Sacramento, CA—Today, Senator Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park) announced legislation to develop battery manufacturing facilities for next generation batteries, while creating dependable, unionized manufacturing jobs.
SB 1206 authorizes the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) to develop a public-private partnership of labor, private-sector manufacturers, investors, and community partners to create a plan for a regional Bay Area and Northern San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento County battery manufacturing hub. The bill aims to duplicate the public-private partnership model proven successful by ARCHES, and aim to decrease costs and increase access to next-generation batteries, advance the state’s clean energy and EV deployment goals, and maximize workforce and equity benefits.
“With this bill, we can continue to show that getting to net-zero means improving quality of life in California,” said Becker. “SB 1206 moves our state closer towards our climate goals through investing in innovation, while also creating good-paying union jobs.”
“The State Building Trades is excited to partner with Senator Becker on SB 1206 to help move California closer to our climate goals in a way that is beneficial to communities and does right by workers,” says Chris Hannan, President of the State Building and Construction Trades Council. “The public-private partnership model utilized by ARCHES to bring clean hydrogen infrastructure to California can and should be used to expand our clean energy portfolio to other spaces, like solid-state battery manufacturing. We appreciate the Senator’s commitment to strong labor standards and the use of a project labor agreement for all projects, ensuring that California’s skilled construction workers aren’t left behind as we move toward the next generation of energy production. We look forward to working with Senator Becker’s office to move this bill through the legislature to the Governor’s desk.”
This legislation will support California’s efforts to bring down tax credits and loans from the Inflation Reduction Act, as well as provide support to the private sector in the innovation and commercialization of these new technologies. This public-private partnership will support California’s EV and clean energy transition supporting High Road jobs and community benefits.
SB 1206 is sponsored by the State Building & Construction Trades Council of California.