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For Release:
October 12, 2006
Contact: Cort Boulanger
Tel: (339) 222-2442
The Massachusetts High Technology Council, which represents CEOs from the state's leading technology employers, today launched its first-ever legislative scorecard MassTrack, a dynamic website designed to provide information on elected leaders to the Council member companies, technology employees, and the public. The scorecard uses votes from the 2005-2006 legislative session on issues of economic and fiscal, health care, and education policy.
”MassTrack is the first assessment methodology used in Massachusetts to measure how legislators vote on key issues to the technology community," said Council President Christopher R. Anderson. "The goal of the legislative scorecard is to help legislators gain a better understanding of the technology community’s priorities on Beacon Hill and to create a system of accountability to back it up. Legislators need to know that their votes matter."
Anderson noted that MassTrack is unique for two key reasons. First, it assigns different weights for each issue as set by the Council’s annual CEO survey. MassTrack also debits legislators for half of an issue weight for missed votes, with limited exceptions. MassTrack records roll-call votes for eight key issues over the two-year session. For the complete scorecard, scoring methodology and listing of issues, visit www.masstrack.org.
Overall, five senators and 17 representatives received perfect 100 percent scores. The lowest score in the Legislature was 49 percent, a score shared by one senator and three representatives. The average score for the Senate was 73.8 percent, with the House coming in slightly higher at an average of 75.1 percent.
Second, the legislative assessment section corresponds with a ranking of the competitiveness of the state’s 351 cities and towns on technology and site selection issues. The Council launched the initial list of municipal rankings in March, initiating a public conversation on how communities can create a more competitive climate for technology employers. In today’s updated release of municipal rankings, Hopkinton remained the top-rated community.
“In Massachusetts, the role of the local community and its impact on important state initiatives is extremely significant. A decision by a community can have a positive or negative impact on a state policy designed to help improve our state’s competitiveness” said Anderson. “MassTrack is the only resource that makes the connection between public policy and political leadership between the state and local levels.”
Anderson noted that with a few exceptions, not all of the top performing communities were represented by legislators that scored high on the MassTrack legislative scorecard.
| Rank |
Community |
Sen./Score Rep./Score |
| 1 |
Hopkinton |
Spilka - 74
Loscocco - 87 |
| 2 |
Natick |
Brown - 88;
Spilka - 74;
Linsky - 100
Peisch - 87 |
| 3 |
Boxborough |
Resor - 61
Eldridge - 61 |
| 4 |
Foxborough |
Timilty - 73
Coppola - 82 |
| 5 |
Rockland |
Morrissey - 68
Nyman - 74 |
| 6 |
Ashland |
Spilka - 74
Sannicandro - 74 |
| 7 |
Hingham |
Hedlund - 76
Bradley - 87 |
| 8 |
Mansfield |
Timilty - 73
Coppola - 82;
Kafka - 74
Poirier - 100 |
| 9 |
Franklin |
Brown - 88
Spilka - 74
Vallee - 70 |
| 10 |
Chelmsford |
Fargo - 61
Atkins - 74
Golden - 74
Hall - 74
Nangle - 74
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“Some of the legislators seem to do a good job of reflecting the technology focus of their districts, but others simply aren’t making the grade,” said Anderson. “It is important for all technology employers and employees to understand how state and local officials are working to support the technology growth.”
Each Legislative Profile page includes a full description of the issues and votes included on MassTrack, as well as contact information so that visitors can immediately correspond with their legislators. Anderson said that the MassTrack link will be sent to all of the Council’s members so it can be forwarded to their employees.
The addition of updated variables shook up the previous community rankings. New variables include the commercial tax rate, the commercial/industrial growth rates, and trends of MCAS math scores. The MassTrack community rankings bring into focus the competitive priorities of technology employers and employees in 12 core variables, including the density of technology workforce, new housing created, property tax differentials and available commercial space.
MassTrack provides visitors the opportunity to explore interactive, color-coded maps of the state based on the MassTrack ranking and individual variables. A visitor can focus on a specific variable and quickly determine which communities are favorable or unfavorable for that competitive priority. In addition to the variables used for ranking, MassTrack collects other data points of interest to the public.
The MassTrack municipal rankings will be updated every September, while the Legislative Scorecard will be issued in September of every election year.
About the Massachusetts High Technology Council
The Massachusetts High Technology Council is composed of CEOs representing the state's top technology employers and works to make Massachusetts a more competitive place for technology growth. Council members run leading global companies from all sectors of the state's diverse technology economy. In 2004, the Council launched the Massachusetts Defense Technology Initiative, which led the state's efforts to preserve the state's two top defense technology installations, Hanscom Air Force Base and the Natick Soldier Systems Center.
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