GOP Wants To Create Jobs During The Session
Republican leaders in the Alabama Legislature say their priority at the beginning of the 2012 regular session in February will be to pass bills that will encourage businesses to create jobs. Senate President Pro-Tem Del Marsh said the first bills he expects to come up for consideration in the Senate are measures that will provide incentives for businesses that create jobs and for new industries that bring jobs to the state.
Likewise, House Speaker Mike Hubbard told members of a Birmingham civic club that Republican House leaders are preparing a slate of bills that will give the state more tools to recruit industry and to help existing industry to expand. He went on to say the No. 1 priority is job creation. The state’s unemployment rate was 8.7 percent in November, which represents an improvement over previous months, but Marsh and Hubbard would like to see the rate lower.
One bill expected to be considered early in the session would provide incentives for companies that hire veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The measure is expected to provide a $2,000 tax credit to employers who hire unemployed veterans. The House is also poised to consider a bill authorizing charter schools in Alabama. Charter schools are public schools that are free from much of the bureaucracy and regulations of traditional public schools.
