Gov. Scott: Restoring EFI Toolkit Vital to Beating Texas for Jobs Wins

Press Release

Today, at Enterprise Florida, Inc.'s (EFI) quarterly Board of Directors meeting in Ponte Vedra Beach, Governor Scott addressed the group and discussed the importance of the Legislature funding the EFI toolkit. Since 2013, the average return on investment for EFI projects is 10-to-1. The meeting also featured remarks from Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, and Jacksonville Jaguar's Owner Shahid Khan, highlighting the importance EFI has on job growth in Florida.

Governor Rick Scott said, "We must immediately begin reaching out to legislators and community leaders to talk about the importance of fully funding the EFI toolkit. If we do not fully fund the EFI toolkit this year we will never catch up with Texas when it comes to winning competitive projects. The deals that Enterprise Florida has executed to date have provided a 10-to-1 return on investment for taxpayers. Unfortunately, today, EFI has about $9 M in incentive funding left. That means well before the end of the fiscal year, EFI will be out of gas and unable to complete any deals.

"Texas' toolkit is funded at $130 million. In 2014, Texas was able to move Toyota's North American Headquarters away from California -- and that project alone was $40 million. That is a company that will now have such a major investment in Texas they will help keep their economic engine humming even when they have downturns in their major industry -- oil and gas.

"We need to also do a better job explaining EFI's mission as creating a jobs safety net in our state. The number one way to make sure we have a diverse economy that is not just running off of our tourism industry is to win more headquarters relocations to our state -- like Hertz -- so we have industries who could survive another recession. If we have another national recession where tourism and real estate bottom out, Florida's economy would be vulnerable. But, the more diverse we make our economy, the more we are creating a jobs safety net where our families have more ability to find work even during tough economic times. Creating a jobs safety net means we make it clear that we are recruiting high-wage jobs to Florida, which generally means corporate relocations where companies make a lasting investment in our state.

"Some have heard people talk about switching the toolkit to a "Pay as you Go' model. That model will not help us compete with Texas. No major company wants to go back to a state legislature year after year to ask for funding. They will just make a choice to go to another state. This is a competitive process and that is why a fully funded, functioning EFI toolkit is essential to competing and winning companies that will diversify our economy in Florida."

Florida has created 896,000 private- sector jobs since December 2010. Florida's statewide unemployment rate for June 2015 was 5.5 percent, and more than 33,200 Floridians were placed in jobs. In the last twelve months, over 100 million tourists have visited Florida.

Mayor of Jacksonville, Lenny Curry said, "The funding for Enterprise Florida is critical and important to Northeast Florida, and communities like Jacksonville, it's really that simple. That's how we get deals done."

Jacksonville Jaguar's Owner, Shahid Khan said, "Let's get behind the Governor and Enterprise Florida. And let's not lose another opportunity to Texas."

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