Legislature's clash hurts recruiting efforts

Published March 28, 2015

Editorial by Rocky Mount Telegram, March 25, 2015.

With the passing of each week, the hopes of landing a major automaker in Eastern North Carolina grow a little dimmer. The anguished waiting is made no easier by the continued failure of North Carolina lawmakers to put together a solid incentives program for business and industry.

Only a few short months ago, we had high hopes. It appeared likely that Gov. Pat McCrory would call the N.C. General Assembly back into special session following the November elections to pump money into the Job Development Investment Grant program, North Carolina’s main economic recruiting tool.

But November turned into December, and the holidays were upon us.

Signs remained promising. Rumors of visits by European automakers to the Kingsboro industrial site in Edgecombe County abounded. But as the General Assembly returned to Raleigh to open its 2015 session, passing an incentives package fell to the “we’ll get around to it when we can” priority list.

The N.C. House passed a bill in early March that would have pumped $22.5 million into the Job Development Investment Grant Program. But the N.C. Senate last week upended North Carolina’s recruiting strategy with a plan that would limit the state’s more urban areas to no more than half of the money from the Job Development Investment Grant fund.

The plan is designed to better supplement rural parts of the state, including Eastern North Carolina.

But the differences between the Senate and House plans are so stark that who knows how long it will be before North Carolina has a unified economic recruiting policy?

Meanwhile, the Eastern North Carolina economy remains starved for jobs, even as Mexico and other states continue to court automakers we very recently thought we had an inside track to land.

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/opinion/our-views/legislature8217s-clash-hurts-recruiting-effort-2827761