Gary LeBeau

LeBeau Leads Senate Passage of Governor Malloy’s ‘First Five’ Job Creation Program

State Sen. Gary D. LeBeau (D-East Hartford) today led Senate passage of Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s “First Five” jobs creation program, which promises substantial state financial assistance to the first five new businesses in Connecticut that create at least 200 new jobs by July 1, 2013 or invest at least $25 million and creates at least 200 jobs within the next five years.

“We already have the tools in place for economic development in Connecticut. These additional incentives will give us the potential for a series of high-profile homeruns,” said Sen. LeBeau, who is Senate chairman of the Commerce Committee. “This bill provides a lot of flexibility for the DECD commissioner to go out and make some big moves for Connecticut. If this bill is passed, we’re looking at creating 1,000 jobs in this state in the next 24 months. This is an excellent bill, it’s a timely bill, and it’s something we need to be doing here to create jobs.”

Senate Bill 1001 passed the Senate today on a mostly bipartisan 32-4 vote (four Republicans voted “no.”) The bill now heads to the House of Representatives for consideration.

The bill exempts these first five large business projects from various legislative caps on financial assistance amounts. It also expands the Urban and Industrial Site Reinvestment Tax Credit from $500 million to $750 million, and increases the Job Creation Tax Credit from $11 million to $20 million.

The bill also requires the state Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) commissioner to report to the Commerce and the Finance, Revenue and Bonding committees on the projects that receiving state assistance under this bill and indicate the number of jobs created and how they affect the economy. The reports are due on January 1, 2012, January 1, 2013, and September 1, 2013.