WHEREAS, The aerospace industry began in California with a few aircraft builders around World War I, and then vastly expanded in the mobilization for World War II; and

WHEREAS, By the 1980s, about 40 percent of the United States aerospace business resided in southern California; and

WHEREAS, California’s success in aerospace research, development, and production is not only envied by other states, but highly coveted; and

WHEREAS, To help the industry attract and retain the talent it needs to propel it forward, California should continue to invest in the aerospace industry; and

WHEREAS, Employing a highly skilled and specialized workforce of more than half a million people in commercial, military, and civil capacities, the aerospace industry’s statewide economic impact in 2012 exceeded $100 billion, with average annual aerospace industry wages among the nation’s highest; and

WHEREAS, California’s aerospace companies in 2012 contributed $62 billion in tax revenues, equivalent to more than a third of the state budget; and

WHEREAS, The key driver for aerospace industry success in California is rooted in technological innovation and research; and

WHEREAS, Much of that cutting edge work has been and remains centered in southern California’s Antelope Valley, the “Aerospace Capital of the World;” and

WHEREAS, The Antelope Valley is home to: NASA’s Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center; the Air Force Test Center and Air Force Research Laboratory Rocket Lab at Edwards Air Force Base; the civilian Mojave Air & Space Port, home to Virgin Galactic, Scaled Composites; and BAE Systems; and Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, where Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman produce aircraft for both defense and civil applications; and

WHEREAS, The region already has the necessary framework and the key industry players in order to establish a successful institute; and

WHEREAS, Established in 2000, California institutes have been tremendous resources for research in various industries. They have successfully addressed critical issues facing the globe in the fields of biology, physics, chemistry, economics, and medicine; and

WHEREAS, The enactment of a state aerospace tax credit in 2014 has positioned California to receive thousands of new jobs researching, designing, building, and testing the Long Range Strike Bomber following the awarding of the contract by the United States Air Force in 2015; and

WHEREAS, California would maximize its opportunity to locate these jobs in state and benefit from public-private partnerships stemming from a California Institute for Aerospace, much like Stanford University was able to transform Silicon Valley in the 1970s; and

WHEREAS, The model provided by the Collaborative Center for Aerospace Sciences, a joint research venture of the United States Air Force Research Laboratory and the University of California, Los Angeles, is an example of the type of partnership the California Institute for Aerospace could form and expand; and

WHEREAS, The institute will champion aerospace research and development of aircraft vehicles, space travel, rocket propulsion, and overall national defense; and

WHEREAS, The institute will capture the best and brightest graduate engineering students as America’s next generation of aerospace research and development; and

WHEREAS, The institute will strengthen California’s position as a global leader in the aerospace industry; now, therefore, be it