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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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House
Democratic Leadership |
  
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House moves key economic development program in budget
HARRISBURG, May 13 – House Democratic leaders today hailed the passage of a key component of "Protecting our Progress," the economic development plan in the 2008-09 state budget. By a vote of 137-61, the House sent the Business in Our Sites funding bill (H.B. 2353) to the state Senate.
Democratic Leader Bill DeWeese, D-Greene/Fayette/Washington, said the Business in Our Sites Program originally provided $300 million in grants, flexible loans and planning grants to assist local communities in acquiring and preparing sites for future development. The program helps small and mid-sized communities that usually lack adequate resources to conduct site preparation.
"This legislation proposes to infuse an additional $100 million to continue the progress we’ve made to date. Shovel-ready projects in cities, hamlets, boroughs and suburbs across this Commonwealth are enthusiastically waiting to break ground. Program applicants and the people who will become employed as a result of their projects are counting on this," DeWeese said.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dwight Evans, D-Phila., said this year’s budget proposal includes a comprehensive effort to ensure that Pennsylvania’s economy remains stable, even if the U.S. economy continues to worsen. Funding for shovel-ready development projects is an integral part of the effort, which is partly achievable by extending Business in Our Sites.
"Before Governor Rendell came to Harrisburg, one of the biggest complaints from companies looking to expand or locate in Pennsylvania was that we did not have sites ready to go," Evans said. "Companies were not willing to wait because other states had sites ready. But now, thanks to this program, projects in 48 counties have received funds."
Since the program’s inception in 2004, according to the Department of Community and Economic Development, it has funded 49 planning grants for $7.45 million and 56 construction projects totaling $292.4 million, substantially exhausting the original authorization.
Democratic Whip Keith McCall, D-Carbon, said the program offers the necessary technical and financial assistance for development of existing brownfield sites.
"In an industrial state like Pennsylvania, so many vacated business and manufacturing sites are ripe for redevelopment," McCall said. "Funding from Business in Our Sites helps clear brownfields and prepares them for reuse. That’s one of the best ways to prevent sprawl and encourage greenfield preservation."
Funds from Business in Our Sites can be used for land acquisition; environmental assessment and remediation; demolition; site preparation activities; infrastructure; engineering costs; legal and other professional services; and other activities necessary to make a specific site ready for potential reuse. Business In Our Sites will leverage $1.04 billion in matching investments.
The House Democratic leaders noted that passage of the Business in Our Sites bill comes on the heels of last week’s House passage of Keystone Opportunity Zones, another component of "Protecting our Progress."
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