Beacon Hill Democrats near economic development bill deal ahead of election day
Photo I Courtesy of Sam Doran/SHNS
Senate President Karen Spilka talks to reporters after participating in a Diwali celebration in the Great Hall on Tuesday.
A deal on the stalled economic development bill is close and could emerge in the next two weeks, top Beacon Hill Democrats said Tuesday.
House Speaker Ron Mariano expressed hope that a deal on the massive bond bill, which would reauthorize the life sciences initiative and make a parallel investment in the climate tech sector, could be reached before Election Day, which is two weeks away.
"I would hope it'll be before the election, but right now, that's the only thing that has a milestone, is the election. So my hope is we get it done before," Mariano told reporters after an unrelated State House event.
Senate President Karen Spilka separately told reporters that an economic development deal is close.
"It's getting there, and I know the parties, both sides, are working really hard, so I am hoping that it is done shortly," she said.
Spilka and Mariano have said they would call lawmakers back for a formal session in order to vote on the bond bill, which needs a roll call vote that can only happen during formal sessions.
The Legislature has been holding only sparsely attended informal sessions since August, abiding by joint rules that call for formal sessions to end on July 31 during election years.
Spilka could not say whether that formal session could happen before Nov. 5.
"Honestly, I don't know. I don't look at the timeline," the Ashland Democrat said. "I think when the bill is done, we will take it up."
The Senate is scheduled to meet Wednesday, and Spilka said the branch intends to take up a clean energy bill filed Monday at 9:01 p.m.
Republican conference committee members did not sign the agreement, and Spilka didn't say whether she plans to round up a quorum of Democrats to ensure the GOP caucus cannot block the bill.
"At this point, you know, we'll see what happens, and we want to get it done this week," Spilka said.
The Senate also has plans for a session on Thursday.
All four Democrats on the energy bill conference committee signed the 139-page report (S 2967), signaling their support for the accord. The two Republican conferees -- House House Minority Leader Brad Jones and Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr -- did not.
Jones told the News Service on Tuesday that he didn't have enough time to read the bill, and said he was told he would have more time.
"We were told we had until this morning based on two emails from [Sen. Michael] Barrett's office last night, and then it was filed and reported by the clerk's office, while I was in the process of reading through, so I hadn't made a final decision," Jones said.
Barrett was the lead Senate negotiator for the bill.
Jones said he had not decided whether he would attempt to prevent the legislation from passing, though he was happy to see some of the Senate-favored provisions didn't make it into the compromise.
Republicans have more power during the five-month stretch of informal sessions at the end of the two-year legislative session, where rules allow a single legislator to stop the passage of a bill unless the Democrats gather a quorum of members to attend sessions.
"I was happy to see that the conference committee decided not to include a number of the provisions that were in the Senate that I know would have created a problem for House members," he said. "I guess the Senate's got to take it up first, whether that's tomorrow or Thursday, and try to use some of that time to talk to members of my caucus and see whether their concerns have been addressed."
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