Sandoval calls for 50,000 new jobs

RENO - Rolling out the second phase of his economic development plan on Tuesday, Gov. Brian Sandoval said Nevada "must create 50,000 new jobs by the end of 2014."

The report, Moving Nevada Forward, was developed to put flesh on the bones of the Brookings Institute report in November that was designed to gauge the state's strengths and weaknesses in economic development.

Sandoval said the report "is a blueprint for building a vibrant, stable economy for all Nevadans."

"State government will play a part by advocating for business and providing the infrastructure that helps business thrive," he told an eclectic group that included students, professors and businessmen at the University of Nevada, Reno.

To do that, he said, all partners from educators and businessmen to government must start specifically asking what will create more jobs in a given area or industry.

"We have one of the most attractive business climates in this state, and it's up to us to capitalize on that base," he said.

"Together, we're building something that can tap into the resources of this state.

"We're either going to push forward together or we're not going to get anywhere."

Economic Development Director Steve Hill said one question, for example, would be: What does it take to create 500 jobs in the geothermal industry?

"When you start asking those questions, you start getting answers," he said.

Those questions and answers, Hill said, will lead to regional economic development plans.

In the past, he said, economic development focused on attracting businesses from other states but that that generated only 5 percent of new jobs. He said Nevada needs to focus on helping the other 95 percent - those businesses that are already here.

He said that there is also opportunity internationally because "we have a global outreach because of our gaming industry that is unmatched."

Sandoval's office, Hill said, believes that Moving Nevada Forward goes several steps further than economic development plans in most other states. He explained that this is because those states didn't establish benchmarks to determine how well programs are working.

"We call out what we're going to measure," he said.

Some of the specifics in the plan include:

Regulations

A regulatory and business environment working group will be established to provide advice about proposed laws and existing regulations while advocating for streamlined, clear and "appropriate" regulations, according to the plan.

Sandoval recently announced the elimination of more than 650 state regulations, and Hill said that while not having reviewed all the regulations, he doubts those will be the only ones repealed.

"Deregulation has become a somewhat controversial word," Hill said during an interview in the Appeal newsroom. "But I don't think it is at all controversial to make regulation easier to follow, easier to understand and faster. If we can have appropriate regulations, but do it here in seven days instead of seven months next door, that makes a big difference."

Hill said they haven't determined how to complete or what the composition of the working group will be.

State funding

In the last legislative session, Sandoval proposed a state "Catalyst Fund" designed to accelerate job creation in Nevada. The Legislature approved it and funded it with $10 million.

The economic development plan calls for the implementation of the money through loans that are filtered up to the state via local agencies. The executive director of the office of economic development - currently Hill - would be able to allocate, grant or loan amounts less than $100,000. The Board of Economic Development must approve requests for more than $100,000.

The plan also calls for the state to create a $150,000 fund to incentivize entrepreneurship. Three "concept-to-company" contests would be conducted - one in southern Nevada, one in the Reno area and one for the rural areas - and winning businesses will receive awards to make their ideas reality.

Hill said this will help combat one of the "liabilities" the state has in economic development - a lack of start-up capital - in more ways than just giving winning businesses seed money.

"A hundred-and-fifty-thousands dollars isn't going to improve our national ranking," he said. "The more opportunity we have to introduce investors to potential business ideas, the more opportunity we have for these deals to take pace. And it also provides a bunch of feedback for people who are trying to start businesses. They learn why an investor says they don't want to invest in that company."

Targeting businesses

Another liability listed in the report is that the "state image does not reflect the breadth of opportunities." Hill clarified that he won't press for the state or its regions to shy from their images - it wouldn't be worth it monetarily to engage in a large-scale rebranding anyway, he said - but that the state should broaden its image.

He noted the high-end manufacturing and aerospace specialists in the Carson City region but that the area is conspicuously absent from a USA Today designation as a "center of excellence" for unmanned aerial vehicles.

"We are working to be on that list," he said, and that image as a manufacturing center should be promoted.

Similarly, he noted the potential of Internet gaming as a job engine and how that would go hand-in-hand with Internet security, the latter of which has a so-called "center of excellence" with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

"We think if you are going to be in the gaming business, then you ought to be in Nevada," he said.