Assembly Concurrent Resolution
No. 56
CHAPTER 11
Relative to California Space Day.
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Filed with
Secretary of State
March 26, 2003.
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LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 56, Nakano.
California Space Day.
This measure would request that the Governor proclaim March 18, 2003, as California Space Day, in special recognition of the contributions that space enterprise has made and will continue to make to the state, and would memorialize the Legislature’s recognition of the economic value of space enterprise to the state’s economy and its pledge to work with academic and local government and industry leaders to attract, retain, and nurture space enterprise.
Digest Key
WHEREAS, California’s legacy includes not only the prosperity of the Gold Rush, the film and entertainment industry, and the innovation of the personal computer and software industries, as well as the Internet, but also a supremacy in the design and engineering of spacecraft, launch vehicles, and the development of satellites and space-based services; and
WHEREAS, California has experienced many space firsts, including having been the site of the world’s first polar-orbiting launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Chuck Yeager’s breaking of the sound barrier at Muroc Army Airfield, later renamed Edwards Air Force Base, and the launch of the first American rocket to probe space with engines built by a California company; and
WHEREAS, California is the world’s center for the design and manufacturer of satellites and other space hardware that contribute to scientific exploration, including support of the International Space Station, NASA’s Space Shuttle Program, weather prediction, communication, entertainment, and national security by virtue of the fact that the state boasts “end-to-end” capabilities including research, design and development, manufacturing, launch, on-orbit operations, and other space-based services; and
WHEREAS, California hosts more NASA centers than any other state, including the Ames Research Center, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Dryden Flight Research Center based at Edwards Air Force Base which, when coupled with California’s institutes of higher education, have produced astronauts, scientists, engineers, and skilled workers with the intellectual capacity and innovation capable of fostering new and expanded growth areas for California’s space legacy and greater economy; and
WHEREAS, California employs approximately 180,000 people in space enterprise activities, much of which is business procured through the Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, which is responsible for research, development, and purchase of military and national security space systems, and when commercial applications of space technology are added together, these account for 28 percent of the global space market or $24 billion worth of business to space companies throughout California; and
WHEREAS, California’s aerospace industry is playing a vital role in developing the technologies that will support our national Homeland Security defense strategy; and
WHEREAS, Space enterprise offers employment opportunities at all levels of skill and education in manufacturing, engineering, and research and development, both for those directly employed in the industry and in the vast network of contractors and subcontractors throughout the State of California; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby requests the Governor to proclaim March 18, 2003, as California Space Day, in special recognition of the contributions that space enterprise has made and will continue to make to the state; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature recognizes the economic value of space enterprise to the state’s economy and pledges to work with academic, local government, and industry leaders to attract, retain, and nurture space enterprise; and be it further
Resolved, That suitable copies of this resolution be provided to the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the secretaries of each state agency, the directors of each state department, the director of the Office of Planning and Research, the director of the Office of Military Base Retention, the executive director of the governing board of the Military Base Reuse Authority Act, the director of the Office of Emergency Services, the Adjutant General of the California National Guard, the Governor’s advisor on Homeland Security, the administrator of the National Air and Space Administration, the commander of Air Force Space Command, the chief operating officer of the California Space Authority, and to the author for appropriate distribution.