Lawmaker: Lee Act ‘Colossal Failure’

RALEIGH — A new report on the William S. Lee Act shows that 96 percent of the jobs associated with the act would have been created anyway – without the incentives authorized by the legislation. The report, released Thursday by the North Carolina Department of Commerce, was prepared by Michael I. Luger, director of the Office of Economic Development for the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at UNC-Chapel Hill. The report was prepared for the N.C. Department of Commerce in response to legislation in 1996 requiring a biennial assessment of the program.