We continue our look at governors’ states of the state addresses for their references to “manufacturing” or “manufacturers.” Earlier posts on New York Gov. David Paterson, Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire and Kansas Gov. Mark Patterson are below.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered his final State of the State address on Thursday, Jan. 7, in Sacramento. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, was first elected with the recall of Gov. Gray Davis in 2003 and then re-elected in 2006.

His specific reference to manufacturing (text of speech):

And fourth, since we want California to be the dynamo of green technology, I ask you to pass our proposal exempting the purchase of green-tech manufacturing equipment from the sales tax. That too means jobs. (Applause) Those are jobs for the new economy.

No references to “industry” or its variants.

Again, the exercise is to just search for those terms. All these states of state addresses deal with economic policy; we’re just interested to see if “manufacturing” rises to the level of specific mentions.

We continue our look at governors’ states of the state addresses for their references to “manufacturing” or “manufacturers.” Earlier posts on Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire and Kansas Gov. Mark Patterson are below:

New York Gov. David Paterson gave his State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature on Thursday, Jan. 7. Paterson, a Democrat, became governor in March 2008 after the resignation of scandal-plagued Eliot Spitzer.

Paterson’s speech, entited “A Time to Rebuild,” contained many references to manufacturing. First, as part of the framing of the speech:

I come here today not to replay old grievances or in any way to reclaim lost ground. We come here to build. To build New York’s economy to a national model of ingenuity and strength. To build our people’s trust in the fiscal stability of our State. To build our manufacturing to meet the energy standards of this enlightened era. And most importantly, to build the trust that the people of New York once had in their State government.

And then as a framing for protocols:

Now, the third protocol in our desire to rebuild New York is that we bring our economy back to the greatness that it once held, with a focus on jobs for the New Economy; for manufacturing meeting the energy standards that we will need; for the whole idea of putting people back to work; and a commitment to helping New Yorkers raise themselves up.

And then as a framing for programs:

We will also go back to the historic manufacturing industry and make it whole again – with tax credits and also with retrofits for small businesses; with a reformed Power for Jobs Program; and a cutting-edge and groundbreaking concept of buying up, retrofitting, and reselling abandoned manufacturing sites.

In addition, we will not forget the hundreds of thousands of trades and manufacturing and construction job-holders, who will be vital to our revitalizing this process.

We continue looking at governors’ addresses…

Gov. Christine Gregoire of Washington gave her State of the State address on Tuesday in Olympia, a speech heavy in state budget proposals, including cuts in government and unspecified tax increases.

Gregoire, a Democrat first elected in 2004, did not use the word “manufacturing” or its variant in her prepared text. As for the word “industry”:

[Here], ladies and gentlemen, is what I hear people say.

They tell me they are scared but they know things will get better. That we are on the cusp of a new economy. And that jobs will come from the growth industries of tomorrow in fields like clean energy, health care and technology.

More …

Washington has always been a state that attracts capital — both financial and intellectual. We need to keep that tradition going, and one way to do that is to stimulate capital investment in biotechnology, software development, health care, clean technology, renewable energy, aerospace and other industries that will drive our future.

The goal is to attract $2 billion in capital investments to fuel job growth.

And finally…

It’s the season for governors to give their state of the state addresses, usually speaking to joint sessions of their legislatures. The remarks almost always lay out an economic policy platform or specific initiatives that affect industry, worthy of attention. But for purposes of comparison, we thought it would be interesting to search for specific mentions of the words “manufacturing” or “manufacturers.”

Let’s throw in the word “industry” and its variations too, just to be fair.

Kanas Governor Mark Parkinson, a Democrat who became governor after Kathleen Sebelius joined by the Obama Administration as Secreteary of Health and Human Services, gave his address on Monday. Here’s the reference:

The second initiative that I want to propose is that we continue to move forward with energy policy in Kansas; 2008 was about building wind farms in Kansas, 2009 was about bringing wind manufacturing jobs and transmission to Kansas. Let’s make 2010 about making Kansas a national leader.  We should lead the country in renewable energy.

Here he speaks of “industry”:

Consider the aircraft industry. History’s greatest entrepreneurs formed this industry in Wichita.  They deserve the credit, but its growth depends on educational opportunities. It is Wichita State and schools that have produced the workforce that took those entrepreneurs dreams from just a vision to reality.  Make no mistake, our commitment to higher education is not just the right thing to do, it is great economic development.

The same can be said of our investment in our public schools.

Those are the references.

From Bloomberg: “The Obama administration has invited chief executives from a dozen U.S. manufacturers, including Dow Corning Corp. and Honeywell International Inc., to a meeting today in Washington on ways to boost U.S. job growth.”

Attending:

Stephanie Burns of Dow Corning
Keith Wandell of Harley-Davidson Inc
Jeff Turner of Spirit Aerosystems Holdings Inc
Robert McDonald of Procter & Gamble
David Cote of Honeywell International Inc
Robert Keegan of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co
Daniel DiMicco of Nucor Corp
John Faraci of International Paper Co
Ronald Hall of Bridgewater Interiors
James McGregor of McGregor Metalworking
Dan Janka of MAG
Scott Welsh of Mohawk Electrical Systems

More news coverage:

• Detroit Free Press, “White House unveils manufacturing plan”
• USA Today, “White House to announce $5 billion more tax credits for renewable energy products”
• ABC News, “White House Pushes Policies to Spur Manufacturing”

Nothing on the White House website yet.

UPDATE (10:35 a.m.): According to this Detroit News account, the Vice President will use today’s meeting to reaffirm the White House’s support for manufacturing while announcing a proposal to expand a tax credit for advanced energy manufacturing.

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis appeared Thursday on the public radio program, the Diane Rehm Show, interviewed by guest host Frank Sesno. The day’s economic news, a rise in the 3rd Quarter GDP, and unemployment were big topics.

The odd thing about the discussion was Secretary Solis’ overreliance on talking points about “green jobs,” hybrid vehicles and renewable energy. It sounded as if the Obama Administration thinks U.S. manufacturing should reorient itself to federally subsidized green jobs and nothing but.

There’s more to manufacturing!

Solis: [I] think there are going to be new opportunities too. For example, yesterday a visit I had in Las Vegas with Nevada Energy, through the smart grid we’re making moneys available, $138 million, to help jump start a new infrastructure there that will allow consumers in that state to be able to monitor and meter their use of energy, electricity, which means a great deal for Nevada because, you know, the extreme hot weather there during the summer and also right now as we get into winter, obviously cooling trends. But if people can have information to be available to know how they’re using, consuming energy and how they work to reduce those high costs themselves, that’s a big incentive for all of us.

Sesno: I want to talk more about the whole smart grid and green energy and all of that in a moment, but you mentioned Nevada. Nevada has been slammed, of course, because the property values there have just fallen through the floor, home sales have been stifled, and the tourism industry has taken a big hit because of the rest of the economy as well. So with that particular example, that money you were talking about, does that create in the short term more jobs for Nevada?

Solis: Well, it will, because there will be at least 200 jobs that will be created for individuals who’ll need to be trained in the reading of these new meters that are going to be ….

Sesno…That’s a start…

Solis …situated

Sesno: But that’s still a drop in the bucket

Solis: No. Well, it’s a start, but what happens is there’s additional retail activity that has to happen, or will happen, because people will be purchasing different pieces of equipment that you can attach to your refrigerator that will serve as a thermostat, and that will happen. There will be accountants that have to be hired. There will business managers, there will have to be warehouse people hired, people in trucking industry, they’ll have to help us transport.

We’ve transcribed more from the interview here.

Green jobs? Good. We like them. But they’re not a panacea, and judging from the examples Secretary Solis cited in the interview, the Administration seems to favor the green jobs that require heavy federal subsidies.

(Edited Saturday for grammar.)

Today’s Washington Post carries a smallish story on legislation proposed by City Council Member Mary Cheh, who wants to make electricity more expensive for District consumers.

The energy bill, which would require that one-fifth of the energy used in the District come from renewable sources by 2020, is a streamlined version of the bill Cheh originally proposed. She removed language that would have legalized sub-meters, which allow landlords to charge tenants separately for utilities, reflecting concerns of some council members that the devices could lead to higher electric bills for low-income residents.

So there’s a renewable energy mandate, 20 percent, even though the prospects of reaching that percentage through regional generation are slim. Which then means purchase of more expensive electricity from elsewhere.

And Cheh has dropped the one provision she had proposed earlier, submetering, that would have introduced market forces and personal responsibility into energy consumption. Perish the thought that people should pay for the electricity they actually consume.

And then there’s this:

The bill proposes raising monthly electricity and natural gas rates citywide to help pay for the new programs, which the new privately run Sustainability Energy Utility would manage under the supervision of the D.C. Department of Environment and a new advisory board.

In the realm of pure symbolism the Council will also consider a measure to place electronic messaging boards outside of places like the baseball stadium to protest “taxation without representation,” i.e., no vote in Congress.

So they’re going to waste electricity to make the point? How about a nice, static billboard instead?