Governor Rick Scott said, "EFI's toolkit was significantly underfunded this year and we will run out of funding for new job commitments before the end of the fiscal year. Meanwhile, our competition for job projects has plenty of funding: New York -- $150 million; Texas -- $90 million; South Carolina -- $58 million; Georgia -- $46 million; and Arizona -- $20 million.
"If we fail to reform this year, businesses and jobs will not move to Florida. This is why I am announcing today that I will ask the Legislature to make four major reforms in the upcoming legislative session to fix the broken, nearly bankrupt Quick Action Closing Fund and allow Florida to compete again.
"We must phase out the nearly bankrupt Quick Action Closing Fund and create a new $250 million competitive fund to compete against the Texas Enterprise Fund. Texas is our number one competitor for job wins, and to acknowledge that, I want to call our new competitive fund the Florida Enterprise Fund.
"With the creation of a new Florida Enterprise Fund to compete with the Texas Enterprise Fund, we can start talking about economic development in different terms. We must talk about the benefits of economic development deals the same way families talk about their own investments. Families who have a bank account receive a rate of return of 1-2% annually. If another bank offered a 5% interest rate, everyone in this room would put their money there in a heartbeat.
"That's why we will ask the Legislature to create the new Florida Enterprise Fund. In that Fund, if a deal over 10 years generates a 10% per year return and the state gets a 100 percent return on the initial investment, we will do the deal. If it can't make that return for taxpayers, we won't do the deal. With the right resources and an improved deal-making process, Florida's opportunities for jobs are limitless.
"Following my trip to Kentucky, and the recent discussions on incentives in the Legislature, it's more important than ever to me that Florida not become complacent again. Should another recession ever hit, I don't want Florida to ever again dip into double digit unemployment. Our families cannot afford it."