Boosting state economies: six legislative leaders talked with State Legislatures about efforts to improve the economy and spur job growth in their states.

• Author: Weiss, Suzanne
• Position: ECONOMY

From business tax cuts, credits and other incentives, to new job training initiatives and bond-financed construction projects, legislators are pursuing aggressive strategies to stimulate sluggish economies.

Washington

One of the more ambitious undertakings is a billion-dollar supplemental capital budget bill Washington lawmakers passed this spring with strong support from both parties.

The initiative is projected to create more than 25,000 jobs during the next several years by using debt financing at a time when construction costs and bond rates are low to accelerate public works projects already planned and ready to go.

As part of the deal, the Legislature also approved a constitutional amendment for the November ballot to gradually lower the state's debt limit. Major items in the package include $320 million to build or expand health, science and technology centers at a dozen community colleges and universities; $216 million for natural resource projects such as flood control, fish hatcheries and toxic-waste cleanup; and more than $250 million for housing, safe drinking water and energy-efficiency programs.

"As an economist, it's been rewarding to see all of us--legislators, the governor, the private sector--get on the same page in support of more coordinated, regionally based economic development strategies," says Washington Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown (D). "We're not just chasing dollars."

Connecticut

During the past two sessions, the Connecticut General Assembly approved a billion-dollar package of bills to stimulate the economy with overwhelming bipartisan support. Projects include $291 million in state-backed bonds for Jackson Laboratory to build a large research facility focused on genomic medicine at the University of Connecticut Health Center. Governor Daniel Malloy promoted the idea as a way to make Connecticut a national leader in the field of bioscience. The research facility will eventually employ 1,000 people.

"The governor's office had ideas, the legislature had ideas on both sides of the aisle--and all the things we agreed on, we put in the bipartisan jobs bill," says Connecticut Speaker of the House Christopher Donovan (D).

The Connecticut stimulus package also includes an additional $700 million in bonds for small-business loans and grants, cleanup and redevelopment of industrial brownfield sites, bridge repairs, community college job training programs, and a Main Street Investment Fund to refurbish commercial

centers in small towns.

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