RICHMOND — A bill that would give up to $36 million in incentives to companies that make clean-energy products in Virginia won committee approval in the House of Delegates on Thursday.
Sponsored by Del. Kathy Byron, R-Campbell County, the bill makes grants available to companies that spend $50 million or more on a new venture and create at least 200 jobs.
Byron, noting that Gov. Bob McDonnell has promised to “make Virginia the energy capital of the East Coast,” told the Commerce and Labor Committee her bill would help “recruit jobs and investment” to the state.
Michael Kaestner, of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, told the committee the measure would benefit a solar-energy company that is considering a move to either Norfolk or Suffolk.
The panel approved the bill 22-0 and referred it to the House Appropriations Committee, which is re-viewing every bill that could potentially tap into state revenues.
Byron said her bill (HB 1037) would return grants to a new company in $6,000 increments and only after it has paid enough taxes to cover the grants.
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