The Massachusetts House of Representatives took up the Governor’s economic development bill and deliberated on over 600 amendments, including an amendment by Rep. Hogan to study transportation in the 495/Metrowest region. In his floor remarks introducing the bill, Rep. Jerry Parisella, co-chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, said the bill “includes more capital authorizations than the past three economic development bills combined, enabling us to make bold, targeted investments to promote growth across all regions and sectors of our economy.”
Included in the legislation:
- $3.4 billion in long-term bond authorizations, including $400 million for MassWorks public infrastructure grants, $150 million for municipal library projects, $100 million for an Applied AI hub, $100 million for the Rural Development Program, $100 million for the Seaport Economic Council grant program, $99 million for advanced manufacturing, $75 million for the Massachusetts TechHub and $10 million for alternative protein companies
- an additional $700 million in tax credits, including a five-year live theater tax credit pilot program aimed at steering pre-Broadway, pre-off Broadway, national tour launches and regional professional theater productions to Massachusetts
- major investments to reauthorize the life sciences initiative for another decade and make a parallel investment in climate technology
- Rep. Hogan’s amendment for $750,000 to conduct a land use & transportation study of the I-495 Corridor and MetroWest Region of the Commonwealth that reviews the current conditions of regional transportation in the region, establishes the future regional transportation, housing, and economic development priorities, and makes recommendations to improve the mobility of the region’s residents and workers & connect the regions major transit routes
- Policy reforms in the bill include empowering municipalities to require project labor agreements (PLAs); granting sales and use tax exemptions to eligible data centers, launching an educator diversity pilot program through an alternative teacher certification process, modernizing the civil service laws, and establishing a grant program to grow and diversify the pool of licensed clinical social workers.
In the same session, the House also approved Rep. Hogan’s bill, H.4350 An Act criminalizing sexual assault by fraud of a medical professional. The bill provides necessary updates to Massachusetts’ sexual assault laws and establishes protections for vulnerable patients and criminalizes medical or healthcare professionals who knowingly and falsely claim sexual contact for a medical purpose. It will now go to the Senate for their consideration.
