April 25, 2023
The House took up the Economic Development, Workforce and Labor and Industry Omnibus bill late into the evening yesterday, passing it off the floor on a partisan line vote after several hours of debate on amendments. Its counterpart in the Senate has already passed through that chamber so expect conferees to be named quickly and the conference committee to start later this week or early next week. As mentioned in the past update, EDAM will be submitting letters to conferees, and having members who are constituents of conferees contact them to elevate EDAM’s priorities – first and foremost, increasing funding for the Redevelopment fund.
Other issues receiving attention recently include paid family leave (see last week’s update for more details on the policy) and legalizing adult-use cannabis. Paid family leave was heard in House Ways and Means, with the next stop being the House floor. Serious debate about small business provisions continues, with a focus on businesses with less than 35 employees. In the Senate, the bill will be heard in Finance again on Thursday before being debated on the Senate floor. Legalizing cannabis was heard on the House floor until midnight on Monday and will likely pass the House as this newsletter is coming out Tuesday, April 25. It will be heard in Senate Finance on Wednesday and likely on the Senate floor at the end of the week. There remain some differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill, so a conference committee on adult-use cannabis is likely.
As Jobs, Education, and Transportation, among other issue-specific omnibus bills start the conference committee process, the tax bills, which have later deadlines, are being unveiled. The House walked through and marked up their tax bill in committee last week. It has already been heard in Ways and Means and should be up for a vote on the House Floor later this week. The Senate is scheduled to unveil their tax bill today. While there is one-party control, expect some of the starkest differences both in the actual content and philosophy to play out in the tax conference committee. We will continue to track and update EDAM members on tax provisions such as the Historic Structures credit and Angel Investor credit, neither of which were included in the House bill.