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Home / Washington Business - November/December 2004 / Getting Real on Business Climate Change - Local Governments Can Make It Happen! |
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Getting Real on Business Climate Change - Local Governments Can Make It Happen! |
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Written On: November/December 2004 |
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Written By: By Ken Weiner |
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Ken Weiner is a partner in Preston Gates Ellis LLP in Seattle, where he practices exclusively in environmental, natural resources and land use matters for clients in the public and private sectors. He has chaired the AWB Environmental Excellence Awards Selection Committee since it was initiated.
Ralph Nader is wrong. It matters which major party candidates are elected. And Ralph Nader is right. Politicians sound like clones when they promise to streamline regulations to improve the business climate.
It might seem attractive for the Governor or Legislature to convene another regulatory reform task force or to create a regulatory review office to fix Washington’s business climate problem. But these resource-intensive band-aids miss the point. Like various commissions on how to improve education, prevent oil spills or save salmon, we don’t need another study or a lot of new laws. We need to act on what we already know and use the tools we already have.
There’s no question Washington state must improve its business climate. As our firm assists corporate managers in a wide range of enterprises from forest products to real estate to microchips, I hear thoughtful executives question whether they would make the choice to do business in Washington again.
NW Leaders in Climate Change
You don’t have to look far to see examples of a positive business climate. Two Northwest cities — Gresham, Oregon and Everett, Washington — have a pretty good track record in recent years. Their approach is instructive.
Their leadership not only encourages businesses to come and to stay, but they often take at least three crucial additional steps:
• They seek to understand the needs of a business and actually identify and volunteer ways they can support the viability of the business or reduce its costs, without corporate subsidies or giveaways.
• They understand the crucial element of time in business decisions, and stay on top of regulatory processes so they do not founder.
• Perhaps most important, they do not sacrifice their treasuries, ignore their regulations, or sell off their quality of life, but, with a sharp pencil for the overall economic benefits to their communities, they help to solve problems and make timely decisions. They usually make businesses feel welcome by their actions.
Everett devoted substantial resources to writing a model set of land use procedures and an updated shoreline program. The simplified codes improved certainty and accountability to all interests in the community, while preserving flexibility for entrepreneurial initiative. The city properly implemented the regulatory reforms passed by the Legislature in 1995, somewhat of a rarity in this state. Developers and neighborhood groups supported these regulations.
One of the two top Environmental Innovator awards this year went to Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc., a global health and hygiene company with a mill in Everett. Because of the creativity of a Kimberly-Clark and a City engineer, the company and the public ratepayers each saved over $10-15 million on a major water quality project. The regulatory process was complex, yet federal, state, and local regulators helped find solutions. The project was completed on time and on budget. Other award winners, including the McGregor Company, Todd Pacific Shipyards, NW Pipeline Inc., and Vulcan, also went beyond regulations while gaining economic benefits.
Changing Climate vs. Regulations
Our business climate involves interrelated facets, or ‘microclimates’, which vary for different businesses, as Washington Research Council’s Richard Davis noted in his most recent column in this magazine. We should focus on tax and labor issues — which consistently top the list in serious studies — and recognize that high quality education, freight and commuter mobility, good governance, recreation and a healthy environment, sustainable natural resources, vital cities and cultural opportunities, all contribute to business climate.
It doesn’t serve our businesses or our state to reduce the meaning of a good business climate to a mantra of eliminating government regulations and agencies, and it won’t happen in this polarized political climate regardless. Of course bureaucracy and internal politics are a pain. That’s as true in corporations as it is in government agencies.
Most large companies, no matter how efficient, circulate major recommendations among principal managers or divisions with different turf before making decisions. The briefings or memos usually spell out the pros and cons of more than just one option, and strategies to minimize potential adverse impacts on the business from the decision. If we want government to act more businesslike, shouldn’t we insist agencies take the same care with their decisions?
Climate Change is Possible
The basic problem is two-fold. Many public officials don’t know how to support business without either rubber-stamping proposals or being squishy because they fear public criticism of favoritism. Many businesses don’t accept the need to invest in the homework or process required to give short-handed agencies and the non-technical public the information to evaluate their proposals.
The new Governor can improve the business climate by having agency staff respond with alacrity, because nothing sends a more important signal than a prompt “how-can-I-help” response. As Gresham and Everett have shown, government can enthusiastically attract and retain business, and, at the same time, ask tough questions, maintain standards, promote environmental quality, and protect the public interest.
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