2009 State Agenda

program. Additionally, we encourage state officials to collectively leverage statewide assets, to include the capabilities of the institute and its partnership with federal agencies – including the U.S. Department of Energy through the Joint Genome Institute and the National Cancer Institute through The Cancer Genome Atlas Project – in further establishing Alabama as a life sciences destination and creating these non-exportable jobs.

Infrastructure/Roads Sufficient road infrastructure to support growth in the region continues to be among the highest concerns facing the region. We are grateful to Governor Riley and the State for making several important modifications to the State’s Transportation Improvement Program to advance several critical roads projects into the next few years.

The Stimulus Plan passed by the Congress and signed by President Obama also creates additional opportunities to accelerate certain critical road projects.

The following projects have been jointly endorsed by the Chairman of the Madison County Commission, the Mayors of Huntsville and Madison and the Commanding General of Redstone Arsenal as the highest priority road projects for the community: Improvements to Zeirdt Road and Martin Road on and off Post; overpasses on Memorial Parkway at Martin Road, Byrd Spring Road, Lily Flag Road; and improvements at U.S 72 West, Winchester Road and Highway 53. Extend Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard/Northern Bypass and the construction of an interchange at the project’s terminus at Memorial Parkway and widening of Wall Triana Highway from Main Street to Gooch Lane.

Alabama Home Ownership Initiative Though Alabama remained largely isolated from that national housing crisis, the effects of a down economy are now exacting a toll on our state’s housing industry. An estimated 40,000 new and existing homes are currently for sale in Alabama with few immediate prospects for relieving the

surplus inventory. The Chamber supports Senator Lowell Barron’s proposed legislation that would leverage $1 billion in mortgages by utilizing a onetime $6 million appropriation from the Capitol Improvement Trust Fund and a one percent fee will be added to the transaction for those homes sold under this program. The $6 million from the CITF and the one percent fee will provide a guaranty against potential losses due to foreclosures on these loans.

The mortgage loans will be offered at rates below current market rates, providing the majority of Alabama’s prospective homebuyers with the opportunity to purchase a home. Home buyers will also benefit by not paying private mortgage insurance (PMI) on these loans.

Economic Development Incentives for the 21st Century Alabama’s has historically focused its economic development efforts on the expansion and recruitment of new manufacturing jobs and investment. To encourage white collar jobs and investment, proposed legislation would extend Alabama’s current income tax capital credit and sales and property tax abatements to corporate headquarters, data processing centers (including those of financial institutions and insurance companies), and research and development facilities. Other legislation would extend the 20-year credit period to recoup capital costs to 30 years, but the total amount utilized over the extended period would remain limited to 100% of the capital cost of the project.

T hank you for the support the State has provided to our region. While we are all facing an uncertain economic future, there are reasons to be optimistic about the growth that this region

can expect. Huntsville, Madison, Madison County and this entire region of the State continues to experience one of the greatest surges in economic growth in its 200-year history. In the last four years alone, over 21,000 new jobs have been announced in Madison County. Growth in the government sector as a result of BRAC and in the biotechnology sector as a result of the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology will bring thousands more new jobs and tens-of-thousands of new residents. These new jobs will produce tens of millions of dollars in additional revenue to the State in property, sales, gas and income taxes.

In order to successfully realize this growth, the Huntsville/Madison County community faces some keen challenges. Keeping our available workforce in step with the growth in jobs will be difficult. To be successful, we will need to recruit people from all across this country. We will also need to educate our children so that they can help us meet this demand for smart workers.

Keeping up with the area’s infrastructure requirements will also be challenging. State support, as outlined below, will be critical to the region’s continued prosperity.

Workforce Recruitment The Chamber is implementing a national recruitment campaign on behalf of the Tennessee Valley BRAC communities. We greatly appreciate the legislature’s and AIDT’s support of our workforce recruitment efforts. Additional grants will enable us to aggressively target the talent we need to fill BRAC and other high-tech jobs in our community.

As the BRAC move schedule intensifies in 2010, we request continued support for our recruitment efforts to ensure we have sufficient experienced, skilled workers in the near term. This workforce recruitment effort is projected to cost $2 million.

Workforce Development / Education Education is critical to recruitment and workforce development. As skilled workers consider relocating to the Tennessee Valley, one of their first questions is about the quality of education for their children. We also recognize that our workforce is aging and the great need to educate the next generation of workers that must be prepared to fill our high-tech jobs.

• Career Awareness – Our community faces critical workforce shortages in many high-paying jobs. A large part of the problem is lack of career awareness among middle and high school stu-

dents. Lack of awareness also contributes to the drop-out rate, which is unacceptably high across our region. The state has dedicated $500,000 to a career coaches program to encourage students stay in school and guide them into high-demand, high-wage jobs in our community. We request that this funding be continued and expanded in 2010 as a key component of workforce development in the Tennessee Valley.

• K-12 education programs – All children in Alabama should have the opportunity to reach their full potential. This means that every child must attend a school with quality teachers and leaders in place; every child must attend a school that provides a safe and disciplined learning environment; and every child must have access to advanced and rigorous curriculum. Investing in education is crucial even in times of reduced state budgets.

We encourage our state to recognize how far it has come in the areas of economic and workforce development through increased investment in education. Our citizens have more opportunities than ever before to not only improve their lives and the lives of their families, but also to innovate and create solutions to our world’s problems and challenges. We MUST invest as heavily as possible in Pre K-12 education. We must effi-

ciently fire on all cylinders at the federal, state and local levels to make our education system among the best in the country.

The current state mandate implements the Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI) program in grades K-3. The current funding levels for the Alabama Mathematics, Science and Technology Initiative (AMSTI) only allow for implementation in 40 percent of Alabama’s schools. The AMSTI program provides inquiry-based, hands-on math and science instruction to K-12 students and the corresponding professional development and support to teachers. The Chamber endorses full implementation and funding of both ARI and AMSTI throughout the State’s K-12 systems. The Chamber also supports continued funding and expansion for the Engineering Academy Initiative for Alabama which provides targeted engineering instruction to high school students.

• Higher education – Most jobs in our economy require some post-secondary education and training, and 70 percent of BRAC-related jobs require a minimum of a four-year degree. Our state currently does not produce enough engineers to meet the projected needs of our community.

It is critically important during the 2009 session of the Alabama Legislature that funding for education at all levels be treated equitably.

This must be the first priority for the legislature in 2009. Higher education received a major funding reduction in the previous legislative session that significantly impacted its ability to continue providing the top quality, well educated graduates critically needed to fill the high paying, high-tech jobs in our community. UAHuntsville and Alabama A&M must be treated fairly in the budget process if they are to continue preparing the graduates essential to meeting the demand for a high tech science and engineering workforce necessary for our community to continue to grow.

Biotechnology We are living in a time of rapid advancements

in biotechnology. Investments in science, research and technologies – sources of America’s strength – will yield new medical breakthroughs, new discoveries and entirely new industries.

The not-for-profit HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology (HAIB) was founded to expedite and optimize the yield from investments in genomics and genetics research. The institute unites a team of world-class scientists with academicians, students, entrepreneurs and established businesses to create a new template for the transformation of discoveries in the lab into products and services that improve human life. Furthermore, using the excitement of these scientific discoveries, institute educators have created a framework to reach out to students of all ages, thereby supporting and motivating the next generation of scientists, researchers and entrepreneurs, and elevating understanding of the impact of genomics and genetics among the general population.

HudsonAlpha is aggressively researching the causes of human diseases including cancer, Parkinson disease, diabetes and obesity, and neurological mood disorders. HudsonAlpha researchers are also developing tests for diseasecausing pathogens, studying genetic susceptibility to naturally occurring and manmade toxins and enabling methods for producing clean renewable fuels.

Continued support from the state is sought to support these types of research and further establish the HudsonAlpha Institute and the surrounding 150-acre Cummings Research Park Biotech Campus as a destination for biotech research, business and education. The Chamber encourages the State to leverage HAIB resources with other institutions of higher learning.

The Chamber also requests industry incentives and recruitment initiatives targeted at high growth, biotech industries, particularly those advancing individualized medicine and clean, renewable energy generation. HAIB offers the State a new and unique avenue of reaching K-12 students through the statewide AMSTI

T hank you for the support the State has provided to our region. While we are all facing an uncertain economic future, there are reasons to be optimistic about the growth that this region

can expect. Huntsville, Madison, Madison County and this entire region of the State continues to experience one of the greatest surges in economic growth in its 200-year history. In the last four years alone, over 21,000 new jobs have been announced in Madison County. Growth in the government sector as a result of BRAC and in the biotechnology sector as a result of the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology will bring thousands more new jobs and tens-of-thousands of new residents. These new jobs will produce tens of millions of dollars in additional revenue to the State in property, sales, gas and income taxes.

In order to successfully realize this growth, the Huntsville/Madison County community faces some keen challenges. Keeping our available workforce in step with the growth in jobs will be difficult. To be successful, we will need to recruit people from all across this country. We will also need to educate our children so that they can help us meet this demand for smart workers.

Keeping up with the area’s infrastructure requirements will also be challenging. State support, as outlined below, will be critical to the region’s continued prosperity.

Workforce Recruitment The Chamber is implementing a national recruitment campaign on behalf of the Tennessee Valley BRAC communities. We greatly appreciate the legislature’s and AIDT’s support of our workforce recruitment efforts. Additional grants will enable us to aggressively target the talent we need to fill BRAC and other high-tech jobs in our community.

As the BRAC move schedule intensifies in 2010, we request continued support for our recruitment efforts to ensure we have sufficient experienced, skilled workers in the near term. This workforce recruitment effort is projected to cost $2 million.

Workforce Development / Education Education is critical to recruitment and workforce development. As skilled workers consider relocating to the Tennessee Valley, one of their first questions is about the quality of education for their children. We also recognize that our workforce is aging and the great need to educate the next generation of workers that must be prepared to fill our high-tech jobs.

• Career Awareness – Our community faces critical workforce shortages in many high-paying jobs. A large part of the problem is lack of career awareness among middle and high school stu-

dents. Lack of awareness also contributes to the drop-out rate, which is unacceptably high across our region. The state has dedicated $500,000 to a career coaches program to encourage students stay in school and guide them into high-demand, high-wage jobs in our community. We request that this funding be continued and expanded in 2010 as a key component of workforce development in the Tennessee Valley.

• K-12 education programs – All children in Alabama should have the opportunity to reach their full potential. This means that every child must attend a school with quality teachers and leaders in place; every child must attend a school that provides a safe and disciplined learning environment; and every child must have access to advanced and rigorous curriculum. Investing in education is crucial even in times of reduced state budgets.

We encourage our state to recognize how far it has come in the areas of economic and workforce development through increased investment in education. Our citizens have more opportunities than ever before to not only improve their lives and the lives of their families, but also to innovate and create solutions to our world’s problems and challenges. We MUST invest as heavily as possible in Pre K-12 education. We must effi-

ciently fire on all cylinders at the federal, state and local levels to make our education system among the best in the country.

The current state mandate implements the Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI) program in grades K-3. The current funding levels for the Alabama Mathematics, Science and Technology Initiative (AMSTI) only allow for implementation in 40 percent of Alabama’s schools. The AMSTI program provides inquiry-based, hands-on math and science instruction to K-12 students and the corresponding professional development and support to teachers. The Chamber endorses full implementation and funding of both ARI and AMSTI throughout the State’s K-12 systems. The Chamber also supports continued funding and expansion for the Engineering Academy Initiative for Alabama which provides targeted engineering instruction to high school students.

• Higher education – Most jobs in our economy require some post-secondary education and training, and 70 percent of BRAC-related jobs require a minimum of a four-year degree. Our state currently does not produce enough engineers to meet the projected needs of our community.

It is critically important during the 2009 session of the Alabama Legislature that funding for education at all levels be treated equitably.

This must be the first priority for the legislature in 2009. Higher education received a major funding reduction in the previous legislative session that significantly impacted its ability to continue providing the top quality, well educated graduates critically needed to fill the high paying, high-tech jobs in our community. UAHuntsville and Alabama A&M must be treated fairly in the budget process if they are to continue preparing the graduates essential to meeting the demand for a high tech science and engineering workforce necessary for our community to continue to grow.

Biotechnology We are living in a time of rapid advancements

in biotechnology. Investments in science, research and technologies – sources of America’s strength – will yield new medical breakthroughs, new discoveries and entirely new industries.

The not-for-profit HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology (HAIB) was founded to expedite and optimize the yield from investments in genomics and genetics research. The institute unites a team of world-class scientists with academicians, students, entrepreneurs and established businesses to create a new template for the transformation of discoveries in the lab into products and services that improve human life. Furthermore, using the excitement of these scientific discoveries, institute educators have created a framework to reach out to students of all ages, thereby supporting and motivating the next generation of scientists, researchers and entrepreneurs, and elevating understanding of the impact of genomics and genetics among the general population.

HudsonAlpha is aggressively researching the causes of human diseases including cancer, Parkinson disease, diabetes and obesity, and neurological mood disorders. HudsonAlpha researchers are also developing tests for diseasecausing pathogens, studying genetic susceptibility to naturally occurring and manmade toxins and enabling methods for producing clean renewable fuels.

Continued support from the state is sought to support these types of research and further establish the HudsonAlpha Institute and the surrounding 150-acre Cummings Research Park Biotech Campus as a destination for biotech research, business and education. The Chamber encourages the State to leverage HAIB resources with other institutions of higher learning.

The Chamber also requests industry incentives and recruitment initiatives targeted at high growth, biotech industries, particularly those advancing individualized medicine and clean, renewable energy generation. HAIB offers the State a new and unique avenue of reaching K-12 students through the statewide AMSTI

program. Additionally, we encourage state officials to collectively leverage statewide assets, to include the capabilities of the institute and its partnership with federal agencies – including the U.S. Department of Energy through the Joint Genome Institute and the National Cancer Institute through The Cancer Genome Atlas Project – in further establishing Alabama as a life sciences destination and creating these non-exportable jobs.

Infrastructure/Roads Sufficient road infrastructure to support growth in the region continues to be among the highest concerns facing the region. We are grateful to Governor Riley and the State for making several important modifications to the State’s Transportation Improvement Program to advance several critical roads projects into the next few years.

The Stimulus Plan passed by the Congress and signed by President Obama also creates additional opportunities to accelerate certain critical road projects.

The following projects have been jointly endorsed by the Chairman of the Madison County Commission, the Mayors of Huntsville and Madison and the Commanding General of Redstone Arsenal as the highest priority road projects for the community: Improvements to Zeirdt Road and Martin Road on and off Post; overpasses on Memorial Parkway at Martin Road, Byrd Spring Road, Lily Flag Road; and improvements at U.S 72 West, Winchester Road and Highway 53. Extend Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard/Northern Bypass and the construction of an interchange at the project’s terminus at Memorial Parkway and widening of Wall Triana Highway from Main Street to Gooch Lane.

Alabama Home Ownership Initiative Though Alabama remained largely isolated from that national housing crisis, the effects of a down economy are now exacting a toll on our state’s housing industry. An estimated 40,000 new and existing homes are currently for sale in Alabama with few immediate prospects for relieving the

surplus inventory. The Chamber supports Senator Lowell Barron’s proposed legislation that would leverage $1 billion in mortgages by utilizing a onetime $6 million appropriation from the Capitol Improvement Trust Fund and a one percent fee will be added to the transaction for those homes sold under this program. The $6 million from the CITF and the one percent fee will provide a guaranty against potential losses due to foreclosures on these loans.

The mortgage loans will be offered at rates below current market rates, providing the majority of Alabama’s prospective homebuyers with the opportunity to purchase a home. Home buyers will also benefit by not paying private mortgage insurance (PMI) on these loans.

Economic Development Incentives for the 21st Century Alabama’s has historically focused its economic development efforts on the expansion and recruitment of new manufacturing jobs and investment. To encourage white collar jobs and investment, proposed legislation would extend Alabama’s current income tax capital credit and sales and property tax abatements to corporate headquarters, data processing centers (including those of financial institutions and insurance companies), and research and development facilities. Other legislation would extend the 20-year credit period to recoup capital costs to 30 years, but the total amount utilized over the extended period would remain limited to 100% of the capital cost of the project.