YAKIMA—Washington’s future depends on business being globally cost competitive and our state making necessary investments. That was the message delivered today by Don Brunell, president of the Association of Washington Business, to members of the Yakima Rotary Club.

 Brunell, a member of Gov. Gregoire’s Global Competitiveness Council, said costs matter and countries with lower production costs have a competitive advantage. 

“With today’s manufacturing technologies which have spread across the world, the differences between quality products made in the U.S. and those in other countries have narrowed significantly,” he said. “The countries with the lower production costs have a distinct market advantage and they are attracting manufacturing facilities.”

 Washington is a high cost state, Brunell said.  “We must find ways to mitigate some of those costs because our region no longer has the advantage of low cost, reliable power.” 

 AWB, the state’s chamber of commerce whose 6,500+ members employ more than 600,000 in Washington’s private workforce, is working to control health care inflation, eliminate costly and time-consuming regulations at all levels of government, lower taxes and government fees, and workers comp and unemployment insurance rates. 

 Brunell said AWB members are worried that lawmakers will increase taxes and fees to make up for the estimated $3.2 billion revenue shortfall and that legislators may commit to some new and very expensive in state mandates in the name of health care reform, paid family leave and climate change. 

 “Our big concern for our future is legislators are not looking at the costs of the changes they are enacting,” he said. “These changes may spawn new lawsuits, increase taxes and fees, raise the costs of products and impose marginal changes which may cripple our economy. This hurts working families and puts our state at a competitive disadvantage with other states and nations around the world.”

 Brunell said the new six-year revenue projections, when matched against what the state is committed to spending, are problematic and could drive new taxes or fees.

 At the same time, Brunell said AWB feels Washington needs to allocate more money for transportation, water projects, community colleges and universities, and find new revenue sources.  “We need to be aware that some place along the line, taxpayers will reach a tipping point where they simply can’t afford to stay in Washington.”

 “Right now, many of our key roads and highways are in gridlock and we are rapidly running out of water for agriculture, fish and people.  Without added water storage capacity, our state’s economy will be stymied.”

 As for education, AWB believes our state needs to stay with high academic standards for the K-12 system.

“A high school diploma needs to mean something other than recognition that a student has attended school for 16 years.  We need to do more to ensure students graduate with the skills they need to succeed after graduation so the state spends less money on remedial education in our community and technical colleges and four-year universities,” he said. “We are simply re-teaching things students should have learned before graduating from high school.”

 Brunell concluded that Washington’s economy seems to be feeling the impacts of the economic slowdown.

“For the long-term good, lawmakers and the governor need to be very sensitive to the delicate position of our economy when they convene in 2009.”

About the Association of Washington Business
Formed in 1904, the Association of Washington Business is Washington’s oldest and largest statewide business association, serving as both the state’s chamber of commerce and the manufacturing and technology association. While its 6,500 members include major employers like Boeing, Microsoft and Weyerhaeuser, 90 percent of AWB members employ fewer than 100 people. More than half of AWB’s members employ fewer than 10. For more about AWB, visit www.awb.org.