BOSTON (SHNS) - To hear Economic Development Secretary Yvonne Hao tell it, Massachusetts is in the same kind of situation as its NFL team: facing major structural challenges as it navigates some difficult years between the trophies of the past and the vision of more to come in the future. The secretary knows that many Bay Staters talk about the state and its future at barbecues in much the same way that callers skewer the New England Patriots each day on sports talk radio, complaining about the high cost of living, griping about traffic and unreliable transportation, and suggesting they may switch their allegiance or residence to another state. She said it is a priority of hers to get to the bottom of who is leaving Massachusetts and why, and how the state could instead keep those people here. "When you're at a cocktail party and people are talking about leaving, I want you to ask them: How many of you have been here when the Patriots have won a Super Bowl? How many of you have been here when the Patriots have won two Super Bowls? How many have been here when they've won more than two Super Bowls? ... Now, the Patriots are not doing that good, right? Do you sit at cocktail parties and talk about, 'Oh, you know what? Let's go become Chiefs fans.' No, we sit at cocktail parties and talk about Drake Maye and how we almost came back and won in overtime last week, almost," Hao said Thursday morning. "We are Patriots fans. We have been here for the good things, and this is now the time for us to be here to do the work." The secretary made her remarks to what she referred to as "the crème de la crème of our state," about 300 people who attended a State House News Service and MASSterList policy forum titled, "They're Leaving Massachusetts: Competitiveness and Workforce Challenges." She gave the audience a list of other questions to pepper party guests with the next time conversation turns to outmigration. "I want you to ask them, How many of you've been here and have educated your kids here? How many of you've gone to our hospitals for treatment? How many of you are proud of our state, of what our leadership looks like? How many of you are proud of the values we stand for? How many of you have great, fulfilling careers here? How many of you have parked their car and walked at night in Boston and not had to carry a gun to be scared of your life?" she said. Hao added, "Instead of talking about 'they're leaving Massachusetts,' let's make a choice. Let's be on the team. Let's stay on the team, and let's talk about the work we're doing and the work we have to do to continue to lead for many future generations." The secretary ran through the work the Healey administration has been doing during her roughly 20-minute speech Thursday, including its development of a multi-year economic development plan. She spent significantly less time dwelling on the fact that "we're missing one piece," the economic development bill that stalled out in the Legislature as formal sessions concluded on Aug. 1. "We were hoping that this bill would have gotten passed at the end of the session in July. It was not a fun all-nighter for our team. And I think everyone was very supportive of this bill, everyone wanted to get this bill passed. We simply ran out of time," the secretary said. "But we're not giving up. So our legislators are very committed, the governor's very committed, and people are now back to work trying to get this bill passed, hopefully this month or next month, to bring this plan to life." Sen. Barry Finegold, the lead Senate negotiator on the economic development bill, said during a panel discussion later in Thursday's policy forum that he expects the economic development bill will "get done ... in the next few weeks." The economic development bill carries one of Healey's priorities: positioning the state's economy to get in on the ground floor of the emerging climate technology sector the way it did with the life sciences industry nearly two decades ago. Healey's $1 billion climate tech proposal included $700 million for the Mass. Clean Energy Center (broken down into $400 million in capital funding split evenly across authorizations for a clean energy investment fund and an offshore wind industry investment fund and $300 million in operating money) as well as $300 million in tax incentives. "We've done it in life sciences, we've seen where that's taken us. We have all the same ingredients to do it again with climate tech, but every state is competing hard," the governor told a business group breakfast in late March. "And the time is now to secure our lead and catalyze a new level of growth." Citing data from the industry-tracking nonprofit E2, Governing Magazine reported Thursday that the bulk of the private sector investment benefit of the federal Inflation Reduction Act is flowing to states in the southeast and that Massachusetts is lagging well behind. Private companies have tapped into the IRA's tax credits to cumulatively put more than $128 billion on the table for dozens of clean energy projects that would together create 100,000 new jobs, Governing said. North Carolina has seen the greatest private investment boost from the IRA, with more than $21 billion committed so far for 23 projects expected to create nearly 12,000 new jobs. Georgia expects more than 15,700 new jobs will come from the 29 clean energy projects announced there since August 2022, a total of $15.3 billion in private investment. In Massachusetts, E2 counted six clean energy projects announced since the IRA became law two years ago, with $45.7 million in private investment announced. Those projects are expected to lead to 1,041 new jobs in the Bay State. E2's latest U.S. Energy & Employment Jobs Report showed 123,400 clean energy jobs in Massachusetts as of this year, and state officials expect the offshore wind industry will continue to hire up though new project contracts will not be finalized until the end of this year at the earliest.