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Rep. Jeff Morris, serving the 40th District Serving San Juan, eastern and northwestern Skagit and southwestern Whatcom counties. |
October 29, 2009
Statement from Rep. Jeff Morris on Boeing’s 787
Announcement
We are disappointed with Boeing’s decision to locate additional manufacturing of the 787 away from the most skilled aerospace workforce in the world.
We must always be vigilant in protecting the jobs we currently have and to make sure we are in position to compete well for future competitions in aerospace manufacturing. In particular we must keep our eyes on the eventual 737 replacement.
We will continue to compete against other jurisdictions that want to be low bidders in worker skill and business costs. To this end, House Democrats led the effort last year to re-institute the four corner aerospace task force that landed the original 787 manufacturing line.
While it appears Boeing won’t add 787 jobs to the region, our state is still the world’s premier hub of the aerospace industry, with the most highly skilled workforce, innovative research facilities, and a long history of building the world’s best planes.
We are very much looking forward to competing for plane assembly in the future, including the Air Force tankers and future models of the 737. Boeing is certainly the flagship airplane manufacturer that’s shaped our region. But Boeing’s not alone. There are myriad other aerospace businesses in Washington that have been attracted to our region, making our state the hub when it comes to parts suppliers, crafts persons, importers, and exporters.
On our end, our state has collaborated with aerospace businesses, both big and small, to foster a new generation of highly skilled workers, invest in a state infrastructure that keeps our commerce moving, reduce the tax burden on their products, and streamline the permitting process along the way.
In 2003, the Legislature crafted an aerospace-jobs plan that tipped Boeing in favor of locating the 787 assembly in Washington.
Since then, the Legislature:
- Approved tax incentives ($3.2 billion over
20 years) lowering Boeing's cost of doing business if Boeing built the 787
Dreamliner here.
- Provided $1.6 million in 2006 to house the work-force-training program for the 787 and its suppliers.
- Allocated $1.2 million in 2007 to establish the Advanced Materials Science and Engineering Center at Western Washington University. This center integrates chemistry, physics and engineering into the production of materials used in industries such as aerospace, microelectronics and biotechnology.
- Invested billions of transportation dollars to help get people to work and goods to market.
- Lowered taxes on aerospace-parts manufacturers and amended our unemployment-insurance laws to help our aerospace industry maintain competitiveness.
- Enacted several other laws in response to aerospace-industry requests, ranging from uniform building codes to professional degree programs.
And with the creation of the Washington Council on Aerospace, Gov. Chris Gregoire and the Legislature are poised to ensure a long partnership with our state's aerospace industry.
Those efforts have helped us claim one of the highest business-friendly rankings of any state, as many publications, from U.S. News and World Report to Forbes, have reported. They also explain why economic experts believe Washington will help lead the U.S. out of the recession, with job growth expected here first. The state always has and will continue to make sure that industries such as aerospace and companies such as Boeing continue to remain competitive. We’ll continue working with Boeing, the 80,000 aerospace workers still working in our state, and with the entire business and labor community, to make that number grow as the economy regains its health.
Rep. Jeff Morris (D-Mount Vernon) is a member of the Legislature’s
Aerospace Task Force.
For a 6-year review of legislative actions regarding the aerospace industry: http://housedemocrats.wa.gov/Aerospace_Handout.pdf
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