Today I attended the second of three hearings related to AB1139. The hearing focused on the Enterprise Zones and innovation. Assemblyman Manuel Perez, as head of the JEDE, presided over the hearing. Assemblyman John Perez, AB1139’s author was also present for the first part of the hearing and stated that his two main concerns were getting rid of the TEA criteria and getting rid of retroactive vouchering. His stated reason for wanting to delete the TEA criteria was not persuasive. He did not cite to any concrete numbers or even rough statistics, but in a general baby-out-with-the-bathwater stroke suggested that “some” employees who live in expensive lofts are qualifying for the credit because some nicer areas of Oakland, Long Beach and San Francisco are within the TEA. On that basis, he concluded that the TEA category must go.

There was some very persuasive commentary by proponents of the EZ, and particularly some truly amazing real life stories from businesses who said that but for the EZ, they would not be in business today. Interestingly, those employers are hiring the types of employees and providing the types of benefits that the EZ program was designed to accomplish. More on today’s hearing next week.

The next AB 1139 hearing is October 19 in San Diego.

At long last, Merced received its final designation and remove the “conditional” tag. Presumably all the maps and TEA should be finalized as well. Merced businesses can run with the ball and fully utilize the great Enterprise Zone benefits.