The House considered legislation this week designed to convince Cessna Aircraft to build a new assembly plant in Wichita.  Under a similar Senate proposal, this project could also be used to attract other future aviation projects, allowing up to $33 million in bond funding per project for research, development, engineering or manufacturing.  There is a cap of $150 million for all projects. 

Under the House bill, the state would issue bonds and Cessna could use the withholding taxes of current employees to pay off the loan.  In 2003, the Legislature approved issuing bonds to help Boeing secure work on the 7E7.  Cessna has said it needs $25 million in cash from the state to build a new plant, which would create approximately 1,000 jobs in Kansas for its new $27 million Citation Columbus business jet, the largest of its kind to date.  Cessna is also investing $800 million to develop the project.

Cessna Aircraft hopes to finalize a plant location by mid-May. Other states are bidding for the project, but lawmakers hope this legislation will keep Cessna in Kansas.  The aviation industry is vital to the Kansas economy.  If it continues to grow, it will help protect our state from the recession that is impacting other areas of the country.

Other states maintain pools of money that can be tapped when trying to attract large scale manufacturing projects.  If House Bill 2006 passes, Kansas would also have a mechanism in place for offering incentives when opportunity arises.  This is just the beginning of the next generation of planes being developed and built by aircraft manufacturers.  To move forward, Kansas must obtain contracts for the other new projects.