EDITORIAL: State politicians get act together with Boeing incentives

The South Carolina lawmakers did the wrong thing in waiting too long to extend unemployment benefits for workers, but they did the right thing in expediting a tax incentive plan to lure Boeing to the Palmetto State.

On Wednesday, Boeing chose North Charleston over Everett, Wash., for a second assembly line for its 787 Dreamliner jet.

Boeing’s decision came shortly after South Carolina legislators approved an incentive package that will allow the state to spend as much as $170 million on economic benefit bonds for a single project.

The legislation:

Includes sales tax incentives that will exempt fuel used in test flights and flights to transfer aircraft between manufacturing facilities.

Will exempt computer equipment purchases.

Allows Boeing to immediately pay no sales tax on construction materials, rather than wait for a 2011 phase-in.

“This will help us with jobs as we come out of the recession,” Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, said Tuesday. “We’re not as competitive as other states. Now we’re going to be more competitive.”

The South Carolina legislature was called into special session Tuesday by Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell and House Speaker Bobby Harrell. The main focus was to fix a law that was denying thousands of workers their benefits.

The Employment Security Commission, legislature and Gov. Mark Sanford share the blame for the need to call a special session. They did not understand the immediacy of the requirements for the unemployed to receive payments.

The Pee Dee is being hammered by the some of the highest unemployment rates in the state. Three counties — Marion, Marlboro and Dillon — were in the top 10 among South Carolina’s 46 counties.

But the timing of the session was fortunate. A secondary focus immediately became the attempt to bring the Boeing production facility to North Charleston.

Talks to build the plant in Everett, outside Seattle, broke down Tuesday night because of the lack of a no-strike contract with the machinists union, The Seattle Times reported. The snag seemed to leave North Charleston as the winner by default.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire now says she will work hard to land larger Boeing projects.

A move to South Carolina will be costly for Boeing, which will lose most of its experienced workforce. The move will slow production of the 787, which is more than two years behind schedule.

There’s a huge upside for South Carolina. Boeing’s move is the biggest economic development coup for the state since it landed a BMW production plant in Greer in 1992. That plant employs 5,000 and was secured with a $130 million package at the time.

Boeing already employs 2,500 in North Charleston at two fuselage plants. Workers there threw out a union earlier this year.

Sanford called Boeing’s move a “monumental” investment in the state.

The governor, the legislature and state bureaucrats acted appropriately by approving incentives to bring the Boeing plant and, thus, more jobs to the state.

They left nothing to chance here as they did in letting unemployment benefits run out.

— Unsigned editorials represent the views of this newspaper. Editorial Board members are Mark Laskowski (regional publisher), James Bennett (regional editor), Sam Bundy (sports editor), Kimberly Ginfrida (news editor), David Johnson (regional circulation director), Charles Tomlinson (Lake City News & Post editor) and Jackie Torok (metro editor).