Governor Maura Healey on Tuesday gave business leaders a glimpse of what to expect in her long-awaited economic development bill, and reminded them that Massachusetts can’t get complacent over its past successes.
Speaking to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Healey outlined priorities in the bill she’s expected to file later this week, without going into much detail about how much money will be set aside or how the various programs would work. Climate-tech and life sciences unsurprisingly topped the list: The Healey administration has been talking up both sectors almost since taking office early last year. After Healey files her proposal, lawmakers in the House and Senate will weigh in with their own versions in the coming months before reaching a compromise, likely before formal sessions end on July 31.
Healey’s bill would extend funding for the biotech and medical device industries for another 10 years through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. This legislation has been dubbed “Life Sciences 3.0″ by the industry because this is the second reauthorization since the program was first launched under then-governor Deval Patrick’s administration.
Her bill would also create a similar structure to support the state’s climate tech industry, presumably through a decade’s worth of funding for another quasi-public agency, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. The administration basically hopes to do for climate tech what the state has done for life sciences: using state funding to spark a wave of private investment and job growth. Healey wants to help clean-tech startups so they can stay and grow in Massachusetts, and also spur more manufacturing and workforce development partnerships, while doubling down on the state’s commitment to offshore wind power.
“In Massachusetts, we’re going to solve climate change through innovation because that’s what we do here,” Healey said.
Healey also wants to provide money to support her administration’s newly appointed artificial intelligence task force, which is charged with providing recommendations for how state government can be an effective and responsible leader in the implementation of AI. One of her stated goals: ensuring AI is a job creator in Massachusetts, not a job destroyer.
Other programs to be reauthorized include the state’s “MassWorks” infrastructure grants, as well as those overseen by the Seaport Economic Council, which supports projects in coastal communities. Healey pledged new funding for robotics and advanced manufacturing, and investments in the cultural and creative sectors to boost tourism. And she talked about another one of the administration’s goals: to make an online portal, dubbed “Front Door for Business,” so companies of any size can go to one place to find the state resources that are available to them.
These economic development bills are usually filed every two years, and depend heavily on state bonds — not general budget dollars — to fund programs.
Healey touched upon other themes in the speech, including the need to build more housing. She urged business leaders to put their support behind a housing bond bill, dubbed the Affordable Homes Act, that would commit $4 billion over time for various housing programs, and she urged those in the room to get engaged in their hometowns, particularly as many of them debate about how to add multifamily zoning districts per the state’s MBTA communities law.
“If there’s one thing above all others, that could derail us, it’s complacency,” she said. “We are at an inflection point and we need to take action or we risk falling behind.”
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.
