With two weeks left in the 2010 session of the Virginia General Assembly, I am pleased to report that our Jobs and Opportunity Agenda is making progress in Richmond, but we have a lot of work left to do.
Governor McDonnell and I introduced the Jobs and Opportunity Agenda when the General Assembly convened in January. Through a series of legislative changes and monetary investments, we have put forth a detailed and aggressive program that will help get Virginia’s economy moving again and create jobs.
Thus far, 30 of our 34 legislative proposals have been approved by the Senate and House of Delegates. These legislative proposals will enable us to increase tax incentives for businesses that create jobs in Virginia, reduce unnecessary and overly burdensome regulations, and provide greater access to the Governor’s Economic Opportunity Fund.
In addition, these legislative proposals will enable us to move forward with a number of critical strategic initiatives like our Mega Site Acquisition Fund, which is designed to lure advanced manufacturing businesses to Southside Virginia; and our Small Business Investment Company Credit Program, which will improve access to capital that is essential for successful business formation and operation.
Given the success of our legislative agenda, we feel confident that we will be able to make considerable progress this year in achieving our goal of making Virginia more competitive with other states when it comes to the recruitment of new business, industry and jobs.
However, we also asked the General Assembly to invest an additional $50M in proven economic development and job creation programs. While the budget adopted by the House of Delegates has given us almost all of the additional funding we requested, the budget adopted by the Senate funded only $6M of our requests.
In addition, the Senate budget reduced funding for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and the Department of Business Assistance, and it earmarked $20M in the Governor’s Economic Opportunity Fund for special projects, which limits the Governor’s ability to use this money for job creation.
We are very disappointed by the failure of Senate Democrats to recognize the importance of investing in economic development at this critical time. Getting the economy moving again and creating jobs is the most important issue currently facing Virginia, and this is the time for needed investments in proven job creation programs.
By investing more money in the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the Virginia Tourism Corporation and the Virginia Film Office we can enhance our state’s domestic and internal marketing activities.
By investing more money in the Governor’s Economic Opportunity Fund, the Jobs Investment Partnership Program and the Biotechnology Research Fund, we can improve our competitiveness with other states and improve our chances of closing economic development deals.
And by investing more money in strategic initiatives related to advanced manufacturing, biotechnology and life sciences, energy, small business and workforce training, we can position ourselves now to take advantage of a future economic recovery.
As the budget conference begins, we will be working with conferees to make certain that the importance of investing in programs that will help get our economy moving again and create jobs is at the forefront of their thoughts.
We have a great pro-business story to tell in Virginia, but we must have the resources we need to tell that story and the tools we need to show prospective businesses why it makes sense for them to locate in Virginia.
A growing economy will lift all ships.
Creating jobs will help families that are having a hard time making ends meet and businesses that are having a hard time keeping their doors open. It will also help government by generating more tax revenues to help fund core state services.
Now is the time to pass this legislation, approve these important investments and get our economy growing again. We look forward to working with the members of the General Assembly to accomplish this goal in the final weeks of the legislative session.
