Massachusetts Green Jobs Act of 2008

In 2008, Governor Deval Patrick signed the Massachusetts Green Jobs Act (HB 5018, DiMassi).  The Act results from the collaborative efforts of policy leaders and community advocates. It provides grant money to stimulate clean energy companies, to create green jobs and to provide job training programs to ensure all people have access to new green jobs. 

The Green Jobs Act created the Massachusetts Clean Energy Technology Center (the “Center”) to serve as the state’s lead agency on the green economy.  The Center will work to stimulate job creation in the clean energy sector, promote workforce training, and conduct market research to identify barriers to the clean energy industry and job training needs.  The Center will be governed by a board of directors consisting of public and private stakeholders.

The Green Jobs Act also established the Alternative and Clean Energy Investment Trust Fund.  The Center is required to use the Fund to stimulate the growth of the state’s green economy.   The Green Jobs Act authorized the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs to use $1,000,000 from the Fund in fiscal year 2009 for each of the following three projects:

1)    A seed grant program for clean energy companies, institutions or nonprofit organizations;
2)    A workforce development grant program to award grants to universities and colleges, vocational technical schools or community-based organizations with existing or potential workforce development programs in clean energy;
3)    A pathways out of poverty initiative to award five competitive grants to clean energy companies, community-based nonprofit organizations, educational institutions or labor organizations for training programs that lead to economic self-sufficiency. 

According to the New England Clean Energy Council (NECEC), full implementation of this legislation could create 21 new clean energy companies, attract up to half a billion dollars in venture capital, create more than 10,000 new jobs and raise $50 million in new annual income tax revenue.