Former Gov. Gregoire warns Washington faces ‘critical point\u2019 on taxes, jobs, business<\/a><\/p>\nFerguson announced the creation of a 26-member economic development council composed of leaders from organized labor, major employers and higher education. <\/p>\n
The council includes representatives from Microsoft, Amazon and T-Mobile, as well as the presidents of the University of Washington and Washington State University.<\/p>\n
The governor said Washington has not had an economic development council in nearly two decades. The group is expected to deliver recommendations by this time next year.<\/p>\n
Ferguson also reiterated Thursday that the budget he plans to propose will not include tax increases, despite questions about how the state will address an expected budget shortfall.<\/p>\n
The council’s launch comes as business leaders raise concerns about Washington’s long-term competitiveness. Starbucks recently expanded its corporate office footprint outside Washington, a move some in the business community viewed as a warning sign. Ferguson and state lawmakers have also faced criticism for raising taxes on large employers and high-income earners.<\/p>\n
Joe Fain, president and CEO of the Bellevue Chamber, said Washington still has time to reverse troubling trends.<\/p>\n
“I know there are a lot of folks asking, ‘Is it too late?’ It’s not too late,” Fain said.<\/p>\n
Fain has been tracking the state’s economic performance through a data portal called Ranking Washington. While rankings such as WalletHub’s place Washington’s economy second in the nation, he said other, forward-looking indicators paint a less encouraging picture.<\/p>\n
“The forward-looking statistics \u2014 those areas where our policies matter, our tax code matters, our regulatory burden matters \u2014 those are the ones where we are toward the bottom of the barrel,” Fain said.<\/p>\n
He said those indicators include job growth, unemployment and adjusted gross income.<\/p>\n
“If you look a little bit deeper at job growth, unemployment and adjusted gross income \u2014 whether it’s rising or falling year over year \u2014 those numbers show where we’re headed,” he said.<\/p>\n
Washington State University President Betsy Cantwell said the council gives research institutions an opportunity to help shape the state’s economic future.<\/p>\n
“Having a research university sitting on a council like this is really important to express what we see and hear in the research world, and what our entrepreneurs want to do,” Cantwell said.<\/p>\n
Asked whether councils like this can make a meaningful difference in shaping policy, Cantwell answered with one word.<\/p>\n
“Huge,” she said.<\/p>\n
The council’s initial discussions also included data centers, an increasingly important issue for technology companies and policymakers. Ferguson and a T-Mobile executive both discussed the topic as part of a broader conversation about Washington’s economic future.<\/p>\n
The council’s challenge will be turning those discussions into recommendations that influence policy, investment and job growth. Ferguson said Washington’s economy remains strong, but he said the state cannot rely on past success alone.<\/p>\n
The council is expected to submit its recommendations to the governor next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE \u2014 Gov. Bob Ferguson said Thursday that Washington’s strong economy cannot be taken for granted, even as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":726520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":["post-726519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=726519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/726520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}