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Home / Washington Business - September/October 2004 / NAM Adopts 2005 Redbook: WashACE's Facts and Figures Spread Across Country |
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NAM Adopts 2005 Redbook: WashACE's Facts and Figures Spread Across Country |
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Written On: September/October 2004 |
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The popular fledgling book of facts and figures the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy (WashACE) started just five years ago has spread across country. The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) contacted the Association of Washington Business (AWB) about modifying the 2005 edition slightly for use by its members, the national media, Congress and federal agencies.
“NAM is encouraging state manufacturing associations to also adopt the WashACE publication,” said Barry Buzby, director of NAM’s National Industrial Council (NIC) in Washington, DC. NIC is the umbrella group for state associations like AWB.
“Why reinvent the wheel when AWB has one that works perfectly well? We’d spend countless hours and thousands of dollars coming up with a document our folks already tell us is the best they’ve seen,” Buzby added.
“This is good news for WashACE,” AWB President Don Brunell said. “It shows that folks at the national level have confidence in our data and want to standardize facts and figures. Accurate information is extremely important.”
WashACE is a partnership of AWB, the Washington Research Council (WRC), and the Washington Roundtable. “One of WashACE’s first projects was to develop a standardized set of comparisons between states on key competitiveness issues like energy, workers’ comp and taxes to name a few,” Dick Davis, WRC president added. Davis and his staff develop the comparative data.
The 2005 Redbook was initially distributed at AWB’s Policy Summit in late September at the Semiahmoo Resort. AWB members who registered for the summit automatically received the newest document.
“The Redbook has been very helpful as our various committees develop public policy recommendations,” Steve Mullin, the recently appointed Roundtable president added. Prior to being named president, Mullin directed the organization’s efforts on state fiscal climate and education.
Mullin, Davis and Brunell worked closely with Gov. Locke’s Competitiveness Council and the Priorities and Price of Government process. Those groups were responsible for recommending many changes to state laws and regulations that have attracted jobs, careers and investments in startup and traditional businesses in Washington.
While WashACE’s collective efforts led to positive changes in the state’s competitiveness, much work remains. “Comparisons in the 2005 Redbook indicate our state and local elected officials ought to worry about the rising costs of energy, workers’ comp and taxes, for example,” AWB’s Vice President of Governmental Affairs Gary Chandler added. As a former state legislator, Chandler used the Redbook to convince his colleagues of the need for change.
“It is amazing that once accurate information is presented in an understandable way how people in government respond,” Chandler concluded. “It didn’t make fixing the state’s costly unemployment insurance system any easier, but it certainly convinces them of the need to act expeditiously.”
Copies of the Redbook may be ordered by contacting the Association of Washington Business, P.O. Box 658, Olympia, 98507-0568 and online at AWB’s Web site at www.awb.org. The cost is $7.00, and the price includes taxes and shipping.
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