Legislators in the House of Representatives passed the final bill in a series of job creation bills on Thursday.

“This vote today was critical.”

So critical that Governor Robert Bentley showed up to see that it passed.

“For the legislators that had committed to me that they would vote for this to allow people to vote for it, I wanted them to see me here and then they would probably vote for it,” said Bentley.

What they voted for was a proposed constitutional amendment that would authorize an incentives program to help recruit new companies to Alabama.

“This is a watermark day for the state of Alabama.”

Representative Barry Mask sponsored the legislation that will give the governor and the Alabama Development Office more flexibility in offering tax incentives to companies looking to locate here, without having to call a special session.

Senator Phil Williams is sponsoring it in the senate.

“This was grinding it out, there was blood on the floor, and there were certain interests in the state that absolutely opposed this bill,” said Williams.

They opposed it because of how it is funded. Opponents say it will take money earmarked for education.

But Speaker Mike Hubbard says this bill, like a majority of the other job creation bills passed this week, garnered support from both sides of the aisle, including house minority leader Craig Ford.

“We've never not passed an incentive package for Hyundai, Honda, or Mercedes so I mean, the legislature is friendly as a whole, bipartisan to creating jobs in Alabama. And so are the democrats,” explained Ford.

Democrat or republican - if this passes the senate, it'll be up to the people to decide in November.

In addition to this bill, representatives passed a bill that would provide a special tax incentive for Alabama to recruit aircraft manufactures. They passed another bill that would help the state land coal mining companies, another that would help the state recruit data processing centers and the bill called ‘Heroes for Hire’ which gives state businesses a $2,000 credit for hiring veterans recently home from war.

Tuesday, the House passed corresponding legislation to Rep. Mask’s bill that sets strict parameters for how these incentives can be used.