Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger complained that the legislature felt “no urgency” to get behind his job creation program in California. Schwarzenegger made the statement at the Quallion Company in Sylmar yesterday promoting one of the five legs of his job creation program, exempting sales tax on green manufacturing. Quallion develops and manufactures customized lithium ion batteries.
The governor said California couldn’t wait for Washington to help with job creation or for the economy to fully recover. California has to make moves to increase jobs. He has proposed a training and hiring incentive program, streamlining regulations, extending the homebuyer credit and eliminating frivolous lawsuits against small businesses in addition to eliminating sales tax on green tech manufacturing equipment.
The same day that Dan Walters questioned in his column whether or not green jobs can save the state’s economy, Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Agency, Vickie Bradshaw, was on hand at the press conference pumping up the green job sector. She noted that California has more employers involved in the green economy and receives 60% of all venture capitol aimed at “green” job creation.
Not a bad foundation for economic growth but of course, focusing on the green economy is not enough. Attention must be placed on all sectors of the struggling economy if California is to escape the economic doldrums.
At the press conference, three legislators were part of the event. Co-authors of the sales tax exemption, Democrat Alex Padilla and Republican Tony Stickland, were on hand along with Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes. After scolding the legislature for its lack of quick action on job creation, the governor said he was not painting all legislators with a broad brush, complimented the trio, and urged the legislators in attendance to carry the message to their colleagues to pass the jobs package.
Quallion President Paul Beach acknowledged that California is a hard place to do business but that the tax breaks allowed his company to be more competitive.
That lesson goes beyond the “green” economy. Tax breaks and incentives can help other industries to remain in California and create jobs here. A delicate balance must be achieved not to chase away jobs by overreaching in protecting one sector of the economy.
Job creation should be number one on the legislature’s agenda. Paint job creation green and every other color of the rainbow because creating jobs will reduce California’s too high unemployment rate, provide security to workers and their families and, importantly, put some “green” in government coffers.