Policy Matters
For many years, I worked for Chevron Corporation. I was based at HQ in California but had responsibility for all the company’s state government affairs activities. It was a fascinating job and gave me insight and access to plenty of conversations and plenty of people.
While I had to keep my eye on the ball in multiple states, California swallowed most of my time. News flash: the state was not friendly to industry. Especially oil and gas. This made maintaining positive relations with government and department officials a real challenge.
Without overstatement, the state and several of its cities were flat-out adversarial to Chevron and the industry. This despite being truly “home grown”. Chevron’s roots in the Golden State reach back to 1876.
I can tell you honestly, California officials liked the steady flow of tax dollars, gasoline and jet fuel. In fact, most of the jet fuel for San Francisco and Los Angeles airports came from Chevron’s massive refineries located near both cities. The value Chevron produced was essential to the state’s economy – the fifth largest in the world – but the policies of elected officials were designed to increase the cost and complexity of operating in the state. The intent was clear: Keep the tax dollars and essential products coming but inflict as much pain as possible in the process.
Elected officials believed they could do so without consequence. They believed Chevron would never leave.
On August 2, that bubble burst. Chevron announced it was relocating to Houston. The company issued a polite news release announcing its departure, but one of the state’s major trade associations – a politically moderate association and one often allied with the government -- was less kind.
“Chasing jobs and employers out of California is no way to run the economy,” Jim Wunderman, the president of the Bay Area Council, said. “It’s an embarrassment for California that we’ve lost so many global companies because of misguided policies that make it incredibly difficult to do business here. California’s elected leaders need to take stock of the decisions they’re making that affect millions of families and workers, impact the state budget and have grave consequences for the future economic health of this state.”
No doubt, the cumulative effect of policy matters -- and bad policy has real consequences.
GAM is proud to serve as the advocacy voice for Georgia manufacturers and engage positively and constructively in policy discussions with elected officials from both parties. Our job is to speak for industry, help officials understand the implications of policy and be a resource for responsible decision making. Critical to our work is to avoid unintended consequences from policies that may have started with the best of intentions.
Ensuring that Georgia continues to be a great state for business and that we do not lose manufacturers over policy is what our growing roster of members expects GAM to do. And we are proud to do it.
