|
Digital News Report – Good morning and welcome to Quallion. We’re very happy to see everyone here. We just had a terrific tour. I’m Vickie Bradshaw, I’m the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development for the state of California. I’d like to introduce first some of the people that are going to speaking to you today in addition to the Governor; Paul Beach is here, Alan Niedzwiecki, Senator Strickland, Senator Padilla, Bill Allen and Assemblymember Fuentes.
I want to take just a second to explain a couple of things about why we are so committed to the green economy and clean technology. I think most of you understand that California is number one in the green economy. We have the largest number of employers, with over 10,000. We have more employees in the green economy than any other state in the union. We have more patents in California than any other state in the union. And California attracts more than 60 percent, or just about 60 percent of the venture capital in all of green economy coming to California, $3.4 billion in the last several years.
That makes California really the natural successor in clean tech to the high tech and biotech industries. And we all know what economic engines those have been for California but clean tech actually has a lot of advantages that those two major industry-economic engines, didn’t have. Rather than being just regionally located in certain regions of California, the clean-tech industry sector is statewide. There isn’t a community, a city or region that can’t leverage its natural environment to take advantage of the green economy, whether it’s in solar or wind or geothermal or biofuels. Whatever it is, every California community can be a winner in the green economy with its thousands of jobs that are going to be in our future.
In addition to that, the clean-tech sector spans the entire job ladder. It isn’t just centered at the top of the ladder, it’s at all the rungs of the ladder and there are ways to come in and out of this industry sector that make it an opportunity for every single Californian looking for a job and looking for a future, whether it be in solar installation, battery manufacturing or looking to do research in biofuels, trying to make diesel out of algae.
But even more importantly for California, especially right now when we’re trying to recover from one of the worst recessions, the worst national recessions, certainly, that we’ve seen in decades, is the fact that green jobs grow faster than any other jobs. If you look at from 1995 to 2008, green jobs grew at 36 percent when the rest of the jobs only grew 13 percent. And 13 percent wasn’t bad but 36 percent is terrific. And if you look at the last years that we have numbers for, 2007 and 2008, after the recession already started, green jobs continued to grow at 5 percent when the overall jobs declined at 1 percent.
So there is a huge economic future for California in the green economy. We are committed to it and that’s why the Governor is here to talk about the initiative in terms of exempting sales tax for clean tech manufacturing.
And on that happy note, I would like to introduce the man that I’ve worked with for the last six and a half years. I actually think I’m the longest serving appointee, having started with him four days after he announced as Governor. And I have to tell you, every day is more exciting than the day before. I’m proud and honored to work for and introduce Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Applause)
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
Well, thank you very much. I right off the top want to say thank you very much to Secretary Bradshaw and to Paul Beach and Alan Niedzwiecki for taking us around here at this plant and showing us around, it was really terrific. And it is great when you see these kind of — the latest of latest technology being developed right here in California.
Quallion is one of the leading battery manufacturers in the nation, there’s no two ways about, probably leaders in the world. They service military jets and a variety of electronics and they even make batteries for medical devices and I saw a lot of this stuff in there and it was really interesting. In each station I went to they tried to explain to me what they were doing. I didn’t understand a word they were saying. (Laughter) But it all sounded really good and interesting but, I mean, I can tell you, there are some extraordinary brains in this factory here.
But a big part of the business is green technology. This is what is so great about it and why I wanted to come out here today. For example, they produce anti-idling batteries for big rigs that save thousands of tons of diesel emissions. And this is where the new technology goes, because so many times people have not turned off their engine and let the engines idle, so that they have air conditioning or that they have the heater running. Well, with this technology now you can turn off the engine and that, of course, will save a tremendous amount of, like I said, tons, millions of tons of soot and diesel emissions and greenhouse gas emissions and so on.
I like to always say that what is good for the economy is good for the environment also and think that this facility here and this technology here is a perfect example of that. This facility here employs 150 people right now and because they are so successful and because their technology is so futuristic and so advanced they, of course, are wanting to expand now. And they want to expand and hire 250 more people, they want to build a whole manufacturing plant here.
And, of course, for us the question is, where do we want those jobs to go? Do we want them to expand in Florida or in Texas or in Arizona, or here in California and help California families, help California workers? And that’s why in my State of the State Address I announced the Job Initiative to help make it easier for businesses like this to grow and to expand and to create these kind of jobs.
One piece of my proposal is to exempt the purchase of green technology manufacturing equipment from the sales tax. Right now California is one of only three states in the United States that still is charging a manufacturing equipment sales tax, so it hurts our competitive edge. My proposal will help California attract and retain green business like Quallion. It will help us reclaim our manufacturing prowess if we make those changes. It will send a clear message to every CEO, to every entrepreneur and every innovator that if you invest in a clean future in California, then California will invest in you.
In addition to this green technology manufacturing incentive, my job proposal and initiative also has four other pieces, very important pieces that will help us create jobs:
A $500 million for hiring tax credit,
A measure to streamline the permitting of construction jobs. Not to circumvent the environmental studies, no, we do that but just to streamline the whole process,
An extension of the homebuyer’s tax credit for new homes and existing homes,
Tort reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits that hurt businesses or that really kill jobs and that really have a tremendous, devastating impact here in our California economy.
We estimate these reforms could help us create 100,000 new jobs. Now, I don’t have to tell you, jobs is not just someone getting a job but it is that someone will now be able to provide for their family, someone will feel productive and wanted and needed and so on. So there are a lot of things, why a job is very important for people.
I still have not heard, of course, since I have proposed my proposal, the job creation proposal and initiative, from the legislators. That’s very sad, because a month ago I proposed it at my State of the State Address and I haven’t heard a word yet — it’s now a month — as if there is no urgency at all when it comes to job creation. So this is why I urge the legislature to act once and for all and to help us create jobs.
Now, as you can see, there are legislators here today because they care. There are a few of those legislators, they think this is a very important issue. And I think it’s important always not to put everyone in the same pot but to single them out. Like for instance Senator Strickland is here, Senator Padilla is here, Assemblyman Fuentes is here. So those are legislators that are here and that will carry that message to Sacramento, that let’s sit down — they maybe have their own ideas, Democrats and Republicans, on how to create jobs — but let’s sit down together, let’s put those ideas together and let’s create jobs.
We cannot wait for March, we cannot wait for April to come and for June and May, June, July. We cannot wait for that. And we cannot wait for Washington to come up with another job creation proposal and we cannot wait for the world economy to come back. We have to create the action. California is the eighth largest economy in the world. We will be part of the G-8 Meeting, that’s how powerful we are. Right now we have a problem, we have a 12.4 percent unemployment rate. Let’s create the jobs, because our economy will not come back, our state revenues will not come back until the jobs come back.
So with that, I just want to say thank you very much for having us here and for letting us put the spotlight on this very, very important issue. And our next speaker now is Paul Beach. Please welcome Paul Beach. (Applause)
MR. BEACH:
Thank you, Governor, I really appreciate you taking the time today to come to the plant and have a tour and see a little bit about how batteries are made. We dragged him through the whole process, guys and he’s still here talking batteries, which is great.
I just want to also thank Secretary Bradshaw for helping to make this happen today and Senators Strickland, Padilla, for taking the time out of their busy day to come down to the plant and Assemblymember Fuentes, appreciate it.
I think the Governor’s message really resonates well with us here at Quallion. We understand what it takes to operate a successful business and things like this, the jobs creation bill, really have a direct impact on our business and what we do.
Ten years ago Mr. Alfred Mann and Hisashi Tsukamoto had a vision to create a lithium ion battery company here in Southern California. It was kind of unheard of at the time; the lithium ion batteries really were something that was technology resident in Japan. What they wanted to do was revolutionize the medical industry by offering a technology that offered an implantable battery that could last up to 25 years in the human body.
After about 18 months they had a plant up and running, they had four medical-grade batteries ready for implant and we were producing about 6,000 cells a month — in just 18 months. That technology today offers the country a $200 billion savings, if it could be fully implemented in cardiac devices, for example. That’s a huge amount of savings for a very small battery.
But the company’s vision didn’t stop there. They saw more that could be done with this technology and they started exploring new markets. And today we showed the Governor a battery that’s going to sit on top of the new Constellation rocket that’s going to take man back to the moon and ultimately to Mars. That battery is being built right here in this factory behind me.
We’re also developing power systems that are for the new satellite systems of the future. We’re putting batteries on unmanned Predator vehicles, we’re putting batteries on the C-17 and we have a technology that actually could fire the F-35 jet fighter, which is the new jet fighter for the U.S. military.
Today, based on this success, we’re the largest lithium ion cell maker in the United States. The growth has continued despite the economic crisis. We’ve actually added 68 people to the company just in this past year alone. As we plan to expand our business, the one place that really stands on the horizon as an obvious location, particularly here in California, is green technologies. Green technologies are everywhere and for batteries they play a central, key role in green technologies. Energy storage is a critical component. It’s in an HEV vehicle — you’ll have a battery. In an EEV vehicle you have a battery. Anti-idling — that technology alone, as the Governor mentioned, it can save 3 billion gallons of diesel a year that are idled away just in trucks sitting on the side of the road. A single battery can eliminate that problem.
Advanced smart-grid technologies — Southern Cal Edison, DWP — we’re starting to reach out and work with these companies on new technologies for community-based storage. We’ll all have large battery systems in our neighborhoods that allow us to have load leveling and reduced peak energy demand. All of these things help us save money, reduce our demand on foreign oil and at the same time, if we build it here in California, we’re able to create a green technology.
To meet this demand Quallion has undertaken about a five-year, $85 million plant expansion. And again, on the tour today, we saw some of that expansion in process. Interestingly, when we started this process I was personally asked on a number of occasions, a number of times, “Why would you ever want to do this in California? Why would you want to build a manufacturing site in California? You have red tape, you have environmental regulations, it’s just a terrible place to do business.”
And not to put too fine a point on it, I simply said, “Why not?” California is a great place to do business and it always has been. Back when John F. Kennedy said we’re going to put a man on the moon, California stepped up to the plate and today you see the results of that — the largest, most advanced aerospace industry in the world is right here in California. When the revolution for technology happened in the ’80s and ’90s, first with software and hardware and then the internet, again Silicon Valley became the robust engine driving that. And it wasn’t just users of this technology; we produced it here in California.
And the next revolution is the green revolution. It’s not going to be technology that we just buy from somewhere else and bring into our cars, we buy from somewhere else and put into our grids or buy from somewhere else and put into our trucks. We should be producing that technology right here. If we’re going to use our taxpaying dollars to buy these technologies we should also be benefitting by producing them and we feel very fervently about that.
And the Governor’s process, the Governor’s initiatives in this area in terms of helping companies like us with tax breaks, has a critical role in that because yes, it is — California is a hard place to do business sometimes. It has a high cost of living, so we have to pay more for our employees. But what that means is, if we have a tax break, we can reduce the burden on our production and that we can flow that through to our products and have a lower cost basis for our products, which allows us to be more competitive.
So, based on these initiatives, we don’t see government as an impediment, we see it as a partner. And when we saw that financial support from the government in connection with our pitch for ARA funding, the CEC stepped up and made us a provisional award for $9 million. When we sought support for other programs the city, our state and our federal representatives all stepped up to the plate. They’ve written letters for us, they’ve reached out, they’ve tried to help this company be as successful as it can be.
By offering this tax credit we will reduce our expansion costs by almost 10 percent. That’s a significant amount when you’re talking about $85 million. We see all this in California as a clear trend that doing business here, it makes a lot of sense. So indeed, why not California? Thank you very much. (Applause)
I’d like to now introduce Alan Niedzwiecki. (Applause)
MR. NIEDZWIECKI:
Thank you. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, it’s a pleasure to be here. What I’d like to talk about is the opportunity. The real opportunity of what we’re talking about here translates, as we all know, into jobs. But the magnitude of those jobs — I believe it could be 100,000, as the Governor stated. I think directs and indirects could be many, many more. If I take a look at two key areas, look at solar and the jobs that the solar industry will create, solar today — you know, if you look at Germany, Germany has very little sun and look at the sun that we have here in California. And in Germany they have a huge amount of solar, it’s probably the largest solar production in the world today. We can have that here in California, we can have that in a very short period of time.
As we go forward we look at solar for residential and commercial applications. Today you can get your solar system on your house for about 50 percent of the cost it was two or three years ago. That 50 percent is made up of state incentives and federal incentives. So solar is coming to California and can be a tremendous base for job creation. Some of these companies that are setting up solar factories here are creating literally thousands of jobs.
One of the other things that we’re seeing is electric rates are going up at a rate of about 6 percent per year, so this will become more and more important. So now is the time to grab these green technologies, these green manufacturing capabilities, the jobs that go with that. That will be a tremendous base for this state to grow on and today’s eighth largest economy in the world — we can be the sixth or the fifth largest economy just with the manpower we have here.
That opportunity alone, if I just look at Orange County where I’m from, that is a billion dollar opportunity over the next three or four years for solar. Some of these plants cost in excess of half a billion dollars to set up and literally take hundreds and hundreds of people to manufacture the products.
If I look at alternative fuels, we have natural gas vehicles. The company I work for produced 20,000 natural gas vehicles. But if you look at the ports in L.A. and Long Beach and other areas, the ports areas, that’s an area where we can use natural gas on these heavy-duty trucks and create, again, a large number of jobs and technology.
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and even electric vehicles — the tremendous work in the state that Quallion and other companies are doing with lithium ion battery technologies, the battery is a game changer in the United States. A battery technology that — could you imagine, if you had a battery technology that could be charged in just a few minutes, similar time to your car on gasoline but could take you 300, 400, 500 miles on a single charge? Again, that is a game changer for transportation. And those space technologies exist here in California. We need to grow and build upon them. And the same applies for batteries wide use in electric vehicles.
So as we electrify vehicles through batteries, how are we going to recharge these vehicles — plug-in hybrids, pure electric vehicles? We’re going to need green technologies, solar and then, further up, wind power for electrical generation.
So with that, I think that’s maybe just an insight into the market and how we can retain and grow and continue to build upon this. Thank you very much. (Applause)
The next speaker is Senator Strickland. (Applause)
SENATOR STRICKLAND:
It’s a pleasure to be here this afternoon and I want to thank Secretary Bradshaw and Governor Schwarzenegger for the invitation to be here. My name is Senator Tony Strickland. I support the Governor’s green tech jobs plan. And I don’t think this is a Democratic issue, it’s not a Republican issue; it’s a California issue.
I want to thank the Governor for his leadership, because these bills will help transition California to a more renewable, energy-efficient economy. And what does that mean? It’s not only good for the environment but it helps create jobs, something that California sorely needs. Not just the 12.3 percent unemployment that we have right now but the underemployment in California that’s hard to measure. What I mean by the underemployment is some people want to work 40 hours a week and they can maybe only work 20 hours a week. Some people are used to making $60,000, $70,000 a year and are taking any job that they possibly can. This will help those hardworking California citizens provide for their families. And this is good for the environment and also it’s good to be energy efficient and not send money to foreign countries that don’t like us. It’s a public safety issue as well. So we can be energy independent, good for the environment, good for jobs.
And with that, I’m proud to say I’m going to fight every step I can on the Senate Floor as well as walk over — my wife is on the Assembly Floor, along with Felipe Fuentes. We’ll make sure we get this through the legislature, because this package is so essential to California’s future.
A lot of times people ask me why do I do this, why am I involved? And I have two kids. My little girl’s name is Ruby and my boy, we call him “Tiny Tony,” he’s two years old. I grew up here in California, I grew up in the Ventura County area and I want my children to grow up in the California I grew up in. California is worth fighting for.
And with that, it’s an honor for me to carry part of this package with Senator Padilla. We work very well together as Democrats and Republicans to help people across the state of California. And with that, the engineer of the Senate, Senator Alex Padilla. (Applause)
SENATOR PADILLA:
Thank you, Senator Strickland. I think I am the only engineer in the Senate. So I try not to take too much advantage of it but it tends to work for me and my constituents.
First of all, I want to welcome all of you and especially the Governor, not only here to Quallion and here to Sylmar but to my district, an area I’ve represented in one, shape or form since 1999.
But the big news for me is not just our announcement today but the fact that the Governor is here and it’s not to declare a state of emergency. (Laughter) We’ve seen plenty of the Governor the last couple of years because of the wildfires and, in all seriousness, our communities have been tremendously impacted by the wildfires. And I want to take this moment to say thank you to the Governor for his assistance in our recovery and response efforts, so let’s give the Governor a round of applause. (Applause) And I’d love, after the press conference, to talk to you about Oakridge Mobile Home Park and HCD.
But I want to start my comments today by sharing a little bit of a story — and it’s a recent story. You see, Assemblymember Fuentes and I and several dozen of our closest friends were knocking on doors this last Saturday — I won’t tell you why. The point is we were talking to constituents, we were talking to voters. Yes, it’s that time of year again, it’s reelection time. But, you know, it’s not a shock to anybody when I say that we heard from a lot of people that have concerns, they’re worried about the economy and the state of the nation, the state of our state.
But there was something that resonated with me door after door, after person after person and that was them freely offering to us that there’s too much fighting going on, there’s too much partisan bickering going on, both sides of the aisle and we need, they want their elected representatives to put those divisions aside and work together, work together to solve this state and this nation’s problems.
And so it was — you know, it kind of brought a smile to my face because, as the Governor mentioned, this idea of this tax credit is not new, he did make reference to it in his state of the State Address almost a month ago. Governor, I was having a beer with Michael Prozzo (Phonetic) that night.
So when the Governor’s Office reached out to say let’s work together on this proposal, it made all the sense in the world to me, because it doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or a Republican or if you live in Canoga Park or Northridge or North Hollywood or Sylmar, it just makes sense. And so here we are, working together, doing what matters and what’s good for the people of our community and for the state of California.
But let me take it a step further. Just this last Wednesday President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union Address, said that the nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy and America must be that nation. I agree, America must be that nation but California must be the state that leads the nation.
And the best way to lead is by incentivizing — incentivizing MetroLink to hurry it up here, by incentivizing the investments that create the jobs in the clean energy economy. And that’s what the bill that Senator Strickland and I are jointly authoring is all about. It’s SB 22 in this eighth extraordinary session, which is fancy talk for we’re going to try to get it done quickly. It would exempt manufacturers from paying the taxes that the Governor mentioned for the manufacturing equipment they need to expand, to grow, to create the jobs. Not just create jobs theoretically or somewhere out there but create the jobs in our community. And by the way, the bill is targeted to specifically incentivize the investments that produce quantifiable reductions in greenhouse gases, so it is good for the economy, it is good for job creation but it’s also good for the environment.
Secretary Bradshaw mentioned earlier that the state of California has been the leader in two recent innovation revolutions, the information technology sector and the biotech sector. Both of those revolutions, by the way, not only changed our lives fundamentally but created millions of jobs in the process. And I have faith that this green-tech innovation revolution will do the same and it will go a long way in securing our economy and securing our future.
But it’s not just going to happen by itself. We’re going to need to take the lead and lead by example to stop the partisan fighting and come together to do right by Californians. I’m proud to stand here at Quallion with the Governor and my colleagues in this effort.
And let me just end on this note. As I look around the audience today I’m proud of everybody who works here at Quallion for your genius but I also know that in the audience today are not just Quallion employees, you don’t just appear every morning out of nowhere. You’re from the community. It’s people who have families right here in and around the San Fernando Valley. And I’d like to come back in a year and see twice as many people and applaud the efforts that this company has led us towards.
Thank you very much for being with me. And I’d like to introduce the next speaker, someone who is no stranger to the San Fernando Valley and to all the economic ideas that power the region. Please welcome Bill Allen. (Applause)
MR. ALLEN:
Thank you, Senator Padilla. Good morning, everyone. I’d like to start by thanking my good friend Al Mann for hosting us today, along with his colleague Paul Beach and all for the Quallion employees here. Al Mann has been an extraordinary visionary in this state and in Los Angeles County for so many years, creating new visions for new technology, supporting those visions persistently to develop implantable insulin pumps, cochlear implants, pacemaker devices, extraordinary technologies that have created thousands of jobs in our communities and billions of dollars of economic value for our state and an improved quality of life for people all over the world. So Al Mann, thank you for your leadership and vision. (Applause)
I also want to thank Secretary Bradshaw and Governor Schwarzenegger for the invitation to be here this morning, because we share an optimism about the future of the California economy.
And I want to thank the Governor in particular for his leadership, unveiling his package of proposals to create more jobs and foster a more business friendly environment for our state. First and foremost, California needs jobs and the Governor well understands it is businesses that create those jobs. In today’s globally competitive economy where businesses can locate anywhere, California must be as welcoming as possible to businesses. The Governor’s package of proposals recognizes that we must establish and promote a business-friendly environment to attract, retain and grow businesses and the jobs and the tax revenue that they bring.
Specifically, this requires that we must not only strengthen our commitment to existing incentive programs in this state, such as our Enterprise Zone Program, which has brought so many jobs throughout the state, particularly to our underserved communities in recent years. But we must build on those incentives to create new tools, such as the Governor’s proposal to eliminate sales taxes on green tech manufacturing equipment as a way to encourage our businesses to locate here, stay here and grow here in California.
The Governor’s proposal also represents an extremely important step to ensure that environmental sustainability and economic opportunity are in fact compatible state goals here in California. By ensuring that the money and the know-how required to achieve fast-approaching environmental regulations also serves to capitalize and unleash the entrepreneurial power of our state’s private sector to develop innovative technologies. California will create thousands of new additional jobs. With real incentives like the Governor’s proposals we can encourage the attraction and growth of companies that will help us achieve these goals and generate new wealth and jobs throughout our state. Specifically, the Governor’s proposal to eliminate sales taxes on green technology manufacturing equipment would help facilitate the following five things:
Ensure that more of the money used to meet our environmental goals is kept within our state where it can facilitate the continued development of our nation’s clean-tech sector into a leading global export industry,
It can catalyze the state’s clean technology sector by providing sales tax relief and thus lower the cost of doing business in California for those green tech companies negatively impacted by the current economic situation worldwide and by the decreased capital financing available to them because of that economic situation,
It can also encourage the purchase of machinery and equipment by a diverse set of key job-generating manufacturing and installation projects throughout the state of California,
It can help California’s clean technology manufacturers remain competitive with out-of-state and foreign firms and thus serve as a valuable tool to retain and grow high value middle class manufacturing jobs for Californians,
And finally, it can help California achieve its renewable energy climate change and long-term emission reduction goals.
Here in Los Angeles County this proposal to exempt the purchase of green tech manufacturing equipment from sales tax is extremely important because it combines what we already are with what we aspire to be.
What we already are in Los Angeles County is the manufacturing capital of America, with nearly 400,000 manufacturing jobs here in the county, more than either the Chicago or Detroit Metro areas or any other part of the United States. This proposal, if enacted, would go a long way to preserving Los Angeles County’s nation leading manufacturing base.
What we aspire to be here in Los Angeles County is the clean-tech capital of the world. Already we are leveraging the clean-tech demand markets created by multi-billion dollar greening and modernization efforts of our two ports, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the first and second largest ports in North America. Also the Los Angeles International Airport, one of the busiest origin and destination airports in the world and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the largest municipally-owned power authority in the country.
The sales tax exemption, combined with the huge markets created by our major built-in assets, will go a long way to help Los Angeles County develop the world’s leading locally-driven but export-oriented green technology cluster. So we at the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation look forward to working with the Governor and with our honorable members of the State legislature here today, particularly Assemblymember Fuentes, State Senator Alex Padilla and State Senator Tony Strickland to ensure that the important economic development incentive programs such as proposed by the Governor in this targeted tax exemption, which helps facilitate economic growth and job creation, will continue to be considered, adopted and implemented in a way where they can create jobs, strengthen our state’s economy and improve our environment and quality of life. Thank you very much. (Applause)
It is now my pleasure to introduce Assemblymember Philip Fuentes, who Alex Padilla always reminds me is not the engineer in the state legislature but the MBA in the State legislature, chairing our Assembly’s Energy Committee. Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes. (Applause)
ASSEMBLYMEMBER FUENTES:
Thank you very much. (Applause) I’ll be brief; I know I’m last here, so I’ll be very brief. But I first wanted to thank the Governor and all of you for being here today. I had the shortest commute. I live here in Sylmar, less than three miles away from this very good facility. And I also want to thank, as Alex alluded to, the Governor for his leadership in time of crisis. The Governor has been out here to our districts when we needed him the most and now he’s here again when we need him just as importantly to make sure that we’re doing the best that we can to facilitate a strong economy.
This district, like many parts of Southern California, has really been ravaged by the vacation of capital. We used to enjoy a lot of manufacturing jobs in communities like this one largely, I think, because we have a workforce that is ready, willing and able to do the hard work that’s necessary to be productive. We used to have the General Motors plant, we used to have Price-Pfister and the list goes on and on.
But today we’re lucky to have the Governor and Quallion and a bunch of good incentives that are being proposed in order to move the economy forward. This exemption that we’re talking about is incredibly important and I, as chair of the Utilities and Commerce Committee, have seen similar measures and I’m very excited to see this one go through my committee as well. The even better news is that Senator Padilla chairs the Senate Energy Committee, so this measure will go before his committee. And so I know that we’re resolved, with our Republican colleagues, to work and make sure that the bill gets through the Appropriations Committee, which is where similar bills have stopped in the past.
But again, I think the message here that’s incredibly important to all of us is that this is about jobs, this is about making sure that we’re realizing not just the fruits of our labor and those of the firms that represent us but also making sure that we’re enjoying everything that everybody deserves, which is a good shake in the economy, an opportunity to provide for families, friends and to build strong communities like the ones that I’m proud to represent here in Sylmar. So thank you, Governor, thanks to all of you for being here today and let’s get to work. (Applause)
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
If there are any questions about any of this? I think that we have spoken enough (Laughter) about the importance of job creation. It is a very, very important issue. And I said in my State of the State Address that bringing the economy back and jobs, jobs, jobs, that should be our priority this year and it shouldn’t be — the legislature shouldn’t deal with anything else and the Governor’s Office shouldn’t be dealing with anything else. We should be sitting there day and night, 24 hours a day, until we hammer out his whole agreement of stimulating the economy and creating those jobs. That’s what the bottom line is, because it makes us all — we have talked about it many times — that it makes us sad when we see so many people not feel productive and not making money and not being able to provide for their family and all that kind of stuff. So let’s do it.
If you have any questions about that, you have all the experts here talking about all of this stuff. I guess not. Thank you very much, all of you and have a good day. Thank you. (Applause)