“We kept trying and trying to engage and just ran against brick walls,” the North End Democrat said in August.
After the two sides reached a compromise on the nearly $4 billion bill, Michlewitz told the Globe the package that emerged was “well worth the effort and the wait.”
He said the package will be a boon to the state’s economy by targeting the industries that “will continue to become very important to the growth of the overall economy [here].”
The bill, dubbed the “Mass Leads Act,” follows months of closed-door talks between leaders in the House and the Senate. The agreement was announced just two days after Election Day, guaranteeing lawmakers would approve it during a lame-duck session, the very situation a decades-old rule governing the chambers was designed to avoid.
House leaders are planning to call representatives back to the State House for a special formal session this week to approve this bill, a necessary step because the bill includes bonding measures, which require roll call votes. The Senate’s approval will likely follow, though the Senate’s rules allow members to participate in roll call votes remotely.
House members had not moved to come back for a special formal session as of Tuesday afternoon.
House and Senate leaders have been negotiating for months over the bill, which was the most high-profile proposal lawmakers failed to finish before they wrapped up formal sessions over the summer. The day after they gaveled out, Governor Maura Healey publicly pressured lawmakers to return to Beacon Hill to finish the bill — a major priority of the governor’s.
The soccer stadium language initially included in the Senate’s version of the bill, had been closely watched in part because this marked the third time project supporters have tried to secure approval to remove the 43-acre stadium site from what’s known as a designated port area, where only industrial uses are allowed. The Kraft Group for years has searched for a property in or near Boston to build a stadium for the Revs and move them out of Gillette Stadium, which the Revs share with the New England Patriots. That hunt, as of late, has zeroed in on a shuttered power plant across the Mystic River from Charlestown, and across the street from the Encore Boston Harbor casino.
Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria has been championing the language, but Boston officials, including Mayor Michelle Wu, chafed at the proposal, lamenting the city was left out of negotiations between the Kraft Group and Everett. The Wu administration is particularly concerned about the potential impact on traffic in Charlestown.
To address this, the latest language to remove the power plant land from the DPA now includes a provision requiring the Krafts to secure a community benefits agreements with Everett and with Boston; if an agreement can’t be reached with Boston, the issue would be resolved by an independent arbitrator. A community benefits agreement would include items to sweeten the deal, such as land for a public park or money for a community center.
“It’s been a long but healthy process,” said Steve Tocco, a lobbyist at ML Strategies who represents Kraft Group and Wynn Resorts, which owns both the casino and the stadium site. “We look forward to having a real chance to put this together.”
In a statement ahead of the bill’s release Tuesday, Wu said she is “grateful to the Legislature for recognizing the need for Boston to be included in discussions of this major proposal.”
“We look forward to learning the details of this proposal and working on behalf of Boston residents to represent community needs at this site,” she said.
The bill also includes language restricting how much state money officials can spend to improve the stadium’s site. Even with the Legislature’s approval, the stadium proposal still needs to undergo extensive state and local permitting, in addition to the mandated negotiations with Boston officials.
The bill would reauthorize a steady stream of state spending for the life sciences sector that began under former governor Deval Patrick’s administration, while the clean-tech funding in the bill would give a significant boost for that sector, including up to $30 million a year in tax credits for climate-tech businesses. Also included: $100 million to stoke the artificial intelligence sector.
State Senator Barry Finegold, the lead negotiator on the Senate side, said the bill is intended to grow sectors where Massachusetts is already a leader.
“The areas that we’re winning at, we want to grow that lead,” Finegold said. “Here in Massachusetts, we can’t get comfortable. We have to continue to compete. We have to continue to grow. We have to make this state very attractive for businesses to not only start here but to stay here.”
Brian Johnson, president of the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council, said Tuesday that while “it didn’t happen when we were hoping,” the bill’s expected passage is “timely” and “important.”
The injection of funds into the life sciences sector represents a “generational investment” in up-and-coming areas such as robotic surgery, advanced organ transplants, and neurotechnology — all areas where New England’s “brain belt” thrives, Johnson said.
“We have written the blueprint for other states, and many of the things we have done over the last 15 years have been very good,” he said. “But it’s time to invest in a seasoned product and cement our place.”
Jim Rooney, chief executive of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, agreed. He said he expects the new climate-tech funding to generate a similar reaction to the Legislature’s decision to support the life sciences sector in 2008, which received nationwide attention.
“I think that sends a signal to the rest of the country who are also aiming to compete in that industry that Massachusetts is serious about it,” Rooney said of clean-tech. “I expect that the country will take notice that Massachusetts is getting in the game in a big way.”
The bill included several policy riders and provisions, as well. Among the ones that made it into the final version of the bill were:
Several policies were also axed in the process. Those that did not make the cut include:
- A provision to bring back “happy hour” drink discounts
- Tax credits for the computer game industry
- A policy change to raise the age of juvenile jurisdiction to include 18-year-olds, meaning they would be tried as juveniles instead of adults for certain crimes
Samantha J. Gross can be reached at samantha.gross@globe.com. Follow her @samanthajgross. Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.
