Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Economic Development topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Panel advances ‘High Impact Jobs’ grant program to boost wages, caps funding at $125 million
Summary
Lawmakers advanced House Bill 507, which would create a grant-style High Impact Jobs Program administered by Louisiana Economic Development that ties incentives to wages paid above parish averages. The committee adopted technical amendments and reported the bill favorable as amended.
House Bill 507, a proposal to create a grant-based High Impact Jobs Program administered by Louisiana Economic Development (LED), was reported favorable as amended after committee discussion and amendment adoption Wednesday.
The bill, presented to the committee by the bill sponsor and LED officials, would replace past tax-credit programs with a capped $125 million, statewide grant program intended to encourage employers to pay wages above a parish average. Under the proposal, companies become eligible for a grant only after they have paid qualifying higher wages for 12 months, submit to audit and verification, and meet a formula based on the difference between the job’s wage and the parish average.
LED representatives told the committee the program measures impact by wage growth rather than job counts. Susan Bourgeois of Louisiana Economic Development said the department designed the program to reward ‘‘prosperity for our people’’ by tying the incentive to the wage differential, and Ileana Ladey, LED’s chief economic competitiveness officer, explained the tiered benefit structure: jobs paying 125% of the parish average would qualify for an 18% grant; 150% would qualify for a 22% grant; and in designated ‘‘distressed’’ parishes a lower threshold (110% of parish average) would qualify for an 8% grant to reduce entry barriers in underserved areas.
Supporters emphasized that the program is industry-neutral and open to existing Louisiana businesses as well as new recruitments. Bourgeois and Ladey said a small employer that creates one qualifying position would be eligible just as a large firm that creates many jobs would. The department said the $125 million cap is statewide and not targeted to a single geography or sector.
Committee members asked how ‘‘distressed’’ parishes would be identified. LED staff said the bill leaves that definition to administrative rule and that rulemaking criteria could include the bottom quartile of parishes by average wages, eligibility for New Markets Tax Credits, or similar metrics; the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget (JLCB) would review the department’s proposed rules.
Members also pressed staff on workforce alignment. LED representatives acknowledged the department’s limited statutory workforce authority — LED operates the FastStart training program — and said broader workforce training responsibility rests with education and workforce agencies, but they described interagency coordination to align training pipelines with industry demand.
An amendment packet (listed in committee as Amendment 2891) was distributed and adopted on the floor. After further brief remarks in support from several senators, Senator Cloud moved that the committee report the bill favorable. The committee recorded no roll-call vote in the transcript; committee staff reported the bill favorable as amended.
If enacted, the program would be established in statute and implemented through department rulemaking. LED told the panel the department would return proposed rules to JLCB for formal approval before grants could be awarded. The bill text and amendments do not specify eligible award sizes per company beyond the percentage formulas and the aggregate $125 million cap, and the committee did not record a dollar-by-dollar allocation by parish.
The bill sponsor and LED officials said the design draws on similar programs in other states — most notably North Carolina’s Job Development Investment Grant — where proponents say tying incentives to wages paid above local averages helped raise wages over time.
The committee action sends the bill forward as a favorable report with amendments. The department indicated it plans to develop administrative rules and auditing procedures for verifying the wage payments that trigger grants.
Votes at a glance: the committee adopted Amendment 2891 (adopted; no roll-call tally recorded) and reported House Bill 507 favorable as amended (mover: Senator Cloud; no roll-call tally recorded).
