Title: An act relating to a joint legislative task force on aerospace manufacturing.

Brief Description: Creating a joint legislative task force on aerospace manufacturing.

Sponsors: Senators Shin, Pflug, Sheldon, Schmidt, Doumit, Benton, McAuliffe, Swecker, Rasmussen, Berkey, Jacobsen, Kohl-Welles and Roach.

Brief History:

Committee Activity: International Trade & Economic Development: 1/17/06, 1/24/06[DPS-WM].

SENATE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Majority Report: That Substitute Senate Bill No. 6328 be substituted therefor, and the substitute bill do pass and be referred to Committee on Ways & Means.Signed by Senators Shin, Chair; Sheldon, Vice Chair; Pflug, Ranking Minority Member; Doumit, Eide and Roach.

Staff: Jack Brummel (786-7428)

Background: The aerospace industry is the state's largest manufacturing and exporting industry. Airports of regional significance have underutilized property and facilities that could be examined to determine whether they could be used to help the aerospace industry.

Summary of Substitute Bill: The Joint Legislative Task Force on Aerospace manufacturing is established to review the composition of the aerospace industry and factors affecting recruitment, retention, and expansion in the industry. The task force is also to review airports of regional significance and the types of businesses, the inventory of underused capacity, and the types of aerospace businesses that could be located at such airports, along with resources available and statutory and regulatory changes needed to expand aerospace businesses at such airports.

The task force is to use legislative facilities and staff support and report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature by June 30, 2007.

Substitute Bill Compared to Original Bill: The substitute removes the requirement that appointments be made within forty-five days and changes the composition of the task force so it contains representatives of eastern and western Washington airports, counties, and cities near regional airports and representatives of transportation and aerospace workers.

Appropriation:

Two hundred fifty thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, from the general fund to the House of Representatives and the Senate for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2007, to carry out the purposes of this act.

Committee/Commission/Task Force Created: Yes.

Effective Date: The bill contains an emergency clause and takes effect immediately.

Testimony For: This will help provide family wage jobs. It makes sense to have more economic activity around airports. The study is a futuristic proposal.

Testimony Against: None.

Testimony Other: Labor should be represented on the task force. It would be good to ensure perspectives from both sides of the state and add local government perspectives to the study.

Who Testified: PRO: Jesse Cote, Ed Lutgen, Aerospace Machinists Union; Collins Sprague, Avista Corp.; Steve Gano, Goodrich Aviation; Deborah Knutson, EDC of Snohomish Co. Steve Smith, Snohomish Co. Executive's Office; Representative Brian Sullivan; Jennifer Gregerson, Marko Liias, Mukilteo City Council; Joe Marine, Mukilteo Mayor.

OTHER: Jesse Cote, Aerospace Machinists Union; Collins Sprague, Avista Corp.; Marko Liias, Mikilteo City Council.