roads and structures impacted by climate change, such as culverts wearing away from the increased rainfall in the region.

Wong requested Oliveira explain the Freedom to Read Bill, a piece of legislation he filed with state Rep. Aaron Saunders after a Ludlow School Committee member filed a motion to ban any book that depicts sex-related content in school libraries, ranging from health picture books to young adult fiction. According to Oliveria, Massachusetts is third in the country for the number of book challenges in public libraries and schools, specifically relating to content around race and LGBTQ+.

The legislation, currently working its way through the Senate, gives librarians the exclusive jurisdiction to decide what reading materials are age-appropriate for students, and creates a fund to defend librarian’s decisions in court.

“Obviously parental rights are important, however a universal ban on a book really limits the information for children that might want to see themselves reflected in a books,” Oliveira said.

The visit ended with some final comments from Carey about South Hadley’s efforts to apply for highly competitive state grants that Carey fights just as hard for.

“You’re seizing these opportunities,” he said. “You’re out here fighting for it and it’s our job to fight with you.”

Emilee Klein can be reached at eklein@gazettenet.com.