GOV. MAURA HEALEY touched off a bit of political intrigue on Monday when she filed “municipal empowerment” legislation that lacked one of the powers she had trumpeted just three days earlier at a conference of the Massachusetts Municipal Association.

The governor’s bill would increase local option taxes for meals and lodging and create a new 5 percent optional surtax on top of the existing motor vehicles excise tax. But another key provision – giving control of the issuance of liquor licenses to municipalities rather than the Legislature – was dropped at the last minute.

The change was announced awkwardly. Healey, Senate President Karen Spilka, and House Speaker Ron Mariano were answering questions following a meeting in the speaker’s office. Spilka and Mariano were noncommittal about giving local communities the ability to hike taxes, but Spilka said she supported the change about liquor license control.

“I do have to say with the liquor licenses, honestly, I never understood why the Legislature approved them to begin with,” Spilka said. “I would certainly be willing to take a look at that and make some changes there.”

Moments after the press conference was over, Karissa Hand, Healey’s spokeswoman, returned to the room to tell reporters the liquor license provision talked about by Spilka was not included in the filed bill. “We decided we wanted more time to work on the language,” she said. She declined to comment further.

Sen. Lydia Edwards of East Boston, an opponent of the current liquor license regulatory system, said the provision was probably scrapped because of pressure from the House. “Someone in the House killed that provision,” she said, suggesting the measure was likely removed to protect existing license holders from seeing their investment devalued as more are awarded.

Liquor licenses can be incredibly valuable in Boston, with some selling for as much as $600,000, according to local lawmakers.