LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman has produced a blueprint for governors across America to improve their states’ economies by encouraging entrepreneurship, cutting regulations and investing in growing industries.
The result of a year of research and study, Heineman presented his “Growing State Economies” to the annual gathering of the National Governors Association in Williamsburg, Va., on Friday as he prepared to end his one-year term as the group’s chairman.
“Entrepreneurs and small-business owners are creating all the jobs in America,” Heineman said in an interview earlier this week. “If you can figure out what policies allow those companies to go from five employees, to 20, to 50, to a couple hundred, and then a big company — that’s what we ought to be pursuing.”
The plan contains a dozen specific actions that states could take to boost business and improve their economies, including creating a competitive tax regulatory environment and building a startup environment and culture. The governor also provided individualized reports for each state to help them play to their economic strengths and minimize their weaknesses.
“Some of these (ideas) will work for some states, but not all of them will make sense for every state,” Heineman said. “I understand that. Every governor’s going to look at this, go back to their economic development directors, and ask what makes sense for New Mexico, or Pennsylvania, or Florida.”
Heineman said he drew from individual states’ successes for inspiration: a commission in New Jersey aimed at eliminating red tape; state-funded research labs in Oregon; the expansion of small businesses in North Carolina and Washington into the international market; tax credits offered by Arizona and Nebraska to investors in new businesses that produce medical devices, renewable energy and other high-tech innovations.
The plan cites six states — Delaware, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington — that have adopted laws to help the unemployed start new businesses. Wisconsin spent $150,000 to assist startup companies run by military veterans.
The plan encourages states to connect public universities with private businesses for technological research.
Heineman highlighted Nebraska’s focus on international trade and his administration’s efforts to meet business leaders in Japan, Thailand, Germany and Cuba.
“We all have to recognize, like it or not, that we’re not just competing with each other in the Midwest or nationally,” Heineman said. “We’re competing internationally. We are impacted by the global economy more than ever before.”
He steps down as the association’s chairman this weekend, and will be succeeded by Delaware Gov. Jack Markell.
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Associated Press writer Nelson Lampe in Omaha contributed to this report.
