Lawmakers approve $350 million deal to bring electric vehicle battery factory to north Mississippi

by

Will Stribling

• Published on January 18, 2024 • Last modified on January 19, 2024 • Comments

Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, center, stands with House Speaker Jason White, R-West, left, and Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, right, as well as the legislators behind him, as he praises the passing of a state incentives package for a Mississippi factory that will manufacture batteries for electric vehicles — a project that promises 2,000 jobs, following a special session of the Mississippi Legislature, Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, at the Mississippi Capitol in Jackson, Miss.
(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Mississippi lawmakers came together for a special session on Thursday to offer near unanimous, bipartisan support for appropriating $349 million to bring an electric vehicle battery factory to North Mississippi.

Will Stribling

Lawmakers approve $350 million deal to bring electric vehicle battery factory to north Mississippi

Gov. Tate Reeves celebrated the project's approval as a win for all of Mississippi during a Capital press conference after the special session ended.

“For those of you who have worked in this building for a long time, you know, it is very difficult to get near unanimous support that today is Thursday,” Reeves said. “And yet we had near unanimous support in both chambers, which says a lot about the quality of this project, and the opportunities that this project presents for Mississippians.”

The factory is a joint venture between Paccar Inc., Cummins Truck Holdings and Daimler Truck Holdings, who will each own 30%, and China-based Eve Energy, which will own 10%. The three larger stakeholders have agreed to repay the bulk of the state's investment if certain commitments are not met.

In addition to the nearly $187 million granted to the companies for the project, the factory will also receive a slew of tax breaks, including a ten year corporate income tax exemption. The state has also committed $123 million to improving infrastructure around the project site in Marshall County, and $127 million to build an interchange access road in the area if increased traffic flow justifies it.

Only one House member and two Senators voted against the project, all of them Republicans. Rep. Dan Eubanks, a DeSoto County Republican, called the state incentives "corporate welfare" and said the appropriations threatened the ability for lawmakers to pass further tax cuts.

On the Democratic side, Rep. Robert Johnson, the House minority leader, offered two amendments that were rejected by his Republican colleagues. One would have required that 70% of the factory's employees be from Mississippi, and the other would have required the companies commit to supporting other projects in the project area.

While all legislative Democrats supported the legislation, they decried the lack of investment in less affluent areas of the state.

“Now is the time that we are intentional about developing areas west of I-55,” Sen. Derrick Simmons, the senate minority leader, said. “We want economic development in the entire state of Mississippi, and not just in certain parts of Mississippi.”

Lawmakers said the companies hope to have the factory operational by 2027, but the legislative deadline for that is not until 2029.