WisBusiness: Dems look to pass more jobs bills in final month of session

With the end of the legislative session looming — and facing a potentially tough election cycle later this year — Dems in charge of the state Legislature are hoping to shore up their economic development credentials with a slew of new jobs proposals set to pass this month.

Two Senate-backed bills appear ready to pass the Assembly during its final floorperiod: a bill that would enable multiple political subdivisions to award conduit bonds for construction of public projects and the CORE Jobs Act — a package of 18 proposals that includes a post-secondary education tax credit for businesses, higher annual limits on angel investment tax credits and a host of other provisions.

Senate Dems have placed a high priority on the CORE bill, which passed their chamber by a 32-1 margin in January but has languished in the Assembly in the months since. But the chairman of the Assembly Committee on Jobs, the Economy and Small Business vowed to pass the bill out of committee in the next month, and an Assembly Dem source said prospects are favorable for passage of both bills out of the full chamber.

Meanwhile, Assembly Democrats are hopeful that a number of economic development issues they’ve passed will move through the Senate next month, including bills to ease the penalties on small businesses for minor regulation violations, create incentives for banks to lend money to businesses, encourage 20 percent of state spending to be directed to Wisconsin businesses, ban automatic lease renewals on businesses and create a state New Markets Job Credit program to encourage redevelopment of existing facilities.

A Senate Dem source said the loan incentives bill and automatic renewal ban are likely to pass, but that the chamber has concerns about some of the other proposals. The New Markets Job Credit bill hasn’t been through the Joint Finance Committee, the source said, and will likely have a large fiscal impact while the state deals with a very limited funding base. And the in-state spending bill — dubbed the Wisconsin First Act — has sparked concerns that other states that do businesses with Wisconsin companies may retaliate.

Although session is winding down, Democrats have also not shied away from introducing new proposals in hopes of moving them quickly through committee. Sen. Julie Lassa of Stevens Point and Rep. Cory Mason of Racine introduced a bill last week to create a $100 million revolving loan fund for businesses to boost their energy efficiency or take up other green business practices. Gov. Jim Doyle called for the set-up in his State of the State address earlier this year.

Rep. Louis Molepske, who chairs the Assembly Jobs committee, says he’s hopeful the bill — named the “Green to Gold” fund — and others can still survive the final legislative gauntlet.

“I don’t believe that moving things out of committee at this point is too late,” said Molepske, D-Stevens Point.

But even if some of the bills in question fall by the wayside — more controversial measures such as the “Clean Energy Jobs Act” and payday loan regulation are also on the table for the end of the session — Democrats are comfortable with their handling of the economy so far this session.

“We can’t legislate confidence,” Molepske said. “But our actions … helped boost confidence.”

Dems have also already begun to tout the various tax credits they’ve pushed through this session.

But Rep. Rich Zipperer, R-Pewaukee and the ranking member of the Assembly jobs committee, said the millions in tax incentives that Dems have approved don’t make up for the billions in tax increases implemented in the ’09 state budget and budget repair bill.

“If you take the session as a whole, we’ve taking several giant steps backwards,” Zipperer said.

– By Andy Szal
WisBusiness.com