Nebraska Legislative Reminder/Update………..
• The 106th Nebraska Legislature’s 90-day session commenced on Wednesday, January 9, 2019. The projected final day of the ‘long session’ is June 6, 2019.
• New legislation is introduced from January 9th – January 22nd, with Wednesday January 23rd marking the bill introduction deadline.
• Bill hearings begin today and the deadline for Senators/Committees to designate priority bills is March 19th. A new state budget is required for this session, that will cover the two-year period from July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2021.
• One of the key priorities this session, for the business community, is to rewrite Nebraska’s business incentives. The Nebraska Advantage Act, which began 2006, is due to sunset as of 12/31/2020 and as a result, there is a concerted effort to create a new-improved economic incentive program. Priorities of the bill are to continue the pay-for-performance incentive approach, simplify administration, create more focus on higher wage jobs, all-the-while pursuing a market competitive incentive tool for Nebraska.
For additional information about the legislative session, please go to the Nebraska Legislature link at http://www.nebraskalegislature.gov/
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The Nebraska Department of Revenue responds to the inability to E-Verify, as a result of the federal shut-down…..
E-Verify and E-Verify services are currently unavailable due to the federal government shutdown. While E-Verify is unavailable, employers will not be able to access their E-Verify accounts to enroll, create an E-Verify case, add or edit any user account, or run reports. To minimize the burden on employers, the Department of Homeland Security has suspended the “three-day rule” for creating E-Verify cases affected by the unavailability of E-Verify, and the Nebraska Department of Revenue (NDR) will treat the federal shutdown as a temporary short-term lapse under Revenue Ruling 29-13-3. NDR has issued guidance available at http://www.revenue.nebraska.gov/incentiv/e-verify_notice_shutdown.html.
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Economic Development around the Country……….
In December, Governor Susana Martinez, of New Mexico, announced that international industrial & manufacturing company, Admiral Cable, will expand to Santa Teresa, NM and create up to 342 new manufacturing jobs. Admiral Cable, a subsidiary of Taiwanese Isheng Electric Wire & Cable, which manufactures and assembles electrical cords and power supplies, will invest over $50M+ and bring 342 jobs to Santa Teresa, New Mexico.
In New York, both Amazon and Google have made major announcements. Amazon announced, during late 2018, that it is building a second headquarters in Long Island City, with plans to spend $5B and add 25,000 jobs. Google’s new $1 billion 1.7-million-sq-ft campus in Hudson Square, and a new office complex, at Chelsea Market, will result in the web portal company, in NY, increasing its expected workforce by 7,000 employees by year 2022.
Publicly traded Catalent Inc, announced plans to spend more than $100 million to expand its biologics manufacturing operations in Bloomington, Indiana, where it will add up to 200 employees by the end of 2024.
In December, online career giant Indeed.com, said it plans to spend $66 million to expand its presence in Stamford, CT, including an additional 500 new jobs. The expansion, which already includes a 2018 increase (year-over-year increase over 2017 levels) of approximately 500 employees, will bring the company’s total headcount, in Stamford, to approximately 1,700.
LinkedIn, a Microsoft-owned employment-focused website, announced today that it will expand its workforce in Omaha, via a new office campus, at the Sterling Ridge development (132nd and Pacific Streets). The Company also said that it could potentially increase its workforce from about 450 today, to 1,000 by 2021.
It’s a continuing growth story for both LinkedIn and Omaha: Back in 2007, when the company was a nascent website for people to post their résumés, it opened its first outpost outside of its Silicon Valley home smack in the middle of the Silicon Prairie — Omaha. It hired 11 people.
Microsoft is making a significant expansion at its data center operation, in Southside Virginia (Mecklenburg County), resulting in an additional 100 jobs.
Sports Brand PUMA North America, Inc. is establishing a new North American headquarters in Somerville, Massachusetts. The new construction will total 300,000 square feet and include approximately 550 positions at the location, representing a more than 20 percent increase in its current workforce.
Smarp, a hub for content discovery and distribution via an SaaS model, will create 60 jobs and invest $3 million in Atlanta, Georgia.
Volkswagen, a German manufacturer of automobiles, announced on the sidelines of the 2019 Detroit Auto Show, that it will expand their Chattanooga, Tennessee factory by $800 million, creating 1,000 net-new jobs. The factory builds the Passat (sedan) and Atlas (SUV) and will begin steps to produce battery-powered vehicles in the coming years.