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Legislative package all about work

Lawmakers unveil plan to kick-start jobs across state

By Roger Fillion, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 30, 2009 at 12:05 a.m.

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Joe McKernan, with Rocky Mountain Pavement, looks at Rep. Jim Kerr, R-Lakewood, Tony Gagliardi, of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, and Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, as they arrive for a news conference Thursday on the west steps of the Capitol. They outlined a package intended to create thousands of jobs in the state.

Photo by Linda McConnell / Special To The Rocky

Joe McKernan, with Rocky Mountain Pavement, looks at Rep. Jim Kerr, R-Lakewood, Tony Gagliardi, of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, and Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, as they arrive for a news conference Thursday on the west steps of the Capitol. They outlined a package intended to create thousands of jobs in the state.

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As Washington lawmakers debate President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package, Colorado legislators unveiled their own package of bills intended to create tens of thousands of jobs across the state.

The nine measures, offered by a bipartisan panel formed in late 2008, would spend more than $200 million a year to fix roads and bridges; offer tax breaks to companies that relocate here and hire at least 20 workers; and funnel loans into the hands of small business owners.

The measures - to be taken up at the state Capitol in coming weeks - also aim to generate jobs in renewable energy as well as employment in rural Colorado.

The Joint Select Committee on Job Creation and Economic Growth developed the package after hearings in which members took testimony from a cross-section of interests.

The package doesn't yet carry a price tag, but panel members said the steps could be implemented with little or no new spending and limited fee hikes.

To fix roads and bridges, lawmakers have proposed raising the average annual fee motorists pay to register their vehicle by $32 the first year and $41 the second. Legislators didn't identify specific fees that could be raised to fund the jobs initiative.

Sen. Gail Schwartz, a Snowmass Village Democrat and the committee's chair, told a news conference on the Capitol steps that "most of these bills . . . have absolutely no cost to them" or carry a "low cost."

The committee worked over the holidays to develop a package of measures to lower Colorado's unemployment rate come June. More bills are expected to follow.

The state's jobless rate stood at 6.1 percent in December 2008, up from 5.8 percent in November and 4.0 percent in December 2007.

Over the past 12 months Colorado has lost 47,000 jobs.

"This number is only growing," said Schwartz.

Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., said the idea of a tax credit to lure new companies to Colorado was patterned after Chicago's successful effort to get Boeing Co. and MillerCoors to set up headquarters in the Windy City.

Business development advocates have long complained that Colorado has been stingy when it comes to dangling incentives to lure out-of-state companies.

"This unique piece of legislation gives us a leg up," Clark told the news conference.

Job creation proposals

Here are the bills - and proposed bills - the Joint Select Committee on Job Creation and Economic Growth unveiled. They fall under five categories:

TRANSPORTATION

* Spend more than $200 million a year to repair roads and bridges. Spending would be financed by raising the annual vehicle registration fee by up to $41 over two years.

NEW BUSINESSES

* Offer tax credits to companies that move to Colorado and create at least 20 jobs.

CREDIT

* Use a "small" investment from the state to back up a $50 million pool of new loans targeting small businesses.

RENEWABLE ENERGY

* Offer buyers of newly built homes the option to wire the homes for solar energy technology.

* Funnel funding to community colleges that would work with renewable energy companies to create customized job training programs.

* Set up a grant program to spur research and development targeting renewable-energy technology.

* Provide specific tax refunds to small renewable-energy companies for research and development.

RURAL JOBS

* Develop a plan to expand broadband technology in rural areas.

* Make it easier for emergency medical technicians working in rural areas to get certified.