Common Sense, Not Rain, Needed to Solve California’s Water Crisis

Before raising our glasses to toast this winter’s abundant El Niño rainfall, here’s a sobering thought: Because of deliberate efforts to protect fish by limiting water storage, about half the rain falling on California will wash into the ocean, instead of being stored for the dry, hot summer to come. As for the water now […]

Proposed Labor Bill could Backfire on Safety, Costs and Jobs

California’s manufacturers place a high premium on a skilled workforce that produces world-class products while protecting their safety and the safety of their neighbors in the surrounding community.  So we are understandably alarmed by legislation that would not only put that safety at risk, but create an unprecedented mandate that would fundamentally alter the ability […]

Gov. Signs Bills to Help Manufacturing

By signing SB 90 and AB 93, Gov. Brown put California back in the mix for the country’s next round of long-term manufacturing investments.  The Governor has been looking for ways to make California a manufacturing leader once again.  This is a big move toward that goal. This legislation will grow high wage jobs in California.  We […]

Keep the ‘Affordable Care Act’ Affordable

California manufacturers are among the best friends the state’s economy can have.  The sector pays an annual average of $74,000 in wages and traditionally is one of the best providers of health insurance for employees. You would think, then, that everyone on Team California would be pulling for this vital sector to remain healthy and growing.  After all, over the last two years, […]

May Revise a Plus for Manufacturing

We congratulate Gov. Jerry Brown on a proposed balanced budget that will help California provide important government services. We appreciate that the Governor proposes the addition of a statewide sales tax exemption on the purchase of manufacturing equipment.  This will make California a more competitive place to scale up production.

‘Made in California’ Plastic Bags Mean California Jobs

It’s more important than ever that our leaders find ways to help California’s manufacturers grow and compete for our state’s fair share of the nation’s manufacturing renaissance.  What we most certainly do not need at this point are more obstacles and barriers to manufacturing job growth. And yet, those keep coming.  Consider one current legislative proposal – a bill to ban plastic […]

Manufacturing Job Creation is a State Issue

A few days ago, Governor Brown made the surprising statement that our state’s massive loss of manufacturing jobs is not a unique California problem because we have “lost manufacturing at about the same rate as the rest of America.” While it is true that both the US and California have suffered manufacturing job losses, California’s industrial job loss rate was […]

Texas Trip Confirms: California Needs a Plan to Create Jobs

California has an unemployment rate of 12 percent, lost 11,600 jobs
last month and has no plan for creating jobs for the more than two
million California workers who are looking for work.  Texas has an
unemployment rate of 8.1 percent, created 37,200 jobs last month and
has an aggressive plan for investment and job creation. 

Last week provided an eye-opening look at some of the important
differences between California and Texas for a delegation of
California legislators, Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom and business
association leaders who traveled to Austin, Texas on an economic
development fact finding mission.

The mission was conceived by Assemblyman Dan Logue who arranged for
ten legislators to spend two days in Austin talking to California
companies who had recently moved or expanded operations in Texas. 
The group also met with Governor Rick Perry, officials from his
administration and members of the Texas Legislature.

Manufacturers ‘fact-check’ Boxer’s commitment to manufacturing jobs

Barbara Boxer decried the loss of manufacturing jobs to other states and other countries, but the exodus of American manufacturing jobs has much to do with her job-killing policies that have made it harder and more costly for manufacturers to operate in the United States.

Boxer voted for more than $1 trillion in higher taxes, she voted for a health care bill that actually jeopardizes the benefits manufacturers offer our employees and she championed a cap-and-trade bill that threatened to kill 850,000 jobs in just five years. Boxer also voted against the free trade agreements that would have helped open up new markets for our country’s manufacturing companies. Barbara Boxer’s newfound interest in fighting for manufacturers is the epitome of election-year pandering, and California manufacturers simply won’t stand for it.

Prop 23: Voters Must Not Leave State’s Economy To Chance

Prop 23 = temporarily postponing AB 32 until economy improves
Meg Whitman = one-year delay of AB 32
Jerry Brown = Immediate AB 32 implementation and increased costs

Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman agrees that AB 32 will be a job
killer and hopes that as Governor she would be able to delay it until
it can be fixed. But to make sure AB 32 is delayed, voters must support
Prop 23. We can’t leave this to chance.

California’s economy already looks like this: