“非常失望。” 波士顿的优先事项在立法会议的混乱结局中夭折

【中美创新时报2024 年 8 月 2 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）两周前，它似乎没有机会；三天前，它获得了新生。但现在，波士顿市长吴弭（Michelle Wu） 重新调整城市税收负担的​​计划几乎再次夭折，因为州议会周四休会了今年的正式会议而没有通过该计划。《波士顿环球报》记者艾玛·普拉托夫（Emma Platoff ）和妮基·格里斯沃尔德（Niki Griswold）对此作了下述报道。

吴弭市长的税收分类提案是 Beacon Hill 深夜争夺的众多牺牲品之一，本周州议员们没有批准有关经济发展、清洁能源和医院监督的主要法案。

波士顿和吴弭的其他关键优先事项，包括为该市增加数百张新的酒类许可证和重新规划该市的发展和规划机构，本周在会议最后几个小时里被搁置在起草室。总而言之，马萨诸塞州最大的城市从州政府那里得到的要求非常少。它几乎不确定这些问题何时会得到重新审议。

“显然，我非常失望，”吴弭在周四上午的一次无关活动中谈到税收提案时说。“就像许多其他立法一样，这项法案对我们的居民来说太重要了，不能就此结束。”

当立法者在周三深夜和周四早上达成协议——并在其他协议上失败——吴弭说，她和她的助手“醒着，随时待命”，希望与州参议员就房地产税措施达成协议；毕竟，几天前最后一刻的谈判帮助她让该法案在众议院获得通过。

对于一位市长来说，这是一个令人失望的结果，因为她对这座城市的宏伟计划在很大程度上取决于Beacon Hill市同行的支持。这反映了波士顿所处的困境，波士顿处于一个不寻常的制度下，许多重大举措都需要立法机构的批准，这使得波士顿对自己事务的控制权比其他大城市要小。很多时候，州立法机构要么对波士顿的想法漠不关心，要么干脆把它们留到最后一刻，然后哀叹没有时间达成协议。

当被问及惨淡的结果是否反映了她在Beacon Hill市的影响力时，吴弭指出了其他因素。

“现在有很多重大问题非常紧迫，所以他们有很多事情要做，”她说。她还为她的政府为房地产税措施所做的倡导工作辩护。

吴弭的一些最重要的政策想法——租金控制和对昂贵的房地产销售征收转让费以资助经济适用房——似乎早已在比肯山市失效。吴弭以租金管制为由竞选市长，并获得了波士顿市议会的批准，但州议员从未对这项政策表示欢迎。吴弭和包括州长莫拉·希利（Maura Healey ）在内的许多其他领导人都支持转让费，这似乎更有希望。但州议员在本周通过的 52 亿美元债券计划中没有提及转让费。

今年，其他城市优先事项似乎也有希望。其中包括重大政策转变，例如税收分类计划，以及看似争议较小的措施，例如一项为波士顿企业增加数百张酒类许可证的法案。税收分类提案本周刚刚获得州众议院的批准，在众议院和参议院批准了不同版本后，酒类许可证协议似乎已基本完成。

立法机构仍可能在今年晚些时候的非正式会议上讨论波士顿的一些优先事项。但这是一个冒险的提议：在非正式会议上，任何个人立法者都有权阻止立法。

众议院和参议院的立法者周四表示，酒类许可证提案仍有希望。

州参议员威廉·布朗斯伯格（William Brownsberger）的选区包括波士顿，他参与了该提案的谈判，他说该提案终究会“完成”。众议院该法案的首席谈判代表、州众议员迈克·莫兰（Mike Moran）周四告诉州议会新闻服务社，“我们非常接近了。”

吴弭的税收分类计划的命运则更加不确定，该计划将为该市提供提高商业房地产税率的余地，以防止居民的房产税突然增加。7 月中旬，在比肯山举行的听证会上，她的计划遭到了冷遇。

本周，众议院与吴弭达成协议，以缓解对小企业的影响，批准了该法案，这给该市带来了一线希望。但参议院在本周会议结束前并未就该法案进行投票，该措施进一步加剧了参议院内部的紧张局势。参议院议长凯伦·斯皮尔卡本周表示：“如果你在会议结束前一天发布一项法案……这在某种程度上表明，他们一开始就不是认真想要通过该法案。”

即使在最后时刻，该提案也遭到了房地产行业的强烈反对，房地产行业的领导人警告说，对于遭受疫情后低迷的商业房地产行业来说，这是一个错误的时机。

“很难指望企业，尤其是在这个时代，”大波士顿房地产委员会首席执行官格雷格·瓦西尔 (Greg Vasil) 表示，他的组织将继续反对该计划。

吴弭并没有承认彻底失败。

“我们无意撤回这个经过验证、合理且平衡的提案，我们希望马萨诸塞州参议院继续审议，以便居民不会被迫支付两位数的增税，”她说。

吴弭的许多提案在州参议院的表现比在众议院更差，她在众议院有强大的盟友亚伦·米歇尔维茨 (Aaron Michlewitz)，他是北端民主党人，也是该商会颇具影响力的预算主席。例如，吴弭重组波士顿规划与发展局的提议在众议院获得通过，但在参议院未获表决。

曾为前波士顿市长马丁·J·沃尔什 (Martin J. Walsh) 工作的政治顾问卡姆·沙邦尼尔 (Cam Charbonnier) 表示，吴弭在众议院的关系是一个“显著优势”，但这些优势并不总是足以取得重大胜利。米歇尔维茨“可以帮助推动众议院通过某项议案，但不一定能推动参议院通过，”他补充道。他补充说，众议院的后期行动并没有增加其在参议院的机会。

这座城市可能会在最近找到一些安慰。两年前，波士顿在 MBTA 董事会中长期寻求的席位似乎已从立法机构获得，但最终因参议院未能就最终版本进行投票而夭折。波士顿终于在第二年获得了董事会席位，当时它被纳入预算。

瓦西尔说，他并不认为立法机构没有通过税收分类计划是“失败”，但他质疑，“为什么城市不早点提出这个计划？”

当被问及该提案的未来前景时，他笑着说：“谁知道会发生什么？”“这还没有结束。”

题图：波士顿市长吴弭（Michelle Wu）在 7 月的州议会听证会上作证后对媒体发表了讲话。Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff

附原英文报道：

‘Very disappointed.’ Boston priorities die in chaotic end to legislative session.

By Emma Platoff and Niki Griswold Globe Staff,Updated August 2, 2024 

Two weeks ago, it seemed to have no chance; three days ago, it got a new life. But now, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s plan to reshuffle the city tax burden is all but dead again, after the state Legislature adjourned its formal sessions for the year Thursday without passing it.

Here lies the mayor’s tax classification proposal, one of many casualties of the late-night scramble on Beacon Hill, where state lawmakers gaveled out this week without approving major bills on economic development, clean energy, and hospital oversight.

Other key priorities for Boston and Wu, including one to add hundreds of new liquor licenses for the city and another that would reenvision the city’s development and planning agency, were left on the drafting-room floor this week in the final, dysfunctional hours of the session. All told, the biggest city in Massachusetts won very little of what it asked for from the state. It has little certainty about when those issues might get another look.

“Obviously, I’m very disappointed,” Wu said of the tax proposal Thursday morning at an unrelated event. “Like so many other pieces of legislation, this one is too important for our residents for it to be over.”

As lawmakers made deals — and failed on others — late Wednesday night and into Thursday morning, Wu said she and her aides were “up, awake, available,” hoping to reach an agreement with state senators on the property tax measure; after all, last-minute negotiations had helped her get it through the House days earlier.

It’s a disappointing slate of results for a mayor whose ambitious plans for the city depend heavily on buy-in from her counterparts on Beacon Hill. And it’s a reflection of the bind Boston is in under an unusual system that requires permission from the Legislature for many major initiatives that leaves it with less control over its own affairs than other major cities. All too often, the state Legislature is either cool to Boston’s ideas or simply leaves them until the eleventh hour, then laments there is no time to reach an accord.

Asked whether the lackluster results were a reflection of her influence on Beacon Hill, Wu pointed to other factors.

“There’s a lot of major issues that are incredibly urgent right now, and so there’s a lot on their plates,” she said. She also defended her administration’s advocacy efforts for the property tax measure.

Some of Wu’s most significant policy ideas — rent control and a transfer fee on expensive real estate sales to fund affordable housing — had long since appeared to expire on Beacon Hill. Wu campaigned for mayor on rent control and secured the Boston City Council’s approval, but state legislators never warmed to the policy. The transfer fee, which Wu and a host of other leaders including Governor Maura Healey championed, seemed to have a better shot. But state lawmakers left it out of the $5.2 billion bond package they passed this week.

Other city priorities seemed to have hope this year. Those included major policy shifts, such as the tax classification plan, as well as seemingly less controversial measures, such as a bill to add hundreds of liquor licenses for Boston businesses. The tax classification proposal won approval from the state House just this week, and the deal on liquor licenses had seemed all but done after both the House and Senate approved differing versions.

The Legislature could still take up some of Boston’s priorities in informal sessions later this year. But that is a risky proposition: In informal sessions, any individual lawmaker has the power to block legislation.

Lawmakers in both the House and the Senate indicated Thursday there is still hope for the liquor license proposal in particular.

State Senator William Brownsberger, whose district includes Boston and who helped negotiate the proposal, said it would “get done” at some point. And state Representative Mike Moran, the House’s lead negotiator on the bill, told the State House News Service on Thursday that “we’re very close.”

Far less certain is the fate of Wu’s tax classification plan, which would give the city leeway to raise tax rates on commercial real estate in order to prevent a sudden increase in property taxes for residents. Her plan got a frigid reception on Beacon Hill during a hearing in mid-July.

The city had a glimmer of hope this week when the House approved the bill after striking a deal with Wu to cushion the impact on small businesses. But the Senate did not vote on it before the session expired this week, and the measure became more fodder for intrachamber tensions. Senate President Karen Spilka said this week, “Any time you release a bill the day before session ends … it sort of tells you that they’re not really serious about passing the bill to begin with.”

And even in its final hours, the proposal faced intense opposition from the real estate industry, whose leaders warn that it comes at the wrong moment for a commercial real estate industry suffering post-pandemic slumps.

“It’s difficult to look to businesses, especially in these times,” said Greg Vasil, chief executive of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board, who said his organization will continue to fight the plan.

Wu did not concede total defeat.

“We have no intention of withdrawing this proven, reasonable, and balanced proposal, and we hope the Massachusetts Senate continues to deliberate so that residents aren’t forced to pay double-digit tax increases,” she said.

A number of Wu’s proposals fared worse in the state Senate than in the House, where she has a powerful ally in Aaron Michlewitz, a North End Democrat and the chamber’s influential budget chairman. Wu’s bid to restructure the Boston Planning & Development Agency, for example, passed the House but was not voted on in the Senate.

Wu’s relationships in the House are a “significant advantage,” said Cam Charbonnier, a political consultant who worked for former Boston mayor Martin J. Walsh, but they aren’t always enough to score major victories. Michlewitz “can help shepherd something through the House, but not necessarily push it through the Senate,” he added. He added that the late action in the House did not help its chances in the Senate.

The city may find some solace in the recent past. Two years ago, a long-sought seat for Boston on the MBTA board seemed all but assured from the Legislature, but it ultimately died when the Senate failed to vote on a final version. Boston finally did get a seat on the board the next year, when it was included in the budget.

Vasil said he didn’t consider it a “failure” that the Legislature had not passed the tax classification plan, though he questioned, “Why didn’t the city get this up there sooner?”

“Who knows what’s going to happen?” he said with a laugh when asked about what the future might hold for the proposal. “It’s not over yet.”