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Senate panel expands aerospace testing law to include rocket test cells; $20 million appropriation removed for appropriations process
Summary
Senate Bill 135 would add rocket test-cell language to prior jet-engine testing legislation; the committee approved an amendment removing a $20 million appropriation so policymakers can pursue that funding through the appropriations process.
Senator Hayes presented Senate Bill 135 as an expansion of last year’s jet-engine test-cell legislation to allow creation of a rocket engine test cell and related facilities. "This would also open it up so that we could create a test cell for rockets," Hayes said, adding that Oklahoma is seeking to capture aerospace growth and support companies that will perform rocket-related testing and repairs.
Hayes offered an amendment deleting a $20,000,000 appropriation from the bill so that the funding matter could be handled in Appropriations. "What I'm doing at this point is removing the dollars $20,000,000 appropriation part of this out of the bill so that we could focus on the policy itself," Hayes said; the amendment passed on a voice vote.
Senators asked whether private contractors normally absorb testing costs. Hayes said testing facilities serve repair and maintenance needs similar to jet-engine test cells and noted that statute already requires at least 40% matching funds from companies for related programs. A number of senators discussed Burns Flat and other state assets and the potential for job growth; Hayes cited prior jet-engine work in Oklahoma and referenced projects that drove gains of several hundred jobs in Tulsa from MRO expansions.
The committee advanced SB135 as amended by unanimous roll call.
