Gov. Maura Healey on Thursday received an even larger economic development package than the one she filed in March.
The House and Senate both accepted a conference committee report (H 5100) that emerged Tuesday night recommending $3.96 billion in long-term borrowing, with $500 million for life sciences and $400 million for climate technology.
The House voted 137-8 to accept the compromise bill, with Republican Reps. Nick Boldyga, David DeCoste, John Marsi, Joseph McKenna, Norman Orrall, Kelly Pease, Alyson Sullivan-Almeida and Steven Xiarhos cast dissenting votes. The Senate accepted the report on a voice vote. The House then voted 139-4 to enact the bill.
After rejecting a Republican-led attempt to reopen the bill for further amendments, the Senate approved the measure 39-1. Republican Sen. Ryan Fattman of Sutton cast the lone no vote.
The life sciences initiative continues a commitment that started under Gov. Deval Patrick and kept going under Gov. Charlie Baker. The bill adds health equity, biosecurity, digital health, and artificial intelligence to the mission of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, and raises the annual tax credit authorization for the life sciences industry from $30 million to $40 million.
Healey launched this year's economic development debate March 1 when she filed a $3.5 billion economic development bill (H 4459). The branches in June and July advanced their versions of the governor's bill but couldn't wrap up work on it by the July 31 end of formal sessions, necessitating the rare post-election formal sessions that are set to unfold Thursday.
The compromise bill's bottom line reflects multi-year borrowing authorizations, and adds to the menu of borrowing options already on the books and available to the executive branch. Healey's five-year capital plan totals $14 billion, with $242 million allocated for the Executive Office of Economic Development in fiscal 2024, and $1.2 billion for the office over the full five years.
As the Senate awaited the bill's arrival from the House early Thursday afternoon, Sen. Barry Finegold — one of the lead conferees who worked on the final product — said everyone should feel "comfortable" with the amount of bonding authorizations contained in the package. The Andover Democrat said he was assured of the measure's affordability by Healey's budget office.
"One of the first questions I did ask [Administration and Finance] when we were doing this bill was, can we afford it? Because it is a real concern about how much we are borrowing at the state. They assured me we could. They also assured me that our bond rating would not be affected negatively by doing this. And understand that, with most bonding, it's all authorization. So they do have the ability that if things get murky, they can pull back," he said.
Sen. Sal DiDomenico praised both the inclusion of investments in the life sciences industry — his mother was an ALS patient who benefited from new treatments — and the pathway for a new pro soccer stadium in Everett.
"Surprise, surprise, I'm going to talk about a soccer stadium right now. We have been working on this issue for almost two and a half years, with the Senate president standing by our side throughout that entire process," DiDomenico said.
DiDomenico said the proposed Kraft/New England Revolution project on the Mystic River waterfront would help clean up an area "where heavy industry has found a home for so long." The Everett Democrat called it "a new day for us."
Sen. Michael Brady of Brockton celebrated the inclusion of up to $2 million in borrowing authorization for the development of a "tunnel program" honoring abolitionist Frederick Douglass in the areas of Boston, Brockton, and New Bedford to "create connectivity to places of public significance and the underground railroad."
Both Brady and Sen. Walter Timilty of Milton said they were excited to see project labor agreement language included in the end result. The bill would authorize municipalities and other government entities to enter into PLAs, which often call for only union labor on projects.
PLAs will "create, obviously, stability and peace with our construction around the commonwealth," Timilty said, "with municipalities and our building trades, and obviously we'll allow our building trades and our cities and towns to flourish in such a way that will spur on economic development."
