Senator Shugars asked and was granted unanimous consent to make a statement and moved that the statement be
printed in the Journal.
The motion prevailed.
Senator Shugars’ statement is as follows:
I rise in support of this bill and the next bill, House Bill 6073. These two bills are very critical not only to the
Kalamazoo area, but also for the state of Michigan. These two bills will be used as a tool to entice future investment
dollars and assets for research and development. What we’re really working on is to try to not only increase
investments in research and development, but also retain 2,000 research and development jobs in the Kalamazoo area
that are currently with the Pharmacia corporation.
As you all know, I told you yesterday that on July 15 there was an announcement of a merger, a $60 billion merger
between Pfizer and Pharmacia, and that some time in November it will be consummated. There will be decisions to cut
back in the St. Louis, Chicago, Connecticut, and New Jersey locations, and then the two in Michigan. They’re going
to cut drastically their research and development. As I shared with you yesterday, Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor are the
lowest cost-producing research and development when you compare dollars with the other locations. But when you
compare the tax incentives that are given from the other states—Missouri, Illinois Connecticut, and New Jersey—to
Michigan, they fall as having the highest cost of research and development. So if we want to retain the 2,000 jobs and
promote additional investments in Ann Arbor, these two bills are going to be critical.
The next bill is a research and development tax credit with the SBT. This one deals with the renaissance zones. It’s
not any new renaissance zone; it just gives a specific renaissance zone for pharmaceutical research and development.
So this is very critical not only for the Kalamazoo area, but for the state of Michigan. These are high paying jobs, and
this complements what we’ve been doing the last two years with the Life Sciences Corridor of $50 million a year. So
it would not make sense if we didn’t try to do whatever we can to expand the investment in research and development.
So I urge my colleagues to support this bill and the next bill.