By Ed Somers
March 22, 2010

In a national press conference call on March 10, Conference of Mayors President Burnsville (MN) Mayor Elizabeth B. Kautz joined with House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (CA) to unveil major legislation that would, for the first time in decades, provide cities and counties with flexible and direct fiscal assistance focused on saving and creating jobs.

Over the past several months, the Conference of Mayors has been working with Miller and his top team on the details of the "Local Jobs for America Act (LJAA)" numbered H.R. 4812. This has been a collaborative process, and major improvements have been made based on the discussions - including now allowing up to 50 percent of the funds to be used for job retention.

Commenting on the bill, Miller said in the press call, "This is a bill for Main Street, not Wall Street."

The Conference of Mayors Executive Committee voted on February 17 to endorse this legislation. The Conference of Mayors 2010 Metro Agenda for America calls for Targeted Fiscal Relief for Cities as priority number one under Jobs. The LJAA bill is the first major proposal to provide cities, not just states, with direct and flexible fiscal assistance focused on job retention and creation.

"Mayors are holding the nation together by making impossible decisions everyday, and we have made cuts to the point where only bone is left. These unemployment rates will continue to plague our cities for years to come if we don’t act now," Kautz said, citing economic forecasts by Global Insight that show by 2011, over 100 metropolitan areas will still have an unemployment rate higher than ten percent.

Kautz, along with Conference of Mayors Vice President Los Angeles Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa and other Conference of Mayors leaders met with Miller during the recent Winter Leadership Meeting, and committed to helping get this bill through Congress and onto the President’s desk quickly.

U.S. Representative Keith Ellision (MN), U.S. Representative Phil Hare (IL) and National League of Cities President Riverside (CA) Mayor Ronald O. Loveridge also participated in the conference call to announce LJAA.