A wide-ranging economic development bill Gov. Maura Healey plans to file this week will reauthorize a life sciences investment initiative, fund a similar program for the climate tech sector, and create a new “Applied AI Hub,” the first-term Democrat said Tuesday.
Speaking at a forum hosted by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Healey pitched the business community on legislation she argued would position Massachusetts “for sustained growth and shared prosperity” while advancing “every sector of our economy.”
“It supports small business, rural development, and coastal development. It expands workforce training, permitting reform, broadband expansion, and transformative public-private partnerships,” she said, according to a copy of her remarks as prepared for delivery. “This economic development bill will prime Massachusetts for sustained leadership in an innovative, mission-oriented, high-growth economy.”
The governor did not immediately put a dollar figure to the bill, a number that could create questions on Beacon Hill. State revenues have continued to come in below the revised projections Healey released in January at the same time she reduced fiscal year 2024 expectations by $1 billion.
But Healey struck an optimistic tone, telling business leaders her administration is “reining in spending” while making “transformative investments in childcare, education, and transportation.”
The soon-to-be-released economic development will extend a public-private life sciences investment initiative first started under former Gov. Deval Patrick, who shuttled $1 billion to the sector over a 10-year period. Former Gov. Charlie Baker extended it in 2018 with $623 million more over five years. The program expires on June 30, 2025.
Healey said the initiative has created “tens of thousands of jobs” and leveraged more than $6 billion in private investment since it launched in 2008. Massachusetts has since come to have 18 of the 20 largest life sciences companies choose to headquarter in the state, she said.
The initiative will also look at “new areas of focus” like funding partnerships across the “healthcare and innovation ecosystem to improve patient outcomes” and boosting health equity, Healey said.
“This investment will help entrepreneurs stay here to grow their ideas into companies; help more companies develop their manufacturing footprint here, so we can create a wide range of good jobs; and create pathways into those jobs for students and workers from underrepresented backgrounds,” Healey said, according to her prepared remarks.
Healey said the legislation will also fund “a 10-year climate tech initiative” that aims to make Massachusetts “the global innovation lab for the clean energy revolution.” That could include backing research and development at universities or providing startups with resources and facilities, she said.
The climate technology funding program will “scale up” manufacturing and workforce development partnerships, Healey said.
“It will lengthen our lead in offshore wind. Climate tech companies will not only generate their ideas here, but stay, grow, and put their manufacturing here — creating good jobs across our state,” she said, according to her prepared remarks.
Healey said the economic development bill will also create and fund an “Applied AI Hub” to address “what may be the most transformative emerging technology of our lifetimes.”
The hub will fund the implementation of recommendations from a task force on artificial intelligence Healey created earlier this month that is due to report its findings in six months.
Though she was sparse on specifics, Healey pointed to “research, collaboration, and workforce solutions that give our businesses and workers a competitive edge.”
“We can make AI a job-creator in Massachusetts, not a job-destroyer. We can make sure that Massachusetts businesses, consumers, and workers are leading and benefiting from this technology,” she said, according to her prepared remarks.