A Better City Celebrates the Passage of the Economic Development Bond Bill H.5100 (Mass Leads Act)
November 21, 2024
Earlier this month, the Legislature passed a $3.96B economic development bond bill An Act Relative to Strengthening Massachusetts’ Economic Leadership, also known as the Mass Leads Act, providing substantial capital bond authorizations alongside policy changes for economic growth in Massachusetts. On November 20th, Governor Healey signed the Mass Leads Act into law. This bill is intended to implement the recommendations of the 2023 economic development plan led by Secretary of Economic Development, Yvonne Hao, also referred to as Team Massachusetts.
Key authorizations within the Mass Leads Act include:
- Climatetech: $400M in capital to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) over the next 10 years.
- This includes $200M for innovation and the deployment of climatetech in Massachusetts via the Clean Energy Investments Fund, and $200M for the offshore wind industry via the Wind Industry Investment Trust Fund.
- The bill also includes a new tax credit for climatetech companies through a new program at MassCEC to invest in research, development, innovation, manufacturing, deployment of climatetech, and commercialization in the climatetech sector. The credit will be subject to a $30M annual cap.
- Life Sciences: reauthorizes the Commonwealth’s life sciences initiative through the allocation of $500M over 10 years to the Life Sciences Capital Fund.
- With the reauthorization of the life sciences initiative, also referred to as “Life Sciences 3.0,” the bill expands the mission of the Life Sciences Center to also include health equity, digital health, and artificial intelligence.
- The bill also increases the statutory cap for the existing Life Sciences Tax Incentive Program from $30M to $50M, with program extension through 2033.
- Public Infrastructure: $400M for the MassWorks Infrastructure Program for public infrastructure improvements requiring private development and job creation.
- Workforce Development:
- Establishes a new internship tax credit program to incentivize companies to take on interns from Massachusetts-based colleges. The $10M annual tax credit pilot program will provide an incentive of $5,000 or 50% of wages paid (whichever is less) per intern with a cap of $100,000 for employers. To be eligible, employers must show that the number of interns employed in the tax credit year exceeds the average number of interns employed over the previous 3 years (to encourage growth and expanded opportunities). This pilot program will include reporting requirements.
- Business Development & Competitiveness: The bill includes a host of authorizations for capital expenditures that will benefit businesses in Massachusetts, including $100M for the Applied AI Hub, $99M for advanced manufacturing via the Mass Tech Collaborative, $95M for the R&D Matching Grant Fund, $75M for the Massachusetts TechHub, $25M for the Robotics Investment Program, $25M for the Business Builds Capital Program, and $25M for small business technology grants.
- Small businesses: The bill also includes support for small businesses, including $35M for community development financial institutions to help disadvantaged and underserved businesses, $10M for Biz-M-Power to support small businesses with capital-related needs, small business workers compensation payment plans for self-insured groups, and a first-ever statutory definition for microbusinesses.
While bond bills like the Mass Leads Act authorize capital expenditures in different areas, it is still up to the discretion of the administration regarding which authorizations will actually be spent.
Thank you to all A Better City members who contributed to multiple comment letters on the Mass Leads Act; your voices and contributions are appreciated and helped to shape key pieces of climate and economic development legislation. For any questions, please reach out to Isabella Gambill or Tom Ryan.
