Wisconsin passes job-creating legislation
On Monday, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle signed into law nine bills aimed at stimulating the state’s economy, including the CORE Jobs Act. The CORE Jobs Act creates and expands a number of tax credit programs, grant programs, and loan programs aimed at jobs creation and economic development.
"My administration’s top priority continues to be helping businesses create jobs and giving workers the opportunities to get those jobs,” Doyle said in a statement. "The CORE Jobs Act will help spur angel and venture investments, taking good ideas and inventions from labs in Wisconsin to the global marketplace.”
The CORE Jobs Act builds on Doyle’s Accelerate Wisconsin plan. It also strengthens programs for manufacturing, research and development, and worker training. Doyle exercised his partial veto authority to ensure parity between angel investment and venture capital before signing the CORE Jobs Act into law.
Doyle also signed two bills expanding the state’s Enterprise Zone program, which fosters economic development by granting favorable tax treatment to businesses located in a defined area. Assembly Bill 768 authorizes the state’s Department of Commerce to designate two additional Enterprise Zones, increasing the number from 10 to 12. Assembly Bill 864 creates an additional Enterprise Zone tax credit for up to 1 percent of the amount paid for goods and services purchased from Wisconsin vendors.
Doyle also signed several other job creation bills, including laws that would award grants to community development corporations from the Department of Commerce to establish capital access programs; create a refundable tax credit for equipment used to harvest or process woody biomass; award grants to Wisconsin Workforce Development Associations from the Department of Commerce to support meetings and career guidance workshops; establish a “Career Conversations” pilot program for students in grades 7 through 12 at the Center on Education and Work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and expand the authority of political subdivisions to make residential energy efficiency improvement loans, and authorize political subdivisions to make water efficiency improvement loans and impose special charges for the loans.
Read Doyle's full statement.
