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HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 5507 FILED ON: 11/20/2024
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 5112
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
STATE HOUSE · BOSTON, MA 02133
(617) 725-4000
MAURA T. HEALEY
GOVERNOR
KIMBERLEY DRISCOLL
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
November 20, 2024
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives,
Pursuant to section 3 of Article XC of the Amendments of the Constitution, I am today
signing House Bill No. 5100, An Act relative to strengthening Massachusetts’ economic
leadership, and returning certain portions for your reconsideration. This legislation includes
nearly all of the authorizations and transformative policy initiatives that I filed in March,
bringing the total authorized to nearly $4 billion, and takes important steps toward implementing
our economic development plan. The bill is essential to keeping the Massachusetts economy
strong and adaptable in a rapidly changing world.
I am proud that a centerpiece of this bill calls for continued investment in our globally
renowned life sciences sector. This legislation fully reauthorizes the programs of the
Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, expands the life sciences tax credit program, and repositions
the Center to continue supporting Massachusetts life sciences companies, hospitals, and research
institutions as they tackle the toughest challenges in health care innovation. This bill enables a
new 10-year, nearly $1 billion initiative to ensure that the Massachusetts life sciences ecosystem
remains a global leader, while driving more collaboration and more equitable health care
outcomes for Massachusetts residents.
This legislation positions Massachusetts to become a global leader in the climatetech
sector. Massachusetts already leads the nation and the world in our policies to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions and to prepare for and mitigate the unprecedented risks of climate change. The
state’s innovative economy is uniquely positioned to lead in developing the climate technologies
that the world needs to respond to this existential threat. The bill I am signing today includes
$400 million in capital authorization and $300 million in tax incentives for climatetech, modeled
on the same types of investments that have successfully transformed our life sciences sector into 2 of 3
a global powerhouse. I am confident that these investments will help turn Massachusetts into a
global hub for climate-based innovation and technology. This bill will also modify the existing
tax credit for offshore wind development to ensure that the credit has the intended effect of
spurring the production of zero-emission clean energy at scale. All together, the provisions of
this bill will help us to establish the same global prominence in climatetech that we fostered for
the life sciences, while helping Massachusetts companies find solutions to the global climate
crisis.
The bill I am signing today also includes capital authorizations that will allow our quasi-
public agencies to support other key emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and
advanced manufacturing. These sectors already have a strong presence in Massachusetts, and
these investments will equip Massachusetts to maintain and lengthen our lead relative to other
states that are competing to grow these same sectors.
In addition to supporting key sectors, this bill enables us to continue to make critical
investments in the people, communities and businesses that form the foundations of our
economy. It reauthorizes the MassWorks Infrastructure Program to continue making investments
in local infrastructure to unlock critical development projects in our communities, codifies a rural
community program and reauthorizes the Rural Development Fund, and establishes a new tax
credit to promote internships for young adults who attend our many colleges and universities so
they are more likely to stay in Massachusetts after completing their studies. It includes a new tax
credit for live theater productions to bolster our creative economy, as well as new reforms to the
economic development incentive program (EDIP), both to make the EDIP tax credit a more
effective tool to attract and retain jobs, and to give local municipalities more autonomy to
provide local tax incentives to spur capital investment and job creation.
As always, economic equity was top of mind when I filed this bill, and I thank our
partners in the Legislature for recognizing the importance of this priority. Promoting economic
equity is a goal throughout all our economic development programs, and several equity
initiatives in this bill are worthy of highlighting. A new pilot program within the Executive
Office of Economic Development will provide technical and financial assistance on surety bonds
to small businesses to increase the diversity of businesses bidding on and securing public
construction contracts in the Commonwealth. The bill also updates the definition of “micro
business” for purposes of the programs administered by the Massachusetts Office of Business
Development (MOBD). The new, broader definition will allow MOBD to reach more kinds of
businesses, and I have asked MOBD to place more emphasis on micro business support as we
implement our economic development plan.
There are numerous other important policy updates in this bill, many of them added by
the Legislature, and I’m appreciative of all the work that went into finding solutions on which we
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Pursuant to Article LVI, as amended by Article XC, Section 3 of the Amendments to the
Constitution of the Commonwealth, we are returning sections 221, 222 and 223 with
recommendations for amendment. My reasons for doing so are set forth in a letter dated today
and included with this message as Attachment A. We are hopeful the House and Senate will
work with us to address the proposals returned with amendment so that we can sign them in short
order.
Taken all together, this bill gives us the opportunity, working together, to build and
maintain an economy that is equitable, affordable and competitive. I thank House Speaker
Mariano, Senate President Spilka, Chairs Michlewitz and Finegold and the members of the
conference committee, and all of our partners in the Legislature for working past the normal
deadline for calling formal sessions in order to get his important bill to my desk.
Respectfully,
Maura T. Healey,
Governor
I return for amendment, pursuant to the authority vested in me by Article 56, as amended by Article 90, Section
3, of the Amendments to the Constitution, Sections 221, 222 and 223. The text of my recommended amendment
is set forth in a letter of this date to the Senate and House of Representatives.
The remainder of this bill I approve.
Approved, November 20, 2024
at o'clock and minutes, .M.
Maura Healey
Governor
HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 5507 FILED ON: 11/20/2024
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 5112
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
STATE HOUSE · BOSTON, MA 02133
(617) 725-4000
MAURA T. HEALEY
GOVERNOR
KIMBERLEY DRISCOLL
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
ATTACHMENT A
November 20, 2024
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives:
Pursuant to Article LVI, as amended by Article XC, Section 3 of the Amendments to the
Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I am returning to you for amendment
Sections 221, 222 and 223 of House Bill No. 5100, An Act relative to strengthening
Massachusetts’ economic leadership.
These sections update the state’s minimum bodily injury insurance and property damage
limits for motor vehicle liability insurance policies by increasing the limits from $5,000 for
property damage and $20,000/$40,000 for bodily injury to $30,000 for property damage and
$25,000/$50,000 for bodily injury. The current amounts have not been updated in over 30 years
and the proposed increases would provide meaningful coverage for those who experience
personal injury or property damage due to a motor vehicle accident.
I support these limit increases, but I also recognize that the language as currently drafted
would become effective immediately upon my signature, providing insurance companies
inadequate time for implementation. Insurers must update current policies and submit new forms
and rates to the Commissioner of Insurance for review and approval before implementing these
changes. Based on feedback from industry stakeholders, pushing out the effective date to July 1,
2025 will ensure that these changes take place in an orderly way.
For these reasons, I recommend that the bill be amended by striking out sections 221, 222
and 223 and inserting in place thereof the following 4 sections:-
SECTION 221. Section 34A of chapter 90 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is
hereby amended by striking out, in line 102, the words “at least twenty thousand dollars” and
inserting in place thereof the following words:- not less than $25,000.
SECTION 222. Said section 34A of said chapter 90, as so appearing, is hereby further
amended by striking out, in lines 104 and 105, the words “at least forty thousand dollars” and
inserting in place thereof the words:- not less than $50,000.
SECTION 223. Section 34O of said chapter 90, as so appearing, is hereby amended by
striking out, in line 17, the words “five thousand dollars” and inserting in place thereof the
following figure:- $30,000.
SECTION 223A. Sections 221 through 223, inclusive, shall apply to motor vehicle
liability policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2025.
Respectfully,
Maura T. Healey,
Governor