Gino DiCaro: 800,000 Californians Signal They Want Welcome Mat for Manufacturers
http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/050610_gino_dicaro/
By Gino DiCaro
California Jobs Initiative aims to put the state's economy first
The campaign to suspend AB 32’s global-warming regulations until California’s economy and unemployment recovers submitted double the signatures needed this week to qualify the “California Jobs Initiative” for the November ballot.
The initiative got more than 800,000 signatures, far above the 433,971 needed. Californians understand that implementing AB 32 at the right time in the right way is not an anti-environment position. It’s a path to improve our economy first through job growth — with high wage and “green” manufacturing jobs at the center of that recovery — and a way to see if the rest of the country will follow with their own global warming mandates. The announcement Monday makes clear that California voters don’t want to go it alone on costly greenhouse gas mandates.
California is losing key manufacturing jobs already — down 34 percent since 2001 — and the state would continue its precipitous decline if AB 32 is implemented now in a manner that is not cost-effective, technologically feasible or competitive with the rest of the country.
One only needs to compare the new and expanded manufacturing facilities in California in 2000 and in 2009 to understand that industrial investments are already way down. In 2000, California had one of every 16 new or expanded manufacturing facilities in the country. In 2009, the state had one of every 40 — a 60 percent decline in California’s portion of the country’s manufacturing growth. We must turn this around in 2010.
A growing manufacturing sector is the economic piece California needs most. AB 32’s implementation should come when our economy is flourishing and the rest of the country is on board.
— Gino DiCaro is vice president of communications at the California Manufacturers & Technology Association and writes the CMTA’s MPowered blog.
http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/050610_gino_dicaro/