Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) hosted at a press conference on Tuesday to unveil their bipartisan bill to support job creation — the American Growth, Recovery, Empowerment and Entrepreneurship (AGREE) Act. The AGREE Act stems from areas of common agreement between the President’s jobs plan, recommendations from the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, and plans put forward by both parties in Congress.
If enacted, the AGREE Act would do the following:
- Extend 100 percent bonus depreciation through 2012 for the full cost of qualified investments such as equipment and property.
- Extend Section 179 expensing levels for small businesses through 2012.
- Eliminate taxes on certain small business stock through 2012.
- Extend the Research & Development tax credit until 2013, increase the Alternative Simplified Credit (ASC) from 14 percent to 20 percent, and makes the ASC permanent.
- Provide veterans with a tax credit equal to 25% of the fee associated with starting a franchise up to $100,000.
- Provide a five-year exemption from Section 404(b) of Sarbanes-Oxley for the first five years of a company going public, or for those below $250 million in total gross revenue (whichever comes first).
- Eliminate the per-country numerical limitation for employment-based immigrant visas and adjusts the limitations on family based visa petitions from 7% per country to 15%.
- Protect intellectual property by clarifying the Trade Secrets Act, and making it explicitly clear that it is not a crime for federal officials, in the performance of their duties, to share information about suspected infringing products with the right holder of a trademarked good.
Delawareans are encouraged to click here to review the bill and share their opinions.
Click here to download a more thorough summary of the bill.