FLORENCE – House Speaker Mike Hubbard will address the Shoals Chamber of Commerce at a luncheon on Friday, January 13 at the Marriott Shoals Hotel and Conference Center in Florence. The event is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m.
With the 2012 Regular Session of the Legislature beginning on February 7, Speaker Hubbard will offer an update to Shoals area leaders and the business community on proposals that will be considered during the session. The legislative leadership has a three-facet focus for 2012: jumpstarting private sector job growth, improving schools through education reform and making state government more efficient.
Speaker Hubbard will detail specifics of the legislative leadership’s aggressive job-growth agenda.
Proposals include:
- Streamlined Tax Incentives to Recruit and Retain Jobs
Details: Alabama’s success in landing world-class companies like Mercedes, Honda, Hyundai and ThyssenKrupp proves how effective tax incentives can be for bringing jobs to this state. This constitutional amendment would allow voters to give the Alabama Development Office and the Governor more flexibility in offering tax incentives to land major economic development projects and retain those companies that might otherwise relocate outside Alabama.
- “Heroes for Hire” – Tax Incentives for Hiring Veterans Returning from War
Details: With wars winding down in Iraq and Afghanistan, thousands of Alabama veterans will soon return home to a stagnant economy in which it is difficult to find a job. This proposal would offer Alabama businesses at least a $1000 tax credit for hiring a veteran recently returned from war, because those who served on the front lines for our country deserve to be at the front of the line for new hires.
- “Made in Alabama” Job Incentives Act
Details: Recommended by the Speaker’s Commission on Job Creation and passed into law in the 2011 Regular Session, this measure allows the state to offer temporary state income tax incentives to offset build-up phase tariff costs for international companies bringing jobs to the state.
As a direct result of this legislation, hundreds of foreign-based companies representing thousands of jobs expressed interest in locating their North American facilities in Alabama.
Unfortunately, the Alabama Education Association is suing to block the law, creating uncertainty for businesses that could take advantage of the incentive. We plan to remove AEA’s technical argument, pass the law again and make sure Alabama once again has this competitive advantage over other states for recruiting international companies.
- Making Workforce Development Work for the Unemployed
Details: Thousands of unemployed Alabamians are able – but not trained – to enter into available good-paying skilled-labor jobs, such as construction, welding, plumbing and machine maintenance.
We will make the necessary investments that afford our two-year college system the resources they need to meet Alabama’s jobless with Alabama jobs.
- Alabama Regulatory Flexibility Act
Details: The Alabama Regulatory Flexibility Act would require each state agency to conduct an economic impact analysis as well as a regulatory flexibility analysis prior to the adoption of any proposed regulation that may have an adverse impact on small businesses.
WHO: House Speaker Mike Hubbard
WHAT: Legislative update to the Shoals Chamber of Commerce
WHEN: Friday, January 13, at 11:30 a.m.
WHERE: Marriott Shoals Hotel and Conference Center, 800 Cox Creek Parkway South, Florence
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