Legislation to attract the aerospace industry to Louisiana has been approved by the House Ways and Means Committee. Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois says other states are currently providing better tax incentives to lure aerospace companies.
“We looked at some of the laws that they had in place to allow them to compete for projects and win and saw that Louisiana didn’t have those same opportunities. So we have begun to look at our statutes and see what adaptations we need to make to position ourselves to win in this space,” Bourgeois said.
The measure would give sales tax rebates to aerospace businesses that create 200 permanent jobs and make a $1 billion investment. The legislation has the support of the Landry administration. The governor’s chief of staff, Julie Emerson, testified in favor of the bill.
“Louisiana is trying to remain competitive with neighboring states and provide a welcoming environment to a new industry that is increasingly growing, and we would like for it to grow its footprint here in Louisiana,” Emerson said.
Louisiana has a history in the aerospace industry. The Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans has been building rockets for NASA in the 1960s, and Bollinger Shipyards has built barges to transport rockets.
While it was not mentioned during the discussion in House Ways and Means, this legislation is likely designed to attract Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. The bill’s author is Ways and Means Chairman Tony Bacala from Prairieville.
“We can either jump in the game, or we can just say we’re not in the game. We can say we’re looking for thousands of new, high-paying jobs and revitalization of parts of Louisiana, or we can walk away from it,” Bacala said.
Industry experts say SpaceX and Blue Orgin are looking for additional launchpads. There’s also controversy with this industry, as concerns have been raised about the damage done to local wildlife and environment as a result of the rocket launches.
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