State Reps Laud Jobs Bill

From the city’s State House delegation:

LEGISLATURE MAKES JOB GROWTH JOB ONE

Jobs Bill and Jackson Labs Approved by Legislature

Bridgeport State Representatives hailed passage of a comprehensive jobs bill that will boost Connecticut’s ability to grow and retain jobs. In addition, the legislature approved the state’s commitment to Jackson Laboratory–an investment that unlocks the potential of thousands of jobs in the field of genomic medicine and the biosciences. Both measures were approved during the October 26th special session of the General Assembly.

“I am very excited to support this Jobs bill which focuses on helping small businesses and reduces their tax burden. As a small business owner for the past 22 years, I can honestly say that this bill will help sustain and expand existing businesses, stimulate job growth and attract new business entrepreneurs to Connecticut,” Rep. Grogins said. “I also look forward to welcoming Jackson Labs to Connecticut. Their success will be our success. This state of the art facility for research and testing in genomic medicine will create thousands of job opportunities in the area of bio-science for Connecticut residents, and put our state on the world map in this rapidly growing field.”

“I am pleased to support this bill because many of my constituents have emphatically stressed to me the importance of jobs,” Rep. Ayala said. “The State of Connecticut is not just standing by any longer–we are providing leadership to create jobs to get through this rough economy and to prepare CT for a brighter future.”

“Although I am very pleased with the legislation to help create jobs and bring Jackson Labs to CT, I believe we need to stimulate economic development in our urban centers, especially Bridgeport. I am glad we are moving forward to begin the process of cleaning up our Brownfield properties. We need to get these old industrial sites back and contributing to the future of CT,” Rep. Hennessy said.

“These bills were made into law in order to both make the necessary investments in infrastructure which allows CT to be the home of one of the most technologically advanced research facilities in the world and to incentivize training and job creation in the private sector,” Rep. Santiago said. “These are steps which are necessary to take advantage of the budding bioscience industry and to assure the private sector that CT is indeed open for business and that the Legislature is willing to work towards a friendlier business climate. I plan to work to ensure that the people and businesses in Bridgeport take full advantage the resources made available through this legislation.”

“I’m glad to see us take a strong act concerning an issue that is important to all of us–jobs. Though this is not a perfect step, it is a giant step in a direction that is good for the citizens of Connecticut,” Rep. Stallworth said. “These two bills will have a great impact on employment in particular and the economy in general, as well as a great step in the area of medical research.”

“These two pieces of legislation follow what the governor was committed to for economic development to attract business in the state, put people back to work, and jump start the economy,” Rep. Clemons said. “Also, Jackson Labs will make the state competitive with others in the biomedical field. Hopefully, the research will lead to personalized treatment and more effective combating and curing of today’s and tomorrow’s diseases.”

The goal of the legislation is to jump-start job creation and foster long-term economic growth. Incentives for small business, cutting red tape, incentives for innovation, economic development tools and workforce development and training are all addressed in the bill.

One of the key components of the legislation is the Small Business Express Package which will make $50 million/year available to small businesses through incentives, grants and loans.

Another vital component is aligning programs at vo-tech schools, community colleges and universities with high demand job needs of employers, including the state’s manufacturing technology companies.

Other components of the jobs bill include:

• Consolidating and increasing the tax credit for new hires

• Incentivizing investments in emerging technology (Angel Investors)

• Building innovation centers in key cities and investing in innovative ventures

• A second “First Five” program

• Cutting the business entity tax

• Streamlining the business permitting process

• Remediating old industrial sites/brownfields

• Computer upgrades to foster seamless communication between business and the state

• Workforce development, education and training

• Allowing the Airport Authority to designate new Development Zones

• Investments in roads and bridges

• Replenishing the Manufacturing Assistance Act (MAA)

• Main Street commercial centers improvement initiative

In addition, the legislature signed off on Jackson Laboratory’s plan to build a $1.1 billion research facility at the UConn Health Center campus in Farmington. The State of Connecticut will invest $291 million and Jackson Laboratory will raise the balance of $860 million for the project.

According to the state Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), the project is expected to create over 660 positions at Jackson Laboratory in Farmington within 20 years. DECD estimates more than 4,600 bioscience jobs would be generated through spin-off companies, and another 2,000 would be added to local service and area retail stores. The project would yield more than 840 construction jobs as well.