Tiremaker Goodyear, which was at the center of Easley’s veto last month, and its archrival, Bridgestone Firestone, are both expected to queue up for the money.
Lawmakers are scheduled to reconvene today to debate and vote on the bill.
"We’re certainly trying to avert the confrontation" with Easley, said House Speaker Joe Hackney, a Chapel Hill Democrat.
Opponents of incentives criticized adding another $20 million to the $40 million package for Goodyear that Easley, a Democrat, had vetoed.
"Tomorrow morning every CEO in North Carolina is going to wake up and decide to hire lobbyists instead of engineers," said Rep. Paul Stam, of Wake County and House Republican leader. "Forget about selling tires. Hire lobbyists!"
Lawmakers convened Monday to consider trumping Easley’s veto last month of a grant package worth up to $40 million for Goodyear’s Fayetteville plant. Easley complained that the program didn’t sufficiently protect workers and ignored other manufacturers in equal need of help.
Legislative leaders responded that the money was crucial to keeping the Goodyear plant open in a community pummeled by job closings and deployments from Fort Bragg. The House and Senate appeared headed toward the first-ever override of a governor’s veto in North Carolina.
Unusual coalitions had formed on both sides of the veto. Conservative and liberal think tanks praised Easley, reflecting growing wariness of incentives months after the legislature negotiated a $200 million-plus package in state and local money for Internet search giant Google’s new Caldwell County site. Labor unions and legislative leaders, however, steered toward an override.
The close call with an override also reflected Easley’s historically distant relationship with the legislature, as well as his lame duck status as governor. His second term ends in 2009, and by law he cannot seek a third.
Throughout Monday afternoon and evening, the House and Senate repeatedly recessed so legislative leaders could huddle with administration officials, and with Goodyear and Bridgestone Firestone lobbyists, and veer from a collision between two branches of government.
In the end they forged a deal with administration officials that will provide money, though a smaller amount, for Goodyear, but also for Bridgestone Firestone’s plant in Wilson and potentially three other corporations.
"We’ve arrived at a framework" agreement, said Sen. Tony Rand, a Fayetteville Democrat who was pushing the veto override. "We’ll take care of Goodyear and Bridgestone Firestone."
Under the new program, Goodyear could get up to $2.5 million a year over a decade. Firestone’s smaller plant could get up to $2.2 million a year.
The state would provide the money as grants, but the funding would operate similar to a refund with the figures based on what the companies pay in worker training, state permitting fees, and sales tax on machinery and equipment, building materials, fuel and other expenses.
Canaan Huie, House finance counsel, cautioned the figures are estimates. Requirements in the bill include:
• The plant must employ at least 1,500 workers.
• If the company reduces its work force by up to 20%, its grant is reduced by an equal amount.
• If job cuts go deeper than 20%, the grant is cut off for that year.
• The jobs must pay 140% of the average wage in the county where the plant is located.
Former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, now a Republican candidate for governor, has filed a lawsuit challenging more than $200 million in incentives approved in 2004 for a Dell computer plant in Winston-Salem.
He said Monday’s compromise proves the fallacy of the arguments for incentives. The original $40 million for Goodyear couldn’t have been critical to the plant’s survival if they would now accept $25 million, he said.
The new program "takes a terrible piece of legislation and makes it worse," Orr said.
