Gov. Pat McCrory is getting pressure from his commerce secretary and some of the business community to bring the legislature back to
Raleigh to pass a business recruitment package, including $20 million in so-called “walking-around money” to help bring jobs to the state.
House Bill 1224 included a
section to adjust the Job Development Investment Grants program, which became extremely controversial and failed the last day of session.
The administration believes the governor needs these funds to be on a level
playing field with neighboring states and to have the necessary “tools” to
compete and be successful with providing business and industry with the
incentives to locate in North Carolina.
NFIB/North Carolina has balloted its members at least three times on the questions of whether state government should offer incentives to attract businesses to the state, but there was no consensus. Likewise, the NFIB/North Carolina Leadership Council has discussed the issue in recent days but made no recommendation on whether to take a position on the issue.
NFIB will continue to
solicit the advice and opinions of the membership and the Leadership Council on
this important issue as it is debated over the next few weeks.
