FEDC Legislative Affairs Committee Teleconference November 12
Help us shape the FEDC 2015 Legislative Agenda by participating in this very important call. We will be presenting possible legislative items submitted to date as well as taking your input for additional items. Once the Committee has approved the items, we will move it to the FEDC Board for their final approval. Have a voice and participate!
November 12 @ 10am - Call in number 712-432-0075 code 452692#
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50 of Florida's Best and Brightest Honored as the 2014 Florida Companies to Watch
Last night's sold out event celebrated Florida's entrepreneurial rock stars and highlighted the importance of second-stage businesses to Florida's economy. More than 450 people attended the event, held at Hard Rock Live, CityWalk in Orlando. Thank you to all that attended, sponsored and supported this year's event. We could not have done it without you. Florida Companies to Watch is an awards program that celebrates privately held second-stage companies headquartered in the state. Awardees are selected for demonstrating the intent and capacity to grow based on employee or sales growth, exceptional entrepreneurial leadership, sustainable competitive advantage, outstanding corporate culture, inspired community giving and other notable strengths.
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Florida Named One Of Best States For Business
Texas, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina are viewed as having the best business climates among the 50 states, according to a new survey of U.S. corporate executives released today at the International Economic Development Council annual conference.
According to a release from survey conductor Development Counsellors International, Texas — which has consistently held the No. 1 ranking since 1999 — was the clear-cut favorite among the respondents to the survey, with 49.7 percent naming the Lone Star state as having one of the most favorable business climates in the nation. Florida ranked second with 18.1 percent; and Georgia and North Carolina tied for third with 17.6 percent of the votes.
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Florida Is Poised To Benefit From New Intermodal Centers
Thanks to long-term planning efforts, the state of Florida and its private companies have strategically invested in preparing Florida to be one of the most efficient trade and logistics hubs in the world. Florida is now poised to capitalize on its central location as a global transportation hub with easy access to the rest of the U.S., to Central and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Africa.
To make the movement of cargo more efficient and less costly, improvements in freight handling and transfers have become critical components of the logistics system. One of the most significant additions to Florida’s system has been an increase in Intermodal Centers.
Investments to increase the efficiency of transporting Florida passengers, freight, and space payloads have been made possible due to a substantial amount of planning and cooperation between the Florida Legislature, private-sector partners including the Florida Chamber of Commerce, multiple public and private stakeholders, and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). In 2011, Enterprise Florida added Logistics to its Qualified Target Industry list, allowing qualifying expansions of Florida businesses or relocations of qualified logistics businesses to Florida to be eligible for economic development incentives. That same year, the Office of Freight, Logistics and Passenger Operations was created within the FDOT.
Florida’s transportation and logistics infrastructure is being developed with an eye towards leading the world in efficiency and capacity, and will place Florida as a true transportation hub for the U.S. in trade and transport with Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, and even Asia. Floridians will benefit directly through the creation of jobs in logistics and trade, as well as the creation of indirect and induced jobs in related industries as a result.
This Florida TaxWatch report is also available in PDF format:
Florida’s transportation system is adding more intermodal components
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Florida Tech to Open Women's Business Center in Orlando Area with $750,000 SBA Grant
The award-winning Women’s Business Center at Florida Institute of Technology will launch an Orlando-area operation early next year after receiving $750,000 in funding from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The Central Florida Women’s Business Center (CFWBC) will serve Lake, Orange, Osceola, Volusia and Seminole counties and be centrally located.
The CFWBC is expected to open in the first-quarter 2015. It will be structured to drive economic development goals that are aligned with key emerging industry clusters in the Central Florida region. This will be Florida Tech’s third such facility serving the region, with the others housed at the university’s Melbourne campus and CareerSource Brevard’s Rockledge facility. "We are very pleased to see the continued growth of our Women’s Business Centers across Central Florida and thank the SBA for helping us expand the reach of this valuable, difference-making resource," said Florida Tech President and CEO Anthony J. Catanese.
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Aviation Manufacturer Edge Aerodynamix Plans $77.92 Million Investment In Bay County
Edge Aerodynamix, Inc. will locate its operations near the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport in Bay County, Florida. The project will create a $77.92 million in capital investment, including land, and 120 manufacturing, research and development, and marketing jobs.
The company, which has developed a product that will generate significant fuel savings for all types of aircraft, plans to continue research and development on additional products aimed at reducing drag and increasing fuel efficiency. The company has chosen to locate the manufacturing of these products, in addition to its R&D and marketing operations, in Bay County after a competitive site search that included domestic and international sites, Governor Rick Scott’s Office said.
President/CEO of Enterprise Florida, Gray Swoope said, "Northwest Florida has grown to be one of the top regions for aviation and aerospace companies to expand and establish operations. Edge Aerodynamix’s operations in Panama City will add value to Florida’s extensive aviation and aerospace and manufacturing sectors. I’m excited for Edge Aerodynamix’s establishment in Florida and look forward to seeing the company’s growth in the Sunshine State."
This project was made possible through strong partnerships between Enterprise Florida, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, the Bay County Board of County Commissioners, Bay EDA and Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport.
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Bill Gates Gobbling Up Florida Farmland
Bill Gates' company Cascade Lakeland Sands has been quietly buying up land in North Florida. In the past two years, Cascade’s Lakeland Sands Florida subsidiary has purchased large tracts of land in Suwanee, Hamilton and Madison counties.
Suwannee County commissioners said they were unaware of the connection between Lakeland Sands and Bill Gates. Commissioner Wesley Wainwright said he knew only that a large land tract near McAlpin had been sold at a premium, and that the same buyer purchased Coggins Farms in neighboring Hamilton County. Commissioner Jason Bashaw said he’d heard the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was getting into agriculture, but was also unaware of any related company buying local farmland.
Contacted by the Suwanee Democrat, a spokesperson for the Gates family had no comment on the land purchases in Suwanee, Hamilton and Madison counties.
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Newberry Gets Action Plan For Growing Its Economy
Florida’s economic growth doesn’t always come as quickly to smaller, rural communities such as Newberry, Jesse Panuccio told a gathering of city officials and local business leaders at the Easton Newberry Sports Complex on Wednesday evening. The executive director of the state Department of Economic Opportunity said that is why the state launched the Competitive Florida pilot program, with Newberry as one of four cities that the agency is , with Newberry as one of four cities that the agency is helping with efforts to grow their economies.
Bryan Thomas, Newberry’s director of planning and economic development, said the city’s economic development goals include creating a business-friendly environment for existing businesses, attracting new businesses that fit the city’s character, redeveloping the historic business district, continuing to promote sports tourism, developing workforce education for target industries, securing grants, getting city budget funding and reporting on ongoing progress.
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Workforce Now Addresses Need To fill IT Jobs
The improving economy hasn’t closed the gap between Southwest Florida employers with open jobs and the workers they need, especially in growing information technology fields, according to Workforce Now studies released Wednesday. Southwest Florida employers are struggling to fill about 5,000 jobs, including everything from retail sales supervisors to speech pathologists, even as unemployment has returned to about 6 percent in the region, less than half of what it was at the height of the recession.
Disconnects in the workforce are an issue that everyone should be concerned about, said Brent Kettler, business intelligence manager for the Lee County Economic Development Office. "You can have all the pretty trees and all the perfect beaches in the world, but if you don’t have the right workforce, businesses aren’t going to come here and businesses aren’t going to grow here," Kettler said. About a third of businesses surveyed said they had difficulty filling vacant information technology jobs.
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Northeast Florida Report from Florida Trend
It should come as no surprise that Jacksonville boasts six Fortune 1000 firms — more than any other Florida city — and the national or divisional headquarters of more than 80 other companies. A world-class intermodal transportation system made up of multiple seaports, airports, railways and highways has made Northeast Florida a focal point for both international and domestic commerce. With its population of close to 1.6 million, workforce exceeding 767,000 and reputation for affordability and accessibility, this seven-county region offers a dynamic market for business relocation and expansion. Learn more about all that Jacksonville and the Northeast Florida region has to offer in this regional business report from Florida Trend.
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Get Ready for Minimum Wage Increase January 1, 2015
The minimum wage will rise to $8.05/hour, effective JANUARY 1, 2015. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity has set up a webpage with all of the required posters and notices so you can get your workplace ready for the change.
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Career & Professional Education Act (CAPE) – Deadline Extended to OCTOBER 31
Since the Career and Professional Education Act was created in 2007, the Florida Legislature has been vigilant in building upon its successes, ensuring its growth in agility and responsiveness to the talent needs of Florida businesses. You may be aware that new measures were approved during the 2014 legislative session that further enhance this alignment to better prepare Florida students to seize career opportunities and offer more immediate value to businesses. These new measures have implications on the process by which industry certifications may be submitted to CareerSource Florida.
The submission period for 2015-2016 will open August 18, 2014, and conclude October 31, 2014. I urge you to both review the FAQ, which answers high-level questions you may have about the new process, and visit the resource page CareerSource Florida has created to help guide you through the process and provide valuable information for business, education and economic development stakeholders.
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