After facing pressure from business and economic leaders across the state to expand the Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) as funds begin to run dry, Gov. Pat McCrory has decided not to call the N.C. General Assembly back to Raleigh for a special session.
“It would be counterproductive and a waste of taxpayer money to bring the General Assembly back when there is no agreement in place on issues already voted on,” McCrory said in a statement Friday.
JDIG has been one of North Carolina’s biggest tools in attracting new businesses to the state by providing annual monetary grants to new and expanding businesses. The fund was used recently to grant Sealed Air Corporation, the makers of bubble wrap, $36.7 million over 12 years for moving its headquarters to Charlotte.
After being used to bring several major businesses to the state — at least 16 companies have moved headquarters to North Carolina since March 2013 — the JDIG fund has been depleted.
The Charlotte Chamber of Commerce has been one of the leading voices behind calling a special session to expand the nearly exhausted incentives fund.
“This is North Carolina’s primary recruitment tool,” the Charlotte Chamber said in a Sept. 5 letter to McCrory. “Without new JDIG authorization and expansion, we are faced with being crippled to bring new jobs to North Carolina.”
But even with a full JDIG fund and a corporate income tax that was lowered by lawmakers last year, the state has faced tough competition from other states. The Charlotte Observer reported in August that despite pledging $107 million in incentives over 12 years, North Carolina lost out on landing the North American headquarters of the car manufacturer Toyota earlier this year. In that incentives package, $86 million would have come from the JDIG fund.
Toyota ended up choosing Plano, Texas for the location of its headquarters over Charlotte.
Texas does not have a corporate income tax, which some people, such as Jon Sanders of the John Locke Foundation, believe was a deciding factor in Toyota's choice.
"What we need (in North Carolina) is the 'all-comers economic incentive package' of eliminating the corporate income tax completely," Sanders wrote in a recent blog post.
Although the General Assembly will not meet this fall to replenish JDIG funds, McCrory did promise to support any potential relocation opportunities should they arise.
“If a major job recruitment effort develops and it requires legislative support,” he said, “I will bring lawmakers back to Raleigh.”
state@dailytarheel.com
To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.
