Probst and Jacks tour SEH facilities,
plan 2010 work toward spurring economy

Legislators push silicon, solar and
other 21st-century industrial development

Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009

CLARK COUNTY – State Reps. Tim Probst and Jim Jacks aren’t waiting around for the calendar to tell them when it’s Monday, Jan. 11, 2010 – the opening day of the next legislative session. The two Clark County lawmakers intend to hit the ground running with an agenda full of economic-development ideas for next year’s Olympia schedule.
“Clark County’s unemployment rate is bumping up against 14 percent,” said Probst, D-Vancouver/17th Legislative District. “We can create jobs in the near term and build our high-tech base for the long term if we grow our local silicon and solar industry. We have a brief window of opportunity to become an exporter of renewable energy to the rest of the world, and we should grab this opportunity before it disappears.”
Probst and Jacks earlier this week toured the SEH America Inc. facilities in Vancouver, taking a first-hand look at the world’s largest silicon-wafer supplier. Silicon wafers represent the foundation for semiconductors and other electronic devices that will lead the computer, telecommunications, and solar-energy industries for decades to come. SEH employs 750 people in Clark County, and its average employee has been on the job for 14 years.
Jacks, D-Vancouver/49th Legislative District, noted that “our relatively high – and unacceptably high – unemployment rate makes it more important than ever that we focus on job-creation.
“Representative Probst and I want to hear directly from the very business and industrial people creating the jobs and careers for which our citizens are searching,” Jacks added. “SEH, as a big part of the largest producer of semiconductor silicon in the world [Shin-Etsu Handotai, Ltd.] is an absolutely crucial business to look at if you want to understand what this new century is going to be all about.”
“Vancouver needs to send a strong message to Olympia: We need to get back to our legislative work and pass key legislation to improve the business climate and build the most talented work force in the global economy,” Probst emphasized. “If we keep our eye on the ball, we’ll create jobs and continue constructing a very strong and durable regional economy.”
Probst and Jacks teamed up this past legislative session to pass a tax credit to bring manufacturing jobs in the solar industry to Clark County. But they aren’t satisfied with that first step. Their more ambitious bill, House Bill 2130, passed out of the House, unanimously, and then ultimately made it to within a hairsbreadth of reaching the governor’s desk.
The bill would be an even stronger incentive for renewable-energy companies to locate in Clark County, and throughout Washington state, to create secure high-tech manufacturing jobs for Washington residents. The renewable-manufacturing emphasis in the bill would provide a business-and-occupation tax credit for 50 percent of the capital funds that are invested in this type of new business-development.
“This jobs bill will allow Washington to get ahead of the curve and position us to become a renewable-energy exporter,” Probst said. “Clark County is primed to win these new businesses. We have to protect our low electricity costs and continue improving our work-force skills in order to compete with places like Japan, Germany, Malaysia and Oregon. And we’re missing one essential business-development tool right now – incentives to bring the jobs here – that is contained in the measure we’ll strive to advance in the 2010 session. We’re losing business to other states and nations. We need to be practical and bring these good jobs home to our town.”
Having cleared the House unanimously fairly early in the 2009 session, the bill passed through all of the Senate committees. But it didn’t make it to the Senate floor for a final vote before the session clock ran out at midnight on April 26.
However, the two first-year lawmakers did win full legislative and gubernatorial support this past session for the tax credits outlined in House Bill 1911. The intent of this bill is included in Senate legislation (Senate Bill 6170) that cleared every Olympia hurdle toward the very end of the 2009 legislative meeting. Probst said it’s especially helpful for a particular solar technology, thin film photovoltaics, “which Clark County wants to add to its economic base.”
Probst and Jacks worked with state Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver/49th Legislative District, to steer the successful legislation through the two legislative chambers.
“This bill will help bring several hundred good jobs for our citizens – just when they need it the most,” Probst said. “Craig Pridemore was a fantastic ally in this effort. Two House freshmen working with a powerful Senate veteran like Craig made it one of the bills people liked to watch. There was a lot of energy put into this, and we have momentum going into 2010.”
The incentive in the winning bill works by reducing the business-and-occupation tax rate for solar companies to 0.275 percent – giving the companies a sales-tax exemption when they purchase chemicals and gasses that are used in the manufacturing process.
“Tim and I – as well as Senator Pridemore and other members of our Southwest Washington legislative delegation – have formed a very solid alliance to push the growth of quality, resilient 21st-century business and industry,” Jacks said.
Jacks has also embarked on a “50 Businesses in 50 Business Days” mission to get to know the regional business community firsthand.
“I want to learn from business owners and their employees what the state of Washington is doing well – and I especially want to learn where they believe we can and must do better,” Jacks said. “There is simply no substitute for visiting a company and actually seeing, hearing, and feeling the things that businesspeople must tackle and overcome every single day.”
Professionally, Probst is CEO of the Washington Workforce Association – a statewide organization of business, labor, education, nonprofit and government leaders who work to help make sure Washington citizens are armed with tools they’ll need to step into 21st-century jobs and careers. A former citizen advocate for the City of Vancouver, Jacks currently works in business-development for the engineering, surveying and planning firm of MacKay & Sposito.

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