Springfield chamber sets legislative agenda

The chamber’s stance on the recently approved minimum wage increase is strong – namely, that the indexing provision of the law, which will increase the wage annually to compensate for inflation, should be eliminated “in order to protect the state’s economy.”

The chamber also put its support behind the Enhanced Enterprise Zone program, which was created in 2004 to allow for the creation of tax credits for businesses that locate or expand in specified geographic areas.

The program has already hit its cap for tax credit payouts, and the chamber is encouraging lawmakers to increase or remove the cap.

“Tax credits that are available through that program have been fully utilized,” said Sandy Howard, public affairs manager for the chamber. “Until that cap is either increased or lifted, we can’t access that program. The program has been very helpful for our area, so we want to make sure we have that as a tool to try to attract business to the community.”

The chamber also asks for increases in money available through the Quality Jobs Act, which was created to allow employers to recover a portion of the tax withholdings on wages from newly created jobs.

See SBJ’s Dec. 25 issue for more on area legislative agendas.