Last Week
In DC
A bipartisan debt deal was reached. The House passed legislation on Wednesday and the Senate followed suit on Thursday to raise the nation’s borrowing limit. In addition to raising the debt ceiling until Jan. 1, 2025, the debt bill sets top-line spending levels for two years. It also automatically cuts government funding by one percent absent spending bills passed by Jan. 1. With less than 6 days before the June 5 default deadline, the bill now moves to the Senate for approval.
In Massachusetts
South End Democrat John Moran and West Roxbury Democrat Bill MacGregor are officially state representatives-elect after cruising through their uncontested general elections Tuesday. A date has not yet been announced on when they will be sworn-in to the 9th and 10th Suffolk seats, respectively.
Governor Maura Healey and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center announced $24.4 million in tax incentive awards Tuesday that they expect will help 43 life sciences companies create nearly 1,600 new jobs. More than 1,000 of the job commitments are outside of Boston and Cambridge.
MassBioEd released their 2023 Life Sciences Workforce Trends Report. While jobs are booming in the state’s life sciences industry, there may not be enough workers to fill these positions. The sector is projected to have an average of more than 6,600 openings in key roles over the next decade, according to the report. And the state’s colleges and universities are only producing about half that amount of graduates in life sciences, the report noted.
FY2024 Budget Conferees were appointed on Thursday. Senators Michael Rodrigues, Cynthia Friedman, and Patrick O’Connor will join Representatives Aaron Michlewitz, Ann-Margaret Ferrante, and Todd Smola to deliberate the differences in their proposed budgets, in hopes of passing and sending to the Governor a final budget by the start of the fiscal year, July 1.
This week
In Massachusetts
The Commonwealth welcomes the BIO International Convention to Boston, a four-day biotech conference featuring more than 14,000 global attendees, 150 sessions and 800 speakers – returning to the city for the first time since 2018.
The Joint Committee on Health Care Financing will hold a hearing on Tuesday, June 6, 10am at the State House in Room A-1. Bills relating to pharmaceutical access, cost and transparency are on the agenda. MassBio will be submitting written testimony on H1176/S732, an act relative to promoting comprehensive transparency in the pharmaceutical industry.