State poised to redefine life sciences commitment

BOSTON, Mass. (SHNS)–Lawmakers negotiating a major economic development bill have just over a week to strike a  compromise on a bond bill reauthorizing the state’s longstanding life sciences initiative.

The Senate favors a smaller borrowing and tax incentive package for the life sciences sector compared to the House and Gov. Maura Healey, and the differences need to be settled during closed-door negotiations. Conference committee members Reps. Aaron Michlewitz, Jerald Parisella and David Muradian, and Sens. Barry Finegold, Mike Rodrigues and Peter Durant met met for the first time Monday.

“I appreciate the work that went into both these packages from both the House side and the Senate side,” Michlewitz told conferees in the Senate Ways and Means Committee suite, before the panel went into private talks. “We’ve got some work to do to get through them.”

Michlewitz said the goal is to finish negotiations by July 31 and ship a compromise bill to Gov. Maura Healey.

During the final hours of formal sessions last term, lawmakers failed to reach a compromise on the economic development bill, which featured tax reform plans. Negotiations were scrambled over the prospect of Massachusetts needing to dole out $3 billion in tax relief under a nearly forgotten law, Chapter 62F.

This session’s conferees must also decide whether to include language paving the way for construction of a soccer stadium in Everett, a policy incorporated in the Senate bill but not the House’s. Unlike the House, the Senate bill would also raise the age of juvenile jurisdiction, allowing most 18-year-olds to be tried as juveniles instead of as adults, aside from those who commit crimes like murder.

Parisella would not say whether House conferees are open to discussing either the stadium or juvenile jurisdiction policies.

“There’s a lot more to the bill than that,” Parisella said when asked whether Everett would be getting a soccer stadium.

Senators approved $225 million in bonding to reauthorize the life sciences initiative for another five years, while the House and Healey want to steer $500 million into the sector for another decade. The Senate economic development package also does not raise the life sciences tax incentive cap from $30 million to $50 million per year, unlike the House and governor’s versions of the legislation.

Ahead of the conference committee meeting, Durant said he was willing to discuss a bigger investment into the life sciences.

“I think we’re open to anything right now,” the Spencer Republican said. “I don’t think the door should be shut on any of the issues that are in there.”

Healey spokesperson Karissa Hand did not say whether the governor is concerned about the conference committee pursuing a scaled-back life sciences commitment.

Ed Coppinger, head of government affairs at MassBio, said the trade group is “cautiously optimistic” that House and Senate negotiators will agree on a life sciences reauthorization that mirrors Healey’s proposal.

Coppinger said a 10-year investment sends a powerful signal to life sciences and biomanufacturing companies considering coming to Massachusetts, since the businesses would need several years to set up operations and specialized equipment here. He also warned that without boosting tax incentives, companies that already have a presence in Massachusetts may be motivated to expand in other states.

“We are a top economic driver in the commonwealth. We are starting to see expansion go throughout the state, and I think this industry just continues to grow and thrive, and it’s because of the Legislature, because of the public-private partnerships that has added to the success of the Massachusetts ecosystem,” said Coppinger, a former state representative. “We can’t give up on it now.”

Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, who helped the Healey administration develop its economic development plan, expressed concern to the News Service last week about the Senate’s more conservative life sciences investment, emphasizing Massachusetts must be able to fend off escalating competition from other states.

“Competitive means every day they’re trying to lure our businesses and our workers to our states,” said Ferrante, who’s not on the conference committee but is the chair of the recently revived Life Sciences Caucus .

“So the one thing that we cannot do — absolutely, positively cannot do — is allow them to steal what we have and to bring it to their state,” the Gloucester Democrat continued. “We need to make the investments that the House has proposed in order to keep them here and to make sure, as a lot of people have said, that we lengthen the lead that we have in the area and not sit on our laurels and let other people steal from us, compete with us, or do anything that diminishes what we have here in Massachusetts.”

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