March 5, 2012

Dear Representative: On behalf of more than 92,000 Americans for Prosperity-Florida activists, we urge you to oppose H.B. 7117, when it comes to the floor for a vote today. This vote will be recorded in our 2012 session legislative scorecard. H.B. 7117, sponsored by Representative Scott Plakon, is a prime example of government picking winners and losers. The bill establishes $80 million in tax credits, over the next five years, with the goal of encouraging renewable energy projects. Targeted tax credits, like those in H.B. 7117, subsidize one politically popular industry while attempting to circumvent the free-market and consumer choice. The vast taxpayer-funded subsidies that have been pursued at the state and federal level have done little to benefit the American economy and theres been little change to our reliance on traditional fuels. In fact, a 2008 U.S. Energy Information Administration report showed that while federal government spending on energy subsidies doubled from FY1999 to FY2007, total domestic production remained unchanged and prices increased by more than 80 percent over that period of time. Competition drives innovation, not government intervention and central planning. New energy solutions will emerge by offering consumers a greater value at a lower price, not by winning handouts from lawmakers. This type of big government incentivizing has proven time and again that it doesnt work. Subsidizing renewable energy production will only further distort the market and preclude new technologies from becoming competitive in the energy sector. Again, we urge you to oppose H.B. 7117 when it comes to a vote. Sincerely,

Slade OBrien State Director Americans for Prosperity - Florida

Abigail MacIver Director of Policy Americans for Prosperity - Florida