By now you have heard about green-collar or "sustainable" jobs and the potential they hold for our state. Tennessee faces a 9.6% jobless rate while urban and rural areas face even more dire economic distress.
The Tennessee High Growth Sustainable Jobs Act or SB 1177 Berke/HB 1533 Stewart establishes partnerships and programs funded by competitive grants that will train people and develop their skills, as well as employ them.
Will you speak up for sustainable jobs in our state? Currently, there are NO co-sponsors in the Senate, with Representative Brenda Gilmore of Nashville co-sponsoring in the House. Please ask your Representative and Senator to not only vote in support of this bill once it is on the calendar, but to CO-SPONSOR it. Toward this end, we are planning visits in Nashville tentatively for Wednesday, April 6. Can you join us? RSVP to Cassie Watters at cassie@socm.org.
If you can come to Nashville, please let us know when. If not, please email or call your Representative and Senator ideally before April 6 using the draft text below. Thank you for all you do - your voices should not be ignored on this important issue! Please take action and ask your Representative and Senator to CO-SPONSOR SB 1177/HB 1533.
Expansion in the number of jobs in this sector could serve several purposes important to Tennessee's workforce: reducing the unemployment rate; reducing manufacturing job losses and employing dislocated workers; increasing income growth; encouraging students and workers to complete high school and college training at higher rates; and providing more direct employment paths for women and minority workers into better jobs.
Programs such as the Solar Photovoltaic Certificate Program at Tennessee Technology Center in Pulaski (where SOCM members visited in 2010) and the Green Tech Program at TTC-Hohenwald would be assessed, and could be enhanced and expanded to other areas. As for renewable energy, this bill will establish a credit of 100% of the sales and use tax paid on a solar energy system.
Review these Resources:
Reach out to your Senators and Representatives to ask that they vote YES for the Tennessee High Growth Sustainable Jobs Act or SB 1177 Berke/HB 1533 Stewart
Look up your Representative and Senator by filling in your address at http://www.capitol.tn.gov/.
SOCM has met with Representatives and Senators on the Senate Tax Sub Committee of Finance, Ways, & Means, and the House General Subcommittee of Finance, where this bills reside, along with those who represent districts heavy with SOCM members. These bills have not yet been put on the calendar - but will with your help to gain co-sponsors!
A mock letter is provided below:
Dear Representative/Senator (fill in their title and name):
My name is _____ and I reside in _____ (fill in town/city/county). I am outraged by the 9.6% unemployment rate in our state. (Insert a personal story here that illustrates why you care about this issue - you are out of a job, your job went overseas, a loved one is out of work, you or a loved one enrolled in a training program that has put you back to work, you see the need for energy efficiency and renewable energy, you believe these jobs will help drive demand for renewable energy, etc.). Supporting sustainable industries by passing the Tennessee High Growth Sustainable Jobs Act (SB 1177 Berke/HB 1533 Stewart) will drive workforce development, job creation, and thus revenue, while relieving many of the need to depend on expenditures by the state for entitlement programs. Manufacturing jobs have left our state, and this bill will explore how to create new ones in the sustainability industry. It will foster entrepreneurship by offering competitive grants for economic development projects in the new energy economy that help stimulate job creation - causing fewer of our young and old to have to leave the state for gainful employment.
I ask you to please co-sponsor SB 1177 or HB 1533 and vote in support of this important measure when it comes to the floor.
Thank you for your time. Have a pleasant day.
Sincerely,
(Your Name)
(Contact information if you like)
Thank you for working to promote sustainable jobs growth in Tennessee!
Sincerely,
Your SOCM Team 
