#2023-3 January 20, 2023

Association Files Nine Bills for Consideration in the 2023-24 Legislative Session

This week, the Association filed 9 bills for consideration by the 2023-24 Massachusetts Legislature.  As of print, roughly 5,800 bills --  around 2,200 in the Senate and 3,600 bills in the House – have been filed before Friday’s timely filing deadline with that number expected to grow in the coming days. Along with refiling measures that did not advance last session, MBA filed new and revised bills addressing several issues, including:

• Mandating stronger standards for credit union membership by-law changes and ensuring that state-chartered credit unions are fulfilling their traditional mission, filed by Representative Frank Moran (D-Lawrence);
• Protecting Massachusetts banks against patent infringement claims, filed by Representative Edward Coppinger (D- Boston);
• Enhancing the state charter by making updates and revisions to several areas of state banking law, via our updated “mini-mod” bill filed by Representative Dan Cahill (D-Lynn);
• Correcting drafting issues contained in Chapter 482 of the Acts of 2014, the bank modernization law, filed by Representative John Lawn (D-Watertown);
• Imposing strong data security standards on retailers and other merchants, filed by Representative Michael Day (D-Stoneham);
• Increasing the penalties for bank robberies and allowing the check fraud cases to be consolidated into a single county, filed by Representative Tackey Chan (D – Quincy) and Senator Michael Rush (D-West Roxbury);
• Governing access to a person’s online accounts and assets when the owner passes away or loses the ability to manage the accounts, filed by Representative Jay Livingstone (D-Back Bay) and Senator Barry Finegold (D-Andover);
• Updating the use of bank name statute to reflect changes in technology and customer communication, filed by filed by Representative Dan Cahill (D-Lynn); and
• Enacting provisions to help facilitate electronic lending in the Commonwealth filed by Representative Dan Cahill (D-Lynn).

We have begun our review of the more than 5,700 bills filed in the House and Senate so far and we anticipate it will be several weeks before all bills are assigned to committees.  A more detailed summary of bills of concern will be highlighted in upcoming issues of the Beacon Hill Report.

Healey Starts Legislative Push with Eco-Dev, Road Bills

On Thursday, Gov. Maura Healey (D- Cambridge) announced plans to put before the Legislature a $987 million "immediate needs" bond bill for housing and economic development programs.

At a press conference in western Massachusetts, Healey discussed the first bill she's filing, saying it will "ensure that critical housing and economic development programs across the state can continue to serve the people of Massachusetts without interruption." It seeks to provide funds to existing infrastructure programs "that have exhausted existing resources," the administration said, including MassWorks and the Middle Mile Broadband program.

The administration also filed a bill on Thursday to authorize the state to borrow an additional $400 million to fund road and bridge work under the Chapter 90 program for the next two years. Cities and towns are seeking a minimum $600 million commitment over two years.

The nearly $1 billion bond bill authorizes funding for cities and towns, including targeted funds for rural and small towns to support libraries, seaport development, housing, tourism and planning, the governor said. It also seeks to bolster the broadband program, "which expands high speed internet to communities across the state, especially rural communities here in the Berkshires, and we understand how important the work is to make that real," Healey said. The bill allots $9.3 million for broadband infrastructure, particularly in central and western Massachusetts.

The bill includes $400 million for the MassWorks Infrastructure Program and an extension of its authorization into fiscal year 2028. MassWorks provides grants to municipalities for large infrastructure projects that support housing production, spur private development and create jobs. The program has helped fund more than 500 projects since its creation in 2011, according to the governor's office.

Healey's $400 million figure matches the amount included in a version of the nearly $3.8 million economic development bill that lawmakers tried to get passed before the end of formal sessions in July. Top Democrats ended up slicing borrowing authorizations, including for MassWorks, out of the spending bill that former Gov. Charlie Baker signed in November. Bond measures require a roll-call vote that is only possible in formal sessions.

Also cut from the final economic development bill last year was targeted tax relief that the House and Senate had agreed upon -- and Healey supported on the campaign trail – including Association-backed estate tax reform efforts. The governor included tax relief among her top priorities in her inaugural address and pointed to legislative leaders in her party who have also put the topic forward on the top of their to-do lists, but her administration's first two bills don't address the issue.

The bond bill the governor filed on Thursday does, however, include the topic of another of her campaign promises -- housing. The bill proposes $110 million in authorization for housing creation and preservation, including affordable rental housing, public housing, climate resilient housing, and transit-oriented development, according to her office. The Housing Stabilization Fund, Housing Innovations Fund, Smart Growth Housing Trust and Facilities Consolidation Fund are among the programs that would get additional authorization through this funding. Her first bill also includes $48 million for the repair and modernization of public housing, which the governor's office estimates would support about 80,000 residents across 230 municipalities.

In addition to the $400 million toward MassWorks, the legislation also proposes additional authorization for $34 million for the Underutilized Properties program, which is used for redevelopment of abandoned or underutilized properties; $5 million for the Rural and Small Town Development Fund, and $1 million for Community Planning Grants. It also earmarks $104 million for the Clean Water Trust to help finance municipalities' efforts to improve local water quality.

Healey said her administration also plans to file a more comprehensive bond bill later in the session.

Mobile Sports Betting Applicants Clear Licensing Hurdle

On Thursday, gaming regulators found all six prospective mobile sports betting operators unconnected to brick-and-mortar gambling centers preliminarily suitable for temporary licenses.

After nearly two weeks of application reviews and consideration, the Gaming Commission cleared Bally's Interactive, Betfair Interactive US (d/b/a FanDuel), Betr Holdings, Crown MA Gaming (DraftKings), Digital Gaming Corporation USA, and PointsBet Massachusetts to formally request a temporary license. The commission voted unanimously to find five of the six applications suitable and voted 4-1 on the suitability of Betr. In addition to the six applicants cleared Thursday to move ahead in the process, the Gaming Commission has also found five operators that will be tethered to one of the Category 1 licensees preliminarily suitable to conduct mobile wagering: WynnBet, Caesars, BetMGM, Penn Sports Interactive/Barstool Sportsbook, and Fanatics Betting & Gaming.

Massachusetts' sports betting law allows the commission to award a maximum of seven untethered mobile betting licenses, but despite early concerns that regulators could be deluged with a huge number of applications, the six operators cleared Thursday were the only ones to apply. The law also makes horse tracks and simulcast centers eligible to apply for in-person betting licenses, but the commission has not yet begun that process after hearing late last year from the state's simulcast centers that they were not quite ready to launch betting.

In-person betting is scheduled to begin Jan. 31 at the three facilities that secured so-called Category 1 licenses: Plainridge Park Casino in Plainville, MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor. Mobile betting will follow in early March.