Today, Rep. Pete Aguilar (CA-31) introduced his latest bill, the Small Business Jobs Act of 2015, which gives small businesses looking to expand their workforce a tax credit equal to what they pay in payroll taxes for the first five new job openings their business generates. This tax credit is targeted to small businesses expanding in areas with consistently high unemployment rates.

“Since taking office, my priority has been to create and support policies that improve our economy and strengthen San Bernardino’s middle class. A few weeks ago I introduced a workforce training bill—which has received bipartisan support—and today I’m proud to introduce my newest piece of legislation that will empower small businesses to expand and will help lower our unemployment rate,” said Rep. Aguilar. He added, “It’s time to get the Inland Empire economy back on the road to recovery and put our residents back to work—this bill will help us do just that.”

Rep. Aguilar’s bill specifically targets businesses in areas with an average annual unemployment rate of at least one percentage point above the national average for the previous calendar year. This includes San Bernardino County, which had an average annual unemployment rate of 8.1 percent in 2014 compared to the national average of 6.2 percent. Empowering small businesses to expand their workforce and curbing the unemployment rate were priorities included in Rep. Aguilar’s Jobs Plan, which can be read here. This is Rep. Aguilar’s second job creation bill in two months. In May he introduced the On-the-Job Training Tax Credit Act of 2015, which has since received bipartisan support. The text of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2015 can be read here.