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July 1, 2009

In Your View — 07/02/09

Anonymous The Daily Independent Wed Jul 01, 2009, 04:48 PM EDT

Incentives stress retention of jobs

In the recent special session of the Kentucky General Assembly, House Bill 3, which contained a broad array of changes to Kentucky’s economic development incentives, was passed with widespread support, including Governor Steve Beshear.

A key feature which we have strongly supported for several years is an incentive program for existing manufacturers that reinvest in plant and equipment. As a result of this legislation, qualifying companies can recoup up to 50 percent of the amount expended for equipment and facilities, and up to 100 percent of the amount expended for skills upgrade training.

To qualify, a company must have eligible expenditures of at least $2.5 million and agree to maintain at least 85 percent of its full-time employees. The incentives are a credit against corporate income taxes and Limited Liability Entity Taxes. A key feature of this legislation is that no new jobs must be created as a result of the reinvestment, but existing jobs must be retained.

From the time we brought the need for incentives for our existing industry to the attention of our legislators several years ago, our entire delegation has been extremely supportive.

On behalf of the manufacturers of northeastern Kentucky, a sincere “thank you” to Senators Walter Blevins and Charlie Borders, and Representatives Rocky Adkins, Tanya Pullin, Kevin Sinnette and Robin Webb.

Without a doubt, job retention is just as important, if not more important, than job recruitment because of the excellent wages and benefits provided by manufacturers in our region.

Jim Purgerson, President, Ashland Alliance

EPA’s ‘finding’ will encourage lawsuits

Most people around Kentucky and the U.S. agree that it’s time we do something about greenhouse gas emissions. It’s a laudable goal and one that is widely supported.

What is not so good is the way the Environmental Protection Agency is considering going about it. EPA recently released a proposed “endangerment finding” that said that greenhouse gas emissions constitute an endangerment to public health. On the surface, it sounds like a reasonable finding, but, when you go deeper, you find that it is fraught with problems.

Once you link greenhouse gas emissions to health risks, immediately the lawyers come knocking with lawsuits against any entity that emits greenhouse gas emissions. This little legal maneuver could cost businesses, utility companies, and even farmers millions of dollars — money they may pass on to consumers to cover their own costs.

The EPA should act responsibly and change the finding of endangerment to health to a finding of endangerment to welfare. The effect on reducing greenhouse gas emissions would be the same, but frivolous lawsuits and excessive liability would be avoided.

Bill Brockman, Lexington

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Editorials

Try again
It is time for Kentucky Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, and Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, to cease playing political games and redraw district lines that are compact and are based far more on population changes during the first decade of this century than on partisan politics.

February 9, 2012
'Asset poor'
More than one in four Kentucky households are “asset poor,” meaning that they are living from paycheck to paycheck with little or no financial cushion to fall back on should they suddenly lose their jobs or have another emergency resulting in a temporary loss of or delcine in income.

February 7, 2012
Safer mines
The head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) says coal operators throughout the country are improving their operations and, as a result, mines are becoming safer. However, MSHA chief Joe Main said too many coal operators still “don’t get it” and are continuing to cut costs by ignoring safety. That’s why MSHA plans to continue targeting mines with a history of repeated violations for additional inspections.

February 7, 2012
Not far enough
For the past three sessions of the Kentucky General Assembly, bills that would raise the minimum dropout age from 16 to 18 have been approved by the Kentucky House of Representatives by wide bipartisan margins only to die in the Senate without even a vote.
Now the Senate Education Committee has unanimously approved a dropout bill hailed as an alternative to the House bill, but it does not go nearly far enough. It is a halfway measure that would have only a limited effect on preventing teenagers from quitting high school before graduation and virtually assuring themselves of lives on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder.

February 6, 2012
Not their job
The local government committee of the Kentucky House of Representatives has wisely killed a bill — dubbed “Cooper’s Law” — that would have allowed the family of the Lexington toddler with cerebral palsy to have a playhouse on their property despite a deed restriction that apparently prohibits such structures.

February 6, 2012
Keeping FADE
Despite an increase in cost to the department, Carter County Sheriff Casey Brammell told the Carter County Fiscal Court that his department will continue to be active in the FIVCO Area Development Drug Enforcement (FADE) Task Force — at least for now.

February 4, 2012
Needed changes
The soaring enrollment that Kentucky’s community and technical colleges have experienced in recent years could come to a sudden end — or at least be slowed — as about 5,500 students in the statewide system that includes Ashalnd Community and Technical College are expected to lose their financial aid under new rules being implemented by the federal government.

February 3, 2012
Released early
While it is disappointing that 75 of the 952 prisoners granted early release in January have violated the terms of their releases, the good news is that none of the former inmates have been charged with new felonies. That’s an early, but positive, indication that the nonviolent felons released before their sentences were up have been carefully selected and are among those least likely to return to a life of crime.

February 2, 2012
Obese children
Almost a decade after former Gov. Ernie Fletcher called childhood obesity an “epidemic” in Kentucky, a majority of Kentucky adults still think that there are too many overweight children in the state and they place the bulk of the blame squarely on the shoulders of their parents.

February 1, 2012
Retiring
Dr. Gregory Adkins has served as president of Ashland Community and Technical College during a period of rapid growth and substantial changes. Adkins announced last week that he will retire June 30 after almost 11 years as the head of the school that now is located not only just off 13th Street in Ashland but also is in EastPark more than 20 miles from the Ashland campus.

January 31, 2012
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