MILWAUKEE – With an eye toward improving the state’s high-growth economy, the Wisconsin Technology Council passed two resolutions Tuesday urging the Legislature to complete work on separate bills dealing with educating the state’s “knowledge-based” workforce and investing more capital in start-up companies.
The Tech Council’s board of directors voted unanimously, with one abstention, to support the Senate’s latest language for an Education Tax Credit program. The resolution urged that credits become effective in 2005. The board of directors also voted unanimously to urge the Assembly to pass Assembly Bills 531 and 538, which will enhance the supply of investment capital in Wisconsin by leveraging public and private dollars.
The following outlines the individual resolutions:
Venture Bills Resolution
The board of directors of the Wisconsin Technology Council, meeting Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2004, at Rockwell Automation in Milwaukee, resolved to the following:
WHEREAS, the Wisconsin Technology Council is the non-profit, non-partisan science and technology adviser to the governor and the Legislature, and;
WHEREAS, the Tech Council’s publications and policy papers – “Vision 2020: A Model Wisconsin Economy” and its July 2003 white paper – have urged the investment of additional public and private capital in the state’s early- stage, high-growth companies, and;
WHEREAS, the Tech Council specifically endorsed the concept of expanded tax credits and a revamped CAPCO program in its July 2003 white paper, and;
WHEREAS, the state Senate has passed comprehensive bills creating a tech commercialization grant program, tax credits for investments in qualified new business ventures, an early stage fund and a reformed CAPCO program; therefore
BE IT RESOLVED that the board of directors of the Tech Council, voting unanimously, urges the Assembly to pass Assembly Bills 531 and 538.
Education Tax Credit
The board of directors of the Wisconsin Technology Council, meeting Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2004, at Rockwell Automation in Milwaukee, resolved to the following:
WHEREAS, the Wisconsin Technology Council is the non-profit, non-partisan science and technology adviser to the governor and the Legislature, and;
WHEREAS, the Tech Council’s publications and policy papers – “Vision 2020: A Model Wisconsin Economy” and its July 2003 white paper – have called for renewed “human capital” investments in the state’s knowledge-based economy, and;
WHEREAS, the Tech Council specifically endorsed the framework of an Education Tax Credit in its July 2003 white paper, and;
WHEREAS, the Wisconsin Technology Council continues to believe that enactment of an Education Tax Credit would greatly enhance Wisconsin’s efforts to build a world-class workforce; therefore;
BE IT RESOLVED that the board of directors of the Tech Council, voting unanimously with one abstention, urges the Legislature to pass and the Governor to sign the Senate Substitute Amendment to the Education Tax Credit bill, and further urges that it become effective in calendar year 2005.
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