S.C. lawmakers give OK on incentives to lure Boeing

Published 12:55 pm Tuesday, October 27, 2009

South Carolina state senators have approved incentives meant to lure the Boeing Co. into siting its second 787 production line there.

State legislators convened during a special session today to look at economic development incentives the state can offer to three companies, including Boeing.

Boeing’s chief executive Jim McNerney said last week that the company had narrowed its second line search to Charleston, S.C., and Everett, home of Boeing’s original 787 line. Company leaders have been meeting with representatives of the Machinists union to discuss one of McNerney’s major concerns about production in Everett: labor strikes. Boeing workers in South Carolina voted out union representation there last month.

Boeing is expected to announce the site of its second 787 line within a few weeks.

This morning, South Carolina’s Finance Committee OK’d low-interest construction bonds and incentives that include a sales tax exemption on fuel used in test flights. To qualify, a company would have to bring at least 3,800 full-time jobs and at least $750 million in investment to the state over seven years.

The S.C. Senate approved the tax incentives by a vote of 44-0.

“We’ve got an opportunity before us now … to bring jobs to our people that are so desperately needed,” said committee chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence.

The measure, which does not name a specific company, now heads to the House and leaders believe it could be approved this week.

The five-part legislation, which expands existing law, includes sales tax incentives that would exempt fuel used in test flights and flights to transfer aircraft between manufacturing facilities. It would also exempt computer equipment purchases and allow a qualifying company to immediately pay no sales tax on construction materials, rather than wait for a 2011 phase-in.

It would ensure the company could negotiate with state officials to pay little corporate income taxes for 10 years. It deletes the minimum pay requirement from the break already allowed for companies investing less and creating fewer jobs.

The proposal would also allow the state to issue up to $170 million of economic development bonds that would allow a company to build using a lower interest rate, making the project cheaper, if approved by the Legislature on a two-thirds vote.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.