Toyota Leaving CA & KY, Heading to Texas

Brenda Collins Morris April 30, 2014

239 Less than a minute

Toyota recently announced it will be relocating jobs from California and Kentucky to Texas. The Northern Kentucky location will be losing around 1600 jobs, 1000 of those to Plano TX, the remaining to Michigan and another Toyota location in Central Kentucky.

Governor Perry of Texas has been courting companies offering them huge incentives to relocate to Texas, and it seems to be working. According to Governor Perry around 60 companies have decided to move to Texas since mid 2012. Perry says companies are choosing Texas because it offers a better business climate.

Torrance California Mayor, Frank Scotto said businesses in California can’t compete as they bear higher cost for compensation and liability insurance, among other expenses. In 2005 Nissan announced it was leaving California for Franklin Tennessee just south of Nashville. Nissan’s CEO stated it was “cheaper to do business in Tennessee than in California. ” Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear’s office states they were caught off guard by the announcement. Beshear said Kentucky was never given the opportunity to counter Texas’s offer. This is where I say “elections do have consequences.”

The Texas Governor is busy developing plans and incentives to bring jobs to his state, while states like California continue to over tax and over regulate driving businesses right out of the state. Governors like Steve Beshear (D) Kentucky might want to talk to Governor Rick Perry (R) Texas about how to retain and recruit businesses for their states.