Beacon Hill legislators geared up Wednesday morning for what is likely to be a marathon final day of formal lawmaking, when pols from across the state will try to cram through major proposals that have largely sat dormant.
Nine separate panels of negotiators were still attempting to hash out compromises on high-profile bills touching on everything from veterans services to addressing the housing crunch in Massachusetts and economic development to clean energy.
Top Democrats shepherding a handful of those proposals were confident a day earlier that they could still reach a deal, though many declined to detail any potential sticking points as is custom during secret deliberations.
“We’re working well with the House, and we’re making the progress we hope to make,” said Sen. Will Brownsberger, a Belmont Democrat who is co-leading talks on a massive borrowing bill focused on housing. “I’m sure we’ll get to where we need to go.”
Senate President Karen Spilka said the “conference committees continue to move forward.”
“I know the Senate staff, the senators are working hard. You have some of them here continuing to trade proposals and rolling up their sleeves in the hopes of getting it still done. These bills are too important. Our residents deserve for us to resolve them, and I believe, and I’m hopeful, that we will still do that,” she told reporters Tuesday.
Formal lawmaking is scheduled to end by 12 a.m. Thursday morning but Beacon Hill has shown a tendency to ignore the clock and proceed into the early morning hours of Aug. 1.
During the end of formal lawmaking two years ago, legislators deliberated for roughly 23 hours starting on July 31, 2022 before calling it quits around 10 a.m.on Aug. 1, 2022. Last session there were seven negotiating panels by July 31, of which five managed to reach resolutions by deadline.
With less than 24 hours to go, here are some of the major bills stuck in negotiations.
Advocates, politicians, and residents from across Massachusetts have signaled time and time again that the cost and availability of housing is a top issue Beacon Hill needs to address.
Gov. Maura Healey, the House, and Senate responded in turn with varying versions of a borrowing bill that attempted to do just that.
Healey’s proposal clocked in at $4.1 billion and included a controversial push to grant cities and towns the ability to place an up to 2% tax on the portion of property sales over $1 million, or the county median home price, with the revenue generated from the feed dedicated to affordable housing.
Both the House and Senate scrapped the idea but backed the legalization of accessory dwelling units.
The House and Senate have each signed off multi-billion dollar borrowing bills aimed at spurring economic activity in Massachusetts.
The House released a $3.5 billion proposal in June while the Senate put forward a $2.8 billion version. Both commit millions to the life sciences and climate technology sector, though the two branches differ on how much and for how long to authorize investment programs.
The Senate tacked on a provision that would allow for the construction of a professional soccer stadium and waterfront park in Everett along the Mystic River. The House did not include the measure, which has drawn the backing of the Kraft Group, in their write-through of the bill.
House lawmakers also want to rename the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center after former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, a move the Senate did not pick up on.
Steward Health Care’s bankruptcy this year has threatened hospital services for thousands of residents across the state, a situation that prompted lawmakers to pass differing bills meant to address the crisis.
House lawmakers voted in May to ban the type of lease agreements between hospitals and health care real estate investment trusts that they argued helped push Steward into the red. The bill also bars certain contracts that allowed for the repossession of medical or surgical equipment without two months’ notice to regulators.
Senators backed off from an outright ban on the lease agreements and instead required an advanced heads up to regulators about the deals, who could then rework the agreements.
Senators passed a wide-ranging climate and clean energy bill in June that touched on everything from reigning in the use of natural gas to siting and permitting and expanding electric vehicle access to banning competitive electric suppliers.
Republicans took issue with the provisions curbing the use of natural gas in the bill and blocked it twice before it eventually passed the chamber.
House lawmakers took a more narrow approach and focused solely on siting and permitting reform, a move that likely set up difficult private negotiations.
Legislation expanding the number of liquor licenses in Boston is in the process of heading to closed-door talks. The House and Senate disagree on how many licenses to hand the city.
Other high-profile matters include bills dealing with long-term care, prescription drugs, veterans services, and an effort to make the state more competitive when applying for federal grants.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu also has several priorities lingering at the State House, including allowing the city to raise commercial property taxes and her effort to revamp a development and permitting agency.
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