HB 1277 – Economic incentives

HB 1277 was defeated by a vote of 44 to 54. It would have prohibited state economic development entities from giving an incentive to an employer unless the employer agrees not to discriminate against an employee based on that employee’s geographic location in Indiana. The employer would forfeit the incentive package if it violated the provision.

This is clearly in response to Honda’s decision to limit the geographic pool of applicants for its new plant. It’s pretty tough to argue with a company making its own decisions with it’s own money. But things get complicated when all of the state’s citizens are supporting the cost of these economic development incentives, but only some of the state’s citizens get to apply for the resulting jobs.