Legislature passes economic development package

In the final hour of its formal session on July 31, the Legislature approved an economic development bill that includes bond authorizations for a number of programs for cities and towns, such as $500 million for the MassWorks program, $45 million for brownfields redevelopment, and $45 million for the Gateway Cities Transformative Development Fund.
 
The spending in the roughly $900 million, five-year bond bill (H. 4569) would be allocated largely through the state’s capital program.
 
The largest amount provided for in the bill, $500 million, would go to the existing MassWorks program to provide infrastructure grants. (For more information on this program, visit www.mass.gov/hed/economic/eohed/pro/infrastructure/massworks.)
 
Smaller amounts would go to a variety of business-friendly measures, including $71 million in capital grants for higher education-based innovation efforts and $45 million for a new grant program for workforce development training equipment.
 
The bill would make additional flexible spending available to the state’s Economic Development Initiative Program in cases of “extraordinary opportunity,” which would be defined by the number of jobs created. Otherwise, the fund would remain at $30 million.
 
It would also make changes to the Housing Development Initiative Program. It would establish a municipal tax-break program meant to encourage housing production. It also would enable cities and towns to create demand-based parking fees, and to use those fees to fund infrastructure improvements in downtown districts.
 
The bill includes language authorizing Community Benefit Districts, a concept supported by the MMA.
 
The bill would capitalize the Smart Growth Trust Fund, which the Baker administration argues would allow for more stable funding for cities and towns seeking to use the fund. The bill would also create a dedicated funding source for brownfields redevelopment, providing up to $45 million in re-capitalized funding.
 
The bill would make small changes to the state’s farmer-winery licensing process and establish a commission to study the feasibility of remaining on Eastern Standard Time.
 
The final bill did not include MMA-supported language from the Senate bill that would have reformed the room occupancy tax by adding a classification for “transient accommodations,” which was aimed at providing revenue from online services such as Airbnb.
 
The governor has 10 days to sign or veto the bill.
 
For the full text of the bill, visit https://malegislature.gov/Bills/189/House/H4569.