Scott goes job hunting again
With new fund, he aims to lure firms in
TALLAHASSEE — With a new $85 million fund in tow, Gov. Rick Scott is going on a job-hunting tour again.
He’s planning a trip to Connecticut next week, hoping to lure businesses to the Sunshine State. The journey comes a week after he secured legislative approval of a “growth fund” for infrastructure and job training meant to create new jobs.
“The business environment in Connecticut simply cannot compete with everything Florida has to offer,” Scott said. “With the recent establishment of the $85 million Florida Job Growth Grant Fund ... we have the important resources our state needs to encourage more businesses to choose Florida as the best destination to grow and create jobs.”
Job-poaching trips to other states had been routine for Scott but were cut back last year when lawmakers killed funding for direct incentive payments to businesses. Now, after waging a bitter battle with House Speaker
Richard Corcoran over incentives this year, the two reached a deal to give Scott the growth fund.
For months, Corcoran, RLand O’Lakes, railed against incentive payments as “corporate welfare.” He says, however, the new fund is different because it can’t be used for direct payments to companies. It will be a model for other states to follow, he added, because it will build roads or other infrastructure and improve job skills to benefit citizens at large, rather than just one company.
Scott is touting the fund as another asset to bring jobs to Florida.
“I’m going to use the tools that we have to call on companies. The way that we’ve revised our toolkit, I think it’s going to work,” he told reporters this week.
The growth fund will be administered by the Department of Economic Opportunity, a state agency, instead of Enterprise Florida, a public-private group that’s been vetting incentive projects.
Local governments and state colleges can apply for money for specific projects from the fund. Governments or colleges could then build or expand roads, upgrade bridges or set up programs to train workers in new skills.
Large business groups have backed Scott in pushing for incentives, saying they are vital to lure highwage jobs in targeted industries such as aerospace, biomedical research and information technology.
Even having the debate over it was hurting Florida’s reputation among site selectors, they said, but they believe the growth fund should be enough to calm any concerns.
“The Legislature … sent a signal that we are committed to businesses and growing our economy,” said Carolyn Johnson, the Florida Chamber of Commerce’s director of business and economic development policy.
The push by Corcoran to clamp down on Enterprise Florida was largely bipartisan amid growing frustration among both Republicans and Democrats over programs that give away tax money to specific firms in the name of boosting the overall economy.
Lawmakers have set aside $1.6 billion for business incentives over the past seven years but have become increasingly wary of their effectiveness in light of high-profile projects such as the Orlando biotech firm Sanford Burnham, which is leaving the state after failing to meet its goal of creating 303 jobs. The company had been approved for $350 million in incentives.
“I don’t support corporate welfare, and I don’t think it’s smart economic policy to just throw money at corporations that are already here, that are already creating jobs, that are at no risk of leaving the state of Florida,” said Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando.
He and other Democrats, though, have expressed concerns that the new “growth fund” could turn into a “slush fund” for Scott because it carries few restrictions on how the money can be doled out. But Smith said he voted for the bill because it had “more good than bad.”
Some Republicans argued that the news media would provide the check on Scott’s growth fund.
“I believe that the demand from the public and the media will be there for transparency,” said Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, during floor debates last week.
Some economic development experts have doubted incentives’ effectiveness at producing a more diverse, high-wage economy, which is their stated goal.
“It’s mathematically impossible to recruit our way to either wage prosperity or a diversified economy,’’ said Dale Brill, CEO of Thinkspot, a Tallahasseebased consulting firm and a former economic adviser to Gov. Charlie Crist. “Service jobs are growing at such a rate that recruiting highwage jobs can’t make a dent in either the average wage or the diversity index of the state.”
Scott wouldn’t say if he’s giving up on pushing to bring back direct tax payments with 18 months left in office. “I’ll decide what I’m going to do … when I put my budget recommendation out, but I believe what we have in the growth fund this year is going to be something that will help us get more jobs in the state,” he said.
Local governments and state colleges can apply for funds for specific projects from the new fund, then build or expand roads, upgrade bridges or start worker training programs.