#2022-15 July 15, 2022

House Finalizes Economic Development Bill

On Thursday, after working its way through nearly 800 amendments during two days of formal sessions, the House unanimously approved a $4.2 billion economic development bill that uses a portion of the state budget surplus and federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).  During debate on the package, representatives adopted four large, consolidated amendments, which collectively added nearly $480 million in additional spending to the measure.  Overall, the bill, H 5007, now calls for $1.4 billion in bond authorizations and $2.8 billion in combined fiscal year 2022 surplus and American Rescue Plan Act spending.

MBA sent a letter to House members raising concerns with several amendments harmful to the industry and we were pleased to see all six be rejected by the House.  The amendments, which included policy changes on debt collection and credit card surcharges, also included three proposals to impose real estate transfer taxes on certain residential and commercial property sales.  All these proposals ultimately failed to gain any legislative momentum during the House’s two-day debate.

To view the Association’s letter to the House, click here. To view the final House economic development bill, please click here.

Budget Negotiators Expect Deal Monday

On Thursday, two weeks after the new fiscal year started, House and Senate negotiators announced that they have reached an agreement on the fiscal year 2023 budget and expect to bring it to the House and Senate for final passage on Monday.

Both House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz (D-Boston), Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues (D-Westport), their respective vice-chairs, Representative Ann-Margaret Ferrante (D-Gloucester) and Senator Cindy Friedman (D-Arlington) and Republican Ranking Members Representative Todd Smola (R-Warren) and Patrick O’Connor (R-Weymouth) have been working to resolve the differences between the House and Senate versions of the nearly $50 billion state budget (H 4701 and S 2915) since June 8.  Fiscal year 2023 began July 1 and Massachusetts is operating with a temporary budget until legislators pass a final budget that is signed by Governor Baker.

As we reported previously, the branches adopted budgets with similar spending levels -- $49.76 billion in the House and $49.92 billion in the Senate -- but the two bills took different approaches to that spending and each branch included its own suite of policy proposals.

If the House and Senate both approve the conference committee report Monday, Governor Charlie Baker’s 10-day review window would end around July 28, depending upon when the bill reaches his desk.  That would give the Legislature a short window just before the July 31 end of formal sessions to override any potential vetoes or to address gubernatorial amendments while addressing a host of other business.