A key legislator says a trio of House members are developing a package aimed at creating more jobs in small businesses in Iowa. House Democratic Leader Kevin McCarthy of Des Moines says the group approached him earlier this year. “A few members came in who either do or have owned small businesses — Vicki Lensing and Dave Jacoby and Mike Reasoner used to own a small oil company,” McCarthy says.
“They are trying to have some conversations pretty informally…to say is there something the legislature can do this year in a targeted package for small businesses?” Lensing and her husband own and operate a funeral home in Iowa City. Jacoby, who lives in Coralville, runs a small business that specializes in estate sales.
Reasoner, who lives in Creston, was the owner and operator of Reasoner Oil, which provided fuel and oil to businesses and farms. McCarthy says that trio approached him with an idea. “The idea being can we campaign next year saying we just did something for Main Street as opposed to Wall Street which has been receiving a lot of attention at the federal level,” McCarthy says.
The goal is a package that would extend about 10 million dollars worth of state incentives to small business owners with fewer than 100 employees who hire more workers. “That’s something that we could have something in the final days of session, something that we could pass,” McCarthy says. McCarthy and other legislative leaders are hoping the 2010 legislative session concludes in just over a month, sometime around March 31st.