Georgia Revamps Tourism Development Act

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has signed into law House Bill 318, which changes procedures in the Georgia Tourism Development Act.  He signed the bill in a ceremony at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. The bill allows sales tax exemptions for 10 years for approved projects to stimulate the creation of tourism…

How are States Promoting Small Business Development?

A study commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation finds that states are using new and innovative policies to support small businesses in a diverse, rapidly changing business environment.  Enterprising States, which was prepared by the Praxis Strategy Group, says that although small businesses are leading the recovery…

State Business Climate Rankings: No Policy Value

Correction from Good Jobs First:

As originally issued on May 1, this report stated that the Beacon Hill Institute’s State Competitiveness Index used fabricated data. This assertion drew from a misunderstanding on our part that arose over the decision by BHI to include only some of the variables in…

SMLC to Launch Open Smart Mfg. Tech

The Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition (SMLC) has won a 2013 U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) clean energy manufacturing contract to begin developing the nation’s first open smart manufacturing technology platform for collaborative industrial networked information applications.
The $10 million project, headed by the SMLC, will receive $7.8…

Major Chemical Investments in Louisiana

Huntsman Corp. and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. have recently made significant expansion announcements in Geismar, Ascension Parish. Huntsman Corp. will conduct a $78 million expansion at its Geismar chemical facility. The company will yield a 50-kiloton increase in the facility’s output of methylene diphenyl isocyanate, a…