Charleston was abuzz this week as legislators opened their 2008 session and Governor Manchin delivered his State of the State address. As with most political speeches, there were things to be excited about and things that left you wishing for more.

Here are a few things we’re excited about from a Creative Communities/New Economy perspective:

·         $50 million for research at WVU and Marshall – Based on similar “bucks for brains” initiatives at Kentucky and other states, investing some of West Virginia’s budget surplus in building up our R&D muscles is a fantastic step. There is no question, cutting-edge research = new economy job creation. There were rumors that this $50 million number was the result of a reduction from a much higher number originally planned, which is disappointing, but we’re still thrilled that our leaders are aware of how great a return on investment these kinds of initiatives are for 21^st century economies.

·         $30 million “bucks for brains” program – While short on details, this initiative is focused on building two “high tech” training centers. We put this in the category of “good sign” because of its focus on building technical skills, but we’re not sure how much this applies to critical shortages in computer science, web and graphic development, database programming and other new economy industry sectors.

·         A “come home” campaign – Building on a mini-trend of state natives coming back to West Virginia to build businesses (a large number of Creative Community team members fall into this category), the Commerce Department will build a case for the opportunities expatriates can enjoy by coming back.

And here are a few things that we had hoped would be more aggressive or cause a bit of concern:

·         Competitive business tax structure – Everyone agrees West Virginia isn’t competitive in this realm, especially with neighboring Virginia; there is just a difference of opinion on how aggressively to reduce the tax burden on business in our state. One solution could be to target faster cuts in areas of the economy that have high potential for growth, such as intellectual property and professional service related business. However, a heavy tax burden hits capital-intensive firms like manufacturing very hard, so it would be politically difficult to play favorites.

·         Teacher pay – If well-educated, talented workers are the “oxygen” of the new economy, shouldn’t we be setting the bar very high for quality teachers to deliver 21^st century skills and paying them at a level to attract the very best and brightest? West Virginia still ranks among the lowest-paying states for teachers. Shouldn’t we also address market realities and empower regions of our state that must compete directly with high-paying states like Virginia and Maryland to be more flexible in how they compensate their best teachers?

·         Changes to the Promise Scholarship – In theory, expecting recipients of the Promise Scholarship to stick around West Virginia and be a part of its resurgence is not a bad thing. However, the “handcuff” approach – turning the grant into a loan should the student take a job outside of West Virginia – raises some concerns. What might be better? How about an aggressive internship program that places Promise Scholars within West Virginia organizations? The deeper the relationship a student has with a West Virginia company, the higher the likelihood he or she has in staying after graduation. What about an angel investment fund for Promise Scholars who want to start businesses? These proactive, yet voluntarily, additions to the program could achieve the results desired without reducing the flexibility of options a student has if they receive the scholarship. And in some cases, having a student get some work experience outside West Virginia could be an even more positive thing for the state…assuming they bring that experience back home later (as many of us have).

Overall, we are very positive and excited about 2008 in West Virginia. And we commend those in state leadership for their openness in partnering with the private sector to achieve dramatic improvement for West Virginia.