RI gubernatorial candidate Caprio outlines jobs plan

Published June 9, 2010 at 5:49 p.m.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- State General Treasurer Frank Caprio, a Democratic candidate for governor, unveiled a job creation plan focused on small business at a news conference at the Promet shipyard on Allens Avenue Wednesday morning.

The plan calls for boosting the state's small business loan fund by $50 million and streamlining the loan application process, creating a new state office focused on small businesses, offering a new state tax credit to encourage small businesses to offer employees health insurance, and awarding more state government contracts to local companies.

It also calls for creating a new $1,000 tax credit for any company that recruits a business to the state and a new $10,000 credit if more than 20 jobs are created.

That $10,000 credit would be shared between the Rhode Island business and the newly recruited business.

Caprio said the plan -- the result of 100 small business forums he has hosted over the past six months -- would help advance his primary goal as governor: Cutting the state unemployment rate in half.

"We need to put the wind at the back of small business," he said. "If every small business in our state, on average, was able to create one new job, we could cut our unemployment rate in half and go from one of the highest in the country to one of the lowest."

The Caprio campaign billed the event as the 44-year-old Providence resident's "formal" announcement for governor even though Caprio confirmed that he intended to run for governor in November and has been aggressively fundraising and promoting his campaign platform since.

Caprio says the shipyard was a significant place for the announcement because it was the site of the former state pier where immigrants, including his ancestors, first arrived in America.

A dozen small business owners joined Caprio in the announcement and a forum afterward.

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