Lawmakers look for ideas to jump-start job growth

Minnesota lawmakers are looking for ideas on how to grow new jobs and turn around the state's unemployment rate.

Members of a bipartisan House Jobs Task Force are holding a daylong meeting Friday to begin a discussion that will result in legislation for the 2010 session. The group will focus primarily on economic development, capital investments and tax policies. House Majority Leader Tony Sertich, DFL-Chisolm says the task force is open to all ideas.

"We're hopeful that some initiatives will be produced within this that will grow our economy, that will unfreeze our markets, that will move Minnesota forward with job creation," Sertich says. "It's too soon to say what those ideas will be right now, but certainly we'll have a significant amount of the Legislature involved in this task force, which will bring them up to speed so we can hit the ground running on the first day of session."

The jobs task force has additional meetings scheduled in October and November. The 2010 legislative session begins February 4th.