Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
Gov. Rick Scott called on the Enterprise Florida board of directors to spend the next month pushing lawmakers to approve a $250 million incentive fund.
“The people in the House and Senate … need your help,” the governor told the board during its meeting Friday. “They can’t get it done with just a few people supporting this. We all need to be engaged.”
Scott is pushing lawmakers to set aside $250 million to create a new Florida Enterprise fund. Scott has said trust fund would be a place where incentive dollars will remain until companies under contract meet job requirements. He’s also calling on lawmakers to streamline the authorization process and reform return-on-investment requirements.
“We’ve got to have a process that we can actually get something done,” Scott said. “I’m never going to be the one that slows the process down. We can’t be patient.”
On Friday, Scott said that for the next five months, the state can’t do any more business deals because the current fund is low on funds.
“If we can’t get it done this year, we’re not going to get it done,” Scott said. “We all have to be engaged.”
The Senate transportation and economic development appropriations subcommittee included the $250 million in its budget proposal, but the money is tied to the state receiving a settlement from the BP oil spill. The House doesn’t have the incentive plan in its proposal.
Sen. Nancy Detert, chairwoman of the Senate commerce and tourism committee, said the Senate proposal is “a long way to the end of the road.”
Scott told the Enterprise Florida board it needs to spend the next 45 days building relationships with House and Senate members. Scott told the board to urge lawmakers to support the proposal publicly.
“We are winning,” he said. “I was in Washington, D.C., this week, and I gave some speeches. I said you can’t compete in Florida today. Look at the success we’ve had in the past five years.”
Rep. Jim Boyd, the vice chairman of the House appropriations committee, said the House intends to set aside about $1 billion for tax cuts this year.
“I know myself, and all of my colleagues in the House and friends in the Senate, appreciate and understand what Enterprise Florida brings to this great state,” Boyd said.
