Research


Scope and Content Note

These records document the day-to-day management of the Economic Development Board and reflect every aspect of the board's mandate to oversee and coordinate economic development planning and research activities in the state and advise the governor on matters relating to the state's economy. A significant quantity of the records document the board's role as the state agency responsible for administering federal economic development planning grants (known as 302 Program grants). Relevant records include grant applications and background research materials, grant project progress reports, and contract agreements with private service providers.

Numerous legislative files document the board's role as adviser to the governor on economic issues. Records include requests from the executive chamber for comments on specific bills pending in the legislature, economic impact assessments prepared by board staff, correspondence from interested business and labor organizations, detailed studies of the economic impacts of the governor's legislative program, and drafts of governor's messages submitted to the board for comment.

Conference materials, correspondence, and published reports in the series also illustrate the board's leadership in coordinating economic recovery efforts among states in the northeastern region of the country. Additional topics considered by the board and documented in the files include sales taxes on producers, tax exemptions for property owners, workmen's compensation laws, purchasing of locally produced and/or American made products, coastal zone management, urban revitalization, role of local governments in the state's economic future, impact of plant closures, impact of illegal aliens in the job market, and role of environmental and other regulatory programs in economic development.