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Oklahoma
State Senate State Senator Debbe Leftwich said the Senate has given its final approval to the Oklahoma Quality Investment Act. The measure would provide incentive payments to “at risk” manufacturing companies in an effort to keep those facilities in the state. “The bottom line is saving Oklahoma jobs. We need to make sure that the economic advantages of keeping those facilities and jobs in our state are enough to keep us in the game. The incentives offered in House Bill 1619 can give us the edge we need,” said Leftwich, D-OKC. Leftwich, who chairs the Senate Business and Labor Committee, said the legislation was approved by the House in the final hours of the 2005 session, but the clock ran out before the Senate could join in passing the measure. “If anything, recent events in our state have made passage of this bill even more important than they were then,” Leftwich said. Under HB 1619, total statewide payments of up to $10 million could be made from the state’s Rainy Day Fund if the fund contains at least $80 million and if the newly created Quality Investment Committee recommends payment. Incentive payments could be made to an establishment annually for a five-year period with the amount not to exceed 10 percent of the company’s actual capital costs. In order to qualify as an at-risk manufacturer, the firm would have to incur costs for retooling or modernization of at least $1 million within 24 months of the date payments begin, retain an established minimum payroll and offer basic health insurance to its employees. A companion measure, SB 755 which was approved during the 2005 session, would amend the Constitution to allow payments to be made from the Rainy Day Fund. That measure will be considered by voters as a state question that will be on the November 2006 general election ballot. HB 1619 now goes to Governor Brad Henry
for his consideration. 
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