Cut! Two New Orleans-area state lawmakers offered ideas Wednesday for scaling back Louisiana’s tax-credit program for filmmakers as concerns mount about the increasing cost of the tax breaks. Draft proposals by Sen. J.P. Morrell and Rep. Julie Stokes, presented to a state entertainment industry advisory commission, would cap program costs, reduce covered expenses and tweak rules to combat fraud. The Associated Press has the full story.
Here’s the plan: Gov. Bobby Jindal’s budget proposal for next year would continue a higher education incentive fund that steers money to high-demand job programs. But The Associated Press reports the spending would be reduced and tied to a more complicated financing source. At Jindal’s urging, lawmakers set up the Workforce and Innovation for a Stronger Economy Fund to link higher education money to projected workforce demand. The state put $40 million toward the effort this year. Next year, Jindal proposes to spend $30 million on the WISE Fund, with 80% coming from hurricane recovery dollars allocated to Louisiana.
Fast friends: Central Louisiana officials met some of the people who plan to build a “game-changing,” $2.4 billion plant complex in Pineville on Wednesday. Executives from American Specialty Alloys and some of its partners spoke to a packed room at Kees Park Community Center, The Town-Talk reports. ASA is leading the aluminum manufacturing project that is expected to create more than 1,400 jobs. “The impact on all of Central Louisiana, really, will be remarkable,” said Jim Clinton, president and chief executive officer of Central Louisiana Economic Development Alliance. “On the immediate area, it will be transformative.” Read the full story.
