From today’s LA Business Journal:

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday released his final budget as mayor. The $7.7 billion spending plan would close a previously estimated $216 million deficit and proposes creation of an economic development department.

He also proposed creating an economic development department that would focus on small business support, workforce development and job creation. He also proposed combining the planning functions of the existing Building and Safety, Planning and other departments into a new Department of Planning and Development.

The Tax Foundation found that California ranked the fourth worst state when it comes to taxes.  And that was before it added more taxes with Prop 30.  Jerry Brown is gunning for number 1 if he continues his attempts to minimize the Enterprise Zone tax credits.

I guess it could be worse.  Forbes ranked California as the 41st worst state to do business in.  An unfavorable tax structure tops the list of why California ranks so low. Here is the study.

From today’s Imperial Valley News:

Sacramento, California – Today, State Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez announced his new leadership team, appointing Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez (D-Coachella) to the position of Democratic Whip.  The announcement was made during the swearing-in ceremony of the California State Assembly’s 2013-14 session.

“There is a lot of work to be done to keep the economy growing and get our communities back to work,” said Pérez, “and as a senior member of the Legislature entering my third and final term, I am pleased to be bringing my policy skills to bear as a member of the Speaker’s leadership team.”

As a member of Democratic leadership, Pérez will no longer serve as the committee chairman of the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy.

Also today, Pérez was nominated by his peers to serve as Vice Chair of the California Latino Legislative Caucus.  As Vice Chair, Pérez will work closely with State Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair, to set the direction and priorities of the Caucus.  The Vice Chair serves a one-year term.

Among his first actions of the 2013 session, Pérez introduced AB 28, a bill that adds accountability and transparency measures to the California Enterprise Zone program, a state program designed to attract business investment and support job creation in low-income and underserved communities.  Since his election to the State Assembly in 2008 and throughout his tenure as chair of the Assembly Jobs Committee, Pérez has been a vocal advocate to protect and strengthen this economic development program.

With the newly redrawn Assembly District lines, Pérez now represents the 56^th district, which comprises the cities of Blythe, Brawley, Bermuda Dunes, Calexico, Calipatria, Cathedral City, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs, El Centro, Holtville, Imperial, Indio, Mecca, Oasis, North Shore, Salton Sea, Thermal, Thousand Palms, and Westmorland.

This posted yesterday in the San Francisco Sentinel.

Allows San Francisco Businesses to Access Valuable Hiring Tax Credits Through Simple Web-Based Tool; Advances Mayor’s Jobs Plan Goal of Using Technology to Make the City Easier Navigate for Business

Mayor Edwin M. Lee today announced the launch of the San Francisco Enterprise Zone Web App, a web-based tool that allows San Francisco businesses to apply online for the City’s popular Enterprise Zone hiring tax credit program. The Enterprise Zone Web App will replace a completely paper-based process with a web based tool which increases government efficiency and makes it easier for businesses to utilize the program.

“I am committed to making it easier for local businesses to operate and grow jobs in San Francisco,” said Mayor Lee. “The Enterprise Zone Web App takes a powerful tax incentive program and brings it online so small businesses, manufacturers and other firms can save time while they save money.”

“At SFMade we make sure that all of our manufacturers are aware of the Enterprise Zone hiring tax credits and the potential savings it offers,” said SFMade Executive Director Kate Sofis. “My staff works closely with small business owners with limited resources. Having the Enterprise Zone Web App instead of a paper process will make a big difference in terms of administrative costs, time and use of this important tax credit.”

“The Enterprise Zone hiring tax credit is really important to our company,” said Marissa Andres, Controller at Mackenzie Warehouse, an auto parts distributor located in Potrero Hill. “The savings we earn in tax credits are used for hiring and retaining employees. The online tool is simple and straight-forward and saves me valuable time.”

The Enterprise Zone is a State of California program which provides tax credits and other incentives to encourage business investment and promote the creation of new jobs. In place since 1997, the San Francisco Enterprise Zone is one of 42 Enterprise Zones in the state and is administered locally by the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD). The San Francisco Enterprise Zone areas include the following areas: Bay View Hunters Point/ South Bayshore; Chinatown; the Mission; Mission Bay Project Area; Potrero Hill; south of Market; the Tenderloin; and the Western Addition and some portions of North Beach and Financial District.

The tool was developed using Firmstep’s AchieveForms software. The switch to an on-line app will not only decrease costs in paper and postage, but will also speed up the processing time getting businesses approved for tax credits more quickly and efficiently.

The San Francisco Enterprise Zone Web App can be found at http://sfezapp.oewd.org For more information on the San Francisco Enterprise Zone Program, go to: http://www.oewd.org/Enterprise-Zone.aspx For more information from the State on the Enterprise Zones Program, go to: www.hcd.ca.gov/fa/ez/ <http://www.hcd.ca.gov/fa/ez/>

The Sequoia Valley Enterprise Zone, designated as such in January 2009, currently consists of 33,902 acres, and includes commercial, industrial, non-commercial and non-industrial areas, according to a Porterville Economic Development Department staff report.

The proposed expansion would increase Porterville’s boundaries by 72 parcels for a total of 143 acres. Tulare County’s enterprise zone, which includes the south county communities of Terra Bella, Tipton and Richgrove among 10 others, would be expanded by approximately 3,310 acres.

Read the full article.

The Second District Court of Appeals today ruled that the enterprise zone sales and use tax credit of Revenue and Taxation Code Sec. 23612.2 is not available in connection with the purchase of current expense assets, but rather only with the purchase of capital assets.  Read the full opinion.

Effective November 8, 2011, the SBVEC has expanded by about 4 square miles.  Read the full story.

In today’s Daily Journal:

A bill intended to close a loophole in existing law that lets companies relocate to another city within the state to gain lucrative tax credits failed to pass out of a legislative committee yesterday.

Assembly Bill 1278, authored by Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, was inspired by a company, VWR International, that is ditching Brisbane to relocate to an enterprise zone in the city of Visalia.

But Hill failed to get the four votes needed to move the bill past the committee stage.

“The bill was not supported by the chair. I thought I could do it now and was looking for one Republican to support it,” Hill said.

The state Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy is chaired by Manuel Perez, D-Coachella. Perez’s Assembly District includes Imperial County, which officially opposed Hill’s legislation.

***

Perez’s 80th Assembly District covers all of Imperial County and parts of Riverside County and the area’s high jobless figures prompted him to vote against Hill’s bill.

“Coming from a community with unemployment over 20 percent and that has historically suffered from a lack of private investment and jobs, I’m always concerned about the impacts of business closures on families and communities. My vote today does not reflect my lack of concern about this issue but rather the importance of pushing for a broader enterprise zone reform agenda,” Perez wrote to the Daily Journal in an email.

AB 1278 represented a piecemeal approach, which Perez believes would undermine efforts to reform the enterprise zone program.

“I initiated the reform conversation more than a year ago and the negotiation includes a number of issues such as business relocation and the tighter targeting of business incentives. Some of the reform proposals are in my bills, AB 231 and AB 1411. I hope my actions today will induce labor and business to come back to the table,” he continued in the email.