Senator Jacobs, under her constitutional right of protest (Art. 4, Sec. 18), protested against the passage of Senate Bill No. 426.
Senator Jacobs’ statement is as follows:
I can appreciate what the bill’s sponsor is attempting to do with this legislation. I am truly not unsympathetic to the problems that Ritz-Craft is facing or the solution that bill is seeking to provide, but I am concerned about the potential consequences of this bill.
During committee consideration, we heard that the company is having a difficult time right now with the poor housing market, and they would like to expand on land that they currently own. PA 198 tax abatements are designed to help businesses rehabilitate obsolete facilities or to attract new facilities to the state.
Typically, PA 198 reduces local property taxes by about 50 percent on new facilities, but this bill reduces them on a single facility by an additional 80 percent. In the meantime, there is no record to suggest that the company will do anything in response to this extraordinary measure. There is no commitment to develop a new facility or even retain current jobs.
I would not doubt that there is at least one company with a PA 198 in each of our districts that is struggling right now and very much deserving of help. This bill could put us on a very slippery slope if each business sought its own legislation in this manner. I think we need to look at the larger impact of this bill and perhaps take a more holistic approach in addressing this issue.
I believe that there are other options to consider, and therefore, I could not support this bill.