HudsonAlpha is aggressively researching the causes of human diseases including multiple types of cancer, Parkinson, ALS, diabetes and obesity, and neurological mood disorders. HudsonAlpha researchers developed diagnostic tools for the H1N1 outbreak and continue to work with Alabama public health officials to protect the citizens of this state. In addition, HudsonAlpha is studying genetic susceptibility to naturally occurring and manmade toxins. The same methods used by researchers for challenges related to human health are also employed to address studies to support production of clean renewable fuels. Continued support from the state is sought to support research activities and strengthen the contributions of the HudsonAlpha Institute. State assistance is also sought to further develop the 152-acre Cummings Research Park Biotech Campus as a destination for biotech research, business and education. The Chamber encourages the state to leverage HudsonAlpha’s 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. The addition of a “life sciences target market specialist” to the Alabama Development Office would not only be beneficial to HudsonAlpha and North Alabama, but to the entire state. The Chamber supports investing in information technology assets to be used by Alabama universities and research institutions. Strong movement in advancing IT would allow Alabama to compete on a global stage in various industry sectors. While HudsonAlpha would be a beneficiary of these investments, all areas that rely on large computational capacities throughout the state would reap the benefits. 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 many of the centers and
institutes included in the National Institutes of Health – in further establishing Alabama as a life sciences destination and creating associated non-exportable jobs.
Telecommunications Infrastructure The communications infrastructure is the central nervous system of our economy, connecting our businesses to their customers throughout the world. Wired and wireless broadband networks are essential components in growing and diversifying our economic base. The Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County supports policies that promote greater access to affordable broadband for all our citizens and businesses, spur private sector investment in broadband infrastructure, promote innovation, competition and choice, foster public-private partnerships, create jobs and recognize the competitive nature of today’s telecommunications market. We also advocate policies that avoid excessive government intervention, including unnecessary regulation of the Internet, which will inevitably drive up costs for businesses and residents.
BRAC Tax Impact Zone The Chamber supports legislation that would allocate a portion of the taxes that the state would receive due to employment growth at Redstone Arsenal and Cummings Research Park (CRP) since Jan. 1, 2006 for north Alabama school districts impacted by the growth. The calculation would be made based on the increase in jobs at CRP, Redstone Gateway, Thornton Research Park and Redstone Arsenal. It is expected that the allocation would permit the issuance of a $350,000,000 bond issue which would be allocated to the various communities of north Alabama based on a sampling taken by U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command (AMCOM). In order for a school district to be eligible to receive funding, a community will be required to have a sales tax rate (state and local) of 8.5%, or have increased its sales tax rate by at least one-half a percent since Jan. 1, 2006. There is a formula that allows a property tax increase for schools in lieu of the sale tax increase. Any increases must remain in effect for the life of the bonds.
Thank you for the support the state has provided to our region. While we are all facing difficult
economic times, 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 continue to experience one of the greatest surges in economic growth in its 200-year history. In the last five years alone, over 22,000 new jobs have been announced in Madison County – an increase that requires infrastructure improvement in order to continue meeting needs of a growing community. 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 (the annual total BRAC tax impact is $43.2-45.6 million according to the Alabama Center for Business and Economic Research). 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.
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 (in no particular order) 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:
• Martin Road / Zierdt to Rideout Unfunded (RSA) $18,500,000 • Rideout Road / I 565 to Goss Unfunded $1,000,000 • Parkway North of Whitesburg, South of Golf Service Roads $31,500,000 planned for FY 2014 move service roads to FY 2010 • Northern Bypass Phase II Unfunded $30,000,000 (from Toyota plant east to the Parkway) • University Drive (west of Providence to mid-Madison) • Winchester Road Phase 3 $15,142,000 planned for FY 2019 move to FY2009 • Zierdt Road Martin to Beadle Lane Unfunded $6,000,000
Support Redstone Arsenal Enhanced Use Lease As BRAC 2005-related growth continues to impact the community and Redstone Arsenal, additional office space will be required to accommodate new and expanding industry. Cummings Research Park is nearing its maximum capacity and an additional site is needed on which to locate businesses. Fortunately, the Arsenal has developed a plan, in conjunction with developers and the City of Huntsville, to turn 440 acres at the entrance to Gate 9 into an office and retail park utilizing “Enhanced Use Leasing” authority. This development will support the Arsenal’s unfunded operations requirements, while at the same time providing needed additional office space. In order to accomplish this much needed development, a portion of the Arsenal will be annexed into the city and the city will sell bonds to the developer to finance needed infrastructure improvements at the site. The Chamber supports the state legislation that is required to affect this project.
Workforce Recruitment With help from the State of Alabama, the Chamber continues to conduct a national workforce recruitment campaign on behalf of the Tennessee Valley BRAC communities. We greatly appreciate the legislature’s generous support over the past two years. As the BRAC move schedule intensifies in 2010 and culminates in 2011, we request continued support for our recruitment efforts to ensure we have the necessary talent to fill BRAC and other high-tech jobs in our community that require experienced workers. Full implementation of our workforce recruitment campaign would cost $2 million per year. Additional grants are critical to securing the talent we need to fill BRAC and other hightech jobs in our community.
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 and the capacity of local
schools to accommodate growth. 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 highpaying jobs. A large part of the problem is lack of career awareness among middle and high school students. Lack of awareness also contributes to the drop-out rate, which is unacceptably high across our region. Last year the state 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. With this funding, 18 coaches were hired to serve the 8 counties of Northeast Alabama through the five community colleges in the region. In just nine months, these coaches reached more than 34,000 students. We request $1.2 million for the participating community colleges to continue this program as a key component of workforce development in the Tennessee Valley. • Pre-K-12 education programs – All children in Alabama should have the opportunity for adequate preparation for public schooling and to go on to reach their full potential. This means that every child must attend a school that provides a safe, comfortable and disciplined learning environment with quality principals, teachers and other leaders in place; and every child must have access to advanced and rigorous curriculum in classrooms with appropriate teacher/pupil ratios. • Stable Funding for Education – Investing in education is crucial even in times of reduced state budgets. Throughout its history, Alabama has depended on unstable and regressive funding sources for Pre-K-12 and higher education. We strongly encourage our state legislators to look for new and creative ways to sufficiently fund all levels of education and to better insulate that funding from economic downturns. We also urge our legislature to assist municipal and county governments in adequately providing supplemental local financial support for education. Communities that strive to do better for their children should be encouraged
and provided the tools and legislative support they need to raise the bar. • Direct Link Between Education and Economic Development – 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 and efficiently fire on all cylinders at the federal, state and local levels to make our education system among the best in the country. We also encourage full funding and implementation of two proven programs that have become best practice models throughout the country: the Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI) and the Alabama Mathematics, Science and Technology Initiative (AMSTI). AMSTI in particular is in a vulnerable situation. We support the Governor’s proposed increase of $10.3 million for AMSTI for a total of $37.1 million in 2011 that would allow first-year schools to complete teacher training, allow training of new and transfer teachers in existing AMSTI schools, and allow for a modest increase in math and science specialists to support teachers in class. 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 – America’s most successful communities have high-quality research universities at the center of their economic and technological development. These universities create the intellectual environment to provide the next-generation workforce, discovery of new knowledge and the development of new technologies. The Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County recognizes that UAHuntsville and Alabama A&M must have sufficient resources to play that role for this community. The University of Alabama in Huntsville has established a new interdisciplinary research
organization that will address the need for ‘systems thinking’ in industry and the government. The Center for System Studies is unique in academia and will create the opportunity for UAHuntsville and the greater Huntsville area to be recognized nationwide as a leader in this emerging discipline. Systems studies are worthy of investment in that small system failures create inefficiencies and frustration, and large system failures can impact our vulnerability as a nation. Examples of such major system failures include the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, space shuttle disasters, the Minnesota I-35 bridge collapse, and the great power blackouts of 1965 and 2003. Former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has joined the UAHuntsville faculty to establish such a world-class organization in Alabama. The state’s support of this center with operating funds and capital investment on the campus of UAHuntsville is crucial for the growth of the Center for System Studies. It is critical that the Alabama Legislature provides financial backing to this important academic and research endeavor.
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 HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, a not-for-profit organization, is working 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.
Support Redstone Arsenal Enhanced Use Lease As BRAC 2005-related growth continues to impact the community and Redstone Arsenal, additional office space will be required to accommodate new and expanding industry. Cummings Research Park is nearing its maximum capacity and an additional site is needed on which to locate businesses. Fortunately, the Arsenal has developed a plan, in conjunction with developers and the City of Huntsville, to turn 440 acres at the entrance to Gate 9 into an office and retail park utilizing “Enhanced Use Leasing” authority. This development will support the Arsenal’s unfunded operations requirements, while at the same time providing needed additional office space. In order to accomplish this much needed development, a portion of the Arsenal will be annexed into the city and the city will sell bonds to the developer to finance needed infrastructure improvements at the site. The Chamber supports the state legislation that is required to affect this project.
Workforce Recruitment With help from the State of Alabama, the Chamber continues to conduct a national workforce recruitment campaign on behalf of the Tennessee Valley BRAC communities. We greatly appreciate the legislature’s generous support over the past two years. As the BRAC move schedule intensifies in 2010 and culminates in 2011, we request continued support for our recruitment efforts to ensure we have the necessary talent to fill BRAC and other high-tech jobs in our community that require experienced workers. Full implementation of our workforce recruitment campaign would cost $2 million per year. Additional grants are critical to securing the talent we need to fill BRAC and other hightech jobs in our community.
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 and the capacity of local
schools to accommodate growth. 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 highpaying jobs. A large part of the problem is lack of career awareness among middle and high school students. Lack of awareness also contributes to the drop-out rate, which is unacceptably high across our region. Last year the state 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. With this funding, 18 coaches were hired to serve the 8 counties of Northeast Alabama through the five community colleges in the region. In just nine months, these coaches reached more than 34,000 students. We request $1.2 million for the participating community colleges to continue this program as a key component of workforce development in the Tennessee Valley. • Pre-K-12 education programs – All children in Alabama should have the opportunity for adequate preparation for public schooling and to go on to reach their full potential. This means that every child must attend a school that provides a safe, comfortable and disciplined learning environment with quality principals, teachers and other leaders in place; and every child must have access to advanced and rigorous curriculum in classrooms with appropriate teacher/pupil ratios. • Stable Funding for Education – Investing in education is crucial even in times of reduced state budgets. Throughout its history, Alabama has depended on unstable and regressive funding sources for Pre-K-12 and higher education. We strongly encourage our state legislators to look for new and creative ways to sufficiently fund all levels of education and to better insulate that funding from economic downturns. We also urge our legislature to assist municipal and county governments in adequately providing supplemental local financial support for education. Communities that strive to do better for their children should be encouraged
and provided the tools and legislative support they need to raise the bar. • Direct Link Between Education and Economic Development – 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 and efficiently fire on all cylinders at the federal, state and local levels to make our education system among the best in the country. We also encourage full funding and implementation of two proven programs that have become best practice models throughout the country: the Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI) and the Alabama Mathematics, Science and Technology Initiative (AMSTI). AMSTI in particular is in a vulnerable situation. We support the Governor’s proposed increase of $10.3 million for AMSTI for a total of $37.1 million in 2011 that would allow first-year schools to complete teacher training, allow training of new and transfer teachers in existing AMSTI schools, and allow for a modest increase in math and science specialists to support teachers in class. 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 – America’s most successful communities have high-quality research universities at the center of their economic and technological development. These universities create the intellectual environment to provide the next-generation workforce, discovery of new knowledge and the development of new technologies. The Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County recognizes that UAHuntsville and Alabama A&M must have sufficient resources to play that role for this community. The University of Alabama in Huntsville has established a new interdisciplinary research
organization that will address the need for ‘systems thinking’ in industry and the government. The Center for System Studies is unique in academia and will create the opportunity for UAHuntsville and the greater Huntsville area to be recognized nationwide as a leader in this emerging discipline. Systems studies are worthy of investment in that small system failures create inefficiencies and frustration, and large system failures can impact our vulnerability as a nation. Examples of such major system failures include the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, space shuttle disasters, the Minnesota I-35 bridge collapse, and the great power blackouts of 1965 and 2003. Former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has joined the UAHuntsville faculty to establish such a world-class organization in Alabama. The state’s support of this center with operating funds and capital investment on the campus of UAHuntsville is crucial for the growth of the Center for System Studies. It is critical that the Alabama Legislature provides financial backing to this important academic and research endeavor.
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 HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, a not-for-profit organization, is working 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 multiple types of cancer, Parkinson, ALS, diabetes and obesity, and neurological mood disorders. HudsonAlpha researchers developed diagnostic tools for the H1N1 outbreak and continue to work with Alabama public health officials to protect the citizens of this state. In addition, HudsonAlpha is studying genetic susceptibility to naturally occurring and manmade toxins. The same methods used by researchers for challenges related to human health are also employed to address studies to support production of clean renewable fuels. Continued support from the state is sought to support research activities and strengthen the contributions of the HudsonAlpha Institute. State assistance is also sought to further develop the 152-acre Cummings Research Park Biotech Campus as a destination for biotech research, business and education. The Chamber encourages the state to leverage HudsonAlpha’s 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. The addition of a “life sciences target market specialist” to the Alabama Development Office would not only be beneficial to HudsonAlpha and North Alabama, but to the entire state. The Chamber supports investing in information technology assets to be used by Alabama universities and research institutions. Strong movement in advancing IT would allow Alabama to compete on a global stage in various industry sectors. While HudsonAlpha would be a beneficiary of these investments, all areas that rely on large computational capacities throughout the state would reap the benefits. 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 many of the centers and
institutes included in the National Institutes of Health – in further establishing Alabama as a life sciences destination and creating associated non-exportable jobs.
Telecommunications Infrastructure The communications infrastructure is the central nervous system of our economy, connecting our businesses to their customers throughout the world. Wired and wireless broadband networks are essential components in growing and diversifying our economic base. The Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County supports policies that promote greater access to affordable broadband for all our citizens and businesses, spur private sector investment in broadband infrastructure, promote innovation, competition and choice, foster public-private partnerships, create jobs and recognize the competitive nature of today’s telecommunications market. We also advocate policies that avoid excessive government intervention, including unnecessary regulation of the Internet, which will inevitably drive up costs for businesses and residents.
BRAC Tax Impact Zone The Chamber supports legislation that would allocate a portion of the taxes that the state would receive due to employment growth at Redstone Arsenal and Cummings Research Park (CRP) since Jan. 1, 2006 for north Alabama school districts impacted by the growth. The calculation would be made based on the increase in jobs at CRP, Redstone Gateway, Thornton Research Park and Redstone Arsenal. It is expected that the allocation would permit the issuance of a $350,000,000 bond issue which would be allocated to the various communities of north Alabama based on a sampling taken by U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command (AMCOM). In order for a school district to be eligible to receive funding, a community will be required to have a sales tax rate (state and local) of 8.5%, or have increased its sales tax rate by at least one-half a percent since Jan. 1, 2006. There is a formula that allows a property tax increase for schools in lieu of the sale tax increase. Any increases must remain in effect for the life of the bonds.
Thank you for the support the state has provided to our region. While we are all facing difficult
economic times, 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 continue to experience one of the greatest surges in economic growth in its 200-year history. In the last five years alone, over 22,000 new jobs have been announced in Madison County – an increase that requires infrastructure improvement in order to continue meeting needs of a growing community. 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 (the annual total BRAC tax impact is $43.2-45.6 million according to the Alabama Center for Business and Economic Research). 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.
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 (in no particular order) 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:
• Martin Road / Zierdt to Rideout Unfunded (RSA) $18,500,000 • Rideout Road / I 565 to Goss Unfunded $1,000,000 • Parkway North of Whitesburg, South of Golf Service Roads $31,500,000 planned for FY 2014 move service roads to FY 2010 • Northern Bypass Phase II Unfunded $30,000,000 (from Toyota plant east to the Parkway) • University Drive (west of Providence to mid-Madison) • Winchester Road Phase 3 $15,142,000 planned for FY 2019 move to FY2009 • Zierdt Road Martin to Beadle Lane Unfunded $6,000,000