Governor Schwarzenegger Touts Enterprise Zones

Governor Schwarzenegger directly addressed the topic of Enterprise Zones on Friday. Here is a press release which includes a video of an event in Los Angeles where the Governor discusses the zones:

'My administration has worked hard to improve the business climate and helped create almost 600,000 new jobs by reforming workers compensation, cutting taxes, passing responsible budgets, vetoing job-killer bills and increasing the number of Enterprise Zones,' said Gov. Schwarzenegger. 'By using incentives like Hiring Credits or Sales Tax Credits, these zones help draw business investment to economically depressed areas. Enterprise Zones lead to more jobs, less poverty and long-term economic stability.'

The press release contains this link to a 97 page report (in PDF) commissioned by the Housing and Community Development Department on the effectiveness of the Enterprise Zone Program. I haven't had a chance yet to dig into the report, but it seems to be favorable toward the program in general. This is the key paragraph from the executive Summary:

Results indicate that after EZ designation, those areas (as compared to immediately neighboring areas and to the rest of California) showed measurable decreases in poverty rates, unemployment rates, and vacancy rates, as well as measurable increases in household income and median rents. Averaging across all EZs during the 1990s decade, poverty rates declined 7.35 percent more than the rest of the State, unemployment rates declined 1.2 percent more than the rest of the State, household incomes increased 7.1 percent more than the rest of the State, wage and salary income increased 3.5 percent more than the rest of the State (although it actually grew about the same for EZs established in the 1980s), vacancy rates decreased 0.85 percent more than the rest of the State, and median rents increased 2.3 percent more than the rest of the State. These results were less strong for EZs established in the 1980s, which actually saw continued economic decline in the 1980s before recovering in the 1990s. Analyses of individual EZs showed widely-varying effectiveness in terms of job creation, income growth, and tax costs of jobs created. Many EZs saw strong post-designation economic recovery, while some EZs experienced very little economic recovery.

I also found it very interesting that the press release specifically noted that the Governor opposed both SB 1008 and AB 1766 as anti Enterprise Zone bills.

The Desert Sun featured a article about the Governor's press conference and the HCD report as well. And this article in the San Diego Union-Tribune shows how the Enterprise Zone issue is being used in the gubernatorial campaign. The blog "California Progress Report" provides the left-wing anti Enterprise Zone perspective.