With a $460 million life sciences bond bill still pending before the Legislature, Gov. Charlie Baker took stage at the BIO International Convention Tuesday to tout the importance of biotechnology to the Massachusetts economy and announce new support for companies here.
“One of the best ways we as a commonwealth can ensure the success of this industry going forward is to continue to invest in STEM education, higher education, and K-12 education,” Baker said in his opening remarks during the convention’s second day at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.
Baker said the state, through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, is awarding about $20 million in grants to 23 companies that would create over 1,000 jobs this year, calling the money “our way of saying we appreciate the work that’s done by this industry, the jobs that it creates and most importantly, the success that it creates for people who in many cases are told a very terrible tale about what the likely future for themselves or their families might be.”
Both branches of the Legislature have passed bills that provide new capital authorization for the state’s Life Sciences Capital Fund and extend for another decade a life sciences tax incentive program currently scheduled to expire at the end of 2018. Differences between the House and Senate versions need to be ironed out before a final bill is sent to Baker’s desk.
Lawmakers plan to reconcile the two bills without going into a conference committee, with an eye on sending Baker a bill by Thursday. It appears they are scrambling to wrap up work on the bill before attendees leave the international convention.
The legislation would re-up the $1 billion, ten-year initiative Gov. Deval Patrick launched in 2007 to support the state’s life sciences industry.
When the Senate passed its bill last week, some senators raised concerns that the state would be spending to support an already robust industry while other priorities go unfulfilled.
Sen. Jamie Eldridge said the Boston and Cambridge area has among the most venture capital money in the country.
“So if venture capital money is here, if startups are happening with private investments, why do we need to subsidize companies on their own? I think that is what would happen in this bill,” said the Acton Democrat, one of four senators to vote against the bill.
Speaking to reporters after his remarks Tuesday, Baker said “a big part” of the Life Science Center’s investments over the past 10 years has been in workforce development and “a lot of it” landed in high schools, vocational schools and public colleges and universities.
“I think in some respects, that’s a very strategic and important investment for us,” the governor said.