Romney, House find common ground on job creation
by Statehouse News ServiceWhen the recession hit in 2001, Massachusetts shed jobs as fast as any other state, eventually losing nearly 200,000 jobs, eroding state and local property tax bases, and triggering both personal hardships within families and a budget crisis in state government.
In 2003, the Legislature and Gov. Mitt Romney approved a bill to spur job growth, but the most recent data shows the state, where employers struggle with high housing and business costs and workforce development and training issues, has restored only about a quarter of the jobs it has lost. Continuing job losses are nearly offsetting gains, the state is not luring new residents and workers, and out-of-state conglomerates are buying up signature companies.
Faced with those facts, Beacon Hill is about to embark on another effort - the wonks are calling it Economic Stimulus 2 - to help businesses grow, and the Democrat-controlled Legislature and the Romney administration are finding some common ground between two bills aimed to boosting the state's job count, and tax base.
Testifying before the Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technology, Secretary of Economic Affairs Ranch Kimball said the administration "applauds many things" in the $300 million House bill, chiefly a $200 million bond fund to help communities quickly add infrastructure when businesses look to expand or relocate.
"Probably no single measure can make our communities more competitive," Kimball said at a hearing today.
Sen. Jack Hart (D-South Boston) said he believes the House will debate its bill in the next couple of weeks. The Senate, he said, will then add its own ideas and preserve areas of the House bill where there is consensus. The bill was endorsed by the committee following a hearing that spanned more than five hours.
"We want to get it on the floor relatively quickly," said House committee chairman Rep. Daniel Bosley (D-North Adams. "There's a tremendous commitment on both sides to creating jobs."
Kimball identified three other House initiatives that the administration agrees with - the establishment of a state Office of Broadband Affairs, a $4.6 million investment in the state's 32 career centers, and a $1.5 million investment in in-state sales and marketing through the Massachusetts Office of Business Development.
The administration has asked for even more funding to build a sales and marketing force, and Kimball said funding in this area is the "first and more crying need" as policy makers review the state's economic policies.
"Other states are very aggressive about trying to woo jobs out of Massachusetts," said Kimball. "We simply don't have the kind of field sales force that can proactively call on businesses." The administration had asked for $2 million for sales and marketing, and Kimball said the extent of out-of-state marketing efforts deserves debate.
Some lawmakers want more concrete evidence that investing in sales and marketing will create jobs. Hart, for instance, mentioned that every dollar invested in tourism produces $23 worth of economic activity. When he asked for a similar correlation for sales and marketing, Kimball said he'd have to get back to the committee.
Kimball identified two areas where he believes the House bill falls short - commercial permitting reform and the exclusion of $100 million in bond funds Romney has recommended to upgrade higher education research facilities. Other states are competing more aggressively for federal research funding, a major job generator in Massachusetts, by increasing state matching funds, Kimball said. "We need to upgrade our physical facilities," he said.
The University of Massachusetts is about to make an "exciting announcement" about research funds, Kimball said.
According to Sen. Stanley Rosenberg (D-Amherst), the state has to invest more heavily to upgrade aging labs at the University of Massachusetts. "You cannot be doing contemporary science at the highest level possible in labs that are 40 years old," Rosenberg said.
Bosley said House leaders are "in conversations" with university officials over matching funds, but said it "remains to be seen" whether such funds will be included in the bill to be debated by the House in the coming weeks. After the hearing, Bosley said lobbying for matching funds has increased over the past week.
Because of the high temperature in the non-air conditioned basement hearing room today, Bosley and Hart advised those lined up to testify to be brief. A simply thank you would suffice, Bosley said, from those whose priorities have already been included in the bill.
"For those people who didn't get what they wanted in this bill, there's always tomorrow," Bosley said.
The bill would extend a brownfields redevelopment tax credit due to expire this year through 2010. The National Association of Industrial and Office Properties says permanently extending the tax credit would create a much more favorable business environment for redeveloping polluted and often abandoned properties. "Massachusetts is still home to countless contaminated properties," said Tamara Small, the association's director of communications.
Rep. David Torrisi (D-Lawrence) said the legislation includes $30 million in brownfields redevelopment funding and increases the tax credit available to rehabilitate historic buildings, such as old mills. Those changes, he said, will help the tax bases and economies of "secondary cities" like Fall River, Lawrence, Pittsfield and Worcester.
"This bill will help make those cities more attractive and more competitive," said Torrisi.
Streamlined permitting proposals are before the Labor and Workforce Development Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Michael Rodrigues (D-Westport). "He's preparing to hold hearings on that," Bosley said
Bosley said House leaders believe in streamlined permitting, adding that Romney vetoed that last attempt submitted by the Legislature, and hope to resolve outstanding matters.
"There's not enough money to change the culture in all these different communities," Bosley said, noting the issue is intertwined with a separate effort to reform the laws governing the disposition of surplus state property.
Rosenberg urged his colleagues to target their policy and financial initiatives to spur growth in tourism, the cultural economy, higher education, and expanded Internet connectivity. "We've got to lead with our strengths," he said.
After the hearing, Bosley emphasized that partnerships between government and business are the key to job creation bills, in part because technology is changing so fast that collaboration is required to keep up with it.
"It's all about helping to be a partner," said Bosley. "New technology is going so fast so quickly that the Legislature and the business community can't keep up with it."
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