Statement from Labor and Business Coalition on Saronic Shipyard Going To Texas
This statement was issued jointly by: State Building & Construction Trades Council of California, California Conference of Carpenters, California Alliance for Jobs, California State Council of Laborers, United Contractors, International Union of Operating Engineers, California State Pipe Trades Council, California Manufacturers and Technology Association, Peace Officers Research Association of California, California Association of Realtors, Abundance Network, Solano Forward, and California Forever
Earlier today, Saronic announced that its $3.2 billion next-generation shipyard will be located in Brownsville, TX. The project is expected to create approximately 10,000 permanent jobs and 10,000 construction jobs, with many permanent positions paying an average of approximately $100,000 annually.
The good news is: out of 17 states, California had easily the best site and was one of two finalists for a 10,000 job opportunity. The bad news is: we were passed over because, despite the incredible hard work of the Newsom Administration, GO-Biz, and numerous business, labor, education, and community leaders, our approval process cannot accommodate the required speed without special legislation, which was not passed in time. California and Solano County must not miss the next opportunity.
As California’s most vocal advocates for new industries, high-wage jobs, and homes people can afford, our coalition is extremely frustrated that California lost this historic opportunity. Shipbuilding is in California’s heritage, and California was the natural home for Port Alpha.
Factually, Solano Shipyard was the best site, offering the largest site in America, exceeding the 1,500-acre requirement from the company, direct deep-water access to the Pacific on the West Coast, a large and skilled regional workforce, proximity to world-class research institutions and Silicon Valley, a strategic location near California State University Maritime Academy, Travis Air Force Base, and Marine Ocean Terminal Concord, and deep integrated ecosystem with the Suisun Expansion, including Solano Foundry, an advanced manufacturing park for suppliers, and long-term guaranteed housing supply for employees of the company and its suppliers as well as for existing Solano County residents — enabling an integrated complete community whose growth will help fund schools, parks, and other civic amenities that benefit all Solano residents.
However, a key site selection criterion was the permitting framework to break ground within months, matching the speed required by America’s national defense needs, which is not possible in California without special legislation. To deliver that legislation, an extraordinary statewide coalition of labor, construction, manufacturing, housing, and public-safety organizations came together, including:
- State Building & Construction Trades Council of California
- California Conference of Carpenters
- California Alliance for Jobs
- California State Council of Laborers
- International Union of Operating Engineers
- United Contractors
- Associated General Contractors of California
- California State Pipe Trades Council
- California Manufacturers & Technology Association
- Peace Officers Research Association of California
- California Association of REALTORS
- Bay Area Council
- California YIMBY
- Abundance Network
- Solano Forward
The coalition worked for months to draft a balanced proposal that would have enabled Saronic to choose California and Solano County. Local and state government leaders did not pass the legislation in time.
The proposed legislation carefully balanced public and private interests. All streamlining was conditional on major employers signing binding agreements with significant investment creating high-wage jobs. The effect was simply reducing the time and uncertainty for major employers to get through the process and be able to choose California without years of delay. Critically, the legislation does not hand approval to anyone in Sacramento or take away any local say: it preserves the absolute discretion of Solano County and its cities to decide which projects, if any, move forward. What it does is give local elected leaders the tools to act on that decision quickly once they’ve made it — so that when Solano County wants to say yes to a project, “yes” doesn’t take years to become real. Every environmental safeguard and every other existing legal protection stays fully in place; nothing is streamlined at the expense of the environment or the public, only the bureaucratic delay is.
Our coalition’s warning about losing the opportunity to Texas has now become reality. We hope this missed opportunity serves as a wake-up call that inaction and political gridlock have real costs for all Californians, but especially the working families represented by this coalition, who struggle daily with long commutes and rising housing costs.
This cannot wait until next year. There is a pipeline of other major employers interested to come to Solano, and every month without this legislation is a month in which Solano County and California lose more companies to other states. Passing this legislation in this legislative session is how California and Solano County demonstrate — not just claim — that we are open for business. We look forward to working with leaders willing to step up and pass this legislation this year, so that the next dozen companies who want to come don’t also end up choosing other states. Working people in Solano County, and in California, deserve better.