“Time is certainly of the essence here,” she
said. “We’re operating under tight time constraints
here if we want to be competitive for some of
these next projects.”
The House also approved legislation that would
extend, by five years, a 2017 tax incentive program
for redevelopment work but leave a $1 billion
incentives cap in place.
In 2019, legislators let expire a separate $200
million “good jobs” tax incentive program that
had been used to attract large-scale business
expansions for about two years.
Before the House votes, several legislators
on both sides of the aisle questioned using
taxpayer money to create jobs, calling them
corporate giveaways that could be better spent
on infrastructure upgrades, schools and other
government services or to keep taxes low.
“This is one of the most anti-free market things I’ve
ever seen. ... This is big business getting into bed
with big government,” said Rep. Steve Johnson, a
Wayland Republican.
But Democratic Rep. John Cherry of Flint, noting
how the city lost 80,000 auto jobs over decades,
said Michigan must adjust to a “revolution” in
transportation technology, as a greener economy
edges closer into view and away from gasoline-
powered cars.
“Other states know that when there’s
technological change and we have to totally
rebuild our manufacturing base to reflect
where we’re going technologically, they have
an opportunity to grab that market. And they
are,” he said.