Tuesday, April 5, 2011
New Republican Gov. Mary Fallin signed a bill on Monday designed to lure more aerospace companies to Oklahoma by offering tax credits for salaries paid to qualified engineers.
Flanked by lawmakers and aerospace industry officials, Fallin signed the House bill during her first public bill signing ceremony as governor. The measure, which is projected to cost the state nearly $6 million in its first year, allows companies to be reimbursed up to 10 percent of the salary paid to qualified engineers for up to five years if the engineer graduated from a university in Oklahoma. The reimbursement is 5 percent if the engineer graduated from a school outside of the state.
The measure also provides a tax credit for 50 percent of the tuition cost of an employee who attends a qualified engineering program at a public institution in Oklahoma.
"The aerospace industry is one of the top industries in our state, and having this aerospace engineers tax credit will go a long ways in not only helping us retain jobs, but (will) certainly be more attractive to new jobs coming to the state of Oklahoma," Fallin said. "We have almost 500 aerospace companies in our state, and it's a very important part of our economy."
The bill restores the tax incentive that was one of more than a dozen credits put on hold last year by lawmakers looking to close a $1.2 billion gap in the state budget. The tax credit cost the state about $3.5 million during its first year, but proponents say it was used to lure nearly 350 high paying jobs to Oklahoma.
A spokesman for Boeing Company, which last year announced it was moving 550 aerospace jobs from California to Oklahoma City, said he's already been contacted by lawmakers from several states looking to enact similar tax incentives.
"This is the only piece of legislation like it in the country," said Boeing spokesman Steve Hendrickson.
Boeing already is moving its C-130 Avionics Modernization program to its facility near Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, and its B-1 program is expected to move here toward the end of 2012.
Fallin, meanwhile, has proposed eliminating about $424,000 in state funding for the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority, a state agency created to help develop a spaceport facility, launch systems and other space-industry projects at Burns Flat, a licensed spaceport in western Oklahoma. Fallin said Monday that while she supports the agency's mission, she believes it would be more efficient to merge the operations with the Department of Commerce or the Aeronautics Commission.
"I'm actually working with our legislators and Department of Commerce on further continuing to market that facility, but yet also trying to figure out how we can have shared resources as it relates to the aerospace industry and especially (the Space Industry Development Authority)," Fallin said.
By SEAN MURPHY, The Associated Press