A little more than a month ago, we predicted in this space that the backlog of major, crucial bills that piled up toward the end of the legislative session would get short shrift, since lawmakers would be consumed with trying to pass the perennially late state budget.
Unfortunately, the month of July played out exactly as we predicted, with major pieces of legislation left unfinished, and the employers relying on those bills left out to dry.
Even in one of the few bills that did pass — the $5.16 billion housing bond bill — there’s at least one questionable measure that may or may not have been the result of a sloppy, rushed process: The creation of a $50 million fund for housing development, with more than a quarter of it inexplicably earmarked for a single Allston project.
Yet while the housing bill was one of three passed before the end of formal sessions last month, at least 16 other significant bills did not, according to the State House News Service’s tracker.
One of the biggest disappointments for businesses was the failure to pass the $3.5 billion economic development bill, which would have reauthorized investments in the life sciences industry and launched similar support for the climate tech industry. This bill had been championed by Gov. Maura Healey, and the House version maintained the $500 million investment in the state’s Life Sciences Center, but the Senate had sought to slash that by more than half and the two sides could not reach a compromise.
The president of the state’s biotech industry group, Kendalle Burlin O’Connell, said in a LinkedIn post after the formal legislative session ended with no agreement that she “continue(s) to be disappointed with the Senate and its prolonged inability to embrace the value that this industry has for the commonwealth and patients.”
Of course, lawmakers could still return to Beacon Hill to try to pass the legislation during informal sessions. Earlier this week, House Speaker Ronald Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka said they are willing to do so, but it’s not a simple fix: a single objection can stall a bill’s progress and lawmakers cannot take roll call votes, which are needed for the bond authorizations that anchor the economic development bill.
What’s more, that would do nothing for the other bills left unfinished, such as expanding the number of liquor licenses in Boston; cleaning up the mess in which the Cannabis Control Commission finds itself; or overhauling the health care system, in part to prevent private equity owners from wreaking havoc the way Steward Health Care executives have brought on a full-blown crisis over the past year.
We are by no means the first or only voice to bemoan the dysfunction on Beacon Hill that continues to hamper our state’s efforts to take bold action. But this year’s failures are particularly egregious, especially as lawmakers also try to dissuade voters from approving a ballot question this fall that would allow for greater scrutiny of its operations via the state auditor.
We hope voters won’t forget what’s taken place, and that they hold their elected officials accountable at election time.