Economic development report due in October

By Brice Wallace 

A comprehensive review of state government’s economic development activities could result in minor changes rather than a comprehensive overhaul.

In briefing the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) board at its September meeting, Val Hale, GOED’s executive director, said GOED’s review continues but that subcommittees looking at various economic development components have recommended only “tweaks and adjustments.”{mprestriction ids="1,3"}

The completed report is due to be presented to a legislative interim committee in mid-October. Hale recently met with Gov. Gary Herbert, Senate President Stuart Adams and House Speaker Brad Wilson to review the preliminary recommendations of the 17 subcommittees.

“I would say the reception was positive,” Hale told the GOED board. “They like the vision, the principles and those things.

“I wouldn’t say there were any earth-shattering changes recommended by the subcommittees. There were tweaks and adjustments here and there, including to our incentives and things like that, but it was nothing that would completely, I would say, disrupt things and cause us to go a completely different direction.”

Hale acknowledged that some people would like to see a final report with “more disruption,” while others might contend that Utah’s lengthy economic success warrants nothing more than a few minor changes to the current system.

GOED is required by SB172, passed in this year’s general session, to review the state’s economic development activities and make recommendations for any changes. GOED formed the Utah Economic Development Strategic Planning Committee and several subcommittees to study the matter, and it has contracted with the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness, an independent, not-for-profit organization, to provide expert opinion and prepare the report.

SB172 requires GOED to consult with other state agencies involved in economic development and produce a written strategic plan “that contains a coordinated economic development strategy for the state” and states that the strategy consist “of a limited set of clear, concise and defined principles and goals.”

The bill requires GOED to “establish specific principles and make specific recommendations to decrease competition and increase communication and cooperation among state-level economic development agencies, providers and administrators of economic development programs in the state, nonprofit entities that participate in economic development in the state, and local governments.”

It also requires GOED to recommend “a fundamental realignment of economic development programs in the state to ensure each program’s purpose is congruent with the mission of the organization within which the program is located.”

GOED also is to establish goals and principles to ensure the strategy works for both urban and rural areas of the state, and to provide recommendations on how existing rural economic development programs should be restructured or realigned. GOED also must assess the effectiveness of the state’s economic development incentives and make recommendations regarding them.

Among the subcommittee topics are incentives, workforce development, rural economic development, realignment/reorganization, measurement and metrics, tourism and event sponsorships, innovation, venture capital, economic clusters, public/private partnerships, entrepreneurship and small business, and international trade.{/mprestriction}