Action Alert!!!

One of Governor Haley’s budget vetoes directly impacts on our state’s efforts to help our small manufacturers.  In Veto #49 the Governor has effectively slashed 23% of the state budget for the South Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which provides heavily discounted professional consulting to small manufacturers who can not afford private sector rates.

It is very important that you contact members of the state legislature before tomorrow when the House will begin considering override votes.

Our letter to the Legislators is below.  The message is this:

Please vote to override Veto #49, the S.C. Manufacturing Extension Partnership.  Reducing the state budget of the SC MEP by 23% will hurt our state’s efforts to grow our small business manufacturing sector. 

You can find a complete list of House members with telephone numbers and emails at:  http://www.scstatehouse.gov/member.php?chamber=H

The list of Senate members with telephone numbers and emails can be found at:  http://www.scstatehouse.gov/member.php?chamber=S

PLEASE CONTACT THEM TODAY!

Here is our letter to the General Assembly:

Dear Legislator,

The S.C. Small Business Chamber of Commerce asks that you vote to override the Governor’s veto of $200,000 in “one-time” state funds for the S.C. Manufacturing Extension Partnership (SC MEP).

The SC MEP is the state’s effort to help our small manufacturers be successful.  This is an important economic development effort in that 90% of South Carolina’s manufacturers have fewer than 100 employees and 84% have fewer than 50 employees. 

State and federal funding of SC MEP enables the organization to offer heavily discounted professional consulting services to small manufacturers to help them be more profitable.  The $200,000 of “one-time” state funds, which represents 23% of the SC MEP state funding, will be matched with $100,000 of federal funds enabling the SC MEP to assist approximately 30 additional small manufacturers.

As our state and local governments have invested hundreds of millions in recruiting large manufacturers like Boeing, SC MEP helps our small manufacturers achieve the necessary technical expertise to be certified as suppliers to these major S.C. industries.  In the case of Boeing, SC MEP helps our small manufacturers become AS9100 Aerospace Supply Qualified, an international quality standard essential for serving Boeing or any airline manufacturer South Carolina might recruit.

Thank you in advance for your vote to override veto #49.

Sincerely,

Frank Knapp, Jr.
President & CEO