Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner (D-Round Lake) announced that legislation she authored to attract private capital investments to support agriculture and job growth in rural areas is included in the Assembly’s 2017-18 state budget proposal. The measure, also known as the New York Rural and Agricultural Jobs Act (RAJA), allows for the creation of a fund solely dedicated to helping grow agribusinesses and small, family-owned businesses in rural communities, and creates a tax credit for investors.

“Small businesses are the backbone of rural economies, but they have limited access to traditional funding to expand and create new opportunities,” Woerner said. “This proposal will help stimulate economic growth in these areas and get more people back to work.”

Woerner’s program would create a $100 million fund raised from private investors and allow them to claim a tax credit after the first two years of the program. The credit is available to investors with corporate income liability, insurance premium liability, or franchise tax liability. Twenty-five percent can be claimed in the third year of the program, and 20 percent can be claimed in the fourth and fifth year. Tax credit proceeds would be matched or exceeded by private venture capital investments.

“Many of our small rural businesses here in Washington, Warren and Saratoga Counties have a difficult time accessing capital to sustain and grow their operations,” said Tori J.E. Riley, President/CEO of the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce. “Assemblywoman Woerner’s Rural Jobs Act would help our local rural businesses succeed and attract new businesses to our region. This is another example of Assemblywoman Woerner’s ability to bring resources to fruition for the small business sector.”

“The New York Rural and Agricultural Jobs Act Assemblywoman Woerner is proposing is an exciting program that will generate much needed capital for growing businesses in rural New York,” said Dennis Brobston, President of Saratoga Economic Development Corp. “With this program enacted, I expect Saratoga County agriculture and rural businesses will be able to grow faster and hire new employees due to the availability of these tax cuts bringing new investment. Traditional venture and private equity funding does not often make its way to these areas of our community. Another source of investment is vital for these underserved companies to grow.”

On March 15, 2017, Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner spoke in support of the New York Rural and Agricultural Jobs Act in the Assembly’s 2017-18 state budget proposal. Please click here to view a video clip.