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Memo from the President                       Duane O'Neill

As the calendar flips to November, we anxiously await the election returns on some decisions that will have a huge impact on our economic outlook for years to come.  Results for the election of a new president, congressional seats, Supreme Court positions, and referendums on liquor sales in Rankin County as well as the Convention Center in Jackson will all shape the business climate for years to come.  However, November is also a stark reminder that another state legislative session is quickly approaching.  In fact many of the state legislative committees are already at work and holding hearings.  The budget constraints facing the legislative body will make the upcoming session tedious, if not downright exasperating.  Obviously our Metro Legislative Agenda will need to be more targeted and better communicated than ever before.  Your input is critical to the development and delivery of the 2005 business agenda.

Business leaders from Hinds, Madison and Rankin Counties recently met with state legislators from the three counties to begin the dialogue. With the victory of meaningful tort reform from the 2006session in place, we could now focus on other business issues.  At the forefront of the discussion was the “No New Taxes” issue.  While this stance resonates with many of us, does “No tax” include local referendums (such as local option sales tax) that citizens may desire to place upon themselves for particular projects or infrastructure needs?  We are still debating this issue and would appreciate your thoughts.  Another example is the concept of toll roads.  Would our business community support a toll bridge tax to bring the Airport Corridor (a new road from the Jackson International Airport across the Pearl River connecting Downtown and eventually Jackson State University) to fruition?

Another issue we are planning to take to the legislature is a measure to give incentives to non-manufacturing businesses to expand and grow their businesses.  Recently we have worked with a Ridgeland business on plans to expand their current employment from 200 employees to a possible 700.   Other than some state job training tax credits, we really don’t have any other assistance in place.  Considering that nearly 80% of new job growth comes from existing business expansion and that many competitor states have more assistance available to entice existing business to expand, we need to change our incentive package.  If we do not, businesses such as the one in Ridgeland, which has other locations in Virginia and Florida, will decide to place the expansion projects somewhere other than Mississippi.

With these ideas in mind the State and Local Affairs Committee, which is developing the Metro Legislative Agenda for our Chamber, will be putting the details of our plan into action very soon.  Taxes, education, transportation and business growth are all important priorities. The message needs to be streamlined with broad-based support.  Please help us in the development of this message by contacting Lewis Slater or me to discuss your thoughts.