Business torrents

The sales tax on most purchases will be waived Aug. 14-15, corporations and startups would receive new tax breaks, and the state’s large small business sector would be lifted with a series of stimulus policies under legislation agreed to by House and Senate leaders later Friday.

The bill is marked for approval in the House and Senate on Friday, the last day of formal sessions for the year. Bill supporters say its provisions will make state government more responsive to businesses while critics say the bill lacks policy directives that will target underlying high costs for Bay State employers.

Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray stood before a phalanx of lawmakers to announce agreement on the bill, also aimed at consolidating the state’s web of economic development agencies and increasing business’s access to capital.

“We’re already fifth in economic activity and business friendliness. This should bring us up to number one,” Murray said. The bill came together with three hours to go until an 8 p.m. deadline for filing compromise legislation.

More than half of the Senate, including a pair of Republicans, stood behind Murray and DeLeo to announce the agreement. “We recognize that in this difficult economy … that this would not be an economic development bill that did a lot in terms of tax policy but we felt it was important to do a couple of things to make a very strong statement,” said Rep. Brian Dempsey, co-chair of the Economic Development Committee.

Republican lawmakers offered rare praise for their Democratic colleagues’ work on the economy. “There will be jobs created because of this bill,” said Rep. Viriato DeMacedo (R-Plymouth), the House’s minority party negotiator. “There will be investment in the commonwealth of Massachusetts because of this bill.”

Sen. Karen Spilka (D-Ashland), Dempsey’s co-chair and the Senate’s lead negotiator on the dueling bills, said provisions limiting the salaries of state agency employees were stricken during negotiations.

The legislation, the latest in a wave of job creation laws that have proven no match for the job losses the state has endured over the past decade, arrives as the state’s unemployment rate hovers at 9 percent.

The bill also would:

• Merge the Massachusetts Health and Educational Facilities Authority and MassDevelopment;

• Extend for two years permits for development projects hampered by the difficult economy;

• Place a 3 percent tax rate on capital gains earned on investments in Massachusetts-based start-ups and extend from five to 20 years the period in which a corporation can carry forward its losses;

• Require the state Housing and Economic Development Secretary to chair the boards of most state authorities.

• Require state agencies to file economic impact statements detailing projects costs to small businesses of new regulations;

• Merge agencies, including the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism, the Mass. Film Office, and the Mass. Sports Partnership, into a new Massachusetts Marketing Partership. The bill also eliminates the Massachusetts Sports and Entertainment commission and the Massachusetts Industrial Development Authority.

• Expedite permitting rules for projects in so-called gateway cities and a housing development initiative for such cities.

• Create a $50 million bond authorization to support a “growth districts” initiative and creates a $25 million to $50 million credit program within the state pension fund to support small businesses.

• Create a Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation to provide capital to small businesses;

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