THE LATE WRITER Douglas Adams joked about how he loved deadlines, particularly the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
He was making light of his own penchant for procrastination, but his saying can also apply to Massachusetts legislators, who have made an annual tradition out of a late state budget.The new fiscal year starts July 1.
But an even bigger deadline looms: July 31, when the full-time Legislature ends its formal sessions, and incumbents, the vast majority of them running for reelection unopposed, flutter back to their respective districts. Informal sessions follow for the rest of the year, and it’s tougher to pass controversial legislation during those types of gatherings.
“It’s always been part of the process that no matter what you do, or who’s doing it, that there will be a lot of serious work left for the last few days of session,” said Marc Pacheco, a Taunton Democrat who is leaving the Senate after 32 years in the chamber.
He’s seen quite a few end-of-session scrambles come and go, and has some parting thoughts for how to do things differently. “There’s no reason why we have to wait for omnibus pieces of legislation to be created, largely behind the scenes, out of the view of the general public, when we could be taking up individual pieces of legislation that have already passed out of committee and are sitting, waiting for action,” Pacheco said.
But the Legislature is 395 years old, and it’s hard to expect something that ancient to change. And many of the bills will be worked on by the same small group of policymakers and staffers. “As we see, every session that can create bandwidth challenges,” said Doug Howgate, the head of the Mass. Taxpayers Foundation.
Here’s a look at some bills to watch, aside from a nearly $60 billion state budget that House and Senate negotiators need to hammer out, and potential action to head off any 2024 ballot measures.
Housing: Gov. Maura Healey’s $4.1 billion housing bond bill is the administration’s top priority for passage.
The bill, which seeks to make a dent in the lack of housing supply, would ease rules on accessory dwelling units, also known as ADUs or “granny flats,” and allow cities and towns to impose real estate transfer fees.
Speaking on the State House steps in front of the advocacy group Abundant Housing Massachusetts, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll on Wednesday exhorted its members to not allow lawmakers to “water down” the proposal.
As the rally broke up, word on Tremont Street was that House lawmakers are expected to release their version of the bill in the next week or so, though regardless of that, the expectation is a final version won’t come together until the final days of the session. “It’s pretty consistent that things tend to sort of hang out until the end when a lot of the decisions then are made,” Driscoll said.
Economic development: Healey offered up the “Mass Leads Act” as her economic development package, another bill that Driscoll name-checked as a top priority for the administration. For lawmakers, such bills could also be called the “Christmas in July Act,” as they can be loaded up like a Yule tree, stocked with goodies that they can tout when they’re back in their districts.
Healey’s version includes the reauthorization of the long-running life sciences initiative, including $1 billion in tax incentives stretching out over 10 years. Similarly, she’s also pitched a $1 billion, 10-year initiative that would attempt to make the Bay State the “climate innovation lab for the world.” A third element is $100 million for an applied artificial intelligence hub.
Health Care: Call this the “Two-Yacht Doc Act,” perhaps. With the financial implosion of Steward Health Care, the for-profit system led by Dr. Ralph de la Torre, House lawmakers moved to increase oversight of hospitals, as well as increase funding for those that serve low-income patients and people of color. Senate President Karen Spilka said her chamber will “take it up when we can.” Could it be combined with the prescription drug bill that the Senate passed last year?
Climate: The chairs of the Legislature’s energy committee say there’ll be a climate and energy bill, but details are scarcer than snowflakes during the last few New England winters. It’s expected to include multiple elements, which could include energy storage, building decarbonization, the MassSave energy conservation program, and fusion energy.
Everett soccer stadium: A bill making it easier for Everett city officials to bring a soccer stadium and a waterfront park to the Mystic River, across from Boston, is sitting in the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The bill would remove the parcel from being a “designated port area,” speeding up the approvals process, which would clean up a site currently occupied by a shuttered power plant, and score a goal for the New England Revolution, owned by Robert Kraft, which currently shares Gillette stadium with the Patriots.
Boston’s batch: Boston’s list of bills to watch includes the real estate transfer fee, a version of which is included in Healey’s housing bill.
A separate proposal sought by Mayor Michelle Wu would temporarily shift the property tax burden more towards commercial property owners in order to soften a potential jump for residential property owners. That proposal still has to clear the City Council before it can head to the State House.
There’s also a home rule petition, already moving on Beacon Hill this week, that remakes the Boston Planning and Development Agency. Wu has already moved to dismantle it in other ways, partly by moving its employees to a city planning department.
The legislation would abolish the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which has been doing business as the BPDA for years, and create a city government entity that retains the BPDA name. (Yes, it’s confusing.) As of Tuesday, the bill was sitting in House Ways and Means.
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