An extension request for a group studying a new state seal and motto is stuck in legislative limbo as a Decem – MassLive.com

A wide-ranging economic development bill thats been floating in legislative limbo for weeks on Beacon Hill includes millions for local projects, tax relief provisions, and one-time tax rebates.

But also buried in the thousands of lines of text is an extension and funding request for a commission tasked with recommending a new Massachusetts seal and motto. The groups mandate is set to expire on Dec. 31, a timeline that offers only four more months to solidify their ideas.

At a Tuesday meeting, Co-Chair Brian Boyles said the group is facing a challenging situation after requesting an extension for good reason.

Theres quite an ample amount of work ahead of us, Boyles said. ... At this point, we are speaking with some legislators, but really I think waiting, as they are, to find out if that economic development bill will be resurrected, and/or if either of these requests needs to be broken out into their own separate requests of the Legislature over the next couple of months.

Lawmakers in both branches approved separate versions of a $4 billion economic development bill earlier this year, sending it to a six-member panel of lawmakers tasked with working out a compromise version. But as the end of formal lawmaking for the 2021-2022 session came and went in July, the bill sat languishing.

The sudden rise of a 1986 tax revenue cap law threw a wrench into lawmakers plans for offering about $1 billion in one-time tax rebates and tax relief in the bill. And since the July 31 end of formal sessions, top legislative leaders have struggled to find a compromise and move the legislation forward.

The Seal and Motto Commission was originally tasked with submitting recommendations by Oct. 1, 2021. Lawmakers extended that to July 31, 2022, in a COVID-19 recovery bill signed into law in December 2021. The deadline was extended again to Dec. 31, 2022, in the fiscal year 2022 state budget.

The Senates version of the economic development expanded the commissions life to March 31, 2023, and set aside $100,000 for staffing and administrative expenses. Boyles said the funding request would help facilitate more public input on the seal and motto design and an educational program on the history and meaning of the seal and motto.

At Tuesdays meeting, commission member Micah Whitson asked whether the funding could be used to execute some level of this work from, lets say, an illustration standpoint? Boyles said the money could be used for an initial design.

When weve talked about an [request for proposal], and then how we might respond to anybody who has a good proposal, we knew that we needed money, even for an initial design. Clearly, there may be more funds that are needed to actually finish the job, he said. Theres quite a lot of expenses we could consider, but that funding request was, yes, to do some of the design work in response to an RFP, to do some public input, and do some work on the education side.

As far as progress updates on the economic development bill are concerned, Senate President Karen Spilka said last week that her proposed solutions were all refused. House Speaker Ronald Mariano said the legislation is a long way from being finalized.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Gov. Charlie Baker said the bill is important for those populations who would benefit from it, most of which are hard-working, low-income populations who could absolutely, positively use the relief for all kinds of reasons.

August is a tough time with respect to the Legislature, he said at an unrelated press conference. They just finished their session on the 31st of July. But there is ongoing conversation between them and us about the tax pieces and about some of the other elements of the eco dev bill that have a certain amount of what I would call urgency.

Theres agreement on the importance of the bill, but little public progress has been made in the weeks since formal sessions have ended for the year. Legislative leaders have expressed an appetite to move some parts forward during informal sessions, where any one lawmaker can object to proceedings.

In the meantime, the commission set out a rough timeline for work that can be accomplished through the end of the year.

Slides presented at the Tuesday meeting show the commission confirming their recommendations, symbols and elements for a new design, and a proposed education program in December, while a meeting in September could see members decide whether human figures should be among possible symbols.

This is, I think, the bones of a plan, Boyles said. Last thing I would say is it does have a Dec. 31 deadline in mind, just in case. There is an option in there that might cost us money but I tried to put this together in a way that assumes that neither of those requests is acted on. I hope that we get better news than that. But I think its probably smart to look at this scenario, given the short amount of time we currently have.

Related Stories:

See the rest here:

An extension request for a group studying a new state seal and motto is stuck in legislative limbo as a Decem - MassLive.com