[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 150 (Tuesday, November 19, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S11579]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. LANDRIEU (for herself and Mr. Breaux):
  S. 3176. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow 
employers in renewal communities to qualify for the renewal community 
employment credit by employing residents of certain other renewal 
communities; to the Committee on Finance.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, today I am introducing a modification of 
legislation I introduced earlier in the 107th Congress relating to the 
Renewal Community program. The Renewal Community program has been 
tremendously valuable in promoting job growth and economic development 
in the poorest areas of the country.
  There are 40 urban and rural renewal community areas designated under 
the Community Renewal Tax Relief Act of 2000. The poverty rate in 
renewal communities is at least 20 percent, and the unemployment rate 
is one-and-a-half times the national level. The households in the 
renewal communities have incomes that are 80 percent below the median 
income of households in their local jurisdictions. Four areas of 
Louisiana received renewal community designations.
  Businesses in a renewal community can receive a variety of tax 
benefits for hiring residents of the same renewal community. These tax 
benefits include A $1,500 Federal credit for hiring workers from the 
renewal community, as well as a $2,400 work opportunity credit for 
hiring employees from groups with traditionally high unemployment 
rates. There is one important qualification in the program that poses a 
peculiar problem in Louisiana, as well as a few other parts of the 
country: a business can only take advantage of these credits if it 
hires residents from the same renewal community that the business is 
in.
  Why is this a problem for Louisiana? Because, some of our renewal 
communities border each other. Under the rules of the program, the 
business cannot receive the credit for hiring a resident of a different 
renewal community. In Louisiana, the closest available job for someone 
might be at a business two or three miles away, but if that business is 
not in the same renewal community as the worker, the business cannot 
get the tax credit.
  A good example of what I am talking about is in the northern part of 
Louisiana, home of the North Louisiana Renewal Community and the 
Ouachita Renewal Community. The city of Monroe is located at the heart 
of the Ouachita Renewal Community and it serves as the economic hub for 
Northeast Louisiana. All around Monroe and the Ouachita Renewal 
Community there are parishes which fall in the North Louisiana Renewal 
Community, Morehouse Parish to the north, Richland Parish to the east, 
Caldwell Parish to the south, and Lincoln Parish to the west. People 
from these parishes will naturally look in Monroe for jobs. But under 
the rule, businesses in Monroe cannot take advantage of the tax credits 
even if they hire wokers from only a short distance away.
  My legislation, the Renewal Community Tax Benefit Improvement Act of 
2002, will allow the employers in one renewal community to hire 
employees from an adjacent or nearby renewal community area and still 
receive the tax benefits granted through the act. The bill I am 
introducing today is a slightly more narrow version of my earlier bill 
to bring needed flexibility to the renewal community program. I am 
pleased that my colleague from Louisiana, Senator Breaux, is an 
original cosponsor of this bill.
  This legislation is a small change that will make a big difference to 
the people of Louisiana. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
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