In a bleak job market, Mike Hubbard, Speaker of the state House of Representatives, is working to give Alabama businesses a boost.
Hubbard has created a commission that will collaborate with state business owners to increase job growth.
"Both sides of the aisle during the last campaign ran on the platform of creating jobs," Hubbard said, "and we need to prove to the people that that was just not empty political rhetoric, that we actually meant it, and we're going to do something about it."
State Rep. Phil Williams said the plan rests on the principle that the people who are most likely to create new jobs are existing business owners.
"They're the ones that should be supported, strengthened, helped," Williams said, "so that they in turn can go create another job or two."
The Commission on Job Creation, led by Williams, will hold several meetings in major cities across Alabama during the next few months.
"We're actually going to go out and do what the government usually doesn't do," Williams said. "We're going to go out and sit quietly and listen and let other people talk."
Williams said the commission will meet with entrepreneurs, CEOs and majority shareholders to brainstorm ways to expand companies' payrolls.
"These are the folks that, day in and day out, are making a payroll, that are actually creating the jobs out there," said Todd Stacy, Hubbard's press secretary. "The best thing the legislature can do is listen to them and get their input."
The first meeting was held Feb. 15 in Huntsville.
It was not closed to the public, but Williams said he wasn't advertising it, either.
"There's a very different way that a business owner sees the world, and those are the people that are invited and will be invited to speak," Williams said.
Williams said proposals from business owners might include incentives such as tax credits.
"If suddenly investors were to get a small tax credit for investing in Alabama, they would invest," Williams said. "Those companies would in turn have capital to go hire people."
Williams said after the series of meetings is finished, his commission will make recommendations on ways to incorporate the business owners' suggestions into Alabama law.
The recommendations will go before the Economic Development Committee, led by Rep. Barry Mask.
Williams said the legislature will then use the successful recommendations from this session to pass laws that will aid state businesses or remove regulations that currently hinder them.
"We've got to be able to compete globally against China and India," Williams said. "We're going to do that by revamping the way we do business in Alabama, and we're open for ideas."
Hubbard said the overarching goal is to improve the job outlook for college graduates.
"The job market out there right now is not very good," Hubbard said. "I understand that in government, we don't create jobs. What we can do is we can incentivize and enable the private sector to create jobs. I think this is something every Auburn student should be watching and following with interest."
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