Senator Clinton offers preview of first bill

Clinton

CNN Producer Phil Hirschkorn

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Looking to fulfill a campaign promise, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., gave a preview Monday of the first legislation she will introduce, a package to reinvigorate the economy of upstate New York.

Clinton, speaking to the state's Association of Towns annual meeting, said she would introduce her bill in Washington next week. Senator Clinton is expected to follow the bill's introduction with an upstate trip to promote her ideas.

Clinton told the crowd her plan would:

 •  Create technology bonds, or offer federal tax credits to permit state and local governments to issue new bonds to foster investment in high-speed data lines.

 •  Offer incentives to provide broad-band capacity to more industrial parks and small businesses.

 •  Invest in wireless Internet service.

 •  Foster technology partnerships between academia and the private sector.

 •  Expand the "renewal communities" initiative passed by Congress, which will boost selected slow growth areas with tax enhancements and wage credits.

 •  Double the investment in "regional skills alliances," programs that offer job training to college graduates entering the workforce and to people who've lost their jobs through downsizing.

 •  Create a $3,000 tax credit for every employee hired by small businesses located in communities that have been losing population.

 •  Make permanent a research-and-development tax credit targeted for small businesses.

"We have to get an attraction for businesses to take a second or third look at upstate New York, and this is aimed to do just that," Clinton said of her plans.

Upstate, defined as the region north of New York City and its closest suburbs, has lost population and lags behind the rest of the state in economic growth.

If the region were its own state, it would rank 49th in economic growth, the freshman senator and other political figures have said.

During her campaign, Clinton focused heavily on health care and education initiatives, but vowed that her first priority would be bolstering the upstate economy.

In her remarks, Clinton said she would try to stop the utility industry from passing on "the cost of their bad investments," or poorly performing power plants, to customers in their utility bills.

"If a power company makes an investment that doesn't work out, then the shareholders should bear the consequences, not the consumers," she said.

New York to see if Sen. Clinton can deliver
January 3, 2001

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
New York Association of Towns

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