Sacramento, CA – The California State Assembly today passed legislation to increase funding for the California Competes program which helps businesses seeking to locate or stay in California. Assembly Bill 1560 allows an increase of up to $25 million per year in tax credits to the California Competes program through 2019 to manufacture advanced strategic aircraft in the state. Assemblyman Jeff Gorell (R-Camarillo), a principal co-author of the legislation, praised the bipartisan support for the bill.

AB 1570 was originally a Gorell privacy bill, but after coordinating with the Assembly Speaker, was amended entirely to advance the economic development legislation.

“The California Competes tax credit has been hailed by the Chamber of Commerce as a job creator, and is already projected to create thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in state investment,” stated Assemblyman Gorell. “As aerospace employers look to bid on the military’s next-generation Advanced Strategic Aircraft Program, this tax credit will help them bring even more jobs to California. The golden era of aviation was born in California, and we are working here to bring that innovation back to our state.”

The California Competes Tax Credit was approved by the legislature in 2013, providing awards of up to $200 million annually to businesses seeking to locate or stay in California. The program is run by the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). In its first year of operation, the program was so popular that it was oversubscribed by $470 million.

Two previous pieces of legislation to help California companies compete for the Advanced Strategic Aircraft Program were also co-authored by Assemblyman Gorell. AB 2389 and SB 718 were passed this by the legislature in the past few weeks and subsequently signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown. While voting for these bills, Assemblyman Gorell stated that he believes that these are the type of economic development tools that will promote the future of the aerospace industry in Ventura County as well as the rest of California.

Based on figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the past year California’s unemployment rate has fallen from 9.0% to 7.4%, but is still significantly above the national average of 6.2%.