Over the past decade Louisiana significantly improved the state’s economic competitiveness, in part by developing a system of economic development programs that generated unprecedented levels of private investment. 1A supports protecting and strengthening those programs that have demonstrated the strongest return on public investment.
Two bills 1A supported related to these programs were HB454 by Rep. Neil Abramson and HB300 by Rep. Paula Davis. HB454 (Abramson) pertains to the Angel Investor Tax Credit. The bill extends the sunset to 2021, in line with the Administration’s proposed sunset, and compresses the holding and payout periods to align Louisiana more closely with other states and make the credit easier to use. HB300 (Davis) pertains to the Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit, authorizing the transferability of the credit for companies that receive a federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant. Both HB454 and HB300 passed unanimously. Partners that also supported these bills include LED, LIDEA, BRAC, and GNO, Inc.
Other bills related to economic development incentives that 1A joined partner organizations in support of were HB444 and HB445 by Rep. Alan Seabaugh. HB444 proposed a Constitutional Amendment that would have permitted local taxing districts to negotiate directly with business taxpayers to make payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs). The PILOTs would have been purely voluntary, with each district deciding based on its needs, whether to enter into the agreement and under what terms (payment amount, number of years, etc.). This measure would have provided another tool in the economic development toolbox for localities to help attract business and jobs to their area. HB444 came up short in the Senate Revenue & Fiscal Affairs Committee.
1A worked with LED and other regional economic development organizations to oppose the original version of SB98 (Donahue), which would have required the budgeting and appropriating of incentive expenditures. This policy would have harmed economic development in the state by introducing uncertainty for the business community and economic developers as a result of having to wait for the end result of each year’s appropriations process to know if the Legislature had budgeted and appropriated enough funds in each program for LED to honor its incentive contracts. The bill was amended in committee to remove the objectionable portion.