NOW:53208:USA01012
http://widgets.journalinteractive.com/cache/JIResponseCacher.ashx?duration=5&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdata.wp.myweather.net%2FeWxII%2F%3Fdata%3D*USA01012
30°
H 36° L 18°
Clear | 16MPH

Senate Passes CORE Jobs Act

Sullivan, Jobs, CORE, Senate Committee on Biotechnology, angel tax credits, high-tech, UWM, engineering campus

The Senate just passed the CORE Jobs Act, Senate Bill 409, on a 32 to 1 vote.  CORE stands for Connecting Opportunity, Research, and Entrepreneurship. I was pleased to vote in favor of this bill package, as I believe it will achieve that important goal.

In addition to increasing our state’s investment in bringing jobs back to Wisconsin from overseas, and increasing Wisconsin’s investment in re-opening shut down factories with new, green industries, the CORE Jobs Act will increase the amount of job-creating tax credits available for businesses. I think this will be a very important tool in reinventing and reinvigorating the economy in the 5th Senate District.

Here’s how it will work: The CORE Jobs Act includes an expansion of Accelerate Wisconsin, the program which provides tax credits for angel and venture capital investment. The tax credit program will go up by $3 million for 2010 and by $12 million for every year thereafter. The new cap would make $8 million in tax credits available in 2010 and $20 million in 2011 and beyond. 

As chair of the Senate Committee on Biotechnology, I recognize high-tech and life sciences as a center of growth. In October 2009 alone, eight biotechnology companies moved to Wisconsin from other states, due in large part to the availability of investor tax credits: Aldevron, Flex Biomedical, Inc, Inviragen, Inc., Exact Sciences Corporation, NanoMedex, Radip Diagnostek, RJA Dispersions, LLC and VitalMedix.

I want to see similar high-tech businesses choose a southeastern Wisconsin community for their headquarters. Wisconsin’s high-tech industry is worth more than $8.7 billion, employs more than 34,000 people and is the fastest growing segment of our the economy. We need to do everything we can to ensure that we bring more of those jobs to the 5th Senate District.

Our area is already becoming a high-tech hub, with the planned construction of the UWM Engineering Campus near the Medical College, the Children’s Hospital, the Blood Center of Wisconsin and GE Healthcare. Fostering additional growth in this sector by providing tax credits to high-tech firms is a sound financial investment for our community.

If you have questions about the CORE Jobs Act, send me an email at Sen.Sullivan@legis.wisconsin.gov.

Welcome to our new commenting system.
  • You can register through your Facebook account, sign on with your Facebook password and use the same photo and screen name. If you don’t want your account tied to Facebook, you can keep your registration through our site.
  • You can now personalize your Journal Sentinel account with a photo even if the account is not tied to Facebook.
  • You can now reply to comments. Replies will be threaded to make conversations easier to follow.
  • You can continue to sort comments according to oldest first, newest first, and most thumbs up.
  • Your comments are archived on your own page.
  • Please notify us if you see personal insults or other irresponsible comments. We reserve the right to eliminate any comments and block any commenter who is not civil and respectful of others.

Discussion guidelines | Privacy policy | Terms of use

Limit of 2000 characters, 2000 characters remaining

Sort by
  1. To my way of thinking, there are "Christians", there are " 'the world is only 6,000 years old' Christians" and then there are " 'the world is only 6,000 years old' Christians" who feel the need to have that belief and all that usually goes with it dictate public policy. I'm fine with the first two, not so much with the last one. Kyle Prast represents a voice that has a rightful place among these blogs. I'm willing to bet, however, that most of the entrepreneurs involved in growing high-tech industries are not among the third group of Christians I mention, and probably not the second, either. Most of them are probably in the first group.
  2. HEH! HEH! HEH!
  3. Tenets, not tenants. I'm just sayin'...
  4. Only a mind entrapped by the 20th century provincialism that is called West Allis could be horrified and disgusted by someone sharing the tenants of their faith with others.

    I understand atheism. But I have never understood those of its porcine adherents so filled with their own hubris as to reduce them to pugnacious popinjays when faced with simple Christian virtue.

    Believe me, learned men and women who direct the hi tech industry starting to sprout up in the area may work in West Allis, but they certainly don't live there. As a matter of fact, they are much more likely to prefer living near Kyle Prast than they are living near anything named Allis.

    Peace!
  5. The Medical College (in the 5th District) has some innovative programs and bio-medical/engineering/mechanical potential for the future. MSOE, Marquette, UW-M and other colleges and universities are striving to produce programs and development which bring a tech economy to the Milwaukee area. Madison, admittedly a Research University town, has a thriving high tech corridor and a highly trained, educated workforce.

    I was (and probably still am) optimistic about the 5th District’s ability to attract those types of businesses as well as R&D until I read (with HORROR AND DISGUST) today’s posting by Kyle Prast in BrookfieldNOW. Hopefully, no high tech business person reads her little “ditty” and believes it is reflective of our “educated” workforce.
  6. "Our area is already becoming a high-tech hub"

    Well Sully, let's restate it a bit more honestly: we have finally reached the mouth of our cave and daylight is in sight!

    It will be several decades before the greater Milwaukee area can lay claim to being a 'high-tech hub'. Assuming that we continue to stress it as a goal.

    At any rate, assuming that you actually understood what you were voting for - I personally doubt it - Kudos.

    And of course, Peace!
  7. Thanks for posting that info, Padraig.

    ALL Senators tend to cast meaningless votes like this from time to time, simply to draw attention to some other message they want to send. If Grothman had voted YES, then the paper wouldn't have sought him out to get a comment about it.

    I'm sure that things like the new 'Combined Reporting' provision enacted by (D) Jim Doyle and the Democratic Legislature as part of the last budget is something that Grothman is trying to highlight. It was a cheap ploy, but both sides do it.
  8. If Sully was serious about growing jobs he would recommend cutting taxes instead of the bait and switch games of tax credits that do not increase jobs. Count down the number of days that we have with this clown until Leah comes to save us.
  9. Here you go, SOM, From the JS:

    The Democrat's bill is "small potatoes" because it throws tiny amounts of money at 14 different programs, said Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend), the lone senator who voted against the bill.

    Grothman and other Republicans encouraged the majority party to take a bigger-picture approach to what they say is an environment that spurns business.

    "I hope you guys go back in your caucus and ask yourselves what big steps can we do to increase the business climate in this state," Grothman said.

    Grothman essentially took a stand of, "cut taxes and spending, or I won't support your bill."
  10. There's always more to a story than meets the eye.

    Am I the only one wondering why one Senator voted NO on this bill? There's got to be a reason it was a 32-1 vote instead of a 33-0 vote, don't you think? Maybe it's a good reason. Maybe not. Maybe there's something that lone Senator knows that is not immediately obvious to everybody else. Maybe not.

    So many questions, so few answers.
Load more comments View all comments Back to top

Page Tools

  • Share

advertisement

Latest Posts