By Kyle Cheney, STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
BOSTON – Fee increases for commercial vehicle registrations would be capped at 2.5 percent a year, state regulations would be the subject of a review commission, and start-ups formed at higher education institutions would have access to an “angel” investment fund under a package of job creation ideas unveiled Wednesday by legislative Republicans.
The ideas are among those that 37 Republicans are planning to push as part of an offensive this spring on bills they say will jumpstart an uneven economic recovery in Massachusetts. They’re preparing to unveil five packages of policy priorities and 25 “a la carte” bills they say will spur employers to ramp up hiring.
The package may also figure into election-year platforms as about two dozen freshman Republicans attempt to hold on to their seats and run against a Democratic leadership they’ve accused of lacking focus on job creation initiatives and relying on the promise of casino jobs that may take years to materialize.
The proposals, outlined at a 45-minute press conference outside the office of House Minority Leader Bradley Jones, will encompass five categories of the Massachusetts economy: education, energy, business regulation, health care and taxes. Although many of the ideas are long-stalled retreads, Republican leaders, standing in front of about 30 GOP colleagues, said they believed Democrats would warm to their proposals because of the urgency of job creation.
Jones and Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr said they intended to file the legislation in about two weeks, after seeking Democratic cosponsors and feedback from businesses and policymakers.
Although Republican proposals face steep odds to passage in a Legislature dominated by 161 Democrats, Jones said Democratic leaders, in the face of a tough economy, have been forced to embrace Republican ideas on pension costs, municipal health savings, unemployment insurance and transportation reform.
“Some of the ideas and reforms that have actually found their way into law are things that we’ve been talking about, but when there was money coming in over the transom they weren’t maybe as willing to take on vested interests,” Jones said. “There’s no pride of authorship.”
“If I, in this still-bad economy, am running for reelection … I don’t want to run on just what we’ve done so far because we really haven’t done that much,” Jones added.
The Massachusetts economy has rebounded more strongly than other states in the wake of the recession. The state’s unemployment rate fell to 6.8 percent in December, but jobless rates are higher in many urban areas outside of the Greater Boston region.
But employment in the Bay State has remained largely flat since June 2011, with employers adding 400 jobs. But following sharp gains in July, employers entered a five-month period in which they shed 10,000 jobs, a trend capped by the loss of 6,200 jobs in December.
Democrats, under assault by Republican lawmakers in recent weeks, have defended their efforts to spark the Massachusetts economy, pointing to Democrat-led efforts to freeze the unemployment insurance tax rate for businesses, the ongoing work of a Job Creation Commission touring the state and gathering feedback, and a recent Patrick administration report on economic development strategies. Legislative leaders have also noted the passage of sales tax holidays to provide a boost to retailers and the ongoing implementation of an economic development consolidation law passed in 2010.
Speaker Robert DeLeo, addressing House members earlier this month, pledged that job creation would be a cornerstone of the Legislature’s policy agenda in 2012.
“As I meet with business leaders across the state, increasingly I am hearing about us losing the innovation battle to other states. Too often, I’m learning that our innovators and entrepreneurs are packing up and leaving. I don’t like seeing Massachusetts finish second to any other state,” he said, promising to pursue policies “to create a friendlier, better climate for the creation of new jobs.”
“To Mark Zuckerberg, and other leaders of new companies, we want you here,” DeLeo said.
Tarr told reporters that Republicans would attempt to pass their proposals in as many vehicles as possible, from the annual budget to midyear spending bills to an expected health care payment reform bill.
“We’re going to look for every opportunity to advance these ideas,” he said.
The GOP jobs package includes proposals to require competitive bidding for renewable energy projects, a relaxing of the rules requiring businesses to offer health insurance to their workers, a proposal to permit vocational technical schools to offer a wider variety of courses, a commission to evaluate energy costs in Massachusetts, permitting doctors to offer apologies for medical errors without being legally liable as a result, and rolling back laws forcing businesses who delay wages for employees to pay triple damages.
The package also includes the establishment of pre-tax “Home Buyer Savings Accounts” to help prospective homeowners make payments and to boost the real estate market.