This year, Florida Today reports, Space Day participants will press for passage of three relatively modest bills designed to support the state’s commercial space industry. One would formally recognize Cecil Field in Jacksonville, which already has an FAA spaceport license, as a spaceport. Another would revise the definition of “spaceport facilities” to make them eligible for state transportation funding. A third would change how Space Florida gets funding from the legislature, giving the state agency the money for specific projects up front to improve efficiency. None of the bills proved to be particularly controversial in recent committee hearings, Florida Today noted.

Legislation that would limit liability for commercial spaceflight providers in New Mexico was formally endorsed Thursday by a state senate committee, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported Friday. The bill would be similar to existing legislation in Florida, Texas, and Virginia that would protect companies from lawsuits stemming from accidents that resulted in the injury or death of spaceflight participants, with exceptions for those accidents caused by gross negligence. The legislation passed the finance committee of the New Mexico Senate on a 12-0 vote, and will be taken up by the full legislature in its next session in January. Similar legislation was introduced earlier this year but failed to pass.

An amendment to a Senate appropriations bill would prevent the FCC from approving LightSquared’s plans for a terrestrial wireless network until any potential interference with the GPS system is resolved. Aviation Week reports that Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) introduced the amendment to the financial services appropriations bill, similar to one in the House version of the spending bill. Concerns that LightSquared’s terrestrial system—intended to augment its satellite system—would overwhelm the much weaker GPS signals in nearby regions of spectrum has led to an ongoing series of tests scheduled for completion this week.

Last week the office of Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell released a report on potential improvements to the commercial Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, Virginia. The report calls for more capital investment in the spaceport and a long-range strategy that includes making sure MARS is a “multi-use facility”. The Daily Press newspaper in Hampton Roads, Virginia, points out a lesser-known recommendation: that Orbital Sciences should no longer have a vote on the spaceport’s board of directors. Orbital is MARS’s biggest user, developing launch facilities for its Taurus 2 rocket, but the report found that the company’s seat on the board “is perceived as a conflict of interest by potential customers/potential competitors.” Orbital used to have two seats on the board, but is now down to one; that seat, currently held by what the Daily Press describes as “a very vocal Jeffrey Windland”, can’t be changed until MARS and Orbital amend their existing agreement about using the spaceport.

Representatives of a number of “space states” are in Orlando today and tomorrow for a closed-door meeting, Florida Today reports. The meeting is by invitation only and includes “experts and state and federal officials in the space sector”, although no list of attendees or agenda has been released by the host organization, Space Florida. The meeting is described as “a first-of-its-kind event”, although the report doesn’t note that representatives of space-minded states have met in the past through the Aerospace States Association and the now-defunct National Coalition of Spaceport States.

Rep. Sandy Adams (R-FL), whose district includes KSC, noted with “great sadness” the final shuttle landing, but also said it was a time to look forward, adding she was “elated” when a Florida organization was selected last week to manage research on the ISS. In a neighboring district, Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) called yesterday a “historic, but bittersweet day”, using his statement to laud the program and those who worked on it. Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX), whose district includes the Johnson Space Center, recognized those who worked on the shuttle program while adding that America “will need your expertise and skills to take us to the next level of human space exploration.” Another Houston-area member, Rep. John Culberson (R-TX), acknowledged the “uncertain future of the program” but said that “Houston is destined to build on its legacy of exploration and discovery.” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said “Texans should take pride” in their work on the shuttle program; in a longer op-ed in the Houston Chronicle, he does express concern about the NASA and the administration’s slow movement on the Space Launch System, but adds, “Leveraging the potential of the private sector will be a key to closing the new space gap between America and our international rivals.”

Some, were a bit more critical of the administration’s policy. George LeMieux, who spent a year and a half in the Senate serving out the remainder of Mel Martinez’s term and is now seeking the Republican nomination to run against Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), came out against Nelson and the administration Thursday in a speech in Lakeland, Florida, saying he would push for “greater direction and greater emphasis” on space if he returns to the Senate. “There was a mood among my colleagues when I was in the Senate, to do more. I am certain there is wasteful spending where the money could go to the space program instead. Sen. Nelson should have held the president accountable (for continuing a strong space program),” he said, according to a report by the Lakeland Ledger. LeMieux previously claimed that Sen. Nelson “allows 23,000 space jobs to die”.

LeMieux’s comments, though, were mild compared to those made by Texas governor Rick Perry. In a press release from his office, he came out swinging against the White House. “The Obama Administration continues to lead federal agencies and programs astray, this time forcing NASA away from its original purpose of space exploration, and ignoring its groundbreaking past and enormous future potential,” he stated, not mentioning exactly how the administration was redirecting NASA. “Unfortunately, with the final landing of the Shuttle Atlantis and no indication of plans for future missions, this administration has set a significantly different milestone by shutting down our nation’s legacy of leadership in human spaceflight and exploration, leaving American astronauts with no alternative but to hitchhike into space.” Perry doesn’t note that this need to “hitchhike” can be traced back to the original Vision for Space Exploration by President George W. Bush, which directed the shuttle’s retirement by 2010 and a successor vehicle by 2014; the gap was a major issue long before the current administration took office. Perry’s comments carry particular import because, in addition to being governor of a state with a significant NASA presence, he is reportedly considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

The end of the shuttle program and the expected losses of thousands of jobs came up at Thursday’s White House press briefing. The administration’s NASA policy, press secretary Jay Carney said in response to a question, “means more jobs for the country, more American astronauts in space over the next decade and more investments in innovation relative to the prior administration’s plan,” adding on more than one occasion that this policy has “bipartisan support” in Congress. The president, Carney added, “looks forward to NASA’s future and moving forward with space exploration in the future” and has “tremendous regard for the program and for all the folks at NASA who participated in making it such a tremendous success.”

In an interview Thursday with Bloomberg TV, NASA administrator Charles Bolden also acknowledged the Bush Administration’s space policy. “I really applaud the Bush Administration for the decision to migrate from shuttle, phase it out in an orderly fashion, which is what we just completed today,” he said about five minutes into the interview. “If I had a criticism of them, and the Congress, it would be that together they did not adequately fund the space program to be able to bring about a viable exploration program for beyond low Earth orbit and certainly did almost nothing to help us facilitate the success of commercial entities. That’s an area where President Obama has stepped forward, where no one did that since the beginning of NASA.”

By contrast, he says, Florida is doing a much better job in supporting its space industry. “Despite limited resources, the Florida Legislature in 2010 increased space-program funding by more than 600 percent,” he writes. Space Florida did get $31 million in 2010, but about two-thirds of that was for one-time initiatives; new governor Rick Scott’s budget proposed $10 million for the agency in 2011, something not mentioned in the op-ed. He also cites “new aerospace jobs” that have come to Florida’s Space Coast as a result of space efforts, but most of the examples he gives are more “aero” than “space”, and some are neither, like 600 jobs for “Associated Telecommunications Management Systems” [sic], a company that is “the largest provider of pre-paid telephone service in the United States”, according to a local jobs site.

Even that $10 million for Space Florida may be in jeopardy. An editorial in Wednesday’s issue of Florida Today raises concerns that Space Florida’s budget could be combined with that other state economic development agencies and put under the direct control of Governor Scott. Citing Scott’s recent controversial decision to unilaterally kill plans for a high-speed rail project in the state, the editorial says, “There’s no reason Scott — who has no knowledge of the space industry and still hasn’t used his office to make a strong space commitment — could not do the same on space, rejecting ventures regardless of their benefit simply because he didn’t like them.” Even if he didn’t, the editorial adds, “the strangling maw of a super bureaucracy” could make it harder to win funding for space efforts in the state. To prevent that from happening, the editorial seeks support from… Sen. Haridopolos, who “should stop him [Scott] to ensure the agency maintains its ability to act quickly and aggressively to seek companies at a time when the shuttle program’s end will be a body slam to the Space Coast’s economy.”

Speaking at the Space Access ’11 conference in Phoenix on Friday, longtime space advocate announced the formation of an organization called the Texas Space Alliance (which goes by the acronym TXA, to avoid any association with the Transportation Security Administration). The goal of the TXA, said Tumlinson, is to make Texas “not just the United States’ leader in space activities, but also the world’s leader in space activities” through supporting commercial space activities in the state.

A big part of that effort is to convince state legislators and the state’s congressional delegation of the importance of commercial space, something he said they’re generally oblivious to despite the presence of ventures like Blue Origin in the state. “Everything is built around the NASA legacy,” Tumlinson said. “We’re going to try and change that.”

One of the first efforts of the TXA, a 501(c)4 lobbying organization, is to win passage of state legislation that provides liability immunity for spaceflight operators in the state. Tumlinson said the TXA originally planned to draft its own legislation, then learned of already proposed legislation, SB 115, supported by Blue Origin, and is instead backing that. That bill passed the state Senate last month; Tumlinson said he expected the House to pass it next week and the governor to sign it “in a few weeks.” The TXA is also exploring other state legislation, such as a zero-g/zero-tax bill.

The long-term goal of the TXA, though, is to get state legislators, and members of Congress, to think of space as something more than just NASA. That’s been a problem with the past with the state’s Republicans, he said, who are typically very conservative on most issues, but when it comes to space, “support a socialist space program.” That, he argues, could have benefits beyond the state’s borders. “I believe that if we can change what happens in Texas, and if I can change the behavior of the Texas delegation in Congress via-à-vis commercial space, we can hit a tipping point that begins to push the entire nation into opening the frontier.”

Another space-related bill expected to win passage in Florida is SB 652/HB 703, which would amend the state’s existing law that provides immunity to spaceflight operators by repealing a 2018 sunset date for the law that was in the original legislation. Similar legislation is also making its way through the Texas Legislature. On Tuesday the Texas Senate unanimously passed SB 115, which would provide immunity for spaceflight operators in Texas. The legislation was uncontroversial enough members were cracking Star Trek jokes prior to voting on the bill, the Austin American-Statesman reported. This is the second time the state’s senate has approved such legislation: a similar bill, SB 2105, won unanimous approval from the Texas Senate in 2009 but died in the Texas House.

In New Mexico, a change in administrations has cost Spaceport America executive director Rick Homans his job. Homans announced his resignation Wednesday, saying that new governor Susana Martinez (R)—who took office on New Year’s Day—had forced him to either resign or be fired. Homans had expressed an interest in staying on at least through the completion of the commercial spaceport’s construction later this year. Homans had served in several roles for former governor Bill Richardson, including as the state’s secretary of economic development when plans for the spaceport were announced a little over five years ago. The Martinez administration plans to form a search committee to find a replacement for Homans. In comments announcing his resignation, Homans said he’s concerned that the spaceport project could “slow down or fall apart pretty quickly” without a clear show of support for the effort by Gov. Martinez.

Martinez had previously indicated she had formed a “spaceport review team” to study the project, including its contract with anchor tenant Virgin Galactic; that team has received input from, among others, former astronauts Harrison Schmitt and Sid Gutierrez. Thursday, the Martinez administration announced that Schmitt has been nominated to be the state’s secretary of energy, minerals, and natural resources.

Meanwhile, everyone agrees that there is ambiguity in New Mexico: will Rick Homans keep his job as executive director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, which runs Spaceport America? Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat who appointed Homans to the post, is leaving after two terms in office, and Republican Susana Martinez will take office on January 1. Homans tells the Santa Fe New Mexican he’d like to stay on, but wants “further discussions” with the new administration about their plans for the spaceport and its governance. “I’d say it’s a fluid situation,” he said. He has been campaigning, of sorts, to stay on, with an op-ed outlining the spaceport’s accomplishments in 2010 in NMPolitics.net. He also has the support of the Las Cruces Sun-News, which called for Gov.-elect Martinez to retain Homans and his team in an editorial Tuesday.

When Orbital Sciences announced its CCDev plans this month, it was heralded in many quarters as a new entrant. Others, though, recalled that Orbital had similar concepts—a winged vehicle launched atop an EELV or other rocket—dating back over a decade. As I noted on NewSpace Journal yesterday, Orbital’s vision back then of how such a system should be developed and operated was quite similar to NASA’s current plans and the proponents of present-day CCDev proponents. In particular, there’s this passage from testimony of Orbital’s CTO at a hearing of the House Science Committee’s space subcommittee in October 1999: (emphasis in original)

We envision this Space Taxi to be industry owned and operated; however, the cost of development, production, and operation of the Space Taxi System would be paid for predominantly out of government funds because it satisfies unique NASA needs that are not currently aligned with those of commercial industry. The launching of this Space Taxi System, however, could be competed among commercial RLV or EELV suppliers that meet the cost and safety requirements. These future RLVs would be commercially developed with private capital and would be commercially owned and operated. Their development will be enabled by NASA’s current and planned future investments in RLV technologies and could be enhanced by government-backed financial incentives, such as tax credits, loan guarantees or advanced purchase agreements. Once a truly commercial Space Station becomes operational or the current Space Station becomes sufficiently commercialized, NASA and industry launch needs will be in almost complete alignment, and a completely commercial Space Taxi may become a viable business opportunity. We strongly believe that industry ownership of the Space Taxi from initial operation is critical to enable the eventual development of such a commercial Space Station.

The name of Orbital’s CTO at that time? Mike Griffin.

“You can look at it as a problem or an opportunity. The opportunity is, look at all the talent that is now going to be freed up to be part of companies,” said Florida Gov.-elect Rick Scott, at the beginning of a week-long swing through the state to talk about jobs. “We’re going to put a lot of effort into talking to companies that make sense for that workforce to work there. We’re going to talk to people all around the world to relocate plants, open plants there, because we have a ready work force.”

Frank DiBello, president of Space Florida, is optimistic that several thousand shuttle jobs can be replaced within the next few years. DiBello estimates that 6,000 jobs will be lost when the shuttle program ends, but that 2,000 to 3,000 can be replaced with “the completion of deals that are under way”, he told Florida Today. He added that he met with Scott and “foresees no problems” working with the new governor on these issues.