State Rep. Lake Ray said his “first and foremost” goal as the new president of the First Coast Manufacturers Association is to ensure the community understands the value of companies and employers like his members.
“Five to 8 percent of the people in our city are employed in the manufacturing industry,” he said Friday morning, a few hours after the board of the Jacksonville-based trade organization voted to hire him.
“There are 36,000 people in our area that are employed in manufacturing, and it’s kind of an unsung story. It is my goal to ensure that whenever possible, people understand the significance of its employment and the economic impact to our community,” he said.
Ray, a Republican and a former Jacksonville City Council member, was elected in 2008 to the District 17 seat in the Florida House of Representatives and was subsequently re-elected.
The board of the association, formed in 1989, voted Friday to hire Ray as its third full-time president. He starts Saturday, a few days before his Oct. 4 birthday, when he turns 55.
He will work with current President Lad Daniels, who will remain on board until the end of the year in a transition role. Daniels had announced plans to retire some time ago.
Daniels, also a former Council member, was hired in 1992.
Ray is a civil engineer by training and ran the family engineering firm before merging it with a larger firm and phasing out. That opened the door for the new post.
“To me, it is an opportunity to do something that is new and fresh and will bring together my professional skills as an engineer, my political understandings, my working in the political process, and my working in the community,” he said.
Ray said he would “bring it together for the good of everyone, for the good of our association and for broadening the drivers of our economy.”
He said he wanted to expand the membership of the group, which has more than 300 companies as members, and improve the image of manufacturing and manufacturers.
“Most people believe they are not good stewards of our resources and the reality is they are very good stewards,” he said. “We as manufacturers go the extra length to make sure the processes are sound and safe and they are not environmentally unfriendly.”
Ray said his front-burner issue is “excessive regulation.”
“As businesses and as manufacturers, we have to do something to stop the excessive regulatory environment,” he said.
“Manufacturers are going to be put out of business” or will decide to leave the city, state or country, he said.
“The biggest thing is to make sure as an association that we stay together as one clear voice on regulations, that people understand that you cannot keep adding more and more regulations to manufacturing or businesses or they will move away,” he said.
The manufacturers association attracted 14 applicants for the job, short-listed them to four candidates and chose Ray after interviews.
“We were very impressed with Lake going through the interviews,” said Ron Avery, one of the tri-chairmen of the group.
Duval County Tax Collector Michael Corrigan, who has operated a family owned manufacturing company, cited Ray’s political experience.
Ray can address regulatory issues in the Legislature.
“We have treated it in the Legislature by either requiring accountability by the regulatory agencies or in some cases removing the regulations that are being imposed on different sectors of our businesses,” he said.
Among his legislative committee memberships, Ray serves on the Roads, Bridges & Ports Policy Committee and has been an outspoken advocate of the Jacksonville port.
“The ports are one component of international trade and we have to be able to move things to the state, through the state and abroad,” he said.
State lawmakers agreed in the last session to spend $117 million on port-related projects across the state in the fiscal year that began in July.
“Last year we got $117 million. I expect to get the same $117 million,” he said of the upcoming session.
Jacksonville’s port also seeks funding to fix the Mile Point navigational issue and to deepen the channel in the St. Johns River.
Ray said he wants to work with the state Department of Transportation to invest funds more strategically.
“I am working on a strategic plan bill to set strategic goals for the state,” he said.
“The target is to become a gateway state for the movement and flow of cargo,” he said.
Ray said the association understands the Legislature’s demands on his time.
He said he also would be working with Mayor Alvin Brown. “He is very interested in what I am working on with port-related issues and I look forward to talking with him about local issues,” he said.
One such issue is power consumption in the state. “Our manufacturers are having to pay very high rates for energy here,” he said. “We need to look at that so we can continue to attract manufacturers.”
A recent Florida TaxWatch Research Report presented to the Enterprise Florida economic development organization asks for state leaders and lawmakers to modify two incentives programs, eliminate taxes on manufacturing inputs, eliminate sales taxes on the purchases of machinery and equipment and continue to invest in the state’s transportation system and infrastructure, such as the deepening of the Port of Miami.
The report’s executive summary said that manufacturing plays an important role in Florida and is a significant provider of high-wage and high value-added jobs, but is lagging in manufacturing investment because of “significant, identifiable barriers.”
Specifically, it said, the state should modify its Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund Program and its Capital Investment Tax Credit programs to allow for smaller companies to invest their capital in the state.
The report also said that improvements to transportation infrastructure will increase national and international competitiveness.
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