Florida Gov. Scott wants $250 million to lure jobs to state

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Relying on details of his own struggling childhood, Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday called on state legislators to set aside tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money to lure companies to the Sunshine State.

Scott, who has already been locked in a series of bruising budget battles over the past year, wants his fellow Republicans to create a $250 million “enterprise fund” that could be used as a piggy bank to help the state land some of the high-profile manufacturers that have recently gone to other states. He outlined the proposal during an Orlando meeting of Enterprise Florida, the state’s economic development proposal.

It could be an enormous lift for Scott since legislators in both the House and Senate are growing skeptical about the need to spend more on business incentives. Scott tried to get lawmakers last spring to give him $85 million to use for business incentives, but legislators only set aside about half that amount. The governor told business leaders that he expected it would be a fight to get his proposal approved during the legislative session that starts in January.

Scott, a multimillionaire who once ran one of the nation’s largest hospital chains, justified asking for the money by reminding business leaders that he grew up poor and that his stepfather was routinely laid off from his job every Christmas when he was growing up. It’s a story he repeated often while on the campaign trail.

“What we do want with our families? We want a job,” Scott said. “We all want our kids to live here but they aren’t going to live here if there aren’t the jobs.”

Scott is not only asking for a large infusion of taxpayer money, but also wants the ability to keep the money in an account without having to return to the Legislature to keep the funding intact. Right now if money isn’t spent, the Legislature has the power to spend it elsewhere. The governor is recommending that legislative leaders – but not the entire Legislature – be asked to sign off on spending money on projects in excess of $1 million.

But giving Scott greater control has been a key sticking point among many legislators. A Senate panel this past week grilled Bill Johnson, the head of Enterprise Florida, over assertions that both he and Scott have made that one of the current accounts for incentives is almost “bankrupt.”

A Senate analysis shows that $112 million in business incentives has gone unspent over the past four years. That is part of the reason that Sen. Jack Latvala and other senators want to put in a “pay as you go” approach instead of setting aside large amounts of cash at the start.

Latvala, a Clearwater Republican who oversees the budget committee that deals with economic development, refused to comment on Scott’s latest proposal.

While legislators are remaining quiet for now, a conservative group that normally backs Scott sharply criticized the idea of setting aside $250 million. Americans for Prosperity Florida called the idea “corporate welfare” and said Scott should return the money to taxpayers through tax cuts.