We heard the final six Senate bills in our House Appropriations & Budget Committee last week in advance of the April 22 deadline. We also passed bills in the Joint Committee on Appropriations & Budget.
Now these bills are eligible to be heard on the House Floor. We have until April 28 to consider all bills from the opposite chamber.
One of the bills passed in JCAB and off the House floor last week would give Oklahoma the opportunity to be the center of an emerging industry, adding thousands of high-paying jobs to our state.
House bill 4455 would create the Large-scale Economic Activity and Development (LEAD) Act of 2022, providing a 10-year investment rebate program for qualified capital expenses by specific businesses based on their creation of these new direct jobs.
The bill comes in response to one of the world’s most prominent, enduring technology brands expressing interest in building the largest Gigafactory in the world in Pryor to produce electric vehicle batteries. The project calls for 4,000 direct jobs at the Gigafactory and 4,000 additional support positions. The 3.3-million-square-foot facility (76 acres under one roof) represents a $4 billion-plus capital investment in our state.
If Oklahoma lands this deal, we could become the nation’s largest hub for electric vehicle battery manufacturing. Other facilities and jobs could then spread to other areas of the state.
Oklahoma will always be an oil and gas state, but it’s important we continue to diversify our economy. Electric vehicles already are gaining a large place in the U.S. auto market, and predictions are they will be preeminent worldwide in the next 30 years. With our state’s central location and a focus on workforce development, we are ideally positioned to become the major player in this market.
This legislation signals Oklahoma is open for business and gives us a way to grow our economy and improve our quality of life.
On a note closer to home, I’m speaking from 8 to 9 a.m. April 29 at a legislative breakfast at Stroud High School, 1096 E 7th St. Anyone is welcome to attend and ask questions as I give an update of legislation and the state budget.
On the budget front, negotiations between House and Senate leadership are close. As I mentioned above, we’ve wrapped up committee work, and we should be presenting budget bills on the House floor soon.