New commission faces deadlines for economic strategy plans

By Brice Wallace 

Even after just one meeting, the state’s new Unified Economic Opportunity Commission is facing deadlines.

One is for a commission subcommittee to develop a new 10-year economic strategy for the state by October. Another is to develop five to 10 bills that can go through the Legislature’s interim committee process and be considered by the full body at the general session early next year.

The commission, pushed by new Gov. Spencer Cox and created by legislation approved in the 2021 general session, will study ways that state government can grow the economy in the best way. Among their tools are tax policy, regulation, education, workforce, incentives, transportation, outdoor recreation/quality of life, and infrastructure.

At its inaugural meeting, Mark Knold, chief economist at the Department of Workforce Services, told the commission that “you’re dealing with an economy that is in your favor.”

“You’re not looking at a patient that needs transformation, a transfusion, a rebuild or anything,” Knold said. “[It’s] one that just needs guidance and might need some surgical activities within it.”

Ben Hart, deputy director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity (Go Utah), noted that the commission will have three more meetings before the general session. Its various committees and working groups will study certain policy areas and make recommendations to the commission, which will decide which advance to the interim legislative committees.

“We know that it’s going to be a little bit rapid-fire in terms of our meetings,” Hart said. “That’s the purpose. This is not meant to be a ‘talking’ effort. This is meant to be very much a ‘doing’ effort and making sure that we’re actually taking action on things.”

Cox, who serves as commission chair, said the group will “begin to reimagine and re-envision what economic development and opportunity can be here in our state,” calling it the most important economic development change in Utah since at least 2004.

“This really is a huge ground shift in changing the mindset from just ‘jobs, jobs, jobs’ to what I would say is a more-mature, a more-developed approach,” he said. While it still prioritizes jobs, the commission will be “looking deeper at the right jobs and the right people.”

To that end, Daniel Hemmert, executive director of Go Utah, noted that “certain industries, certain jobs, matter more than others as far as pulling the economy. Not all jobs are created equal.”

Jobs in the innovation sector typically pay well and create jobs in other sectors, he said, noting that the average annual pay in the state’s aerospace and defense sector is $82,000, far above the overall state average of $52,000. The innovation sector includes aerospace and defense, advanced manufacturing, financial services, life sciences and IT and software.

A Stanford University economist has estimated that a single innovation-sector job typically can create five other jobs, “so, some jobs pull the economy differently than others,” Hemmert said.

“These higher-paying jobs move the [pay] average and they create an ability, through the multiplier effect, to allow other jobs to survive within the state. And that’s why we want to focus on certain sectors and let the other sectors follow, as they will naturally, without as much incentive or intervention,” he said.

The state should try to maintain a healthy economy while producing more graduates in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and fostering a startup and entrepreneurial environment, he said. That would allow Utah to “truly be ‘The Startup State,’” Hemmert said.

Cox later picked up on that sentiment.

“The vision that I think we all share is … we do want Utah to be ‘The Startup State.’ There’s no reason we shouldn’t be ‘The Startup State,’” Cox said.

Utah has “a people that are driven and driven in very unique ways, people that value collaboration and working together” and are focused on “this idea of making economic opportunity available to everyone,” Cox said. “That’s what’s going to differentiate us from everything else.”

The idea of economic opportunity for all Utahns has been a hallmark in the Cox administration. He said Utah has good economic numbers, but said rural Utahns and people of color nonetheless are struggling, and people living in some ZIP codes “don’t represent any of that shiny, beautiful thing that’s happening out there.”

A pair of legislative leaders commended Cox’s efforts. “We appreciate your commitment to this and being willing do things radically different than have been done in the past,” said House Speaker Brad Wilson. Senate President Stuart Adams said it will be “very exciting to see some innovative things come.”

Among the commission’s subcommittees and working groups are:

• The Go Utah Subcommittee Board, a continuation of the former Governor’s Office of Economic Development board, chaired by Carine Clark, general partner at Pelion Venture Partners. It is charged with developing the 10-year economic strategy.

• The Talent, Education and Industry Alignment Subcommittee, a continuation of the Talent Ready Board, chaired by Senate Majority Whip Ann Millner.

• The Incentive and Growth Alignment Working Group, chaired by Rep. Mike Schultz.

• The International Working Group, chaired by Miles Hansen, president and CEO of World Trade Center Utah.

• The Rural Economic Working Group, chaired by Stephen Lisonbee, Cox’s senior advisor for rural affairs.

• The Multicultural and Equity Economic Empowerment Working Group, chaired by Byron Russell, co-chair of the Utah Division of Multicultural Affairs, with vice chairs Nubia Pena, director of the division, and Ze Min Xiao, director of the Center for Economic Opportunity and Belonging at the Economic Development Corporation of Utah.

• The Innovation, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Working Group, chaired by Hemmert.