Two Cherokee County elected officials are in the thick of the 2010 General Assembly’s focus on creating jobs in Georgia that began with the creation of the House Special Committee on Small Business Development and Job Creation announced by Ga. House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, three weeks ago.
Both Rep. Sean Jerguson, R-Holly Springs, and Rep. Mark Hamilton, R-Cumming, were named to the special committee, and last week Jerguson was named as the chairman of a subcommittee focused on addressing the real estate and construction industries.
Jerguson and Hamilton both said the special committee’s purpose is specific and simple: removing hurdles and providing incentives for small businesses to create the jobs that put Georgians back to work.
“Everything’s on the table,” Jerguson said. “We’re taking a four-pronged approach, looking comprehensively at taxation, regulation, litigation, capital inflow, which is how a business can get the capital it needs to run.”
Although the committee will look at any and every possible way to help businesses create jobs, committee members don’t expect it to be a case of throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks.
“I don’t anticipate any legislation coming to this committee that is not trying, ultimately, to answer the question of how do we create jobs,” Hamilton said.
Although the committee still is ramping up, it already has begun two primary initiatives toward its goal: The JOBS Act of 2010 and the formation of seven subcommittees dealing with different sectors of Georgia’s economy.
The subcommittees include the one Jerguson is chairing on real estate, as well as construction and manufacturing and service industries; technology and aviation; retail and food services; environmental relations; health care; and tax incentives.
Looming large over the committee’s mission is the state budget deficit, and both men said that a balance must be struck between Georgia’s deeply diminished revenues and providing tax incentives and tax credits for local businesses to create jobs.
“It has to be an appropriate tax relief or incentive that will have some short and long-term benefits,” Hamilton said. “(We have) a tight budget, and the budget is going to remain tight … at the same time, we’re very limited at what we can do if there’s not a relatively quick and pronounced increase in revenue as a result of those credits.”
Jerguson said the balance between the budget and tax incentives would be a focus of the tax incentive subcommittee, and that tax incentives will be addressed through the JOBS Act of 2010, a bill that was vetoed by Gov. Sonny Perdue last year and was reintroduced this session by Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ranger.
Among the elements of the proposed JOBS Act are:
• An income tax credit for “angel investors” of up to 50 percent of an investment made in small or start up Georgia businesses with 20 or fewer employees. The total angel investor tax credit pool would be limited to $10 million per year.
• A quarterly credit towards unemployment insurance tax given to a company for each eligible employee hired who is receiving state unemployment benefits. Jerguson said the amount and duration of the credit is “to be determined” but that it would probably equate to about $125 per quarter, “which essentially covers the cost of unemployment insurance for the company for that employee.”
• A $2,400 tax credit to companies for hiring of the “most difficult to employ” who are currently receiving unemployment and have been unemployed for at least four weeks. The credit goes into effect after the employee has worked 24 consecutive months in the job.
• A triggered reduction of 50 percent in capital gains tax for all Georgia residents.
“This is real hardcore, nuts-and-bolts, mom-and-pop business help,” Jerguson said. “(These elements) would go into effect as soon as the bill goes into effect. For the tax credit portion … it would be a huge benefit to the state economy and revenue right now. That person is removed from unemployment right now, and they start paying taxes right now and start spending money and paying sales taxes right away.”
The special committee, which is being chaired by Rep. John Lunsford, R-McDonough, is a bipartisan effort that includes Democrat representation in the Republican majority House, including Rep. Karla Drenner, D-Avondale Estates, who is chairwoman of the environmental relations subcommittee, and Rep. Howard Mosby, D-Atlanta, who is chairman of the health care subcommittee.
Jerguson said he would hold a roundtable meeting of his subcommittee Feb. 2. He planned to invite representatives from across the real estate and construction spectrum, including members of the Georgia Board of Realtors, the Georgia Homebuilders Association and the Georgia General Contractors Association, as well as real estate closing attorneys and others not directly involved in the construction industry.
“We’re not going to be able to push the easy button and jump-start the commercial or housing markets,” he said. “But, there are things we can do that will remove some impediments. It’s not limited to just the building industry.”
Both Hamilton and Jerguson said the special House committee on job creation hopes to take a comprehensive approach to tackling unemployment in Georgia. They also encourage their constituents, and all Georgia residents, to contact them or their respective legislators with any ideas or suggestions.
“All approaches are of equal importance,” Jerguson said. “My approach is, if we have one area, say regulation, is there something the state can do to remove a hurdle or stumbling block to create jobs. And, if it’s the right thing to do for the state, without creating a problem, it’s something we should do.”
