Senator Lewis and Mass. Senate Pass Major Economic Development Legislation

BOSTON—State Senator Jason Lewis joined his colleagues in the Massachusetts Senate to pass an economic development package that lifts up small businesses and burgeoning industries, surges the production of new housing units through automatic two-family zoning, and reins in potential dangers of artificial intelligence by instituting responsible guardrails against catastrophes.

The bill also creates safety rules for fast electric scooters and e-bikes, bans predatory kiosks used in cryptocurrency scams, and invests $100 million in immediate support for scientific research programs at public higher education institutions.

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With $575 million in total spending authorizations, the economic development bill is poised to grow quality jobs in the Commonwealth, support innovation, and improve the quality of life for workers and families.

"The state legislature is committed to fostering new economic development in Massachusetts to create new business and job opportunities and to strengthen our communities," said Senator Jason Lewis. "This legislation will make Massachusetts even more competitive and attractive to both businesses and workers."

Highlights of the legislation include:

• Investing $100 million for public higher education institutions to help maintain the pace of scientific research and discovery and retain talented graduate and post doctorate workers in the face of federal research funding cuts.
• Requiring major AI developers to account for their AI models' risk of critical safety incidents by setting frameworks to avoid potential catastrophes with oversight from the Attorney General's Office.
• Generating new housing units by allowing two-family homes on all residentially zoned lots, subject to reasonable local limitations.
• Creating a new, easier process for converting commercial properties into residential units and requiring timely review processes for housing construction projects.
• Supporting the development and construction of permanently affordable homeownership units by authorizing up to $2.5 million for a pilot program to fund the creation of units for low- and moderate-income households, including units within mixed-use developments.
• Implementing new safety standards for e-bikes and electric scooters, including regulations for safety equipment and after-market modifications, age and speed restrictions, and a ban on mopeds and similar devices from bike lanes and shared use paths.
• Authorizing up to $20 million to support community development financial institutions and small businesses.
• Authorizing up to $25 million to support downtown and main street vitality in Massachusetts towns and cities, in addition to $2.5 million to help convert vacant storefronts into pop-up opportunities for new small businesses.
• Authorizing up to $25 million to support arts, culture, and the creative economy.
• Authorizing up to $25 million for research and development of robotics technology.
• Implementing a 110% cap on ticket prices on resale platforms to prevent scalping; a new grant program to boost the cultural and economic vitality of downtown, cultural, and nightlife districts; and a study to explore the feasibility of hosting a future international soccer tournament following the success of the FIFA World Cup.
• Banning cryptocurrency ATMs that are often used by scammers.
• Criminalizing the creation, possession, or sharing of AI-generated child sexual abuse material.
• Prohibiting the possession, operation, manufacture, or sale of robots that are equipped with weapons including firearms, chemical agents, weaponized lasers and explosives, and banning the use of robots to criminally harass or physically restrain another person.
• Raising the age of juvenile jurisdiction to include 18-year-olds for certain crimes—an initiative that is proven to decrease crime, increase public safety, and improve economic outcomes.
• Allowing cities and towns to provide enhanced tax relief in the form of a rebate to lower- and middle-income taxpayers who already receive the residential tax exemption, by shifting more of the residential tax burden onto vacation homes and investment properties.
• Establishing a fund to capitalize on public-private partnerships to lift families and communities out of poverty with support for community organizations that boost areas such as early education and care, affordable housing, public safety, and civic infrastructure.

Senator Lewis advocated for successful amendments to authorize potential state bond funding that could be used for improvements to the Middlesex Fells Reservation and Zoo New England which includes the Stone Zoo in Stoneham.

Senator Lewis also championed a critical update to the state's Chapter 62F tax refund law to ensure the formula takes into account all sources of personal income growth instead of only tracking the growth in salaries and wages, which now account for just over half of personal income in Massachusetts.

After passing in the state Senate, the bill will now be reconciled with a different version that was previously passed by the House of Representatives before being sent to Governor Healey for her signature.