After stalling in 2024, a bill to create an electric vehicle manufacturing hub in Riverside County is recharged and hoping to race past the finish line and the governor’s veto pen.
Assemblymember Corey Jackson, D-Moreno Valley, has reintroduced legislation to lay the groundwork for EV manufacturing and job training in the Inland Empire.
In a phone interview, Jackson said there’s going to be strong demand in the coming years for EVs in California. A 2020 executive order signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom requires zero-emission vehicles to make up 100% of in-state sales of passenger cars by 2035.
“These are still jobs where you don’t need a college degree and you can receive training to be able to either help be a part of the building of electric vehicles, electric batteries and all of the things that go into it,” Jackson said.
Unlike California’s coastal counties, many Inland residents lack college educations. Diversifying the Inland economy is a top priority for many elected leaders in a region dominated by logistics — an industry expected to lose jobs to automation in the years ahead.
AB 72 would create an Electric Vehicle Economic Opportunity Zone in Riverside County “for the purpose of creating programs to make electric vehicle manufacturing jobs and education more accessible to lower income communities,” the bill’s text states.
California’s Labor & Workforce Development Agency would work with schools, EV makers and banks “to develop … education, training and investment programs” in the zone, the bill read.
Riverside County would work with the state to map the zone’s boundaries, according to the bill. AB 72 would cost the state $5.8 million to start and $1.2 million a year going forward, according to a state analysis of the bill.
AB 72 is similar to AB 2448, which passed the legislature in 2024. Citing “cost pressures” to the state budget, Newsom vetoed the 2024 bill.
Jackson, whose district includes Perris, Moreno Valley, and parts of Riverside, San Jacinto and Hemet, hopes it’s different this time around.
“I know what it’s going to take, and I’m going to have to work on it to get the money necessary into the budget,” Jackson said.
Newsom, the assemblymember said, “only vetoed (the 2024 bill) because the money wasn’t already approved in the budget for it, and as a member of the budget committee and a leader in the budget committee, I’m going to work my butt off to try to get that done.”
Jackson sees parallels between his bill and how Hollywood and Silicon Valley, respectively, became dominant in the entertainment and technology sectors.
“Silicon Valley didn’t become Silicon Valley on its own. Hollywood did not become Hollywood on its own,” he said. “The state purposely invested dollars and incentives for those industries to take root and thrive.”
“The Inland Empire, it’s our turn to get those targeted investments. And our friends, families and neighbors need higher-paying jobs closer to where they live.”
