More than $600 million hangs in the balance as lawmakers go down to the wire negotiating a compromise bill to fund economic development and infrastructure projects across the state. There is no formal conference committee working to reconcile House and Senate versions of a $600 million-plus million economic development bill. Instead, negotiations are taking place informally, led by the Economic Development Committee chairmen, to produce a final bill by midnight.  

Among the issues being ironed out is the funding level for the popular MassWorks municipal infrastructure grant program, which the House funded at $300 million and the Senate funded at $200 million. The two sides may also be attempting to finalize reforms for non-compete agreements, an issue that died on the one-yard line two years ago and which was revived in the Senate’s economic development bill.  

Senators have said the language in their economic development bill hews closely to a “consensus model” bill endorsed by the Joint Labor and Workforce Development Committee, which is controlled by House members, and closely tracks language House Speaker Robert DeLeo worked out with stakeholders two years ago. “We’re saying, ‘Look, this is progress. Let’s get it done,'” Sen. William Brownsberger told the News Service.  

The House and Senate have had less than a week to hash out their differences — the Senate passed its version of economic development legislation on Wednesday — and a compromise could be one of the final bills to emerge before the midnight end of formal sessions.