Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki
Sun Topics
The state’s all-star team of business and economic development experts inched closer Monday toward developing an economic diversification strategy for the state, choosing seven proposals for further study and eliminating one that was deemed too challenging to undertake.
The New Nevada Taskforce, a 26-member group formed by Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki in his capacity as head of the Commission on Economic Development, agreed to seek more information on seven economic diversification concepts. Public policy think tanks and the Economic Development Commission will draft reports on each concept for review at a meeting in late October or early November.
Task force members in Reno and Las Vegas, meeting via closed-circuit television hookup, cautioned that some of the concepts under consideration would require legislative approval next year or constitutional changes that could take years to complete. One concept – a proposal to develop a Nevada lottery to finance economic development incentives – was considered too politically volatile and was rejected by the group.
Arizona and Oregon use their state lotteries to finance economic development, but Krolicki and former Sen. Richard Bryan, a task force member, noted that not only would a Nevada lottery require a constitutional amendment, but it could be competitive with the state’s largest industry.
The lottery plan was the only concept to be rejected for what is being called “the New Nevada Plan,” after a similar strategy called the “Georgia Plan” and the “Oklahoma Business Roundtable” from those states. After further study, the New Nevada Plan could incorporate concepts that the group called “the Next Big Idea.”
Most of the ideas aren’t really new, but they’re being undertaken with greater interest considering the state of Nevada’s economy. Representatives of the Milken Institute, the Nevada Biotechnology & Science Consortium, the Nevada Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology and Brookings Mountain West weighed in on the proposed “Big Ideas:”
• The commercialization of technology. Possibly the biggest of the big ideas, the concept is to bring together the state’s educational and business resources with entrepreneurs and investors to develop “Centers of Innovation” in the state in renewable energy, biotech industries, health care, aerospace and manufacturing.
The state would offer access to the state’s university system for research and development, develop grant programs and networking within the business segment and connect clients to investor networks. The Nevada Test Site, now known as the Nevada National Security Site, has been acknowledged as one of the state’s best resources for energy development and security programs.
Panelists also noted that the best use for Yucca Mountain today would be as a data repository because it is so well protected.
• Business-to-business marketing and economic development. The concept is create an ongoing public-private organization partnership between the public sector and Nevada businesses to aggressively market the state.
Mike Skaggs, director of the Economic Development Commission, said businesses that have experienced relocating to the state make the best salespeople for it. The proposal suggests the formation of a stateside nonprofit organization to coordinate efforts.
The concept is different from existing development authorities such as the Nevada Development Authority and the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada, which focus on specific regions within the state.
• International business development. Krolicki said international business development is one of the few bright spots for the Nevada economy as exports are up 22 percent and China has emerged as the state’s top foreign market, thanks in part to business relationships that were forged years ago.
State leaders say they will continue to sell Reno as a preferable port for Asian goods because it’s on a major rail line and Interstate 80, a primary east-west highway. Because of the more-direct northern routes cargo planes take, it’s less expensive to fly into Reno than Los Angeles.
Task force member Randall Walker, director of the Clark County Department of Aviation, said McCarran would continue to recruit foreign air carriers to serve Las Vegas, which is sometimes a tough sell after Japan Airlines and Singapore Airlines abandoned their routes to Las Vegas. He urged companies to support the existing Asian carrier, Korean Air, which has flights to Las Vegas from Seoul and connects to most major Asian cities.
Panel members also debated about how much energy should be expended on Europe. While Europe’s economy is as sluggish as United States’, some of the leading renewable energy proposals are coming out of Spain and Germany.
• Nurturing the growth of the film and television industry in Nevada. Film making is a $100 million-a-year industry for Nevada, yet the state is one of five that doesn’t offer incentives to film production companies to work here.
Economic development experts say New Mexico is getting a greater share of the film business over the years by investing in sound studios and production facilities to foster more location work. And one reason Nevada has a hard time delivering tax credits to film companies is that they don’t have the taxes in the first place. Krolicki also noted that providing such incentives would require a constitutional change.
• Using airport assets to lure additional business segments. McCarran has a small footprint, Walker noted, but there are airports in other parts of the state that have adjacent land that would be conducive to recruiting companies. Walker said delays in the development of an airport in the Ivanpah Valley, south of Las Vegas, have pushed back a possible opening until 2021 at the earliest.
• The transfer of Bureau of Land Management land to state control. The difficulty of arranging a land transfer has yielded mixed results for the state, panelists agreed. Some characterized the BLM as a slow-moving federal bureaucracy that’s almost impossible to work with, while others said if you make the right contacts, the process, while long, is workable. Task force members said having open land for business investment would be a plus for the state.
• Public Employees’ Retirement System investment in the state. Task force members plan to explore how PERS can invest in state resources, like power transmission lines and toll roads that can be paid back with interest. Members also mentioned the importance of keeping the proposed Interstate 11 project between Phoenix and Las Vegas as a mechanism not for construction jobs – although those would occur – but as transportation infrastructure to export goods.
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