Bill to Ban Company Specific Subsidies Gains Momentum

February 25th, 2019

Legislators are calling for a measure that would ban economic development deals that grant company specific subsidies or incentives, similar to the Amazon deal that was scuttled last week. Lawmakers like Senator Gianaris and Senator Salazar characterize such arrangements as corporate welfare and have introduced a bill to end such practices. The bill would create an interstate compact which would ban participating states from utilizing company specific incentives to attempt to lure businesses to their state. The compact will take effect at such time as two or more states pass a substantially similar resolution agreeing to the terms of the compact. The Governor of each participating state would appoint a member to the board. Lawmakers in 11 other states have recently signaled interest in similar proposals, including Connecticut and Massachusetts. Such a measure is not likely to have support from Governor Cuomo who was instrumental in developing a plan to bring Amazon to Queens.