July 2017 MiMfg
Magazine 23
“Good Jobs” Legislation Remains a Good
Option for Manufacturing Competitiveness
Political entanglements appear to
have slowed what was strong bipartisan
support in both the Senate and the House
Tax Policy Committee for legislation
dedicated to incentivizing businesses
which create new jobs in Michigan.
The legislation, Senate Bills 242-244
and coined the “Good Jobs for Michigan”
package, would create a capped fund to
attract larger, job-creating projects to
Michigan and allow program eligible
companies to capture a percentage of
the income tax revenue from the jobs
they create over a period of 5-10 years.
“Access to workforce, customers,
suppliers, efficient transportation...All
are important factors in siting decisions
but, when everything else is roughly equal,
incentives matter greatly,” said Sandy
Ring, vice-chair of the MMA Board of
Directors, during his testimony before
the House Tax Policy Committee.
“For better or worse, [economic incentives
are], with increasing frequency, an
expectation and the Good Jobs for
Michigan package is an important step
toward keeping Michigan competitive.”
The “Good Jobs” package abruptly
stalled once it moved to the full House
on 6/20/17. The bump in the road may
stem from current efforts to reform
teacher retirement options in the
Michigan Public School Employees
Retirement System (MPSERS).
The House Tax Policy Committee
adopted numerous amendments to
the “Good Jobs” legislation to gather
sufficient support, including:
MMA Board of Directors Vice-Chairman Sandy Ring (pictured) testified along
with the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council’s legislative director
Shorty Gleason in support of the Good Jobs for Michigan legislation in June.
“
Jobs Threshold Amendment
• Creates a new 3,000 jobs threshold
where eligible business would be able
to keep up to 100 percent of the tax
capture revenues for up to 10 years.
Primary Supplier Amendments
• Allows eligible businesses on projects
creating 3,000 or more new jobs to
receive additional incentives for jobs
created by one of its primary suppliers,
through written agreement.
• Defines “primary supplier” as a business
providing: 1) a minimum of $5 million
in tangible personal property; 2) a
Access to workforce, customers,
suppliers, efficient transportation
...All are important factors in
siting decisions but, when
everything else is roughly equal,
incentives matter greatly.
”
— Sandy Ring, vice-chair of
the MMA Board of Directors
minimum of 10 percent of the
tangible personal property used by
the authorized business annually;
3) 25 new, full time jobs.
Dollar Cap on the Total Agreements
• Lowers the $250 million cap to $200
million and clarifies the $200 million
cap as a total cap rather than an
annual cap.
Mergers and Acquisition Amendment
• Clarifies that eligible businesses must
create new jobs in order to qualify for
the incentive. Job additions due to
merger or acquisition will not qualify.
Sunset
• Sets the legislation sunset as
12/31/19.
Effective Date
• Changes the effective date from 180
to 30 days.
Local Approval
• Requires local government approval
for any eligible business entity.
Additional Considerations when
approving an agreement
• Requires two new factors be considered
when approving agreements: 1) that
a good faith effort is made to employ
Michigan residents and 2) that job-
training programs are provided for
new hires.
“Incentives are an important part of
maintaining Michigan’s competitiveness
with other states,” said Mike Johnston,
MMA vice president of government
affairs. “Michigan and Alaska remain
the only states with a corporate income
tax and no economic incentives to attract
new businesses. MMA remains optimistic
that the House will support this legislation
as it clearly positions Michigan to be a
national jobs and investment leader.”
Contact Mike Johnston, at 517-487-
8554 or [email protected], with any
questions on the progress of this much-
needed economic incentives legislation.
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