Arizona rocks down to Electric Avenue

The Arizona Chamber, Arizona Manufacturers Council and other Arizona business leaders joined Gov. Brewer this morning as she signed into a law a bill to improve Arizona’s competiveness in manufacturing. SB1413 was sponsored by Sen. Steve Yarbrough and will remove the sales tax that manufacturers pay on their electricity and natural gas usage. Prior to the passage of SB1413, Arizona was one of only 12 states to levy this tax on manufacturers.

Introduced by Gov. Brewer in her State of the State Address back in January, this legislation is the latest move in the governor’s work on the Arizona Comeback. As she said this morning, “I want Arizona to be the number one pro-business state in the nation. We have lowered and simplified taxes, reduced burdensome red tape and kept government out of the way of business success and job creation. Ending this tax removes one more barrier to business expansion and job creation”

Steve Macias, Pivot Manufacturing and AMC

Steve Macias, president and CEO of Pivot Manufacturing and chairman of the Arizona Manufacturers Council was also on hand and remarked that he could, “feel the [tax-free] electricity in the room.” He spoke about the importance of this bill for the “retention and attraction of business,” as it will save manufacturers “$18 million in annual operating costs.”

Also providing remarks was Dawn Grove, vice-chair of the Arizona Manufacturers Council and corporate counsel for Karsten Manufacturing, which manufacturers the Masters-winning Ping golf clubs right here in Arizona. Dawn noted, “Manufacturers in other states have fled the United States for less regulated and less taxed shores, but in Arizona we have leaders like Governor Brewer, who have understood the importance of eliminating obstacles to investment and who have found new ways, like Senate Bill 1413 to encourage the building of products in Arizona for export to the rest of the world.”

Dawn Grove, Karsten Manufacturing and AMC

We are enormously grateful to Gov. Brewer, Sen. Yarbrough and the Arizona Legislature for their support of the manufacturing industry, not only this session but also in years past. The governor has made significant progress over the past several years to ensure that Arizona is an attractive place for manufacturers to conduct business, and we thank her for allowing us to be a partner in the process.

As Gov. Brewer said this morning, “Together, we’ve made our message to manufacturers loud and clear: Arizona is open for business”