2006 CPEO Brownfields List Archive

From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
Date: 5 Apr 2006 17:01:48 -0000
Reply: cpeo-brownfields
Subject: [CPEO-BIF] Gulf Opportunity Zone Bonds
 
Press Release
Good Jobs First
April 5, 2006

Gulf Opportunity Zone Bonds


Social Justice Groups Call Gulf Opportunity Zone Bonds a "Golden Opportunity" for States to Promote Equity and Accountability in Katrina Reconstruction


Washington, DC and Chicago, April 5, 2006 -- The Gulf Coast Commission on Reconstruction Equity today called on the state governments of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to use the $14 billion Gulf Opportunity Zone Bond program to promote equity and accountability in Hurricane Katrina reconstruction.

"This $14 billion program is a golden opportunity for the three states to make sure that the rebuilding process serves those most in need," said Rev. Nelson Johnson, a member of the Commission, board chair of Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) and Vice President of the Pulpit Fellowship of Greensboro, NC. The Commission was created earlier this year by IWJ in partnership with Good Jobs First.

Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds (or GO Zone bonds) are low-interest, tax-exempt loans that the three states can make to businesses for reconstruction projects in designated areas, authorized by the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush in December. Under the program, Louisiana can allocate $7.9 billion in GO Zone bonds. Mississippi has a quota of $4.8 billion and Alabama $2.1 billion. The bonds supplement various business tax breaks in the legislation.

"Go Zone bonds are the only part of the law that gives the three affected states control over which businesses get reconstruction benefits," said Good Jobs First Research Director Philip Mattera, author of a report on the bond program released today. In the report, Good Jobs First, Interfaith Worker Justice and the Gulf Coast Commission on Reconstruction Equity offer a series of policy options for public officials in the three states to consider in devising standards for allocating the GO Zone bonds, including:

* Reserve at least half of the GO Zone bond dollars for areas that sustained substantial damage from Hurricane Katrina or the subsequent flooding.
* Give priority to proposals from those industries that suffered the most physical or economic damage.
* Cap allocations at $100 million per firm per year.
* Give special consideration to certified minority-owned and women-owned businesses, both those based in the hurricane-affected region and those from outside.
* Deny bond allocations to companies that are already recipients of federal contracts worth $10 million or more for Katrina-related work.
* Give preference to projects that will create the largest number of high-quality jobs.
* Give preference to applicants that commit to paying wages that are at least as high as existing market averages and adequate and affordable family medical coverage. These provisions can apply both to temporary construction jobs and permanent positions at the facility.
* Require that employers give displaced workers access to decent temporary housing.
* Give preference to projects that commit to hiring a majority of workers from those areas most heavily damaged.
* Disclose GO Zone bond applications immediately on a state website.
* Hold public hearings on all applications and actively solicit public comments.
* Monitor the performance of GO Zone bond recipients in complying with job-creation and other criteria. Promptly publish monitoring reports on a state website.
* Impose financial penalties on companies that fail to live up to their obligations on job-creation and other standards.


"Safeguards such as these are the best way to ensure that the GO Zone bond program does not suffer the same kinds of performance problems that have afflicted may of the federal contracts awarded for Katrina cleanup and reconstruction," Rev. Johnson said. "Adopting these policies would, instead, go a long way toward guaranteeing that the benefits of the bonds accrue to those who need them the most--workers and small/medium-sized businesses in the hardest hit areas of the Gulf Coast region."

The full text of A Golden Opportunity: Making Gulf Opportunity Zone Bonds Work for Those Most in Need is available at http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/pdf/gozbondsreport.pdf

--

For the original press release, see
http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/news/article.cfm?id=116

--


Lenny Siegel Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041 Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545 Fax: 650/961-8918 <lsiegel@cpeo.org> http://www.cpeo.org


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