Economic Development Bill Not the Answer to all our state’s problems

BOSTON—House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones, Jr. issued the following statement after the Massachusetts House of Representatives engrossed the conference committee report on economic development.

While I applaud the conference committee members for the progress made on a bill aimed at stimulating the economy, I must say I am disappointed that the single most important issue facing the Commonwealth was left to the last possible minute.

This bill contains many positive elements – but by no means is the contents of this bill the answer to all of our state’s problems. The economic development bill passed in the House today is a step in the right direction but unfortunately more than 300,000 Massachusetts residents are still out of work today and many more remain underemployed. We can and must do better and I hope when we convene next year, economic development will be the top priority on the Legislature’s agenda.

In fact, a key portion of this bill is fixing mistakes this Legislature enacted and Governor Patrick signed into law that has hurt our economy – mainly the Patrick-Murray Administration’s corporate tax bill from 2008.