By a vote of 68-29, the Senate passed a $17.6 billion jobs bill, HR 2847, on March 17, 2010, and the President signed it on March 18th. The bill provides payroll tax exemptions to small businesses for hiring new, formerly unemployed, workers, according to the California Institute for Federal Policy Research. It also includes a $1,000 tax credit for small businesses that keep those new workers on their payrolls for at least a year. The bill also broadens expensing provisions for small businesses, extends the Build America Bonds program, and includes an extension of the Highway Trust Fund. California is expected to receive about $278 million of the $932 million transportation funding made available under the bill.
The Senate originally passed the bill, 70-28, on Feb. 24, waiving the Pay-Go rules. But when the House passed the bill on March 4, 2010, by a vote of 217-201, it made changes to comply with Pay-Go and offset the cost of the bill, necessitating the second Senate vote, according to the California Institute for Federal Policy Research.