LEAD Act Becomes Law

Another multi-million large-scale economic plan made its way to the Governor’s desk. Governor Stitt signed the LEAD Act into law today, making it possible to enter an agreement with a multi-billion company to help provide thousands of jobs in the state.

This has been a very secretive bill that’s mostly been discussed behind-the-scenes, and many legislators are held tight lipped by nondisclosure agreements.

The investment is known around the Capitol as “Project Connect” but many people are reporting that it could be Volkswagen coming to Oklahoma.

The LEAD act is a $698 million fund to provide incentives to a manufacturer who would in turn invest at least $3.6 billion and create 3500 jobs within 5 years.

Senate Bill 1176 was heard on the House Floor this morning- but only for a few minutes after the author moved to end questions, and the bill passed with bipartisan support, and bipartisan opposition.

Representative Ryan Martinez told News9 afterwards that the questions and discussion were cut short because the legislators had talked extensively about the bill in caucus.

“We have discussed this topic ad nauseam,” said Rep. Martinez. “I think there are a lot of us that have realized that Oklahoma's only gonna grow and continue to be a place that people want to live and work if they have the opportunity to have a job, and a high paying job.”

The only representative that got a few questions in was Tom Gann, who was cut off quickly. The manufacturing plant would be placed at Midamerica Industrial Park in Pryor, the district Gann serves.

Rep. Gann says his constituents have raised many concerns, saying they’re not against economic growth, many just say it could work better in another area of the state.

“I'm listening to the businesses that are already there, and it will devastate the businesses that are already doing manufacturing in the park,” said Rep. Gann. “We have businesses right now that are paying $74,000 for jobs yet they can’t find employees.”

The average pay for the manufacturing plant would be $75,000 a year. Representative Martinez says people will drive or move to the area for a high paying job.

Gann also worried about the secrecy of this- saying he didn’t see important documents related to the bill.

“First we have the government who requires transparency and accountability, we don't have a lot of transparency with who we're giving the money to,” Rep. Gann said.

“You deal with big multinational companies, and they have certain secrets they have to keep because they have shareholders and they have other things that happen so that's the reality of this business,” said Rep. Martinez.

The company has until April 15th to make a decision whether or not to choose Oklahoma to place their manufacturing plant. If no company chooses the state by the deadline, the $698 million will go back into the General Revenue Fund.