JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Gov. Rick Scott is running an unusually public campaign to get lawmakers to set asides a quarter-billion dollars for economic development. The governor has gotten more than 100 local and state officials to endorse his plan.
When Scott’s proposed tax cut was in trouble earlier this year, he took the unusual step of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on TV ads to promote the tax cut. He got mostly what he wanted.
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Now he’s doing something out of the box to win a pile of cash for economic development.
"Florida should be the next state where all the corporate offices are moved to," Scott said.
Scott wants to revamp the funding for economic development by putting $250 million into a revolving fund. He said it will send a signal to companies looking to relocate.
"We can’t be subject every year not knowing how much money we’re going to have," Scott said. "We’ve got to fix that. We can’t be subject to whether the legislature holds a special committee meeting or not."
Scott has taken the unusual step of reaching out to local officials and asking them to endorse his plan. More than a hundred have said yes. Scott’s outgoing Economic Opportunity director, Jesse Panuccio, believes the plan will create thousands of jobs.
"You want to (have) a fund that is certain, that businesses can look at it and say, 'You know what, Florida has made a three-year commitment. They have enough money to come through with their promises and and on their offers,'" Panuccio said. "It’s just going to make us more competitive with these other states."
Scott’s goal is to gather significant visible support. But when it comes to a quarter-billion dollars, lawmakers aren’t going roll over without something in return, including a guarantee that they have a say on where the cash goes.