| 03 March 2010
(March 3, 2010) Lawmakers should use Space Day to make strong industry committment.
Now is the time for all members of the Florida Legislature to come to the aid of their state.
And do it by passing measures to support Florida’s space industry at a moment when it’s in dire straits.
That’s our urgent message to lawmakers today as they mark Space Day, which focuses attention annually on the $4 billion a year that NASA pumps into the state economy.
This year, there must be more than unmet promises, with catastrophic job losses coming soon because President Obama is calling for a major shift in NASA’s direction, using private industry to send astronauts into orbit.
Some 9,000 workers from Kennedy Space Center will get the ax with the shuttle program’s end and cancellation of the Constellation moon project, with 14,000 indirect jobs that rely on NASA paychecks also lost.
That’s 23,000 jobs, which will cause Brevard’s 12.1 percent unemployment rate to skyrocket, worsen the state’s record jobless ranks and push more homes into foreclosure and force more businesses to close.
Opposition to Obama’s plan continues building with about 1,500 people protesting the cuts Saturday in Titusville, warning about the devastation to families and Brevard’s world-class space workforce.
A group of bipartisan members in Congress also are crafting an alternative plan and rightly say they’ll withhold NASA funding until they have an opportunity to change the White House proposal.
Now it’s time for Tallahassee to step up by approving several important pieces of legislation, and state Sen. Mike Haridopolos should lead the way.
The Merritt Island Republican wields considerable power as incoming Senate president-designate and should use his clout to ensure passage, twisting whatever arms necessary.
Here are the key issues at stake:
- One initiative is Gov. Charlie Crist’s call to increase funding to $32.9 million for Space Florida, the state’s space-recruiting arm. The agency’s budget has suffered a 50 percent reduction the past two years, leaving it with just $3.8 million, and its efforts are central to seizing new commercial space business. The money would go for workforce retraining and provide the agency with the ability to develop infrastructure at KSC’s Exploration Park and Space Life Sciences Lab to attract work for the International Space Station. It would also help refurbish Launch Complex 46 for commercial rocket companies.
- Another initiative is spending $25 million a year to help new or expanding aerospace business in a bill sponsored by state Sen. Thad Altman, R-Viera, and state Rep. Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island. The measure, called the Space Transition and Revitalization Act, would use money from the governor’s discretionary business-development fund, redirected sales-tax revenue from the KSC Visitor Center and other sources to also
recruit space business.
- Still other measures would provide tax credits to attract commercial space, high technology and research and development companies to Florida and Brevard. Lawmakers may hesitate at the cost of the Crist and Altman-Crisafulli measures with the state facing a $3.2 billion budget deficit and more spending cuts. We understand their situation, but the price pales in comparison to the impact the lost jobs and shuttered businesses will have.
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That includes further declines in tax revenue that could deeply harm Brevard County’s top-ranked schools. It also includes the additional money the state will have to pay in unemployment benefits and state health care programs that will see their rolls grow. Florida must make a significant commitment now or face potential failure in the commercial space arena, which is the major component of Obama’s plan.Other states and eight nations have done far more to create a business-friendly climate for such firms, with Florida capturing only $8 billion a year in a global space industry worth $257 billion annually. Every lawmaker in Tallahassee — from the most conservative Republican to the most liberal Democrat — says their top priority this session is creating jobs.If they really mean it, they need to stand and deliver on space. Now.
