Yes… you read that correctly.

A $4 billion legislative package meant to stimulate economic growth in the Commonwealth will benefit certain industries like clean energy and bio tech while hurting local neighborhood small businesses. You may remember the House and Senate failed to finalize the economic development bill at the end of the 2024 session because they could not reach an agreement. This resulted in a change to the legislative rules to advance the bill after formal sessions were supposed to end for the year and after the 2024 election.

This bill included a provision to placate labor unions that allows municipalities to require project labor agreements (PLAs) to bid on public jobs. This will now mean many smaller, non-union shops will be excluded from bidding on municipal projects, despite over 80% of construction companies being non-union. PLAs lead to less competition because fewer companies are eligible to bid on projects, often resulting in higher costs for municipalities and the taxpayers in those communities. This provision was a step in the wrong direction to make Massachusetts more affordable or friendly to small employers.

The House voted 137 to 8 in favor, and the Senate approved by a vote of 39-1. NFIB had requested a veto of this section, but Governor Healey signed this bill into law with no major changes.

Note: Apologies from NFIB staff regarding our corresponding action alert on PLAs last week. The email to NFIB members included a non-functioning link due to the launch of our new website. The link was reactivated later in the morning. Thank you for your understanding.