Jan. 25, 2007

  

A Publication of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah
CEO Jeff Edwards

PRESIDENT'S  

MESSAGE

Monitoring Legislation Specific to Economic Development Efforts

Legislative issues are diverse and often complicated. In this week’s feature story Jason Perry, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED), lays out specific bills that economic development professionals will be keeping a close eye on this session.

EDCUTAH is pleased to join GOED in its efforts to further enhance economic legislation. Internally, we will continue to offer support in the passage of Senate Bill 10 and the organization’s budget request.

If you are interested in joining us in tracking the progress of these bills, or others, the Utah State Legislature has an excellent tracking tool to assist you. Visit http://www.le.state.ut.us/asp/billtrack/track.asp.

In addition, this issue of the Economic Review includes links to many of the ED-related news stories from the past week. If you have comments, suggestions or topics you’d like to see in the Economic Review, please contact us by clicking the “Comments” link on the bottom of this page.

Enjoy!

Jeff Edwards
Jeff Edwards
President and CEO

FEATURE

GOED Works Hard to Promote Its Legislative Priorities on the Hill


The legislative tug-of-war that occurs annually on Capitol Hill is typically an intense, action-packed 45 days, and no organization could be more interested in the outcome of the legislative process than the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED).

In fact, Jason Perry, executive director of GOED, was on the Hill earlier this week, testifying in support of legislation important to Utah economic development. What’s more, Perry and his staff have been actively tracking numerous bills as they move through committee. While the list could change as the legislative process plays out, here’s a brief description of the bills and legislative activity important to GOED and economic development professionals.

S.B. 10 Industrial Assistance Fund/Rural Fast Track Program

Sponsor: Senator Bill Hickman
Perry says SB10 is an important piece of legislation for existing rural businesses: “We tend to focus our economic development efforts on recruitment, which is absolutely necessary, but it’s actually more realistic to help an existing business in rural Utah expand than to recruit a new business.” Senate Bill 10 would earmark 20% of Industrial Assistance Fund (IAF) monies for economic development projects in rural Utah, through which existing businesses could receive incentives for infrastructure expansion and the creation of high paying jobs. Perry says no new money would be required. A second piece to the legislation would allow businesses to tap into $50,000 in IAF money without having to obtain GOED board approval.

S.B. 53 Higher Education Engineering Partnership

Sponsor: Senator Gregory Bell
Utah has a talent shortage for engineers, which is an obstacle to economic development. Perry says his office has had employers and trade associations report the need for approximately 1,000 engineering jobs in the state that could be filled right now. Senate Bill 53 would help establish a robust engineering partnership between Utah State University and Weber State University. The bill would expand the engineering programs at both schools and create a partnership to jointly deliver bachelor degrees in engineering. As a side note, Perry says during the Christmas and New Years holidays GOED ran numerous ads targeting engineers and received over 120 resumes. “One of our priorities is to build the state’s talent pipeline and going after engineers is a big part of that effort,” he says.

S.B. 93 Governor's Rural Partnership Board Amendments

Sponsor: Senator Bill Hickman
GOED has been trying to interface more directly with the Governor’s Rural Partnership Board; however, there is no mechanism in place to cover the expenses of board members who travel long distances for meetings. Perry says Senate Bill 93 would create such a mechanism.

S.B. 127 Tourism Marketing Performance Special Restricted Fund

Sponsor: Senator Scott Jenkins
Promoting the state’s brand is important to GOED’s economic development efforts and during the last legislative session money was set aside for tourism marketing. Unfortunately, the bill was drafted in such a way that the money was directed to the wrong State fund. Perry says. Senate Bill 127 “clarifies the original wording and designates that the money will go to the Tourism Marketing Performance Special Restricted Fund.” The Tourism Marketing Fund is used for the state’s branding and tourism marketing campaigns. “We are seeing definite benefits from our efforts to brand the state around the world. Without these funds we might have to stop our advertising program,” he says.

H.B. 125 Centers of Excellence Amendments

Sponsor: Representative Bradley Daw
The Centers of Excellence (COE) program has been a successful tool for the development of technologies at the state’s research universities. Perry says the purpose of House Bill 125 is to focus on the commercialization of technology development: “We want to help develop, commercialize, and grow the technologies here.” Transferring technology out of universities and into the industry is hard. It combines the challenges of new product development with the complexity of technologies that are often not fully developed. “HB 125 is designed to help those technologies move into the Utah Business Community,” according to Perry. The Bill will allow COE to make grants to licensees, existing businesses or entrepreneurs, who are willing to invest, time, effort and complementary funds to take these technologies to market. “It will help plug the commercialization of technologies into the Utah economy,” he says.

Health Insurance for Small Businesses

Perry’s office has requested $350,000 to be used to pay for consulting and actuarial costs involved in developing a health insurance program for small businesses. “We are trying to develop a plan that will provide something meaningful in that space. We want some key legislative members of the House and Senate to write a bill and create a plan that will work for small businesses in this state. My hope is to have a bill ready for the 2008 legislative session,” Perry says.

Motion Picture Incentive Fund

The legislature has been asked to set aside $5 million for the motion picture incentive fund. “Motion pictures filmed in Utah have become a huge economic development opportunity, where the return on investment is typically at least ten to one,” Perry says. However, last year the fund received only $1 million and the money was expended almost immediately. Utah is the premier place to make films, and based on the significant dollar return the incentive fund has generated in the past, it only makes sense to fully appropriate this incentive program, which provides rebates to film makers based upon eligibility factors favorable to the state.

Utah Rated in Top Seven States
for Economic Development


The Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) rates Utah as one of the top seven states in the country for economic development.

CFED's "20th Development Report Card for the States," released last week, uses 67 measures to provide a relative, state-by-state assessment of economic development, assigning grades in three main areas: Performance (economic climate for a wage-earner), Business Vitality (economic climate for a business), and Development Capacity (how a state is positioned for the future).

The top performers in 2007 are Connecticut and Delaware—the only states to earn straight As. Five other states—Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Utah, and Wisconsin—joined them on the "honor roll" by earning all As and Bs.

Utah received "B" grades in the Performance and Business Vitality categories, and an "A" grade in Development Capacity.

CALENDAR

Feb. 8, 2007:

23rd Annual Investors Choice® Venture Capital Conference (Salt Lake City)
Learn the venture process, build a fundraising presentation and meet with venture, corporate and angel investors.  Submission deadline is October 30th. For more information visit: www.venturecapital.org/utah.

June 6-8, 2007:

The New West Summit, in Big Sky, Montana will bring together business leaders, entrepreneurs, politicians, journalists, academicians, and engaged citizens to talk about the future of the Rocky Mountain West.

EDCUTAH PARTNERS


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IN THE NEWS

Economic Development Headlines

Details for S.L. Center Starting to Take Shape

- Architectural renderings likely won't be released until autumn, but preliminary drawings of City Creek Center unveiled Thursday revealed more of developers' vision for the center, including Spanish steps, circular fountains and broad, tree-lined pedestrian walkways.
(Morning News)

City Creek Gets Dillard's

- And Dillard's makes three. The upscale retailer announced Wednesday that it has joined Nordstrom and Macy's as anchors of City Creek Center, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' estimated $1 billion downtown Salt Lake City redevelopment project. (Morning News) (Yahoo Biz Journal) (SL Tribune) (Utah Business Magazine)

A Larger Center in Davis Planned

- When Davis County's Barry Burton goes to Layton next month to meet with the city's planning commission, he will apply for site-plan approval for an expansion of the Davis Conference Center. (Morning News) (SL Tribune) (Standard Examiner)

Sundance Festival is Brightening More S.L. Venues

- When early American settlers began running out of room to grow, they headed west, and when Sundance Film Festival officials began running out of room in Park City, they headed southwest — to Salt Lake City.
(Morning News here and here) 

Brighton is Sold to Florida Company

- A Florida-based company has acquired the Brighton Resort, but the former owner will continue operating the ski area. (Morning News)

SLC Nordstrom to Take 4-year Break

- After 27 years in downtown Salt Lake City, Nordstrom will close its doors Saturday at 6 p.m. It's a temporary closure - if you consider four years temporary. (SL Tribune here and here)

Sign of Growth

- SYRACUSE -- A new Wal-Mart Supercenter at 2228 W. 1700 South will open its doors on Monday, something officials believe is just the beginning of burgeoning commercial growth in the city. (Standard Examiner)

Chamber Swears in New Members, Chairman

- As Utah Valley's economy grows at a breakneck pace, Kim Nielsen wants to see the Provo-Orem Chamber of Commerce grow alongside it.  (Daily Herald)

Legendary Architect Agrees to Design a Big Lehi Project

- On paper, it looks like the beginning of a joke: What do Prague, Barcelona and Dusseldorf have in common with Lehi? The answer is legendary architect Frank Gehry. And while jaws may drop at an announcement that Gehry will soon be designing an urban-inspired community in northern Lehi, it's definitely serious — and nobody's laughing. (Morning News here and here) (SL Tribune here and here) (Daily Herald) (Utah Business Magazine)

Spanish Fork Area Zoned for Commercial Use

- The Spanish Fork City Council cleared the way this week for a controversial commercial development in the North Park Area. (Morning News) (Daily Herald)

State is Offering Tax Incentives to Several Firms

- A state board offered financial incentives to a wide variety of companies on Friday: a toilet paper manufacturer, a dot-com retailer, a food redistributor and a construction castings maker. (Morning News) (SL Tribune) (Utah Business Magazine) 

Trends Point to Flourishing Commercial Real Estate

- There's no doubt the Park City real estate industry is in flux. According to Commerce CRG, there are some noticeable trends, especially in the commercial sphere. (Park Record) 

Davis Chamber has new CEO

- The Davis Chamber of Commerce has gone outside to find someone to fill its top inside position. (Standard Examiner)

Hispanic Market a Boon

- Often, the public conversation about Hispanics centers on illegal immigration. That will be an ongoing political debate, to be certain. But in business circles, the rapidly growing Hispanic population represents some $5 billion in spending power in Utah alone. (Morning News)

Downtown Logan Hotel Plan on Back Burner

- Logan’s Downtown Alliance says it’s ready to give up the fight — at least for now — to bring a full-service hotel into the city’s shopping sector, but they’re not backing down altogether. (Herald Journal)

Governor Proposes 3.5 Million Dollar Motion Picture Incentive Program

- In his address to the state, Governor Huntsman said he wanted to further enhance Utah's position as a premier film destination. Utah's film industry is growing with more movies filmed in Utah last year than ever before. (KSL) (KCPW)

Sandy Supports Real Deal

- The Sandy City Council voted unanimously in favor of the Real Salt Lake stadium Tuesday night, and Salt Lake County leaders are about to find out if the Major League Soccer franchise is a worthy investment.
(Morning News here and here)  (SL Tribune) (KCPW)

Sandy Council Closes Ranks, Backs Soccer Plan

- The City Council here voiced unanimous support Tuesday for the creation of a public-private partnership to construct Real Salt Lake's soccer stadium and accompanying development planned near 9400 South and State Street. (SL Tribune)

Sandy Now Says it can Provide Team $15M

- Turns out, Sandy can generate the $15 million in redevelopment dollars pledged to Real Salt Lake even without participation from the Jordan School District, the suburb's economic development director says. (SL Tribune here and here)

Utah Faces Engineer Shortage

- A severe shortage of experienced engineers in Utah has prompted the government to help businesses look for talent in other states, according to state officials.
(Daily Herald)

Utah Hits Pay Dirt — Record Drilling Permits

-Utah's energy boom reached a milestone in 2006 as more oil and natural gas drill permits were issued to companies than in any previous year, according to the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining. (Morning News)

 Jobless Rate Steady

- The squeeze continues. Utah's unemployment rate held at 2.6 percent in December, unchanged from November's unrevised mark, the Utah Department of Workforce Services reported Tuesday. (Morning News) (SL Tribune) (Standard Examiner) (KCPW)

Utahns' patents up 26% in '06

- The final patent numbers for 2006 are in. A record 944 patents were granted to Utah inventors in 2006, a 26 percent increase over the 749 patents granted to Utahns in 2005. The increase is a more modest 3 percent when compared with 2001, the previous record year, in which Utah inventors netted 917 patents. (Morning News)

CVB Touts Davis County as Tourist Spot

- More than half the visitors to Antelope Island, last year, were “destination” guests. That is, those 129,554 people came specifically from outside the area to see the island and the Great Salt Lake. (Clipper Today)

City Expected to Grow Upward

- Two years ago, Provo erected the closest thing to a downtown skyscraper: the seven-story, 110,000-square-foot Wells Fargo Center. Now, a new market analysis says the city should see eight more of them in the next 10 years. (SL Tribune)

USU Students to Show Projects at Capitol

- Some of the 42 Utah State University students showing off their research projects today at the Capitol are guinea pigs themselves. This is the first year students have collaborated with professors who are part of the Utah Science, Technology and Research (USTAR) initiative. (Standard Examiner)

Pleasant Grove Lands New Hotel Complex

- What has been a sleepy bedroom community may soon become a resort destination when a proposed $101 million hotel complex becomes reality. (BYU News Net)

Huntsman Covers Education, Economy and Ethics in State of the State Address

- In his State of the State address Tuesday night, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. rolled out a four-pronged platform for his 2007 legislative priorities. (Utah Business Magazine)

Young Execs Purchase Tesco Williamsen out of Bankruptcy

- Tesco Williamsen, a Salt Lake City-based manufacturer of truck bodies and trailers, has been purchased by two Westminster College MBA graduates. (SL Enterprise)

N.Y.-Based Industrial Cleaning Company Enters Utah Market

- North American Industrial Services Inc., a Ballston Spa, N.Y.-based firm that provides industrial cleaning services, has chosen Salt Lake City as the site for its westernmost full-service facility. (SL Enterprise)

Associated Food Stores Purchases Hispanic Groceries Distributor

- Midvale-based Gonzales & Sons LLC, a Hispanic foods distributor, will become a new division of Salt Lake City-based Associated Food Stores, to better meet the needs of Hispanic consumers. (SL Enterprise)

Pharmaceuticals Wholesaler to Open Salt Lake City Office

- Global Pharmaceutical Sourcing, a Bethesda, Md.-based authorized wholesale distributor of a full range of A-rated, generic and brand-name pharmaceutical products, has selected Salt Lake City as the site for its westernmost office. (SL Enterprise)