A state Senator today called Tuesday for the creation of a new state agency, charged with dramatically changing the way Oklahoma handles economic development and business growth.
State Senator Kristen Thompson, R-Edmond, said she filed legislation to create the Oklahoma Office of Economic Development, Growth and Expansion – OK EDGE. The agency would target and unify the state’s economic development efforts, moving them away from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce.
Thompson announced the plan for the agency at an 11 a.m. press conference at the state Capitol.
Thompson: Move economic development out of commerce department
“The agency will be the center point for economic development and business growth and business retention for the state,” Thompson said in an interview with The Oklahoman on Monday. “We’re pulling those functions out of commerce and giving it its own owner, essentially.”
Thompson said two bills – Senate Bill 1447 and 1448 – would be used to create the agency and provide its funding. She said the new agency would have a nine-member advisory board to help develop the rules and policies, including gathering feedback from companies that choose to expand their operations in Oklahoma or choose not to locate in the state. The members would be appointed by the Speaker of the House, the Senate Pro Tempore and the governor.
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The Commerce Department, Thompson said, would have a support role to the new entity. She said the department’s current business development employees would transition to the new agency and that the remaining commerce department would function more like a typical state agency. Both agencies would be housed in the current Commerce Department building at 900 N. Stiles. State lawmakers created the Department of Commerce in 1987.
“They (Commerce) will administer incentives and things like that,” she said. “But that role hasn’t been fleshed out yet.”
Oklahoma needs to know why businesses pass over developing in the state
Thompson said one of the lessons she learned after Michelin Tire announced the closing of its Ardmore facility was that economic development doesn’t have a point person or a point agency in the state. “When you ask who is responsible for this or who is responsible for that, it wasn’t a clear answer,” she said. “It’s just kind of messy if you don’t have, ‘this is who the buck stops with.’”
While Oklahoma’s economic development efforts include a system for gathering ‘lessons learned’ from companies that bypass the state, most time those questions aren’t being asked or companies are hesitant to answer them.
Sources told The Oklahoman that, for several decades, commerce department staff hasn’t asked the ‘why’ question when a company chooses not to locate in the state. On the rare occasions when a debriefing did occur, businesses were often reluctant to share the reasons for their decision.
More: As the cornerstone of Ardmore industry closes, can the town survive?
Thompson said it’s time to change that.
She said her expectation as a lawmaker was the new agency needed to ask such questions. Thompson’s proposal was sparked by a Senate select committee created last Spring by Senate Pro Tempore Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City.
New Senate committee seeks to understand the ‘why’ question
At that time, Treat said the committee would study the current economic landscape in Oklahoma as a way to attract more employers and major investments. Treat said he wanted to know why businesses – such as Panasonic – bypassed the state, despite being offered millions in economic incentives.
“Oklahoma has abundant resources, qualified employees and a legislature and executive branch that is friendly to the business community,” Treat said in a media release about the committee. “We have a history of going out of our way to offer advantages other states cannot. There is no reason for us to continuously lose out to another state in this country on major business developments. That is why I am determined find the common denominator as to why we aren’t being chosen and figure out how we can become more attractive to businesses looking to expand or relocate. We will hear from business experts, company executives, state officials and everyone else to make Oklahoma more attractive to major employers.”
After the committee was created, Senate Democrats said the group’s work could be beneficial – if it asked the right questions
“I think this group has a lot of potential to do beneficial work for our state. However, its success will depend on the committee’s willingness to be honest with ourselves about the challenges facing Oklahoma, and not cherry-pick the facts based on what we want to hear,” Senate Minority Leader Kay Floyd, D-Oklahoma City, said in a statement last March. “We will have to ask hard questions and may not like all the answers. We must be willing to make changes that we may not be immediately comfortable with.”
Thompson said she wanted to gather that information to help refine future development efforts. “My plan is to stay involved in this because I’m very passionate about it,” she said. “I have heard that it’s challenging, that sometimes business don’t want necessarily want to divulge why they didn’t pick us, but we know that is something we absolutely have to address.”
Thompson said the state must ask those tough questions to improve its economic development efforts.
“I think, with anything in life, your mistakes just help make you better,” she said. “We can’t fix what we’re not aware of. We have to ask those questions if we’re going to get better. The state is missing something, she said. “So, what is it? We have to be able to ask those hard questions.”
She said the state also needs to develop a new and modern approach to marketing and economic development. “We need an Oklahoma brand,” she said. “Right now, I ask all the time, and the site selectors say Oklahoma just has kind of a neutral image.”
Though the legislative session doesn’t open for another month, Thompson said she has been in regular contact with members of the House of Representatives and the governor’s office since last fall about the proposal. She said the state needs to focus on existing businesses and help them grow if they want the state to grow.
“I’m very optimistic,” she said. “There are a few kinks we have to work out, but I’m optimistic.”
State lawmakers will get the first chance to review Thompson’s legislation when they return to the Capitol on Monday, Feb. 5 for the Second Session of the 59th Oklahoma Legislature.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma senator proposes new business growth agency