Russ Steele
I attended the Economic Resource Council Breakfast yesterday and listed to Assemblyman Dan Logue speak about job creation in California. Dan gave us an update on his trip to Texas to meet with Texas Governor Rick Perry. Gavin Newsom accompanied Dan on the trip, and he related Perry's remark to Newsom. "You cannot create jobs if you are against businesses." Dan said he thinks that Newsom, "gets it" meaning the connection between job creation and the support of business, and he is working on a plan.
The Sac Bee Captol Alert this morning: Newsom Heads to Silicon Valley
Newsom will be in the Bay Area at an invitation-only event co-hosted by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, where he will unveil a report titled "An Economic Growth and Competitiveness Agenda for California," which advises the state to look to exports, manufacturing, cutting-edge technologies and clean jobs.
Among the report's other suggestions: Create a "California government app store" to support business development and economic growth, including a competition for programmers to come up with an app "enabling seamless registration for state and local taxes, licensing and permitting within an individual jurisdiction."
The event runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Wyse Technology in San Jose. Newsom's news conference starts at 11 a.m., followed by two panel discussions. All will be broadcast live via webcast at www.ltg.ca.gov. Click here to read a news release, which lists panel participants.
It will be interesting to see how Silicon Valley reacts to Newsome's job creation plan. Update when the plan is published.
Update (07-29-11, 11:45) The Union had a story on the Newsome Job creation plan, my comments are in {Brackets]
The proposal lays out the broad strokes of a plan to set the state on a course toward job growth. Among its proposals:
— Consolidate and streamline fragmented economic development efforts into a cabinet-level office to assist businesses and coordinate support for regional development efforts. The plan calls for keeping staffing and state spending at their present levels. [Remember Trade and Commerce which Arnold killed right after he got in office.]
— Emphasize innovation and manufacturing, particularly by small and agile companies serving global supply chains. Encourage expanded exports of both goods and services.
— Re-establish a state presence in foreign markets to promote trade, starting with a privately funded office in China within 180 days, then one in Brazil.
— Improve or eliminate state tax incentives that do not produce sufficient, measureable economic benefits. [Let's start with renewable energy subsidies, they donot have any economic benefits.]
— Remove thickets of "onerous and inconsistent regulations, slow bureaucracies and misaligned policies" that slow California businesses and impose barriers to global competition, without weakening standards. [ We need to start with CARB's efforts to control CO2 as there is no scientific justification for this effort and the rules and regulations are driving companies out of the state.]
— Plan education and job training with economic development in mind, emphasizing the skills workers will need for "new economy" jobs. [ These new economy jobs, according to the just published Clean Energy Partnership Academy Guidelines , includes Building Analyst, AC Intall Speciallist, Home Energy Rating Systems Rater, Certified Industrial Maintenance Mechanic, Certified Energy Auditor. According to Microsoft and other high tech firms California really needed to be focused on producing more computer scientist and engineers, rather than "new economy jobs" we do not have enough computer scientist and engineers to meet the needs of our "old economy.]
With the proposal as a starting point, Newsom said, "the question is how we begin to make it real."
Good question?
