Not to Be Denied: Veto Overrides Kickstart MA Tech Initiatives

A quick scan of most state innovation indices and report cards will reveal Massachusetts is on the short list for comparison of what others states would like to achieve. But a leadership spot in the innovation economy is not being taken for granted in the Commonwealth.

The dot-com crash and recession hit the state hard, leading Massachusetts Speaker Thomas M. Finneran last summer to recommend that Massachusetts invest more than $100 million toward several tech-based economic development (TBED) initiatives (see the July 11, 2003, issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest).

Last September, Gov. Mitt Romney also seemed on board with making a significant TBED investment when he outlined his own $125 million jobs bill (see the Sept. 19, 2003, issue of the Digest). The governor's proposal spread the state's investment over three years.

While the two proposals contained several similar elements, politics is a fickle business and two months can be a long time for a Republican governor and a Democratic speaker of the house.

The legislature's economic stimulus package passed in November but, citing a projected $2 billion budget deficit for the coming fiscal year, Gov. Romney vetoed about half of the overall $100 million act as well as an additional $30.2 million from an $111 million supplemental spending bill.

With the opening of the 2004 session of the Massachusetts legislature, the legislature overrode more than $67 million in funding vetoed by Gov. Romney for both the stimulus package and the supplemental appropriations.

With initiatives ranging from regional Centers of Excellence to funding targeted for investment in emerging technologies, the restored stimulus package greatly expands the portfolio of resources available to Massachusetts researchers, entrepreneurs and tech firms. Highlights include:

• $25 million for recapitalization of the Emerging Technology Fund, which is aimed at providing facilities and equipment for tech-based companies. The bill calls for $2.5 million to be distributed over a five-year period to each of five geographic regions of Massachusetts.
• $20 million in matching funds to help spur science and engineering research at institutions of higher education and other nonprofits, support Centers of Excellence for research in emerging technologies such as biotech and nanotech, and create a council charged with increasing broadband Internet services in underserved communities;
• $15 million for creation of the John Adams Institute to promote "the development, growth, attraction and retention of technology-intensive and innovation-driven clusters of organizations, with a particular attention paid to promoting economic growth in discrete and underserved regions..." The Institute would be overseen by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative.
• $5 million for recapitalization of the Massachusetts Technology Development Corp., which provides investment in early-stage technology companies;
• $2.5 million for a math, science, technology and engineering grant fund designed to improve the quality of education and increase the number of teachers in these fields; and,
• $2.4 million for a University of Massachusetts technology transfer center to develop commercialization strategies and assist in other activities while being steered by a nine-member advisory committee.

HB 4328 is available in its entirety at http://www.state.ma.us/legis.