The Greater Sacramento Economic Council on Friday called on the administration of Gov. Jerry Brown to develop a comprehensive statewide plan to prevent other states from poaching California companies and jobs.
Members of the council’s board joined Executive Director Barry Broome in a brief news conference outside Wells Fargo Bank at 400 Capitol Mall. Congressman Ami Bera also attended the gathering, which was called in response to this week’s announcement that Aerojet Rocketdyne would relocate or eliminate about 1,100 of its 1,400 jobs in Rancho Cordova and shut down manufacturing operations in the city by 2019.
Broome chastised the state for not doing enough to keep jobs in California and said the economic council was committed to a “new beginning to make jobs a priority.” He said the state “lacks compassion” when it comes to widespread job losses. Council officials cited Texas, Arizona, Minnesota, Washington and Alabama as having more sophisticated statewide economic development programs.
