Posted on 11/29/2001 4:08:58 AM PST by summer
Bush signs economic stimulus bill
Thursday, November 29, 2001
By DAVID ROYSE, Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Jeb Bush signed a bill Wednesday meant to help speed up state construction projects as part of an effort to boost Florida's beleaguered economy.
The bill (CS-SB 24B) lets Department of Transportation contractors combine phases of road construction projects. Currently, each phase, such as the design or the actual building, is separately bid and awarded on most projects.
The bill expands the number of projects that can be awarded to one company, which can carry out all the work from design to actual construction.
The change is expected to get some planned highway projects started far sooner, creating work for road contractors. The hope is that those contractors will boost their work force, or at least avoid layoffs while the economy is slumping.
The measure, passed during a special session of the Legislature last month, is part of Bush's larger economic stimulus plan.
He still needs legislative approval for a bigger part of the plan: moving up the spending for road projects, allowing them to start sooner.
In all, Bush is hoping that 28,000 jobs could be created by the speedup.
"Road building is a big part of our economic livelihood," Bush said.
The bill signed Wednesday also eliminates a requirement that rights of way and easements needed to finish a project be acquired before it starts.
Now, the Department of Transportation will be able to advertise and award contracts even if the government hasn't acquired all the deeds necessary to do the work. Construction, however, won't be able to start until that's finished.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Jim Sebesta, R-St. Petersburg, and Rep. Dave Russell, R-Brooksville, is expected to let 28 projects get started sooner than planned. In some cases, construction could start that otherwise would have been up to four years away.
Bush also used the bill-signing ceremony to tout another of his economic stimulus programs, a retraining effort known as Operation Paycheck.
The program assesses the skills of unemployed people, and gets them enrolled in community college or vocational programs. It also gives them credit for life skills toward their new degree or certification, with the intent of getting them back into a job sooner.
Bush said that since the program started last month, 275 people have enrolled in the accelerated job training. Nearly 2,000 more are being assessed to determine what skills they have and what type of training they might be eligible for.
Bush said he has "a sense of growing optimism" about the state's economy, which was slowing before Sept. 11 but has slumped more since the terrorist attacks of that day.
Bush cited a slight slowing of unemployment claims for his optimism, but noted, "we're still in tough times."
To bad that by the time they get done adding a third lane, it'll be time to add a forth.
It taxes paper gains long before they become profits. I bet people hated paying taxes on paper profits before the stock market crash. They never got to see the money that they had to pay taxes on.
The Florida intangibles tax is probably the worst tax ever devised.
You're so discerning. Do you live here in Florida?
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