Issue Position: 25 Ways to Spur Growth

Issue Position

"Vermont is rapidly moving away from its proud heritage of self-reliance, independence, and individualism to a state of less freedom, bigger government, greater dependence on government's largesse and the high taxes and borrowing necessary to pay for it. A Brock administration will fight to improve our economy, create new jobs, and restore the fabric of Vermont and what it means to be a Vermonter. "

RANDY BROCK

St. Albans, VT

May 12, 2012

How do we jump-start our economy? How do we ensure that every Vermonter who wants a job can find one? How do we ensure that Vermont's employers have workers available who are educated and trained to do the jobs that are in demand?

Reduce the cost of health care by adopting common-sense reform.

Establish a Department of Innovation, without adding to the state's total workforce, as the state's premier internal consultant to drive change.

Decrease the size of state government by taking advantage of the coming demographic changes in the state's workforce.

Eliminate taxes on cloud computing, making Vermont a leader in the coming information revolution.

Systematically reengineer core state government functions, starting with environmental permitting, to increase efficiency, eliminate redundancies, establish measurement tools and improve timeliness.

Force-rank every function of government and prioritize each from top to bottom. Make the tough decisions as to which government functions we cannot afford to continue performing.

Establish key metrics for every governmental function; reward success, question stagnation, address sluggishness and not tolerate failure; use the COMSTAT methodology throughout government

Create new businesses through Business in a Box programs statewide. Package specific business models, much like franchises, including business plans, financing, pre-assigned volunteer consultants, and connection to relevant college and university expertise, and marry these to unemployed or underemployed Vermonters

Improve science and math education in Vermont's middle and high schools in order to better develop the skills needed for Vermont businesses in the 21st century.

Make Vermont the nation's go-to place to domicile a benefit corporation; create an industry infrastructure and super-responsive regulatory structure; market the concept nationally.

Establish a target and create an action plan to make Vermont the headquarters of a Fortune 1000 company within the next ten years.

Put to work the best minds in Vermont to put Vermonters to work. Think outside of the box to create new, unique regulatory structures to attract new businesses and new business models, especially in the financial services, insurance and health care industries. Trust structures to serve the impending baby-boomer wealth transfer, the benefit corporation industry, medical tourism are examples.

Perform independent performance audits to examine the return on investment to taxpayers of every state loan, job training and business tax subsidy program; eliminate programs that are not cost beneficial

Review the "but for" test in Vermont's growth incentive programs to tighten and make more objective the decision criteria; determine the value of providing a tax incentive for every new job created. Create a job creation tax holiday that provides three years' tax credit for every job added during the one month duration of the holiday.

ü Encourage industry cross selling and supply-chain development through a campaign to purchase products and service from in-state suppliers.

Reform and simplify Vermont's tax code; creating a new, fairer, simpler to understand tax code, without the loopholes, complexity and unintended consequences of what we have today.

Increase investment in overseas representation to foster global export opportunities and domestic EB-5 investment.

Refine workforce training programs to focus on developing the skills needed by the state's businesses and industries.

Establish an Executive-in-Residence Program, borrowing executives from major corporations and universities to work in state government for up to a year.

Concentrate on the Vermont brand. Reform Vermont's origin rules so that Vermont-based companies do not lose their competitive advantage. Redefine "Made in Vermont" to reflect reality. Allow for 100% Vermont-origin products, such as milk, to retain the "Made in Vermont" label.

End Crony Capitalism; Support low-cost energy sources. Vermont already has the cleanest energy portfolio in the nation. We must balance the introduction renewable energy sources against the cost. We should resist the temptation to turn to high cost, intermittent power that has minimal impact on reducing carbon emissions.

Support and encourage privately funded seed stage or early venture capital funds.

Institute Parallel Permitting. Remove the inefficiencies and duplication between municipal and state permitting. Explore creating a mechanism to present evidence to both municipal and state permitting bodies simultaneously instead of sequentially.

Cut red tape. Systematically review every rule and regulation to reduce regulatory burdens and the cost of regulatory compliance to help companies grow their businesses in Vermont.

Establish "One-Stop-Shopping" for any and all permits related to business and business development. Consolidate the permitting components of the Agency of Natural Resources, the Agency of Agriculture, the Agency of Transportation and the Department of Public Safety and the District Environmental Commissions into one super permitting agency. Eliminate redundancies and reduce duplicative administrative structures. Within the new agency, create permitting, enforcement and administrative law units, with the latter staffed with administrative law judges to deal with first level appeals, with strict timelines for fast, responsive decision-making.

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