By Associated Press
Montgomery, AL – Gov. Bob Riley has called the Alabama Legislature into a special session to begin Feb. 26 to approve multimillion-dollar incentive measures to lure industries to Mobile County and other areas of the state.
Riley said Friday the special session is necessary to help the state land the new industries, which he said could bring thousands of jobs to the state.
"If we fail to take action immediately, we run the risk of losing these jobs to other states," Riley said.
In the special session Riley will ask the Legislature to increase the state's bond-issuing capacity from $350 million to $750 million. Riley's communications director, Jeff Emerson, has said Alabama needs the extra bonding authority to offer industrial incentives to 10 plants the state is recruiting, including the 2,700-employee ThyssenKrupp steel plant for Mobile County, a plant for the Montgomery area that would employ 500 to 1,000 people, and a plant for the Shoals area in northwest Alabama that would employ 1,500.
The Legislature is scheduled to begin its 2007 regular session eight days later on March 6.
Riley said he expects the special session to end on March 2, which means it would be completed in five days, the minimum time required for a bill to become law.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)