From June 20th through 23rd, the Conference of Mayors held its annual conference at the OMNI Dallas Hotel. The conference, which included plenary sessions, committee meetings, task force meetings, workshops and social events are open to all mayors and other officially-registered attendees. To see the meeting agenda, click here.
On July 21st, IIUSA hosted a reception for mayors and conference attendees on the rooftop of the NYLO Hotel, a newly constructed boutique hotel in the southside of Dallas that was built using EB-5 capital by the City of Dallas Regional Center (CDRC), and public-private partnership between IIUSA President’s Council member Civitas Capital Group and the City of Dallas. IIUSA member CapSpan, a New York-based financing, project sourcing, and investment management firm co-sponsored the reception that allowed IIUSA leaders to mingle with mayors from around the country, including Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings.
This engagement is part of IIUSA’s continued coalition building initiative with organizations that have a public mission that overlaps with IIUSA’s interests. Following a 2012 resolution in support of permanent authorization of the EB-5 Regional Center Program, in June 2013 the U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted a resolution in favor the EB-5 Program affirming, “The United States Conference of Mayors urges Congress to include a robust EB5 program in the immigration bill including additional visas, permanent authorization of the regional center program and streamlined approvals for all applications.” The section on EB-5 of the adopted resolutions document begins on page 69.
NACo Annual Conference & Exposition in New Orleans, LA
The National Association of Counties (NACo), which unanimously approved and adopted a resolution supporting IIUSA and the permanent authorization of the EB-5 Regional Center Program, will hold its annual conference from July 11-14 in New Orleans, Louisiana. IIUSA Association Committee Chairman Bob Honts and IIUSA Advocacy/Research Coordinator Ashley Casey will attend a meeting for the Community, Economic and Workforce Development Steering Committee. To see the meeting agenda click here.
In March, IIUSA Executive Director Peter D. Joseph presented to the Community, Economic Development and Work Force Steering Committee which unanimously approved a resolution supporting IIUSA’s EB-5 legislative initiatives. The resolution was subsequently adopted and approved on Monday, March 3, 2014 by the full NACo Board of Directors signify EB-5 as a formal part of NACo Legislative, Program and Policy agenda and sets for engagements uch as NACo represents over 3,500 Counties Nationwide and counts nearly 35,000 local elected officials among its membership.
On March 10th, NACo released all of their newly adopted policy resolutions on their webpage, including support for EB-5. In response to the issue “The EB-5 Regional Center Program (the “Program”) authorization expires on September 30, 2015, NACo supports federal legislation to permanently authorize the EB-5 Regional Center Program and to maximize its capacity for economic impact and job creation.”