Governor's Jobs Bill Advancing-State Legislature Report
3/1/10 - The Governor's jobs package continues to move along smartly. From a House sub-committee on Friday, emerged SB 184/Colgan (conformed to
Governor's Jobs Package Advancing
By Hugh Keogh , VA Chamber of Commerce
The Governor's jobs package continues to move along smartly. From a House sub-committee on Friday, emerged SB 184/Colgan (conformed to
HB 199/Cox, M.K.), expanding the scope of the Major Employment and Investment Commission to review incentives offered to projects involving capital investments in excess of $250 million and creating more than 400 full time jobs. In that same vein, Senator Reynolds' bill (SB 730) permitting grants to be awarded from this fund to enable localities to plan for these major projects was also reported. Passage looks likely.
SB 472/Watkins, reducing the threshold for access to the Major Business Facility Job Tax Credit was reported from a subcommittee as was SB 554/Puckett, which would allow the Governor to waive the matching fund requirement for some localities applying for grants from the Governor's Opportunity Fund.
SB 623/Hanger allows a $500 income tax credit for "green" jobs created after January 1, 2010. Each taxpayer is allowed a credit for up to 350 green jobs created and may qualify for the Enterprise Zone Grant program if the job is located in a zone.
Regrettably, Senator Ruff's bill (SB 657) to provide an income tax credit for the production and export of renewable energy products was carried over for the year with a letter to the Major Employment and Investment Commission.
On the tourism front, there are three items left of note. First, SB 237/Watkins, requiring that a portion of the wine liter tax collected from wine produced by farm wineries be deposited in the Wine Promotion Fund, was reported from a House subcommittee on Friday. Second, SB 257/Lucas, incentifying filmmaking in Virginia through income tax credits to production companies filming here and spending at least $250,000, was also reported. Finally, it appears that the Governor's proposal of an additional $3.6 million in marketing funds each year for the Virginia Tourism Corporation has survived the budget process to date. It will bear close attention during the ensuing budget conference unfolding over the next two weeks.
