|
2005-2006 Legislative Session
Wins
Over the past two years, the Chamber has been directly involved in
significant issues that affect our members, and has successfully won passage of
laws that improve our economic competitiveness, while helping defeat laws that
would have harmed it. In light of these efforts, I wanted to provide you with an
end-of-session report on results.
Some of the Chamber’s policy achievements in the 2005-2006 legislative
session include:
o
Helping to shape the landmark health care
reform
o
Securing a streamlined permitting process
o
Winning passage of legislation aimed at
increasing the housing supply
o
Successfully advocating for landmark stem
cell legislation
o
Clearing the path for construction of new lab
space
o
Advocating for key economic stimulus
provisions
o
Preventing passage of a costly, burdensome
paid leave bill
o
Collaborating to defeat costly nurse
staffing bill
o
Preventing passage of uncompetitive
business tax changes
Between now and the start of the new legislative session in
January, the Chamber will continue to advance a number of policy initiatives at
the state, local, and federal levels designed to enhance Greater Boston’s
economic competitiveness and improve the quality of life of those who live and
work here.
These initiatives include:
- Working to ensure proper
implementation of the health care reform law
- Securing robust FY 2007
funding levels in key federal research accounts
- Advocating for a
constitutionally-mandated “rainy day” fund
- Encouraging the SEC to
provide companies with greater clarification and guidance in complying with
the Sarbanes-Oxley reporting requirements
- Advancing the third and
final phase of the MBTA’s critical Silver Line project
As always, we will keep you updated on our policy
initiatives through our monthly updates.
Chamber Policy
Achievements:
Chamber Helps to Shape Landmark
Health Care Reform
The Chamber played a significant role in shaping the
state’s new health care reform legislation, signed into law in April 2006. The
final law includes several Chamber-supported provisions, including: a mechanism
allowing for a fair and reasonable distribution of free care pool contributions
across the employer community; a mandate requiring that all Massachusetts
individuals obtain health insurance; a measure creating low-cost health
insurance products; and a requirement that companies with 10 or more employees
access health insurance on a pre-tax basis. Most importantly, the law does
not include the 5%-7% payroll tax that had been strongly opposed by the
Chamber.
Chamber Secures Streamlined
Permitting Process
Signed into law on August 2, the Chamber-supported
comprehensive permitting reform law features a local option fast-track
permitting process with a fixed 180-day timetable, new rules to prevent abuse of
the waterfront zoning appeals process, a special state court session to expedite
permitting cases, and an option for developers to begin a permitted project at
their own risk while third-party appeals are pending. The law also includes
Chamber-crafted language designed to make it easier for municipalities to permit
research, development, and related light manufacturing facilities.
Chamber Wins Passage of Legislation
Aimed at Increasing Housing Supply
As a lead member of the Commonwealth Housing Task Force,
the Chamber played a pivotal role in the November 2005 enactment of Chapter 40S
– an essential ingredient for the promotion of workforce housing in our cities
and towns. Chapter 40S is designed to promote smart growth housing construction
by holding communities harmless for school cost increases associated with the
construction of new Chapter 40R housing developments.
Chamber Successfully Advocates
for Landmark Stem Cell Legislation
The Chamber played a key role in securing the 2005
enactment of landmark legislation designed to promote and encourage stem cell
research in the Commonwealth. This legislation codifies strong ethical
safeguards and will help ensure that the Greater Boston region continues to
attract the world’s most talented scientists, create high-paying jobs, and
produce the type of cutting-edge research that enhances the health and quality
of life of people across the globe.
Chamber Clears the Path for
Construction of New Lab Space
Chamber-crafted language allowing communities to issue
special permits for R&D and related manufacturing operations was signed into law
in August 2006 as part of the permitting reform package. In addition, the
Chamber advocated on behalf of the Boston University Medical Center (BUMC)
Biosafety lab throughout the local, state and federal approval processes. In
February 2006, BUMC received final federal approval to fund construction of the
$128 million facility, which will place the region’s scientific community at the
forefront of biomedical research and spur job creation and capital investment
for years to come. Finally, the Chamber successfully blocked a legislative
proposal which sought to impose significant new roadblocks to construction of
laboratory space in the state.
Chamber Advocates for Key Economic
Stimulus Provisions
The Economic Stimulus Package enacted in June 2006
contained several Chamber-supported provisions designed to stimulate job
creation and investment in the Commonwealth, including brownfields remediation
funds, life science tax credits, and expanded funding to promote STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines among students and
educators.
Chamber Prevents Passage of
Costly, Burdensome Paid Leave Bill
A bill filed in April 2006, which would have provided Massachusetts
employees up to 12 weeks of paid leave to care for a new child or ill family
member, was removed from consideration by the Legislature after the Chamber and
other business groups raised concerns regarding the proposal’s overall cost and
requirements. The Chamber also expressed reservations about the timing of a
complex paid leave proposal while state and business leaders are charged with
the difficult task of implementing the provisions of the new health care reform
law.
Chamber Collaborates to
Defeat Costly Nurse Staffing Bill
The Chamber, along with other business groups, was
successful in halting the advancement of a bill, filed in May 2006, which would
have driven up healthcare costs by placing burdensome and costly staffing
requirements on the state’s nursing industry. The bill would have required the
state’s Department of Public Health, and not hospital administrators, to set
inflexible and mandatory nurse-to-patient staffing ratios.
Chamber Prevents Passage of Uncompetitive Business Tax
Changes
The Chamber
successfully prevented the advancement of a number of proposals designed to:
Ø
Delay local Property Tax Classification Relief
for Massachusetts
businesses;
Ø
Expand Deeds Excise Tax –
potentially impacting business activity and affordable housing development;
Ø
Revise the state’s Corporate Tax Code
affecting single
sales apportionment formula, investment tax credit, and corporate excise
provisions;
Ø
Increase Telecommunications Property Taxes
– potentially impacting tech sector job creation and infrastructure investment.
To learn more about the
Chamber’s ongoing policy initiatives, please contact Jim
Klocke, executive vice president,
Tim Sweeney, assistant director
of government affairs, or Jim Boyle,
assistant director of economic development.
|
