A press release was sent out by the NC Senate late last night about their vote to extend the JDIG program for an additional 3 years. See the entire release below:
In a unanimous vote, the North Carolina Senate on Monday tentatively passed legislation that will continue efforts to recruit new jobs and businesses to the state.
The bill answers Gov. Pat McCrory’s call for additional job recruitment dollars by extending the state Job Development Investment Grants (JDIG) program for an additional three years, while increasing the fund for grant awards to a maximum of $20 million per year. The bill also:
o Creates a new economic development tool for attracting major manufacturing projects like automobile and aerospace manufacturers – that commit to investing at least $500 million and creating at least 1,750 new North Carolina jobs.
o Adopts additional safeguards and reporting requirements to ensure job recruitment dollars are administered responsibly and available throughout the entire year.
o Encourages economic growth in every part of the state by establishing more generous grants to companies that locate in poorer counties, which have historically received a disproportionately low level of support from state incentives programs.
“We’ve said all along that improving the state’s climate for job growth requires the right balance between expanding tools to recruit new businesses and lowering taxes to reward and retain those job creators already here,” said Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham.) “I’m pleased we have achieved both of those goals this session while balancing support for our major economic centers with policies that will also allow the rest of our state to grow and prosper.”
