LANSING- Gilda Z. Jacobs joined with Senate Democrats recently to introduce a package of bills that would give Michigan workers priority for jobs on state-funded projects, and call for stronger penalties for those who hire undocumented workers. Sen. Jacobs’ bill in the package would prohibit a brownfield authority from using tax increment revenues to pay or reimburse a business for property improvement activities unless they agree in writing that they will not knowingly hire, or contract with anyone else that hires, an individual who is not authorized under federal law to work in the United States.

“People in Michigan desperately need the jobs and assistance that this package will create, and Hire Michigan First will mean that jobs on state-supported projects will first go to the people who need them the most right here at home,” Sen. Jacobs said. “A majority of the construction and development projects that receive state assistance and incentives help create jobs in the areas that have seen the most layoffs in recent months. We need to make sure those positions are going to qualified Michigan residents before being outsourced to people from other states or countries.”

The bills in the Hire Michigan First plan call for:

• Awarding state tax breaks and other economic development incentives to companies that hire the most Michigan residents. This rule would apply to projects handled by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and other state-funded programs, including the Michigan Economic Growth Authority, the Renaissance Zone Act, and others.
• Encouraging transparency and accountability by requiring companies that take economic development incentives to report on who they hire to ensure that Michigan residents are given priority.
• Discouraging the hiring of undocumented workers by canceling state contracts and tax incentives for companies that employ illegal labor, requiring them to pay back incentives they received and barring them from future contracts.

In the past year alone, Michigan has lost more than 69,000 jobs and our unemployment rate is the highest in the entire nation. While the legislature has passed several successful initiatives to attract companies to our state and grow their businesses here, Sen. Jacobs and her Senate Democratic colleagues believe that we need to take that extra step to make sure those businesses are employing Michigan workers.

# # #