WHEREAS, any official position of the City of Los Angeles with respect to legislation, rules, regulations, or policies proposed to or pending before a local, state or federal governmental body or agency must have first been adopted in the form of a Resolution by the City Council with the concurrence of the Mayor; and
WHEREAS, since 1984 the California Enterprise Zone program has provided businesses hiring credits, sales/use credits, and other tax incentives to stimulate business growth, attraction, and employment within economically challenged areas of the State; and
WHEREAS, the City of Los Angeles includes two enterprise zones that cover Sylmar, Warner Center, Canoga Park, Chatsworth, Northridge, Van Nuys, LAX, Hollywood, Mid-City, Koreatown, and Downtown; and
WHEREAS, countless numbers of businesses in these parts of Los Angeles have received hiring credits, sales and use tax credits, expense and interest deductions, DWP rate discounts, and other benefits that have resulted in significant business cost relief, promoting job growth and economic improvement in some of the City’s hardest hit neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS, Enterprise Zone hiring credits are designed to encourage employers to hire people who live in disadvantaged areas, are currently on unemployment, receiving government assistance, or are veterans entering the workforce; and
WHEREAS, during his State of the State address, Governor Jerry Brown proposed scaling back the Enterprise Zone Program by limiting the time available to apply for tax credits, remapping the zones, and reducing the amount of tax credits; and
WHEREAS, reducing or eliminating Enterprise Zone benefits will be devastating to thousands of Los Angeles businesses, increasing their cost of doing business, impacting their future growth plans, and potentially resulting injob losses; and
WHEREAS, in these tough economic times, the State should be looking for ways to promote the growth of business rather than saddling businesses with new costs;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, with the concurrence ofthe Mayor, that by the adoption of this Resolution, the City of Los Angeles hereby includes in its 2013-2014 State Legislative Program OPPOSITION to any reductions, changes, or eliminations of the Enterprise Zone program.
PRESENTED BY: Mitchell Englander, Councilmember, Twelfth District
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