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1996 SESSION

962402812
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 227
Offered January 22, 1996
Memorializing Congress to pass legislation providing states and localities with additional flexibility relating to the issuance of tax-exempt industrial development bonds to promote economic development.
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Patron-- Cantor
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Referred to Committee on Rules
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WHEREAS, tax-exempt industrial development bonds play a critical role in promoting economic development in the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, these bonds are used by local industrial development authorities and corporations to create jobs and bring investment to the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, in 1995, these bonds, amounting to $134 million, played a role in creating 2,500 jobs; and

WHEREAS, the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority, which facilitates the administration of the industrial development bond program for the Commonwealth, finds that federal restrictions on the issuance of these bonds hinders business development; and

WHEREAS, particularly restrictive is the $10 million cap and the limitation that bond proceeds cannot be used to finance associated office and warehouse space that businesses expanding in or relocating to Virginia need; and

WHEREAS, Congressman Phil English has introduced H.R. 2617 to increase the cap to $20 million and to remove many of the unnecessary restrictions on the use of industrial development bonds; and

WHEREAS, the Joint Subcommittee to Study Capital Access and Business Financing, created pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution No. 370 (1995) and House Joint Resolution No. 591 (1995), has expressed its support for House Resolution No. 2617; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That it is the sense of the General Assembly of Virginia that Congress should pass House Resolution No. 2617 to foster economic growth across the Commonwealth; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, that the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the President of the United States, the President Pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and to each member of the Virginia congressional delegation in order that they may be apprised of the sentiment of the General Assembly of Virginia.