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Tag Archives: Economic Development

Clock Runs Out on Iowa Legislature

May Update from Professional Developers of Iowa Lobbiest

Friday, May 3rd was the 110th day of the 110-day 2013 legislative session.  Pay for legislators officially stops after Friday.  Any days spent doing legislative work after that are on their own dime. 

This 16th week of the session has been the busiest in many ways as the final pieces of the legislative session are put into place.  The goal of this past week for legislative leaders has been to move all remaining contentious issues – and there are a lot of them – into conference committees for further negotiation.  Typically, legislation rarely advances to a conference committee, the format used when the House and Senate are not able to find compromise language through the typical amendment process.  This year, they will have at least 9 bills in conference committee. 

 The beauty of the conference committee is that the final product that comes out is not amendable (unless it’s voted down, and then the process gets uglier).  Each chamber will simply have a yes or no vote on each of the conference reports.  In situations where the majority party in each chamber has a very small margin (like this year’s 26-24 in the Senate and 53-47 in the House), a small group of majority party members in a chamber could hold out for their own specific priorities.  By using the conference committee process, they can bypass that possibility.

 

Currently in Conference Committee:

Education Reform, Property Tax Reform, Justice Appropriations,Economic Development Appropriations, Education Appropriations, Ag/Nat Res Appropriations, Admin/Reg Appropriations, Medicaid Expansion, Health Appropriations, Heading to Conference, Standing Appropriations, Infrastructure (RIIF) Appropriations.

Another benefit to using conference committees to enact legislation, and particularly the budget, is that a chamber cannot add a provision into a conference committee discussion that was not in either the House or the Senate’s bill.  This year, the House and Senate each passed essentially their wish lists for each budget bill and will negotiate which portions of each bill to accept.

Unlike previous conference committees in previous sessions, this year’s conference committees will need to wait until the House, Senate and Governor can agree on an overall spending number for the next fiscal year.  This will require first knowing whether property tax reform will advance to enactment or fall short like it has in so many sessions past, and whether or not Iowa will expand Medicaid or pursue a different option.

Once the legislative leadership and the Governor reach overall agreement, the conference committees will convene and each come to agreement on their individual bills.  Then, at long last, the Legislature will adjourn sine die for the year.

 

IEDA Funding – Still In Jeopardy  

As the Legislature officially starts the overtime period, it is absolutely critical that you don’t let up on your emails and phone calls.  They are working!  Whether final adjournment occurs this week (there IS a chance) or not for over a month, PDI members’ efforts to weigh in can greatly affect the outcome.

The Economic Development Budget is currently in conference committee.  They will negotiate, among many other things, the IEDA Administration Budget and the IEDA Incentives Fund (which the House funded out of the Infrastructure Budget bill).

  •   The Governor and the Senate provide roughly $18 million for IEDA Incentives and $16 million for IEDA Administration. 
  •  The House proposes $15.1 million for IEDA Incentives and $13.2 million for IEDA Administration.

In the days ahead, PDI members should CALL OR EMAIL legislators and ask them to support $18 Million for IEDA Incentives and $16 Million for IEDA Administration. Then, find 2 or 3 other people on your board, in your office or elsewhere in your work arena and ask them to email as well.  If each legislator gets a handful of emails on this issue, it will make a HUGE difference.  Do this TODAY!

A full update on all bills can be found using the BILL TRACKER

 

 

Dust Optimistic About Cedar Valley Economy – Part 2

View the three part video of Steve Dust, CEO of the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber on KWWL’s Steele Report.

Click Here.

Dust Optimistic About Cedar Valley Economy – Part 1

View the three part video of Steve Dust, CEO of the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber, on KWWL’s Steele Report here.

Click Here.

Vermeer CEO to speak at UNI

Vermeer CEO to speak at UNI

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Mary Vermeer Andringa, president and CEO of Vermeer Corporation in Pella, Iowa will speak at the University of Northern Iowa at 2 p.m., Thursday, April 11, in the University Room, in Maucker Union. Andringa is part of UNI’s distinguished guest lecture series featuring top corporate leaders. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Andringa became president of Vermeer in 1989 and sole CEO in 2009. Andringa is the immediate past chair of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the nation’s largest manufacturing association. She was the first female to chair the NAM. Andringa is also one of 18 private sector members of President Obama’s Export Council, where she represents the manufacturing sector on important trade matters. She also serves on the Ex-Im Bank Advisory Committee and is a member of the US-Brazil CEO Forum.

“It’s a great honor to have Mary Vermeer Andringa on our campus to share her successes, innovation, and challenges working in a global society,” said UNI President Ben Allen. “Our campus and community will have an enriching opportunity to learn about the skills needed in today’s global world.”

Vermeer is an international, family-owned agricultural, construction, environmental and industrial equipment manufacturing company with more than 3,250 employees worldwide.  Its products are used in more than 60 countries.

Dust comments on Deloitte study of Iowa’s competitiveness

In a recent Courier article Steve Dust, CEO of the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber and chairman of the Iowa Chamber Alliance commented on a recent study performed by Deloitte Consulting LLP.

The study was commissioned by ICA in hopes to provide the Legislature and policy makers current  information about where Iowa lines up competitively with the study’s benchmark states. Read the entire Courier article by Jim Offner here.

Iowa Chamber Alliance study finds Iowa’s economic development toolkit effective, but under resourced

The study rates Iowa’s competitiveness with its neighbors and other highly competitive states in economic development programs

View study here

Des Moines, Iowa – The Iowa Chamber Alliance, a non-partisan coalition representing the 16 largest chambers of commerce and economic development organizations throughout the state, released today a new study examining Iowa’s relative competiveness in its economic development efforts. Deloitte Consulting LLP was commissioned to examine the competitiveness of Iowa’s state-level economic development incentives.

“This study confirms Iowa’s approach to economic development incentives is on the right track, but it also demonstrates that Iowa does not resource its economic development incentives at a competitive level,” said John Stineman, Executive Director of the Iowa Chamber Alliance.

The Deloitte study found that Iowa lags only behind Texas in the “usability” of its economic development incentives – an important factor in how a state measures up in competing for economic development investments. Texas is widely considered one of the most aggressive states in economic development in terms of its incentive funding, its programs and its business-friendly tax and regulatory climate.

However, on the financial value side of economic development – the ability to impact projects through financial incentives – Iowa lags significantly behind its neighbors as well as other leading economic development states.

“It is clear Iowa punches above its weight class in economic development. The approach and programs we have are working and the proof is in the projects. The question is, how many projects are we missing out on because we simply do not resource economic development efforts at a competitive level?” said Stineman.

The study examined Iowa’s economic development programs and funding compared to five other states: Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, South Carolina and Texas. South Carolina and Texas are consistently ranked as highly competitive states for economic development.

Other key findings of the study include:

  •  Iowa is at a competitive disadvantage in the availability of discretionary funds to help close deals as well as in offering corporate tax exemptions.
  • Iowa performs at peer level in property tax exemptions, sales and use tax exemptions, and research and development tax credit programs.
  •  Iowa has a competitive advantage in its workforce development incentive programs.
  • Other states have caught up to and begun to pass Iowa in data center and technology incentive programs – an area where Iowa was considered a leader previously.

“Iowa has a solid base of state-level economic development incentives tools upon which to build. However, to become more competitive, Iowa may wish to increase the funding level and flexibility of some of the State’s key incentive programs” states Darin Buelow, a Principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP.

  • The recommendations from Deloitte Consulting include:
  • Consider increasing the cap on Iowa’s economic development tax credits
  • Evaluate options to offer a “Deal Closing Fund” or more discretion to the Iowa Economic Development Authority in awarding direct financial assistance
  • Consider allowing the sale, refund or transfer of economic development tax credits
  • Consider expanding the Brownfield/Grayfield Redevelopment Tax Credit program
  • Consider augmenting Iowa’s data center incentives.

“The opportunity is there for Iowa. We are well positioned to compete – if we resource our economic development efforts at the right level. We also need to review our programs to ensure we have usable and valuable incentives to help Iowa continue its economic growth in the future,” said Stineman.

For more information about the Iowa Chamber Alliance’s positions and legislative agenda, please visit www.iowachamberalliance.com. Copies of the study will be made available upon email request to john@iowachamberalliance.com.

About the Iowa Chamber Alliance

The Iowa Chamber Alliance’s mission is to put forth and enact an agenda to grow the state’s economy through support of proactive programs that stimulate economic growth opportunities for the entire state and its residents. The Alliance members include chambers and economic development organizations in: Ames, Burlington/West Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Des Moines, Dubuque, Fort Dodge, Iowa City, Marshalltown, Mason City, Muscatine, the Quad Cities, Sioux City and Waterloo/Cedar Falls.

View the study here

Far Reach was awarded a 2013 Gold ADDY Award from the American Advertising Federation – Cedar Valley on February 21 in the category of Digital Advertising, Websites, Business to Business. The award was given for a website completed in partnership with the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance and Chamber. CedarValleyLife.com is a site developed to market the Cedar Valley region to businesses considering a move to the area. Over 250 entries competed for the awards this year. The Cedar Valley Life website is one of fifteen entries to move on to the district ADDY competition.

Visit cedarvalleylife.com here.

The Business Case for Education Reform

By John Stineman, Executive Director, Iowa Chamber Alliance

The 2013 legislative session presents many opportunities for business —  property tax reform, economic development incentives, transportation infrastructure to name just a few issues that perennially top the agenda of Iowa’s businesses and economic development community.  Standing atop these important issues is education reform.

Education?

Yes, business considers education reform to be at least as important as the other core issues within our policy agendas.

The fact of the matter is that Iowa’s once vaunted public education system is no longer as competitive as it was just half a generation ago.

It’s not so much that Iowa has gone backward as much as it is that the rest of the country has improved at a far greater pace.  We used to be at or near the top and now dwell in the lower end of the middle of the pack.

From a strictly business perspective, we must address education reform because of Iowa’s growing skills gap.  Today in Iowa about 18% of available jobs are considered to be “low skill,” but about 38% of the available Iowa workforce is classified as “low skill.”  Middle skill job openings represent half of all open positions in Iowa, but only one-third of available workers are considered to be middle skill.

The skills gap is real, it is growing, and, unfortunately, our education system today is not geared to address it.

Beyond the immediate workforce needs, consider our education outcomes today.  36% of the “Class of 2012” that went on to higher or vocational education after high school required some sort of remedial education after high school.  This is stark evidence we are not systematically equipping our kids with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed after high school.

Of course, it’s not just about the skills gap or what kind of access employers need to qualified workers.

It’s about Iowa’s kids.  It’s about our kids and grandkids.

We’ve all chosen to live in Iowa, to raise our families here.  Making sure our kids have access to a quality education that will help prepare our kids to compete in a global economy and pursue their dreams is among our most important duties.

That’s why education reform is so important.

The reforms proposed by the Governor and now being vetted by the Iowa House of Representatives are a solid start on turning the tide for Iowa’s schools.  The reforms bring with them substantive changes that will fuel teacher leadership from mentor teachers and teacher leaders to drive innovation and energy into subject matter teachers.

The proposal elevates the profession of teaching – increasing first year pay and providing a longer student teaching period so new teachers can hit the ground running when given their own classroom.

The reform proposal expands online learning opportunities by bringing students from across Iowa together to learn online from Iowa teachers in districts that offer subjects not offered in other districts.

Teacher accountability is also important.  A statistic often cited at the Capitol is that 98% of Iowa teachers receive favorable reviews.  While there are many, many quality teachers across Iowa, it is simply not realistic to believe that only two in every 100 are in need of improvement.  Evaluations must include student performance as well as peer reviews and other measures.

The Iowa Chamber Alliance is supportive of the reforms proposed and interested in other ideas that will help improve Iowa’s schools as well.  We are hopeful partisan differences and political arguments can be set aside so that meaningful reform can be achieved.

There is simply too much at stake for us not to succeed in improving our schools.  It truly is the most important thing we can do this session.

For more information, please contact Iowa Chamber Alliance Executive Director, John Stineman, at (515) 226-1492 or john@iowachamberalliance.com.

The Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber is an active member of the Iowa Chamber Alliance. Alliance & Chamber CEO Steve Dust is the current Chair of ICA board of directors. Steve Firman, Alliance & Chamber Director of Gov’t Relations is also on its board.

 

 

 

Creating The Place to Start A Business.

By: Steve Dust 

The Cedar Valley economic area thrives on successful businesses that began one day when its owner said, “I can do that – better.” Some of these former startups are still identified with the owner – while others have grown into international business powers.

All over the Cedar Valley there are examples of people who are passionate about something, determined that no one can do it any better than they, and opened a business to prove it – people like the Bertch family, the Far Reach Technologies partners, or Van Miller’s growing-every-day-into-something-different VGM, or the CBE Group, or Mudd Advertising, or….

As their business grew, each of them discovered the value of our government relations, information, education, and networking resources, the market growth spurred by ongoing promotion,  and all the other things your professional team does to make the Cedar Valley a vibrant place for business startup and growth.

An observer of business startup and growth trends in the US, Brad Feld, recently wrote, Startup Communities – Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City. Based on his decades of starting businesses, becoming an early stage venture capitalist, and now known for his highly (some would say outrageously) successful Foundry Group in Boulder, CO, Brad eloquently writes about the role of organizations like the Alliance & Chamber in creating and sustaining that Entrepreneurial Ecosystem mentioned in the title.

The very best role the Alliance & Chamber can play to foster a robust Startup Community – that encourages a faster rate of business startups and attracts more people with the desire to take the entrepreneurial plunge is: Cheerleader and Feeder. In other words, Support.

  • Work on economic vitality – grow the market! Create a place where startups have the best chance of success: work on infrastructure like broadband, and amenities to create a vibrant,  economic base
  • Make connections – directly, to new sales or service opportunities, or indirectly with exposure to customers and vendors and service providers through networking events, and to other feeder organizations – like UNI’s Center for Business Services and SCORE.
  • Inform them – with inexpensive access to high quality service providers in educational sessions on topics of interest to new businesses – like healthcare reform, social media tools, or the like – delivering info those new business owners will use to increase business results and avoid pitfalls.
  • Work with local and state government to keep them out of the way of business startup and success. Though almost always well intentioned, government gets in the way of startups and growing business with the increased cost of complying with or being constrained by this rule or that

policy/ordinance/statute.

  • Be the gathering place for startup community leaders. The leaders of our start up community must be people who have recently started their own businesses. As busy as they are, other owners of startup businesses are the best to relate to and offer actionable advice on the startup experience. The Alliance & Chamber is the platform – the roost – for emerging entrepreneurs to gather, and share their own experiences. It’s also great feedback for the Alliance & Chamber to build its Cedar Valley Start Up action agenda.

Believe me: there’s a lot of competition among places for business startup activity.  We, and they, understand the economic power of startups, and the culture it engenders for addressing social as well as economic issues. Your Alliance & Chamber is motivated and equipped and working to ensure that the Cedar Valley economic area is an attractive place to take that giant step – the one taken by every person when they’ve uttered the words, “I’m starting a business.”

 

 

 

 

 

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