A few weeks ago I asked for stories from you to share at the Washington Policy Center’s Small Business Conference as I participated in a media panel along with business publication representatives from around the state. Well I delivered your stories alongside Bill Virgin who publishes a newsletter, Washington Manufacturing Alert; Kim Crompton, Editor of the Spokane Journal of Business and Al Scott, Editor of the Puget Sound Business Journal.
We were each asked to make a brief statement about the business conditions we find back home in our region. I considered this on my early morning drive up to Bellevue and shared with the lunch crowd what I came up with. I described our business community as schizophrenic. So, what does that mean? Let me explain. We have sectors that are literally on fire such as manufacturing. Some of our local manufacturers are having the best years in their history. Some sectors are mere shadows of what they were such as the residential builders and contractors. The retail community is being greatly affected by internet shopping. In fact, I heard from one retailer who said she has shoppers coming in and using the cellphone cameras to grab the barcode or the SKU number and then returning home to buy it online.
While each of us came with specific accounts of what the “climate” was in our region for business today it was fascinating to listen and realize the stories were nearly identical. SW Washington still leads the state (or is at least among the top 3 regions) in unemployed workers but past that huge difference, everyone, even in the Microsoft, Amazon and Boeing rich Puget Sound area, uncertainty is a key factor in the delayed recovery we all seem to be experiencing. Along with the uncertainty, access to financing, oppressive regulation and the cost of health care are the three issues reflected state wide.
One of our panelists, Bill Virgin founder of Northwest Newsletter Group and the editor and publisher of their two publications Washington Manufacturing Alert and Pacific Northwest Rail News, as well as a contributing columnist to Seattle Business magazine, was asked for his take on the likelihood of a double dip recession. Virgin certainly reflected my impression of our region and that was to say, by definition for there to be a double dip there must be evidence of a recovery and in spite of the national analysts figures he doesn’t believe a recovery has begun in our region. So, rather than a double dip it is a continuation of the Great Recession.
The Washington Policy Center was pleased with the 250 or so who registered for the conference though by observation there were more Associations and PACs in attendance than small business owners and managers.
The breakout sessions for the day included Workers Compensation & Unemployment Insurance, Tax Simplification for Small Business, Regulatory Reform as well as Technology & Using Social Media for Your Business, Health Care – What Happens Next, Export/Import Resources for Your Business, Transportation – Tolling, Initiative 1125 & New Revenue and finally Will Seattle’s Mandatory Paid Sick Leave Law Go Statewide?
I chose to sit in on the Transportation session given the continuing debate locally regarding the merits of tolling on the Columbia River Crossing should it be built. Not too surprising the focus of the hour was Puget Sound with heavy emphasis on the I-90 corridor and its importance to the east side of the state. Interesting to me was the lack of any mention of the CRC project. The most significant item mentioned in the hour was the comment by one of the panelists that tolling on the highways of our state is coming and we’d better understand that. I am not against tolling but I am against project specific tolling because it sets up a shift of the problem to un-tolled roadways. Each of the major projects in the Puget Sound area have tolling as a component of the financing just as the CRC plan does. And just as we have concerns about what affect that will have on the I 205 corridor they have similar concerns about the diversion of traffic and congestion up north. Rather than the constraints of Initiative 1125, the state should be designing a system wide solution. It would have the effect of keeping tolls lower on each of the routes as well as rebuilding a Maintenance & Operations fund for our highways which at present is non-existent.
During the breakout sessions the key issues raised in each session were identified and then rated at the end of the session. After the tallying was completed the Policy Center shared the top issues identified by the participants. Here is the list and unofficial lead topics by session:
Workers Compensation
- Focus on the # 2109 Voluntary settlement
- Don’t increase L&I premiums when the system has a surplus
- Increase the accountability around fraud in the system
Unemployment Insurance
- Focus on the efficiency of the system
- Improve the employer access to claim information
Regulatory Reform
- Review environmental regulations from the various agencies & tie to Federal regulations
- Legislature should keep from giving the regulatory agencies an open checkbook
- Follow the auditors recommendation
- Always attach a sunset to regulations to assure they continue to serve a purpose
Health Care
- Work on Tort Reform
- Revisit mandates for coverage
- Work to repeal the recently passed Federal Health Care law
Transportation
- Do No Harm
- Consider tolls for highway maintenance
- Include as a primary goal of the Department of Transportation, Congestion Relief
- Move to a performance based budget system for the DOT
- Maintain the 3 persons HOV lanes; do not drop to 2 persons
Seattle Sick Leave mandate
- The State statutes should prevail versus the local mandates
- Require an “Business Impact Study – BIS” just as building projects require an EIS before they are built
