Gillibrand to push for business incubators

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand plans to reintroduce legislation Wednesday that would provide federal grants for business incubators in an effort to spur start-ups in growth industries.

With the federal government seemingly headed for a shutdown over spending, it's unclear whether the political climate would support expanded expenditures.

In a conference call with reporters Tuesday, the Democratic senator laid out an agenda for small-business and high-tech development that supports the efforts of other lawmakers.

"Government doesn't create jobs, businesses do," she said. "Small businesses are the biggest job creators we have."

The "Early-Stage Business Investment and Incubation Act" would award grants of up to $5 million for business incubators such as academic institutions that support the development of new businesses in technology-related sectors. The legislation is essentially the same as a bill with the same name introduced last year by former Florida Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, according to a Gillibrand spokeswoman. That bill never made it out of committee, and Kosmas, also a Democrat, was defeated in November.

If enacted, the grant program would cost $250 million in its first year.

Gillibrand also said she would ask the Senate leadership to allocate $107 million to expand science parks such as those at Stony Brook University and the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at Albany. The funding would build on a program reauthorized last year called America Competes.

The mood in Washington could make such initiatives a hard sell, with House Republicans proposing Tuesday to slash federal spending by $5.8 trillion over the next 10 years.

"It's a tough time to talk about spending in any context right now," said Kevan Chapman, spokesman for the National Federation of Independent Business, a trade group that lobbies on behalf of small businesses. "We'd rather than see new spending programs see things like tax and regulatory reform because that's a way more practical way to reduce the costs of doing business."

Gillibrand also announced that she would co-sponsor three pieces of legislation that have already been introduced. One would allow businesses to contribute a limited amount of pretax dollars to special small-business savings accounts that could be tapped for business expenses such as equipment purchases, marketing and accounting fees.

Chapman said that for some businesses, that could be "a good incentive to save and turn around and in the future then reinvest."

The other bills include tax credits for investors in small businesses and competitive grants of up to $2.5 million to entities that develop regional economic development strategies.