What I missed at the Legislature
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My boss pointed out to me recently that we haven’t done a very good job of covering business legislation during this year’s legislative session.
I can’t argue with him, but when you only have two business reporters and lots of breaking business news it’s hard to make it to the temporary capitol to see what is up.
So I took a few moments this and did a quick review to see what I might have missed.
I came across a few highlights.
The Commerce Department and the Office of Science and Technology’s budget is still bare bones, but the Legislature did agree to continue funding the Business and Jobs Development Fund with a $1.1 million appropriation.
The Commerce Department uses the fund as a “closing fund” to give companies the extra funding they might need to expand or grow in Idaho. A “closing fund” is a good idea, but you could easily argue that it should be 10 times that amount.
It also looks like the Commerce Department will be successful at revising the Idaho Business Advantage investment incentive by revising wage requirements to make it more appealing to small business expansion.
And I did run across a bill that would allow county commissioners in rural Idaho to give manufacturing companies up to a five year break on property taxes if they spend at least $3 million and “demonstrate significant economic impacts” to the county.
And of course there’s the legislation to make Idaho more attractive to the Areva, the French owned nuclear fuel company.
But again, there’s a notable lack of any legislation that could help Idaho’s high tech industry.
The one guy that I thought could truly help the tech industry — Commerce Director Jim Ellick — bailed nearly a month ago and I doubt he’s coming back.
Ellick’s departure also left the fate of the Governor’s Science & Tech Advisory Council up in the air. At the Governor’s request, Ellick was supposed to come up with something to replace the council. But that hasn’t happened and the Governor’s office has given no indication that anything is going to happen, despite the fact that law requires the council.
Even the pet project of the ultra powerful business-lobbying group IACI has been ignored. Nearly two months in to the session, as our editorial editor Kevin Richert pointed out in his Sunday column, there’s been no action on a bill to eliminate the personal property tax.
I had someone tell me recently that the faltering economy will be “one long slow train wreck,” which we won’t pull out of quickly. Yet I’ve seen nothing yet from our Legislators that would help us prepare for that.
Granted we still get the positive press from the national media. The Boise Valley Economic Partnership recently said it has exceeded its goal this year for national media stories that mention Boise. In 2007, the organization said it has placed 44 stories about the Boise Valley in national print publications and broadcast outlets. Next up we’ll be featured in Forbes.
Good for them. I’m glad to see that the $5 million raised from businesses including the Idaho Statesman is accomplishing something. But positive press only goes so far. The organization is still far short of its plan to create 5,000 well paying jobs in five years.
The Idaho Business Review had a nice story recently talking to two of the valley’s top tech executives about what impact the Forbes article could have on the industry. They made some good comments and I hope some of our legislators read it. But needless to say, I don’t think Jason Crawforth, the former tech council member who was interviewed, made any friends with the Legislature. But I doubt Jason will lose any sleep over that and as they say, the truth hurts.
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Maybe more "guests"?
Ken, two thoughts.
1) Get experts to weigh in on issues like Areva. No matter what the topic, I'm sure we could find you some top minds on both sides. Don't relegate them to "Reader's views" - put them to work right now.
2) Get experts to talk about what we SHOULD do in the future? OK, what should any future STAC look like? (We've had this chat before.)
Example:
I look at the numbers that Grow Idaho Falls dug up on the impact of Areva and it's pretty staggering. Economically, it's hard to find holes in it. Of course, the "N" word has set off the usual loonies in the comments. (You guys really should moderate better, LOL) So maybe it's time for some intelligent debate?
Sooo... Why not use this bill to expand everyone's knowledge re how, when and why we should address incentives? My bias isn't toward incentives, but this analysis is persuasive (i.e. I can't poke big holes in it). Yes, the biggest payoff for any economy is to grow their own jobs (and companies), but there can still be very, very good reasons to provide incentives. Investing $1 million & getting $5 million back... is a bad idea?
Are the reasons persuasive? Why not call in the experts? Ihe economic impact of any economic change is complex, let alone something the size of this Areva project. So, why not get some smart, informed folks to write about this? I'd suggest contacting anyone you know with the Idaho Economic Development Association. (If you want the Grow Idaho Falls #'s, let me know.)
On the other hand, there are also political issues. Is the state usurping local powers here (even if Idaho Falls supports it wholly, is it a bad precedent? If so, how can we fix that? Note: I'm cuing WildBill re home-rule..) This opens doors, Ken, to other economic/business issues that face the legislature & state government.
Anyway, Ken - there are economic development folks and other experts out there who could write intelligently about this. All you have to do is make sure it's in plain English, LOL.
At worst, your readers will end up knowing a helluva lot more about the realities of how local economies evolve (and how we can help or hinder) in all their glorious complexities.
You have access to great expertise; exploit 'em!
QUE?
What N word? Are we being accused of racism or radiation paranoia? Nyssa is an N word, as are nattering and nabob and negativism. Narwhal? Narciscism? Navigation? Namby-pamby?
Okay, that's a compound phrase of sorts.
Maybe it's NAZI but that's as smartalecky and colloquial as retarded around here. Step all the way into the pool, y'all.
By the way, 10X?
WHY? If they cannot do this "drug-free" then we don't need this garbage at all. Pay me to do this, do that.
Avarice, greed and stupidity. There is the old joke about finding a husband, "Grow your own dope" and that seems to apply.
How did anybody ever succeed in 1920 or 1945, much less now?
You drive fat cars and grumble that you can't live 10 minutes from stuff you like and that you can't afford anything like health caew or food and then cry and gnash and rend cloth over Micron?
Yes, your boss is correct and all the griping you got meant something. The entire state is relevant to you. You are a good writer and a decent reporter after all, Mr. Richert got stuck in a rut too and it seems he's starting to figure it out.
I feel Jasper is probably the best blogger here and Michael Deeds a very close second. Overall things are getting slightly better on this site and I hope for more improvements soon.
regards, foreignoregonian
Where's IACI?
In the early '90s I was an executive board member of the New Mexico Association of Commerce & Industry, in a state that at the time had been a 100% Cold War ward of the federal government. The Democrats dominated everything.
We at NMACI decided to change the rules of the game. Unlike IACI here, who's main motive seems to be protecting their statist slices of pre-tech industry benefits, our objective was to bake a bigger economic pie. We did this by developing a process that was inclusive of all NM businesses, not just old line ag & commodity industries.
Next we developed a broadly based series of economic benchmarks, developed in an unbiased process within the membership. These were distilled into a series of bills carried by the few friendly GOP or Dem legislators. NM's process has a 2 year budget with alternating 30 & 60 day sessions, that are very fixed in what they work on.
The ultimate challenge was a tabloid style newspaper recap of every business related bill, and how every legislator voted, with their relative rankings for business. Yeah, it takes work and lazy, whiney legislators cried constantly. But when the Cold War collapsed, the real estate S&L bubble, & the oil patch cratered....all within 3 years of eachother, it helped quickly realign the state's economic direction. We were also helped by the redistricting of 1990, in which rural interests lost nearly 75% of their seats, and replaced by more aggressive and harder-working urban ones.
At home!
It's Sunday!