CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state Senate is considering a pair of bills from the House of Delegates designed to jumpstart growth in the aerospace industry.
New River Gorge Regional Development Authority Executive Director Jina Belcher said she’s urging Senate to pass HB 4006 to create the West Virginia Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing Growth Act and HB 4010 that would create a statutory program for loaning financial assistance to local airports for airplane hangar construction in this state.
“Aerospace as a whole is a really smart industry target for West Virginia,” Belcher said on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town.” “These are typically high-wage technical careers, and we know aircraft require constant maintenance and there is long-term stability.”
Both bills are in the possession of the Senate Finance Committee.
Belcher said the aerospace industry is competitive, and many other states we compete for that business with already have established operations and relationships. HB 4006 creates an aerospace development liaison within the Department of Commerce to focus on identifying businesses and actively recruiting them.
“We know it is such a high-skilled and technical industry that we really have to make it attractive for companies to grow and expand here,” Belcher said.
Belcher says the incentive program doesn’t provide a benefit for the company until the jobs have been created. She applauded the House version for adding some protections for taxpayers in the state.
“The incentives are very much performance-based,” Belcher said. “Companies will only benefit from this act once the jobs are created—it encourages companies in maintenance space, avionics, and manufacturing to locate in West Virginia.”
The companion pieces of legislation encourage companies to relocate to the Mountain State, and the second measure establishes a $750 million fund to supplement hangar construction. Hangars are expensive to build and can be a front end cost that can discourage some businesses from establishing operations here.
“House Bill 4010 allows us to access funds to build out those hangars so the burden is not put on the local airport,” Belcher said.
Other businesses with operations in the state have said this pair of bills would make it much easier to encourage aerospace companies to set up shop in West Virginia.
“They have weighed in that something like this is transformational in West Virginia for the aerospace industry, and they stand ready to help us bring these job-creating entities in,” Belcher said.
Belcher said she’ll continue to advocate for both bills to the Senate as Saturday’s end of session deadline approaches.