SACRAMENTO - Assemblyman Jose Solorio congratulated Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido and other city officials after Governor Schwarzenegger announced that the City of Santa Ana made the list of renewed California Enterprise Zones.

"This is great news for local businesses that want to create new jobs and expand," says Assemblyman Solorio, a former Santa Ana City Council member and long-time advocate for the California Enterprise Zone designation. "And what an affirmation of a job well done to the Santa Ana Enterprise Zone administrators. Their hard work and great results set a model for future zones."

Click to view a larger image of the Santa Ana Enterprise Zone's new boundaries.

Assemblyman Solorio lobbied Governor Schwarzenegger’s office to renew Santa Ana’s enterprise zone designation. The mayor, several council members and Townsend Public Affairs, an intergovernmental advocacy firm serving the city, joined the effort.

"The renewal makes sense. From 1990 to 2000, Santa Ana Enterprise Zone statistics show an actual reduction in the unemployment rate in our community while the overall state unemployment rate increased," Solorio says. "The zone has tremendous participation from employers and we need to keep it going to maintain a strong local economy."

The California Enterprise Zone program attempts to jump start economically distressed areas by offering inside-the-zone businesses incentives to hire low-income and disadvantaged local residents who face barriers to employment. Companies can earn $37,440 or more in state tax credits for each qualified employee hired. Sales tax credits on equipment investments, up-front expensing of certain depreciable property and preference in landing state contracts are other enterprise zone advantages.

"Enterprise zones play a key role in revitalizing economically challenged parts of our state," said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a press release announcing the zone renewal.

The new Santa Ana Enterprise Zone extends the existing zone boundaries by almost 48 percent - from 11 square miles to 16.3 square miles - and encompasses more than 10,000 acres. Potentially, 9,897 commercial businesses and 1,471 industrial businesses will benefit from the new boundaries. The Enterprise Zone designation will become official after the city signs an agreement with the state, sets performance benchmarks and satisfies other conditions.

State Assemblyman Jose Solorio is the Chair of the Assembly Public Safety Committee and also serves on the Assembly Education, Transportation, and Appropriations Committees. He represents the Sixty-Ninth Assembly District, which includes the cities of Anaheim, Garden Grove, and Santa Ana. For more information about Assemblyman Solorio, visit www.assembly.ca.gov/solorio