Council in the News
Massachusetts High Technology Council media coverage.
Massachusetts official warns AI systems subject to consumer protection, anti-bias laws
Developers, suppliers, and users of artificial intelligence must comply with existing state consumer protection, anti-discrimination, and data privacy laws, says the Massachusetts attorney general.
Kim Carrigan & Joe Shortsleeve Speak with Doug Banks, Chris Anderson, Robert Mellion & Dexter Ang
Kim Carrigan & Joe Shortsleeve chat with Chris Anderson, President of the Massachusetts High Technology Council about the health of the business sector on the New England Business Report. Segment begins at 16:00.
MCAS ballot question pits Massachusetts Teachers Association against business community — again
Removing the MCAS standard as a diploma requirement, business leaders say, would harm one of the state’s biggest selling points: its strong public education system — considered crucial to attracting and retaining talent as well as preparing our future workforce.
Editorial: Making Massachusetts No. 1 should be top of mind | Boston Business Journal
At a talk before the Mass High Tech Council this week, Yvonne Hao continued her economic development plan roadshow, calling on Massachusetts business and policy leaders to remain “relentlessly paranoid about the progress of other states.”
Center Pitched To Focus On AI In Finance
Business and tech leaders working to solidify the commonwealth’s competitiveness broadly previewed a handful of ideas at a Mass High Tech Council MassVision2050 discussion with Economic Development Secretary Yvonne Hao.
Steve Pagliuca, others want to ‘turbocharge’ drug discovery with new Cambridge institute
In 2020 Pagliuca partnered with the Massachusetts High Technology Council, healthcare leader and business executives to create return-to-work guidelines. “We had a four-part recommendation, and one of them was to really turbocharge, to speed up therapeutics, vaccines.”
Healey, Not Baker, Gets To Sign Tax Relief Law
The nearly two-year affair that spanned a pair of governorships came to a close Wednesday with Healey’s approval of the tax ‘relief’ bill. The Massachusetts High Technology Council gave it a mixed review, arguing that it will “only marginally change how Massachusetts compares with other states.”
THRIVE Act: What’s in the bill that impacts MCAS for students & schools
New legislation is trying to end the MCAS graduation requirement and change the state’s school takeover system, but not everyone is on board. Currently, Massachusetts students have to pass the MCAS in order to graduate.
Tech trade group ‘evaluating’ legal challenge to Legislature’s tax cap law reforms
The Mass High Tech Council argued the change to the distribution formula of Chapter 62F is unconstitutional. The voter-approved law has only been triggered twice, 1987 and 2022, and refunds were distributed based on personal income tax from the preceding tax year.
Mass. tax relief package has a little something for everyone (to hate)
Businesses see only marginal improvement to the state’s competitive standing. Equity advocates say the legislation doesn’t go far enough.
Massachusetts lawmakers unveil $1 billion tax relief deal, with vote this week
Massachusetts lawmakers will begin voting Wednesday on a $1 billion tax package that would boost tax breaks for families, seniors, and others while slashing state taxes on profits from short-term investments, a change that had divided Democrats.
Mass. business groups push feds to speed up work permits for migrants
Many of the state’s business groups urged the Biden administration Monday to allot more federal funding to address the migrant crisis and to speed up work authorizations for migrants.
Ballot question season already at a boil
A coalition of business and education groups, who objected to the MTA-backed ballot initiative to remove the MCAS requirement for high school graduation’s certification in August, said its members are “prepared to fight this measure.”
MCAS Critics Ready To “Sprint” Toward 2024 Ballot
Attorney General Andrea Campbell ruled Wednesday that two proposed ballot questions related to the role of the MCAS exam are legally sound, keeping open the possibility that Bay State voters could decide next fall whether passing the standardized test should remain a requirement to graduate high school here.
Influential Collective Seeks To Derail MCAS Question
The Massachusetts High Technology Council was joined by over a dozen organizations and individuals, including three past chairs of the State Board of Education, in filing a memo with the Attorney General’s Office challenging the proposed ballot question to eliminate the use of the MCAS exam as a graduation requirement.
MCAS ballot question: Education groups gear up for contentious campaign
A day after the Massachusetts ballot initiative deadline, education advocates are settling in for a long, heated campaign over the petition to remove the MCAS test as a graduation requirement.
Execs discuss why Mass. ranks 49th in cost of doing business
Massachusetts High Tech Council board chairman John Lee was joined by CNBC Special Correspondent Scott Cohn in a webinar on Tuesday to discuss the CNBC’s annual “Top States for Business Rankings” and what the results mean for running a business in the Bay State.
Mass. Climbs In “States For Business” Rankings
Massachusetts moved up nine spots in CNBC’s annual America’s Top States for Business rankings this summer and the man behind the scorecard of states told the Mass. High Tech Council that he is beginning to put more emphasis on things like reproductive rights and inclusion when he ranks states.
Massachusetts Teachers Association to launch ballot campaign aimed at ending MCAS graduation requirement
The Massachusetts Teachers Association’s proposal would jeopardize the futures of Massachusetts high school graduates, endanger the state’s standing as a national leader in education, and put the state’s economy at a further competitive disadvantage.
Massachusetts education reform — some successes but lots more to do
On the 30th anniversary of the historic Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993, past chairs of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education weigh in on what the state needs to do to make good on its commitment to equity in education.
Fight to streamline corporate taxes heats up on Beacon Hill, with some blue-chip companies opposed
One of the state’s biggest corporate tax breaks in years could be on its way. The business community is divided over how to proceed with taxing multistate companies in Massachusetts.