On November 18, the state legislature held its final formal session for 2009. The second half of the 2009/2010 legislative session will resume in early January, with all of the 2009 bills still under consideration. At this half way point, the information below provides highlights of the Chamber’s 2009 accomplishments, both in the Legislature and in other areas.
The following is an mid-session report on the Chamber’s policy achievements:
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Achieved key transportation reforms and new transportation funding
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Advanced industry-level tax credit reporting, protected business taxpayer confidentiality
Secured key data privacy regulations
The Chamber has been working with other business
and government leaders since 2008 to secure amendments in data privacy
regulations. The final Massachusetts data privacy regulation [201 CMR 17.00] was
released on November 4th by the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business
Regulation (OCABR). These rules will impact the customer security practices of
companies doing business in Massachusetts. The changes enacted will lower costs,
mitigate operational impacts, and facilitate compliance for companies of all
sizes. In the months ahead, the Chamber will continue to work with government
and business leaders to advance the shared goals of secure customer data and a
competitive business climate.
Achieved key transportation reforms and new transportation funding
The Chamber successfully advocated in 2009 for significant reform in the state's transportation system and for new infrastructure funding. In June, Governor Deval Patrick signed a new transportation reform law that addresses the state’s major transportation challenges. The Chamber supports the law’s reforms including: structural reorganization to eliminate duplication of agencies; pension and health care reform; and progress on the issue of tort reform.
Coupled with these reforms, the 2009 designation of $275 million in new revenue for transportation will help alleviate the system’s immediate budget troubles. Over the coming months, the Chamber will continue to work with administration officials and legislative leaders for more improvements to the state’s transportation system.
Preserved life
science firms’ ability to compete
The Chamber worked with leaders in the Patrick Administration, life science and health care industries, and patient communities in recent months to improve the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Manufacturer Conduct regulations that were adopted in March and mitigate their impact on the state’s life science cluster. The final regulations preserve essential collaboration and information-sharing between academic researchers and pharmaceutical, medical device, and health care industry professionals. Such collaboration is needed to retain the state’s leadership in developing cutting-edge treatments and cures, maintain a robust clinical trial market, and grow jobs and investment in these critical industries.
Additional Chamber-recommended revisions were adopted that allow price concession practices to continue without reporting requirements, medical education conferences and seminars to be held at hotels and convention centers, and medical devices to be evaluated by practitioners before they are purchased. The Chamber will work with government and industry stakeholders in the coming months to monitor implementation with an eye toward potential regulatory revisions and further advocacy on behalf of Chamber members.
Advanced industry-level tax credit reporting, protected business taxpayer
confidentiality
Massachusetts makes a variety of tax credits available to employers which act as powerful economic development tools. In the FY 2010 budget development process, Patrick Administration officials and a small number of legislators sought new reporting requirements for business tax credit recipients. These requirements called for the public disclosure of the company name, dollar amount, and type of tax credit awarded, as well as additional proprietary company information of tax credit recipients.
Throughout 2009, the Chamber worked successfully with legislative leadership to prevent this proposal from being included in the final FY 2010 budget, and to advance a better alternative. Company-level reporting would have violated the principle of confidentiality of individual taxpayer information, discouraged investment and job growth in the state, and undermined the policy goals of these tax credits. The Chamber’s alternative was an industry-level reporting requirement which was included in the final House-Senate FY 2010 budget bill. Industry-level reporting would provide extensive information about tax credit impacts, to inform public debate without violating taxpayer confidentiality. This provision was vetoed by the Governor, and as a result current law remains unchanged. The Chamber will continue its efforts to promote industry-level reporting as a better approach that will not harm the state’s competitiveness or ability to recruit new investment.
The Chamber has collaborated this year with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston to increase the supply of highly-educated workers and strengthen the region’s workforce by promoting internships. In July, the Chamber and the Bank hosted more than 300 college students in Boston to highlight the city as a great place to live and work in an effort to retain young talent. Research by the Bank and the Chamber has shown that most college graduates in Massachusetts that leave the region after graduation do so because of job opportunities elsewhere. The Chamber and the Bank are working to address this issue on several fronts:
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By convening a spring 2009 summit of employers and colleges & universities to strengthen connections among them and help to ensure that employer needs are properly aligned with student talent;
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By working to enhance science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, in order to ensure that students’ skills are adequate for a changing local and global economy; and
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By planning an online clearinghouse to connect skilled interns and young graduates with job opportunities.
The Chamber, in
partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, will continue to develop
and advance a strategy for retaining the region’s best talent.
