JOURNALIST PANEL MAKES PERTINENT POINTS ABOUT AZ JOBS BILL

posted by Michael Chihak

The three journalists whose commentary will be on tonight's Arizona Week raised a raft of significant and interesting issues around this week's swift introduction, debate and passage of the Arizona Competitiveness Package.

From Luige del Puerto of the Arizona Capitol Times: The debate was furious for a day or so, but the bill ended up being handled the way the AZ Legislature handles the budget -- crafted it behind closed doors, then jammed through quickly.

From Mark Evans of tucsoncitizen.com: The problem with the quick movement of the bill was that legislators didn't get time to read it, let alone understand it. "The legislative sausage making that we're so derisive about" is a necessary component of the process, Evans said.

From Jahna Berry of the Arizona Republic: The business community hasn't fully weighed in, especially on the idea of the transparency that everyone is promising with the Commerce Authority. Can businesspeople accustomed to operating privately make the adjustment? We'll watch closely.

All that and more commentary on tonight's broadcast, 8:30 p.m. MST on KUAT-TV Channel 6 in Tucson and online at azweek.com.

WHEN IS LAST TIME BREWER SAT FOR AN INTERVIEW?

posted by Michael Chihak

Gubernatorial Communications Director Matthew Benson set up Arizona Week's interview with Gov. Jan Brewer on Wednesday. The governor and Benson were generous with her time, giving us a good half-hour on a busy day.

Timing couldn't have been better. Brewer walked into the interview room minutes after the Arizona Senate had approved the Arizona Competitiveness Package, a 214-page strategy for growing quality jobs and overall economic improvement.

She was ebullient over the passage, saying she hoped the bill would be transmitted to her quickly for her signature. That occurred Thursday evening, and the bill with its big tax cuts for businesses and other incentives is now law.

As we settled in for Wednesday's interview with the governor -- adjusting microphones and sound levels, checking camera angles and warming under the bright lights -- I told her that the cameras would begin rolling momentarily and not be stopped for the entirety of the interview.

"We'll make adjustments in the editing if I screw up," I said jokingly.

Her immediate response: "Will you cover me, too?"

We did. Late in the interview, Brewer began coughing, and we had to stop so she could sip water. We restarted, and she responded to the question at hand in the same way she had begun to before the break.

The unabridged version of the interview to be posted on our Website later today will be without the coughing episode. But everything else there is as it occurred.

When the interview ended, I thanked Brewer and told her I would look forward to future interviews. She expressed openness to the idea, saying, "Yes, do you want to talk about the budget? How about the border?"

Indeed. We shall be back. Communications Director Benson allowed afterward that we could count on "regular" interviews with Brewer; he defined that as meaning every couple of months.

BREWER: BUSINESSES 'WAITING IN WINGS' TO COME TO AZ

posted by Michael Chihak

Republican Gov. Jan Brewer in her first one-on-one broadcast interview of 2011 said Wednesday that she knows the state needs a strong higher education system to help attract business.

Nevertheless, she said, the state doesn't have the money to expand the system. Instead, her budget for next fiscal year would impose a $170 million cut, 20 percent, on the three state universities, and a $73 million cut, or 45 percent, on the community college system.

"Education's been a No. 1 priority," Brewer said. Nevertheless, the universities and community colleges should have been prepared for the big cuts, because "they knew it was coming."

She said the proposed cuts are a change from the current fiscal year, in which federal stimulus money was used to shore up their budgets.

Brewer and the Republican-controlled Legislature pushed through $100 million in state funding cuts on the three universities for the 2009-10 fiscal year. Although funding didn't go down for the current fiscal year because of the federal stimulus money, the universities had to give up $10 million in state aid to get the federal money.

Tax cuts for businesses in the economic development plan that Brewer was expected to sign into law today would give them a $400 million a year break at full implementation, according to her office. The Joint Legislative Budget Committee estimated the reduction at $538 million a year.

She said a number of big businesses were "waiting in the wings" to set up shop in Arizona and create jobs, waiting for the tax cuts package and other incentives in the economic development plan. She declined to identify any of the businesses.

WHO WILL WATCH NEW AZ COMMERCE AUTHORITY?

posted by Michael Chihak

The structure of the new Arizona Commerce Authority is such that it will be in control of private businesspeople, while operating under the sanction of the state government. Gov. Jan Brewer is ceding her executive control of the old state Department of Commerce to the authority.

The authority will raise money from the private sector and have control over a number of significant financial tools, including a state-funded pool of up to $25 million that will serve as a "deal-closing" fund. It would help attract businesses to the state by offering incentives to get them to sign on.

Additionally, the authority will oversee the certification of tax-credit eligibility for businesses that create "quality jobs." The legislation defines such a job as one that pays more than the median income in the county where it is being created.

Businesses creating such jobs will be eligible for tax credits of up to $3,000 a year for three years for up to 400 new jobs.

A key question is how the members of the authority will avoid being in conflict of interest when they are considering the tax-credit certification for businesses that may themselves be investors in the authority.

Commerce Authority Director Don Cardon has pledged transparency and openness in operations. Brewer will need to assure state residents, including as it turns out several members of her own Republican Party in the Legislature, that the authority will operate totally above board.

GOV. BREWER'S JOBS PLAN ON A FAST TRACK

posted by Michael Chihak

Gov. Jan Brewer's economic development plan, manifest as SB1001 in a special legislative session, could see quick action with approval as early as Wednesday, some are saying.

The plan would reduce several business taxes -- including taxes on corporate income and property -- and offer tax and other incentives to attract business.

The proposal would give tax credits to companies creating "quality jobs", defined as jobs paying more than the median income in the county where it is created. For that, an employer would get a tax credit of $3,000 a year for three years for each of up to 400 jobs.

Corporate income taxes would decline from the current 6.9 percent to 4.9 percent in half-point increments for four years, starting in 2014. That would save businesses more than $200 million at current income levels.

Total tax savings for businesses at full implementation of the cuts would be $400 million by the governor's office estimate, $538 million by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee's estimate.

Brewer and legislative leaders say business growth stimulated by the cuts should help offset the tax revenue losses. They also say that the plan should help replace many of the 300,000 jobs that Arizona has lost in three years.

The state's unemployment rate was 9.4 percent in December, the last month for which statistics are available.

MORE DETAILS EMERGE ON BREWER'S JOBS PLAN

posted by Michael Chihak

Gov. Jan Brewer called the Arizona Legislature into special session this afternoon to take up her economic development package.

A news release from Brewer's office this afternoon gave these details on the business tax-cut package that is part of what she is calling "the Arizona Competitiveness Package," designed to stimulate job growth:

• The creation of a Quality Jobs Program, with corporate tax credits of up to $9,000 for each qualifying new job. ($3,000 per job, per year, with a 400-job cap)

• An increase in the electable state corporate income-tax sales factor to 100 percent, up from the current 80 percent. This will encourage firms to establish headquarters and manufacturing centers in Arizona.

• Re-authorization of the Arizona Job Training Program, providing job-specific, reimbursable grants to train employees for new careers.

• A four-year, phased-in reduction of the state’s corporate income tax to 4.9 percent, beginning in January 2014. This will give Arizona the nation’s fifth most competitive corporate income-tax rate.

• A 10 percent increase in the state’s Research & Development tax credit, encouraging further collaboration between Arizona’s research universities and the private sector.

• A 5 percent acceleration of the depreciation schedule for business personal property, spurring purchases of new equipment and other capital investments.