After signing into law the Global Warming Solutions Act last Friday, Governor Deval L. Patrick today did the same for the Green Jobs Act, legislation that Patrick says adds to the progress in “making Massachusetts a world-class center for clean energy.” The Green Jobs Act draws $43 million from the state’s competitive investment fund to support the emerging green economy in Massachusetts, and the Global Warming Solution Act sets ambitious targets aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The bills follow a series of clean energy initiatives in the 2007-2008 legislative session, dubbed the “greenest ever” by Ian Bowles, the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs. During this legislative cycle, Massachusetts joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and passed legislation to hold the first auction of emission credits. Lawmakers also advanced a number of other measures, including a first-in-the-nation comprehensive oceans management planning bill, the Green Communities Act, a $1.7 billion Environmental Bond bill, and the

Clean Energy Biofuels Act.

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