Alan Khazei meets with Quincy business leaders, discusses need to spur small business growth.

Democratic Senate candidate Alan Khazei joined with local small business leaders today at a roundtable discussion on the need for small business development and jobs growth in Massachusetts, according to a Khazei campaign press release. The event was held at Quincy 2000 Collaborative, a non-profit corporation located in Quincy, MA that works to unite local private and public sectors in a common mission for economic development.

At the roundtable event, Khazei met with Quincy 2000 members about the need to invest in small business development in Massachusetts as well as the need for new and innovative approaches to the unemployment crisis. Khazei discussed his Jobs Plan which calls for a new government stimulus focused on creating new jobs and spurring small business growth.

Khazei’s Six-Point Jobs Plan is below:

1. PROTECT AND GROW JOBS IN OUR CITIES & TOWNS:

• Provide $25 billion in aid to our cities and towns to avoid layoffs and cutbacks in schools, police and fire departments, saving over 600,000 jobs.
• Develop a Solar on Schools Program to finance solar power for schools and public buildings, create over 250,000 jobs and lower energy costs for cities and towns.

2. CREATE JOBS BY INVESTING IN CLEAN ENERGY & ENERGY EFFICIENCY:

• Pass clean energy legislation to create up to 1.9 million jobs.   
• Establish the Clean Energy Institute and quadruple the U.S. investment in clean energy research to $20 billion.
• Support the Home Star program to provide consumer rebates for home energy efficiency projects and invest to develop a Home Star Certified Energy Efficiency workforce, creating 500,000 jobs.
• Establish mandatory efficiency standards for buildings to create even greater demand for energy efficiency jobs.

3. REWARD JOB CREATION WITH A NEW JOBS TAX CREDIT:

• Establish a Job Creation Tax Credit.
• Refund 15% of additions to payroll in 2010 and 10% in 2011.
• EPI economists estimate this would create between 2 and 5 million jobs.    

4. STABILIZE THE HOUSING MARKET:

• Keep Americans in their homes by giving courts the ability to align homeowners’ mortgages with their property values.
• Create a Home Price Insurance Program to bring buyers back to the market. 
• Restoring home values will give consumers confidence to spend again.

5. GROW NONPROFIT JOB OPPORTUNITIES & SUPPORT SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS:

• Fund the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act to add 175,000 AmeriCorps members.
• Create a $5 billion nonprofit loan fund to increase jobs and employment opportunities for low income Americans.
• Fully fund the White House Social Innovation Fund.

6. INCREASE ACCESS TO CAPITAL, TAX BENEFITS, & SUPPORT FOR SMALL BUSINESS:

• Increase the Job Creation Tax Credit for small businesses to 15% for both years.
• Create a $5 billion loan fund for small businesses.
• Extend the temporary doubling of expense write offs and accelerated depreciation.
• Establish a federal commission to support and invest in women- and-minority owned businesses.