COVINGTON, La. -- In the midst of some bad economic news recently for the state, there was some very good news Tuesday.
A satellite communications company called Globalstar is relocating its corporate headquarters from Silicon Valley in California to Covington.
Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret called it "an exciting win for Louisiana."
"They could, literally, choose to be anywhere," Gov. Bobby Jindal said at a press conference announcing the move Tuesday. "They could have stayed where they were. Their company was already headquartered in Silicon Valley. They could have gone to Canada. They could have gone to a number of other states. Of all the places, they chose to come to Covington. They'll be moving, literally, employees from Canada, from California, here."
"These are great jobs for Covington," Moret added, "great jobs for our whole state."
Moret credits a vote in Baton Rouge with helping to pave the way for the Globalstar move. During the 2010 session, legislatures expanded the tax credit program for digital media.
The digital media tax credits were designed after the state's filmmaking tax credit program.
When originally passed in 2006, the digital media tax credits were aimed at the video game development industry, but changes to the credits this year expanded to include other digital media.
"I don't think this Globalstar move would have occurred if that tax credit hadn't been available," state Sen. Jack Donahue of Covington said. Donahue voted in favor of the digital media tax credits.
"This is exactly the kind of company we had in mind a year ago when we adopted that new tax credit program," Moret added.
"We would not be here if the state and the parish hadn't worked hard to attract us here," said Globalstar Chairman Jay Monroe.
According to Monroe, Globalstar will have 40 to 50 people working out of their Covington facility within the next 30 days. Globalstar expects to have 150 high tech jobs in place by the end of 2011, and nearly 500 high tech jobs over the next eight years.
Those Globalstar jobs average $70,000 a year.
"How many times do you get a company that's been in Silicon Valley to choose Louisiana?" Brenda Reine Bertus, the executive director for the St, Tammany Economic Development Foundation asked. "And not only Louisiana, but St. Tammany Parish."
Globalstar is a provider of commercial and consumer mobile satellite voice and data services.
"Every time we attract a major corporate headquarters from another state, it builds up the credibility of Louisiana," Moret said. "It builds up momentum."
The state estimates that Globalstar will bring more than $34 million in tax revenue to Louisiana.
