Region benefits from legislative session
Region benefits from legislative session
Posted: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 4:04 pm
A new utility policy, securing $30 million in state funding for an extension of Lafayette Center Road and a gradual reduction of the corporate income tax to 4.9 percent are among the recent legislative wins area economic-development and elected officials announced this morning.
Senate President Pro Tempore David Long and Rep. Kathy Heuer joined officials with Greater Fort Wayne Inc., the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership and the Regional Chamber of Northeast Indiana at a news conference in saying a united voice helped score the wins in the 2014 state legislative session concluded last week.
"The clear and unified voice with which northeast Indiana spoke during this past session enabled us to act confidently and decisively to support the priorities identified by this region," Long said in a prepared statement.
"The collaboration between northeast Indiana business and government leaders ensures that we are setting the best policy possible, and at the end of the day, our economy will benefit."
Long is a member of the partnership’s Regional Opportunities Council, which oversees the Vision 2020 initiative created to work toward improving the region’s talent, business climate, entrepreneurship, infrastructure and quality of life.
Aligning economic-development efforts around those five key objectives enabled the region to respond nimbly to legislative issues during the session, officials at the news conference said.
"Today is another milestone for regional collaboration, and it drives home the critical nature of the work we are doing in northeast Indiana," John Sampson, the partnership’s president and CEO, said in a statement.
"Our thanks are extended to all of our partners for standing together on our regional priorities and to our legislators for their service to Indiana and our region.
“This is a key moment in our regions history as we move forward speaking with one voice through the priorities identified in Vision 2020 and becoming the top economic competitor we know northeast Indiana can be."
'