Florida TRADE FREE Information Sessions!
Tue, Oct.27 - 6 p.m.
Tue, Nov.17 - 6 p.m.
Tue, Dec.08 - 6 p.m.
Register now - FLTRADEHCC.com click “Forms”

Find your SPARK

• High Tech Training in Advanced Manufacturing
• Visit potential employers!!
• Upgrade your skills
• Increase your marketability
• Gain certifications
• Earn academic credit

Upcoming courses include:

• MSSC - Certified Production Technician
• CNC Machining pathway
• OSHA 30

Location: Hillsborough Community College, Brandon Campus, BSSB 218, 10414 E. Columbus Drive, Tampa 33619

Florida TRADE @ HCC delivers fast-track training in advanced manufacturing and provides internship & employment placement assistance.

Join us to learn more. Reserve your seat now at www.FLTRADEHCC.com.

Gov. Rick Scott Discusses 2016 Legislative Priorities at AP Editors Meeting: Eliminate the Business Tax for Florida Manufacturers

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, Governor Rick Scott attended the Associated Press pre-session meeting and announced two major priorities for the upcoming Legislative session. First, a tax cut package that will be larger than the proposed package last year, including the total repeal of the state business tax on every manufacturer in Florida. Second, making major reforms to Florida’s competitive jobs program. Governor Scott’s final, proposed budget will be announced in the coming weeks.

Below are Governor Scott’s remarks as prepared for delivery:
Florida is on a roll – I have to start by bragging. In a little over four years, Florida has created over 940,000 private-sector jobs. With the help and support of my friends in the Legislature: We have cut taxes over 50 times in the last four years and cut $400 million in taxes this year alone. We have invested record amounts for both K-12 and higher education, ensuring that every Florida student has the best opportunity to succeed. We have cut over 3,200 burdensome regulations to make it easier to do business in Florida.

We have been able to make record investments in education, our environment and transportation infrastructure while also maintaining a $1.2 billion surplus…without raising taxes. The average person pays about $1,700 in state taxes in Florida – the lowest in the nation. In the past 12 months, over 100 million people visited our state. We are at a 44-year-low in our crime rate. We are number one for aerospace manufacturing attractiveness. We are the number two state for infrastructure. We are also number two for aerospace and aviation establishments in the U.S. We are indeed on a roll, but we need to keep going to keep growing.

We have to cut taxes to keep growing. I know you all want to hear what we will focus on during the upcoming legislative session, and while we are still working to finalize our budget, I want to highlight two major priorities during my time with you today.

As I mentioned earlier, I am very proud of the work the legislature and my office have done together to turn Florida’s economy around. I am very excited to have heard from President Gardiner and Speaker Crisafulli both of whom share my goal to cut taxes again in the upcoming session. Working together, I know we can give Floridians back more of the hard-earned money they have made by turning our economy around and ensure that Florida continues to out-pace the nation and even take first place in job creation.

First, we will propose a tax cut package that will be larger than the package we proposed last year. One part of our tax package I can discuss today is that we will propose the total repeal of the state business tax on every manufacturer in Florida. This tax cut would be on top of our push to forever end the manufacturing sales tax. If the manufacturing sales tax isn’t repealed this year, there will effectively be a tax increase on manufacturers in our state who are planning to buy multi-million dollar pieces of equipment. Taxing this equipment will kill jobs. It is that simple.

Helping our manufacturing industry succeed is a key way to diversify our economy. Five years ago, our state was in a jobs death spiral. Our economy was in a steep decline and a lot of people talked about how we needed to grow more stable industries to recover. Now it’s time for action. Manufacturing is one of those high-growth industries that are critical to long-term job creation. The more we can cut costs for manufacturers in Florida, the more manufacturing jobs will be created here. It is really that simple. If you don’t want something to grow, tax it. If we want something to grow, we have to cut costs.

I hope 2016 will be the year of the manufacturer in Florida. Working together with the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, I know we can become the most competitive state in the nation for manufacturing companies to invest, expand and succeed.

Finally, we must reform our competitive jobs program. The second priority we will focus on in the 2016 legislative session is making major reforms to our competitive jobs program. The Quick Action Closing Fund that EFI uses to attract competitive projects to Florida over other states is almost bankrupt. It was given very little funding during the last Legislative session and now there is virtually very little money left for Florida counties to use when competing against other places in the country for big job wins.

The current Quick Action Closing fund needs to be reformed, plain and simple. Florida cannot compete with Texas for major headquarters projects if we are running out of cash before the end of every year, or if projects are totally dependent on the scheduling of special committee meetings.

We have listened to concerns that some legislators have about the current system, and consulted with national Site Selectors about what they look for in Florida to advocate for major businesses – like GE – to move to our state. With all of this input, we will propose major reforms to the current Quick Action Closing Fund program before the beginning of the 2016 legislative session.

Those are the two main priorities I wanted to touch on today. I look forward to announcing much more when we roll out our final, proposed budget in a few weeks. ###

Florida TRADE at SPC will offer screenings of the Made in Florida movie (27 minutes long) followed by an information session about the short-term manufacturing training available at St. Petersburg College. The Made in Florida movie features manufacturing businesses from all over the state and their modern technical environments! Please plan to attend at one of these locations:
10/21/2015 at 2:00 p.m. / James Weldon Johnson Library (1059 18th Avenue South, St. Pete)
10/27/2015 at 2:00 p.m / Seminole Library (9200 113th Street North, Seminole)

And, please plan to attend the On Your Mark, Get Skills, GO! event to become more familiar with engineering technologies, Florida TRADE, Workforce & Professional Development, LINCS Supply Chain, internship, and employment opportunities.
Monday, Oct. 26
5:30 to 8:00p.m.
ES104, SPC Clearwater campus

St. Petersburg College will participate in another federal Department of Labor grant -- Creating apprenticeships!!
Manufacturing is one of the high tech industries targeted by the Florida Apprenticeship Consortium! The partnerships will combine the efforts of employers, colleges, industry organizations, state and regional Registered Apprenticeship systems, state and regional workforce investment systems, school districts, community nonprofits and state agencies to expand high-quality apprenticeships. Read more about it here!

There are Florida TRADE graduates ready for internships or job openings!
Visit the Employer Portal or contact the Florida TRADE recruiter, Ariel Boone at Boone.Ariel@spcollege.edu or 727 212 9164 for resumes and information
Find out more: Information Sessions - 5pm
Thursday, October 29, 5pm / Midtown, Jamerson 141
Thursday, November 12, 5pm / Seminole, UP176 10am session Tuesday, October 27, 10am / Clearwater, Room ES104

Questions? Contact: Jill Flansburg, Program Coordinator, 727-791-2508
For more Manufacturing Resources, visit the FL-ATE website!

On Wednesday, Oct. 7, several people representing manufacturing, associations, and education came before the Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners and accepted a proclamation declaring October as Manufacturing Month.

Watch the video here

October 2, 2015
Today, on National Manufacturing Day, the Manufacturers Association of Florida announced they will circulate a pledge to Florida Legislators that is due by December 1, 2015 where members can declare their opposition to raising taxes on Florida manufacturing. In 2013, the Legislature temporarily agreed to eliminate the sales tax on manufacturing machinery and equipment, from 2014 to 2017. If legislators fail to act to make this exemption permanent, the positive growth seen in manufacturing in the last 15 months could slow significantly. That positive growth is evidence that the “temporary” sales tax exemption is working. Manufacturing generates more economic activity per dollar invested in Florida than any other industry, with a multiplier of $1.43 for every $1 invested.

Nancy Stephens, Executive Director of the Manufacturers Association of Florida said, “Manufacturing jobs are the jobs we need in our state to diversify Florida’s economy. We need to increase exports and produce more goods and that’s exactly what Florida manufacturers do. The more taxes imposed on expensive manufacturing equipment, the harder it is to create jobs. We call on the Florida Legislature to take immediate action to permanently eliminate the sales tax on manufacturing equipment and machinery.”

Florida ranks among the nation’s top 10 states for manufacturing and is home to more than 19,000 manufacturing companies. The state’s 330,000+ manufacturing employees produce a wide variety of goods including communications equipment, aerospace products, batteries, food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, boats, food and beverage products and more.

This tax will disproportionately target Florida manufacturers. Most states do not have a sales tax on manufacturing equipment and Florida manufacturers will be put at a competitive disadvantage if this tax is not eliminated permanently.”

For more information on the Manufacturers Association of Florida, visit www.mafmfg.com 1625 Summit Lake Drive, Suite 300, Tallahassee, FL 32317 850.402.2954

See posts and photos from Manufacturing Day student tours here:
www.facebook.com/bamafla

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The U.S. Department of Labor recently announced Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ) as a recipient of its American Apprenticeship grants program.

FSCJ is leading the Florida Apprenticeship consortium, and will support involvement with St. Petersburg College and Broward College, which will work with businesses and other partners to close the workforce skills gap faced by the Information Technology, Manufacturing, Healthcare and Construction/Trades industries across Florida by promoting the growth and expansion of quality and innovative apprenticeship programs over the next five years. A total of 1,000 participants in the state of Florida will be served through this grant program.

“This grant positions FSCJ as a leader in providing proven training opportunities to employers and workers in Florida through the creation of apprenticeship programs,” said Florida State College at Jacksonville President Dr. Cynthia Bioteau. “Aligning apprenticeships to education and job training will promote further learning and career advancement opportunities for our students.” “We are proud to be a partner with Florida State College at Jacksonville, supporting the growth of many in-demand industry sectors, such as information technology, manufacturing and healthcare,” said Broward College President J. David Armstrong, Jr. “With this grant, we will be able to assist in closing the skills gap concerns many of these industries face, while delivering quality education and training so our students are prepared to enter these competitive, well-paying industries.”

“We are honored to partner with Florida State College at Jacksonville and Broward College to expand apprenticeships that will prepare our students for sustainable employment in high demand fields,” said St. Petersburg College President Bill Law. “This collaborative, grassroots initiative also will benefit employers and the economy, by ensuring a deeper pool of highly skilled workers in growing industries.”

Located in strategic areas throughout Florida, the strong and experienced consortium of three state colleges will develop this innovative and lasting public-private partnership involving employers, industry organizations, state and regional Registered Apprenticeship systems, state and regional workforce investment systems, school districts, community nonprofits and state agencies.

Studies have already quantified the long-term financial benefits of this approach to U.S. workers—those who complete an apprenticeship earn an average starting wage of $50,000 and go on to earn an average of $300,000 more over a lifetime than comparable workers. Florida Apprenticeship is a promising model of rewarding and advancing high-performing, entry-level and incumbent employees, including students currently enrolled in related training programs, incumbent workers looking to advance their careers, veterans with related experience, pre-apprentices, unemployed workers and minorities.

The project will also explore articulating apprenticeships as a bridge from associate to bachelor’s degrees. The Department of Labor selected 46 partnerships to receive grant funding, with awards ranging from $2 million to $5 million.

About FSCJ
Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ) is a public, nonprofit higher education institution that offers more than 150 degree and certificate programs to meet the education and training needs of more than 57,000 students per year.

Here is the September edition of the FLATE Focus, a publication of FLATE—Florida Advanced Technological Education Center—a National Science Foundation Center of Excellence in manufacturing, supporting high-tech manufacturing/manufacturing-related careers and technical education in Florida.

If you have any questions, comments, and/or suggestions, please email us at news@fl-ate.org, or sound off across our social networking platforms on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter @Made_InFlorida using the official hastag of the month: #MFGday15

In pdf form:  FLATE Focus-september2015.pdf

Friday, October 2 is Manufacturing Day, not only around Florida but around the Nation. Middle and High School students will tour manufacturing facilities during the month of October to learn what careers are possible in manufacturing and to see what is actually made locally.  If your plant or facility would like to participate, please email becky@bama-fl.org to find out more!