Last year, Rep. Carl Albrecht, R-Richfield, sponsored and passed a bill aimed at boosting the number of jobs in rural Utah by offering state grants of up to $25,000 apiece to companies hiring new employees. Now, just seven months after HB390 took effect, he wants to increase the incentive cap tenfold, to $250,000.
Soon after HB390 kicked in, Albrecht says, an employer approached him, saying he wanted to hire more than 30 workers in rural Utah. But the way the law was structured, he’d only be eligible to receive enough grant money to cover the hiring of four workers, at $6,000 apiece.