The state House of Representatives Monday advanced Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s effort to prevent residential property owners in the city from seeing a significant hike in taxes after a Republican lawmaker blocked it last week. The state Senate is now slated to take up the measure after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
On Thursday and Friday, Representative David DeCoste of Norwell twice blocked the effort, expressing worry the bill, which would temporarily shift Boston’s property tax burden further onto commercial real estate, might “be devastating to the local commercial real estate industry.”
Neither of the two Republicans in the chamber Monday moved to block it. DeCoste, who does not represent any part of Boston, was not present on Monday.
Representative Rob Consalvo of Boston, a former city councilor who sponsored the tax measure in the House, said he spoke with DeCoste over the weekend about the issue. Consalvo said he’s ultimately “very grateful” the House moved the measure forward Monday.
“It’s a hugely important issue for the city of Boston, hugely important for my constituents, [I’ve been] literally receiving hundreds of phone calls,” Consalvo told reporters Monday. “Just glad we were able to get it done, and now it’s off to the Senate, and hopeful that they’ll move on it expeditiously.”
A previous iteration of the legislation had been stalled in that chamber for months. This latest version of the measure is a compromise that has the blessing of Wu and major business groups that had opposed and lobbied against the original legislation.
Consalvo said he is continuing to advocate for his Senate counterparts to support the proposal, but is not yet sure whether there is consensus among the Boston Senate delegation in favor of the measure.
The state Senate met on Monday morning, but adjourned without taking action on the proposal.
A spokesperson for Senate President Karen Spilka said in a statement Monday Spilka intends to bring the bill up on Monday, Dec. 2, “giving Senate members and the Wu administration a week to continue conversations.”
Because the Legislature is meeting in what are known as informal sessions, a single lawmaker can stall, or even derail, a bill’s passage.
Republican state Senator Ryan Fattman of Sutton told reporters he has heard a lot of concerns about the measure.
“A lot of people have reached out actually, surprisingly, some of my constituents who have business interests in Boston,” Fattman said Monday. “Boston’s a little bit unique in that it’s not your typical home rule petition, it affects a lot of people [outside Boston.]”
He did not clarify whether he, or another member of his caucus, is planning to block the legislation, but said, “We’ll see what happens.”
On Monday, Wu expressed gratitude toward House leadership, Consalvo, and community advocates for helping push the measure along.
”We look forward to continuing our work and conversations with the Senate to advance this consensus measure as soon as possible to protect Boston residents from a potential devastating tax spike,” Wu wrote in a statement.
Wu has emphasized the urgent need for state lawmakers and the governor to approve the proposal before the end of the month, to give the City Council and state revenue officials time to set property tax rates before bills are sent out in early January.
More than 70 percent of Boston’s budget is funded by property taxes. But due to a decline in downtown commercial real estate values as a result of the rise of remote work postpandemic, the city faces the prospect of either levying significantly higher tax rates on residential property owners to make up the difference, or cutting what officials say would be hundreds of millions of dollars from the budget. Wu’s measure would mitigate that spike, easing the transition to higher residential property tax rates over a three-year period.
Without action, Wu has said residential property owners would see a huge hike in their bills early next year compared to their previous tax bills.
Matt Stout of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Niki Griswold can be reached at niki.griswold@globe.com. Follow her @nikigriswold.