TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - New Jersey lawmakers on Friday advanced legislation offering billions in tax credits to Amazon if it locates its second headquarters in the state.
Democrat-led Assembly and Senate committees approved the measure Friday. The bill is expected to get final votes next week. GOP Gov. Chris Christie has named enacting the bill as one of his top priorities before leaving office.
“This is about jobs, jobs and more jobs, and even more jobs on top of those,” Democratic Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto said shortly before the panel approved the measure.
The effort to lure the online retail giant to New Jersey comes during the final days of the lame-duck Legislature and just before Christie’s departure on Jan. 16, when Democratic Gov.-elect Phil Murphy will take over.
It also comes after Democratic and Republican lawmakers and GOP Gov. Chris Christie signed a letter backing the effort.
Murphy has said he favors bringing Amazon’s second headquarters to New Jersey but stopped short of backing this effort explicitly. Murphy criticized tax credit programs for big businesses in last year’s campaign.
In return for investing at least $3 billion and 30,000 full-time jobs, the state is offering $10,000 in tax credits per job created over 10 years.
The bill would also allow a benefiting company to sell up to $25 million in tax credits annually, provided the proceeds go toward public infrastructure.
The measure also requires that the net benefit to the state from capital investments and full-time jobs amount to 115 percent of the tax credits.
Amazon has said it’s gotten 238 proposals from cities and regions across the country, Canada and Mexico and is looking to be in a metropolitan area with mass transit.
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