STATE HOUSE — The economic development bill filed late Sunday and enacted right around midnight Monday does not include an expansion of a tax incentive aimed at helping low-income workers or authorization for the Massachusetts Lottery to expand into online gaming, according to the lead House negotiator on the bill.
Both of those proposals had been included in the Senate's version of the bill.
STATE HOUSE — House and Senate lawmakers came tantalizingly close to reaching a deal that would have limited the use of non-compete agreements between employers and employees, but couldn't overcome differences over how compensation for workers who sign such contracts would be negotiated.
House and Senate leaders had been working to craft a proposal restricting non-competes, which critics contend have been abused by some employers and limit the creation of start-up companies and the free movement of workers in innovation industries. Some large companies, however, defend the agreements as protection against the theft of proprietary information and protection of their investments in worker training.
