| Comment | Dear Air Resource Board,
Thank you for accepting comments on the proposed Beneficiary
Mitigation Plan (hereinto referred as the Plan). The Greater
Sacramento Economic Council (GSEC) is a non-profit organization
whose mission is to drive sustainable, regional economic growth.
Your plans will certainly help with reducing harmful emissions and
will help drive consumer demand of ZEVs, and we suggest that the
funds are further leveraged to drive growth in tradable sector jobs
and further develop the workforce pipeline.
Our comment is on the phrase on page 3 of the Plan, which reads
"Align with State priorities." The Greater Sacramento Economic
Council asserts that the Plan does not align with State priorities
unless the Plan details that incentive award merit is given to
applicants who prioritize purchasing vehicles sourced from
California-Made manufacturers. The California-Made ^1 program is a
statewide program that celebrates goods manufactured in our own
backyard and is a State priority. While the Plan incentivizes the
consumption of zero-emission vehicles, it does not acknowledge the
advent of future mobility's displacement of workers--a critical
issue facing the state's economy.
For CARB to have a positive impact on the workforce and job growth,
the Plan should mandate that award recipients prioritize the
purchase of California-Made vehicles to ensure green economy
manufacturing jobs are incentivized to stay in California.
Incentivizing consumption is not enough to keep the manufacturing
jobs here. The long-term outcome of compliance with this comment
will fill in the missing link in what is CARB's expected investment
impact: it will create inclusive job opportunities for our low,
middle and high-skilled labor force through ZEV
automobile/component manufacturing and R&D.
Sincerely,
Barry Broome,
President & CEO of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council
^1 https://camade.ca.gov/
|
|---|