Politicians signing NDAs when giving subsidies to companies is a terrible idea

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BidenPresident

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In Michigan, the latest example involves General Motors, one of the state’s largest employers and a longtime beneficiary of government largesse. In January, the Michigan Economic Development Corp., which manages the state’s subsidy programs, awarded GM $600 million to build a battery factory.

This sum was made possible by the Michigan legislature’s December passage of more than $1 billion in subsidies for businesses. Yet if lawmakers wanted to know which companies would receive this money, they had to sign a nondisclosure agreement.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...nondisclosure-agreements-are-a-terrible-idea/
 
"Michigan’s experience is not unique, and in many cases, politicians sign NDAs directly with companies. Last March, in neighboring Indiana, the Fort Wayne City Council approved $16 million in tax breaks for an unnamed recipient. Only five of nine council members knew that the company was Amazon, because everyone involved in the deal, including the mayor, had signed NDAs at Amazon’s insistence. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Post.)"
 
How Amazon, Google and Other Companies Exploit NDAs (June 29, 2021)

In March, when the City Council of Fort Wayne, Ind., voted 7 to 2 to approve $16 million in tax breaks for a corporation to open a distribution center in the city, it was something of a shot in the dark: Four of the Council members — including two who voted in favor of the deal — didn’t know which corporation they were considering.

How was it possible that public officials lacked such crucial information? Alarmingly, as a condition of its negotiations with the city, the company had required city officials who knew its identity (including the mayor) to sign nondisclosure agreements that kept them from sharing its identity before a deal was reached.

The company turned out to be Amazon.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/29/opinion/nda-amazon-google-facebook.html
 
Michigan bills aim to stop NDAs in private-public deals

(The Center Square) – A bipartisan group of Michigan lawmakers aim to reform the state’s use of nondisclosure agreements (NDA) in private-public deals that have silenced top lawmakers and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer from detailing specifics of billion-dollar deals.

House Bills 5866 and 5867 seek to define “economic development project” as any statewide project subject to tax incentives. The bills aim to prohibit local governments, negotiators, and state agencies from entering into an NDA concerning economic development.

https://www.news-journal.com/michig...cle_5590eb87-b292-5d63-9957-080334f1d4ad.html
 
BidenPresident said:
(The Center Square) – A bipartisan group of Michigan lawmakers aim to reform the state’s use of nondisclosure agreements (NDA) in private-public deals that have silenced top lawmakers and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer from detailing specifics of billion-dollar deals.

House Bills 5866 and 5867 seek to define “economic development project” as any statewide project subject to tax incentives. The bills aim to prohibit local governments, negotiators, and state agencies from entering into an NDA concerning economic development.

https://www.news-journal.com/michig...cle_5590eb87-b292-5d63-9957-080334f1d4ad.html
Click to expand...
I won't hold my breath
 
NDA's are corrupt and outrageous

In 2020, Amazon received more than $100 million in tax breaks from University Park to build a distribution center. In addition to the money, Amazon wanted a promise that University Park’s village trustees wouldn’t disclose Amazon’s identity until the deal was done and dusted, preventing the community from providing input on a massive local economic development deal until the outcome was a foregone conclusion. The village’s trustees granted that request, withholding Amazon’s name.

If that sounds corrupt and outrageous, well, it is.

But it’s also extremely common: In Illinois and across the country, major corporations demand that local officials — be they mayors, city council members or even governors — sign nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs, when negotiating economic development deals. These agreements preclude officials from divulging a host of relevant details, including, as in the University Park deal, the identity of the corporation that is in line to receive subsidies from the public.


https://www.chicagotribune.com/opin...0220210-co5zadctejbizb5v5j75gc7ixm-story.html
 
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