A major borrowing bill, once stalled on Beacon Hill, was signed into law last month after reappearing and clearing the legislature. On Tuesday, it was the center of a ceremony touting its impact across the state, including western Massachusetts.
Surrounded by state leaders and dignitaries in Cambridge Tuesday, Governor Maura Healey spoke of the scope and breadth of the bill she first signed in mid-November.
Included is $4 billion for everything from climate and technology initiatives to the state's MassWorks infrastructure program to a library construction program and more.
Packed with bond authorizations, it was a sizable piece of legislation, with one of its biggest components being a $500 million capital re-authorization for the Commonwealth's "Life Sciences Initiative."
“We invested in our strengths, our values, our talent, through the Mass Life Sciences Initiative, and the bet paid off,” Healey said, referencing the initiative’s history. “That is why we became a leader in defining so much of what we need as we move forward as a world - we're a global hub for so much right out of here.”
Since 2008, the state's made large long-term investments in the life sciences sector, including the initial Life Sciences Act signed by Governor Deval Patrick, establishing a 10-year, $1 billion investment. Similar investments were signed by former Governor Charlie Baker in 2018.
Also in the legislation - $400 million to support climatetech initiatives and tax incentives, along with $100 million for a "Massachusetts AI Hub to boost innovation and attract AI talent to the state," the Healey administration says.
Significant investments and earmarks are also coming to western Massachusetts.
On top of earmarks like $3.5 million for redevelopment work at the Ludlow Mills, Hampden, Hampshire and Worcester Senator Jake Oliveira of Ludlow says the legislation packs investments for the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
That includes supporting the expansion of its Department of Food Science and development of a “regional resilient and sustainable food innovation hub.”
“The University of Massachusetts, which has long been seen as a leader for food science - we've invested about $30 million in that within the economic development bill,” he told WAMC. “We also are investing in quantum as well, and that's an emerging industry which western Mass is ripe for development.”
The signed bill has language stating $40 million would be devoted to a “quantum innovation hub,” destined to be located in the Pioneer Valley.
Speaking with WAMC, lawmakers throughout western Massachusetts emphasized the UMass Amherst investments, including Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester Senator Jo Comerford.
The Democrat also pointed to significant codifications that came with the bill’s signing.
“This bill, and I'm pleased to be part of the push on this, has $100 million in bonding authorizations for rural economic development, then it sets up an office to be able to expend those funds, to be able to focus on that, and a commission to guide the office’s work, so it’s really a triple-win,” Comerford said in a phone interview.
According to Healey’s office, the bill “codifies and recapitalizes the Rural Development Program within the Executive Office of Economic Development,” – with funds devoted to supporting rural town needs and fostering economic development in them.
Another big codification win for western Mass lawmakers – the term “micro business” that might sometimes be open for interpretation.
Among the big items in the bill, the language devoted to the smallest of small businesses had been advocated for by lawmakers like Springfield Representative Carlos Gonzalez.
“It's the first time in the state’s history that we're codifying the word ‘micro business,’ into state statute, where we can really dedicate, strategically, funding, specifically and intentionally, to micro businesses, which is - a micro business in Massachusetts today, now will be a business with under 10 employees [and] no more than $250,000 in profit”
$10 million in the bill is also destined for the “growth capital division” of the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency. In consultation with the state’s "Microbusiness Development Center," the plan is to provide grants to low and moderate-income entrepreneurs, assisting with leases, buying equipment and more.
Fellow supporter Hampden Senator Adam Gomez says such grants can be crucial. Given how micro businesses are so small in scale, he tells WAMC, procuring capital or investments can be a constant challenge.
“… what happens is ... small businesses and the determinations [of] how they're recognized - a lot of micro businesses get left in the fold, and they don't get … the kind of opportunity to be looked at as a as a business that can become bankable, or can receive some of these resources, because they get swallowed up in the conversation,” he said.
Other big winners include MassWorks, an infrastructure program that supports projects across the state. The bill dished out a $400 million re-authorization for the program, as well as $150 million for the Massachusetts Public Library Construction Program, devoted to helping build, renovate, and expand public libraries, according to the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.
