As a result of appropriating more dollars to education, other areas of the budget were cut - economic development was impacted by the scaling back. Amendments from the House and Senate cut spending in economic development including $60 million for biotechnology spinoff companies and opted to not include the reduction in corporate income tax rates. However, not all economic development dollars were impacted:
- GO Virginia regional incentive grant program was appropriated $32.9 million by the House and $38.8 million by the Senate.
- $100 million for investments in commercially viable research initiatives
Another issue to be resolved by the conferees concerns the Airbnb legislation (
HB 812 and SB 416). The Senate adopted a budget amendment requiring that any legislation passed this session relating to the collection of taxes and the preemption of local authority regarding limited residential lodging cannot become effective until it is reenacted by the 2017 Session and a study is completed.
We are advocating for the bioscience addition to the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute (VTC) in the introduced bond investment package. Previous investments in VTC have yielded strong economic impact, job creation and put our region on the map as the world's premiere interactive brain imaging network.
We Advocate for support of the GO Virginia Initiative and for results-oriented economic development programs that encourage regional cooperation.
|