Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll speaks to reporters at an event announcing a large new wind energy contract on Sept. 6, 2024. Photo by Sam Doran | State House News Service
While Gov. Maura Healey told reporters Tuesday that the Legislature is “still hard at work” and “getting things done,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll urged a group of municipal officials to put pressure on their lawmakers to wrap up work on the earmark-laden economic development bill that stalled out more than a month ago.
“Still not over the goal line yet,” Driscoll said of the multi-billion-dollar economic development package, one of several major bills that the House and Senate left undone at the Aug. 1 end of formal sessions.
“So to the extent that you’re talking to your legislators, just reminding them the importance of those pieces for you, and what it means to your community, would be really meaningful to help us make sure that that actually gets completed,” the Salem Democrat said Tuesday at a meeting of the Local Government Advisory Commission in Easthampton.
We lieutenant governor reported “getting very promising signals from the Legislature” and said that she and Healey “and all of our teams are really pushing hard” on both the economic development borrowing package and on a clean energy siting and permitting reform bill.
“That would mean the Legislature will have to come in to have a formal session, at least for economic development because of the bonding. Why that might be important to you, besides all the projects that are stuffed in there, local projects and earmarks, it also includes all the authorizations for some of the things that we’re used to, like MassWorks and other key initiatives and programs for communities,” Driscoll added. “So we’re committed to trying to get it done, and I think legislative leadership is, too – just not there yet.”
Also at the LGAC meeting, Economic Development Secretary Yvonne Hao offered her own assessment of the economic development bill’s fate.
“We just ran out of time” before the end of July, she said, adding that “the governor, and the speaker, and the Senate president and all the different folks I’ve talked to are very committed to coming back and making sure we get this important bill passed.”
Healey administration officials say that, by not passing the bond bill, the state is running the risk that other states will pass Massachusetts in life sciences, climate technology, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing. They note that competitor states are pursuing Massachusetts-based companies, and many companies in AI and climate technology are moving quickly to decide where to locate and may not wait for Massachusetts to pass incentives.
At Boston University after a climate conference with other New England governors and Canadian premiers, Healey told reporters the Legislature was “still hard at work,” pointing to lawmakers’ delivery of three compromise bills to her desk in the time since formal sessions ended this summer, with plenty still left on their to-do lists.
At the end of July, lawmakers adjourned formal sessions until 2025 without compromises on several topics they had deemed important, including hospital oversight, prescription drug pricing, and substance use disorder.
In addition to economic development and clean energy legislation, another unresolved priority on the administration’s to-do list is Healey’s bill to leverage interest from the state Stabilization Fund to apply for matching federal funds.
The Boston Globe ran an editorial in August headlined “If they can’t lead, why should our legislative leaders keep their exalted posts?” questioning if House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka should step down amidst mounting frustration.
Asked about the editorial Tuesday and if the Legislature should consider new leadership, Healey replied: “No, not at all.”
Negotiators reached informal session agreements on bills related to maternal health, nursing home oversight, and a major injection of new liquor licenses for Boston — all of which were passed without a quorum in either branch and sent to Healey’s desk over the last few weeks.
“In fact, just look at the last few weeks, I’ve personally had the opportunity to sign a number of pieces of legislation. That includes after the legislative session, the formal session, closed. So you know, they’re still hard at work. They are getting things done,” Healey said.
In Easthampton, Driscoll said the administration wants to make another push in the future on its Municipal Empowerment Act, which would have given municipalities expanded local options to raise meals and hotel taxes.
While this session’s bill would not have directly raised any tax rates, it would have opened the door for individual municipalities to more easily do so, and that idea landed with a thud in the Legislature during an election year when the cost of living is a top-of-mind issue.
The administration is talking about policy proposals that could feature in a “second” iteration of the bill, Driscoll said, such as “internal conversations about ways we could improve speed enforcement and traffic enforcement, and thinking about technology.”
Driscoll urged municipal officials to get in touch with her or Juan Gallego, her deputy chief of staff, if they have thoughts “as we think about building better mousetraps for Municipal Empowerment Bill 2.” Those ideas can include region-specific needs “or things tied to this municipal empowerment bill that might help us better make the case,” she said.
