Final
Committee Discussion with Advisory Group
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Votes:
Action Taken:
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02:24 PM -- Advisory Board Discussion
Mr. Tom Clark and Mr. Brian Vogt, co-chairs of the advisory board, discussed their thoughts on how the advisory board could derive an economic development plan. Ms. Su Hawk, advisory board member, discussed the status of the technology sector in the state and commented on the significant number of jobs that were lost during the economic downturn. She indicated that tech jobs command high salaries, require a lot of skill, and are very important to the state's economy in the future.
Mr. Vogt discussed the process for developing economic development plans. Effective plans require the help of communities statewide. Local communities will cumulatively inform state policy makers on what policies and approaches are needed. He stated that the advisory board may have 6 to 8 meetings. He also explained that the board needs to address questions that the state does not know the answers to, such as the importance of incentives. Mr. Clark commented on the need to find ways to measure the progress of the state's economic development policies. He stated that the biggest challenge he has encountered in discussing economic development is the lack of context among policy makers.
Ms. Marguerite Salazar commented on the need to discover the barriers to economic development in the state so that they can be removed.
Mr. Bonifacio Consyleon discussed the need for an assessment of what the state's strengths are, especially in its rural areas.
Mr. Bill Becker indicated that he liked the idea of developing a master economic development plan. He also mentioned that the state needed to evaluate its performance in retaining businesses in the state. About 70 percent of new jobs are created by existing businesses. The state needs to develop a method to analyze business location decisions, such as why businesses move to the state, why they consider leaving, and why they do not move to the state.
Representative Borodkin stated that all the committee's recommendations to improve the state's business climate will not need to require legislation.
Mr. Tony Robinson discussed the need to measure the success of incentives, such the number of jobs created and wage levels. He stated that some states, such as Illinois and Florida, publically provide performance indicators of businesses that receive incentives.
Mr. Vogt reiterated that the state needs to get everyone on the same page regarding its current economic development incentive programs and then evaluate whether the state needs better accountability. He stated that the state has incented 2,450 jobs this year to date, and that all the state's incentives are performance based, including its Enterprise Zone program, Colorado First program, Existing Industry program, and its Economic Development Commission grant program.
02:44 PM
Mr. Tom Clark discussed broadening the concept of incentives to include incentives to invest in human capital, such as providing money for training. The state needs to look at strategic investment incentives in both human and physical capital. Mr. Becker stated that most incentives in Colorado are performance based and that most are provided by local governments. Ms. Siegel also discussed the need to track incentives.
Ms. Su Hawk explained that the committee needed to have a sense of urgency because of its strong economic competition, a sense of seriousness due to the large stakes involved with competing in the global marketplace, and needed to create synergy to assess the best way the state can work together. She also stated the committee could help engender a sense of pride to businesses for operating in Colorado.
02:52 PM
Representative Borodkin explained the deadlines that the committee has for requesting bills and stated that the committee can recommend up to 8 bills.
02:57 PM
The committee adjourned.