Governor's 2006 Workforce and Economic Development Conference (As Written)

September 7, 2006

Good morning.

Thank you Mayor Pollard for the kind introduction and for last nights opening reception.

Thank you to the steering committee members from agencies and organizations who helped put this conference together and the sponsors who helped make it possible. You should be commended for putting together the largest Governor�s economic development conference in Washington ever!

I am thrilled to be in Vancouver this morning. Vancouver is an excellent place for today�s conference because there are so many things you are doing to help the economy and the community grow. Today�s conference will highlight some important strategies to move the state forward and Vancouver is on the leading edge of many of them.

Vancouver is on the leading edge of the global semiconductor industry, it is home to this beautiful new hotel and you are working to build a terrific waterfront for the future. Vancouver truly has a vision for the future.

Today is a special event in a special city. I hope we take a big step forward to advance the Washington economy. When we started organizing this event, I asked that two things be done differently:

First, I asked that we combine the efforts of the economic development conference and the workforce development conference. As I travel the state and as I meet leaders in other countries, I am reminded time and again that education and skills are the centerpiece of economic success.

This conference is an important step toward what I hope will be a significant trend in Washington: improved collaboration between economic and workforce development efforts at all levels.

Second, moving Washington forward requires a strategy to get us where we are going next. This conference is an opportunity to bring all of you together around a vision, a vision of what I call �The Next Washington.�

It�s a Washington where every child has the opportunity to realize their full potential - a Washington where today�s workers will have tomorrow�s skills and enjoy the job security and income that they need to feel confident in the future - a Washington where economic expansion, environmental quality and cultural diversity work together to create global success.

I call this �The Next Washington� because it is about a vision for the future of our state and the steps we must take in order to get there. It�s about 21st century industries. It�s about global competitiveness. It�s about a state that is more like a small nation. It�s the next Washington!

This vision cannot be mine alone and it did not start with me. To reach it, I convened a Global Competitiveness Council to seek advice from business and community leaders about how to ensure Washington�s global leadership. I met with leaders from around the world on my trade missions and I traveled around the state on a listening tour, asking Washingtonians what should our priorities be and how do we define success.

Here is what I have learned:

From Spokane to Vancouver, from Richland to Seattle, my town halls have told me that Washingtonians are concerned about their economic future and the future of their children. They recognize that there is not one single �Washington economy� � rather, there are many regional economies. They tell me that we need to plan for the future. They tell me that health care, education and the economy are their key concerns. In short, they are optimistic about future success, but concerned about how we get there.

When I visited the Paris Air Show, the Washington delegation met with six global aerospace companies, all of whom are now opening or expanding operations in our state. During the Australia trade mission, we signed several breakthrough collaboration agreements on the life sciences. The benefit to Washington from these trade missions proves that we can capitalize on our superb reputation for quality and innovation. In fact, Washington's exports rose 39 percent in the first half of 2006. Our exports could top $45 billion for the full year, far exceeding the old record of $38.2 billion in 1998.

My Global Competitiveness Council recently released their findings on how our state can rise to the challenge of global competition. After over a year of work, they found that although we need to keep business costs down, we must go beyond a low-cost strategy if we truly want to succeed. We must have quality products, innovation and a skilled workforce.

Any plan is only as good as its underlying assumptions, so let me be honest about the assumptions in The Next Washington.

It assumes that our global competitive edge rests on skills and innovation, built everywhere through regional partnerships. Education is the single most important economic investment we can make.

The plan assumes that the public sector should lay the groundwork for private sector success. Sometimes government should lay the groundwork for success and get out of the way, but sometimes government can make specific investments that leverage increased private activity.

The Life Sciences Discovery fund and the biofuels loan fund are examples of the public giving a small, helpful push to private sector activity.

Finally, and optimistically, The Next Washington plan assumes that old tradeoffs can be overcome with creativity and partnership. I am a passionate believer that the supposed tradeoff between quality of life and economic growth or between the east side and west side of the state, or between the so-called �sunset and sunrise� industries can be overcome. All of our industries are constantly transforming and our strategy must be one of change and innovation.

In the past two years, I have seen remarkable cooperation among legislators, communities, tribes and agencies. I have seen legislators reach across party lines to support transportation improvements that we desperately need to stay safe and to keep products moving to markets.

This was a vote that took real courage and that almost no one thought would come together.

The conventional wisdom was that the citizens of Washington would overturn this legislative courage. Didn�t happen. The people of Washington confirmed the legislature�s bold and necessary action.

Time and again, Washington citizens, legislators, communities, tribes and state agencies have come together to overcome false divisions, turf battles and narrow interests. We are coming together as one Washington. So, yes, The Next Washington vision assumes that old tradeoffs can be overcome. I know we can do it because I have seen it done.

The components of The Next Washington all flow from these basic assumptions.

First, education and skills are the most important investments we can make in our economic future. In order to be competitive in the global marketplace, business looks to hire highly skilled workers and all Washingtonians should have the opportunity to gain the skills and knowledge that are in demand in today�s economy. Our state has reached a critical economic point and programs like the new Opportunity Grants launched by the Legislature last year will help students take advantage of higher education and training opportunities.

Second, we need to lay a broad foundation for economic success that looks beyond traditional infrastructure. The foundation for success requires more than water, sewers and roads. We need to be effective and efficient about these traditional investments, but we also need a long-term view of what success will look like in Washington, including telecommunications, energy and strategies to move ideas from our research institutions into the marketplace. Not only should we invest in communities through programs such as the Community Economic Revitalization Board, but we should also support forward-thinking programs like the Energy Freedom Loans, low interest loans to bioenergy projects taking place around the state.

Finally, having laid a strong foundation of skills and strategic infrastructure, we need to make it clear to employers and customers that Washington is open for business. Forbes recently ranked Washington as the twelfth best state in which to do business � but we can do better. We are working on this by streamlining the permitting process for businesses, making it easier for them to save time and money by setting up a sort of �one stop shop� for licenses and permits. In fact, the Department of Licensing recently unveiled a new website designed around a common sense, easy to navigate approach, making it easier for businesses to find the information they need, when they need it.

These three components � skills and education, a foundation for economic success and being open for business � are the core of the plan, but we need specific initiatives to move forward in each.

The education system in Washington must meet world-class standards. To be excellent, education should be a seamless, learner-focused process, from early learning to college and beyond.

Through the �Washington Learns� committee, we have identified several key initiatives to promote world-class skills. We need to get it right from the start by investing in early learning opportunities so our kids can succeed in school and in life. We also need to take more steps to expand opportunities in high demand fields and to improve the function of our training programs. I want to thank David Harrison and the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board for their efforts to make recommendations in this area over the next several weeks.

We need to take a fresh look at our basic infrastructure programs to identify areas where we can increase our efficiency. We need to capitalize on one of our most important engines of economic success - our research institutions. We need to do more to move commercially viable research ideas from our universities to markets and hospitals.

Third, getting products to markets must be central to our economic strategy. Given the diversity of our products and regions, we need a comprehensive strategy that includes road, rail, water and port efforts. I am particularly excited about initial efforts we have made with our container ports initiative in Seattle and Tacoma. I like the long-term view that these issues take and look forward to expanding that to other aspects of our port system.

I think we are on to something with these initiatives, but we have a ways to go to turn them from a vision into tangible priorities. However, today is September 7 and my budget is not finished until December. Between now and my budget, we�ll learn more about trends in the economy, what the budget context looks like and we�ll make tough decisions about a responsible mix of investments and savings. I encourage you to share your opinion about what we should emphasize and how we can move forward together. All of you have a role to play in shaping the future. I know we can make great things happen together.

I have met with leaders from around the world and had conversations with business leaders from some of the world�s largest companies. I have been in the living rooms of paper mill workers, in the storefronts of small business owners and the auditoriums of high schools and at the end of the day, we all want the same things: the best possible future for our kids, a decent standard of living, health care we can depend on and a state we can be proud of.

You are here today because you see this same vision for the future of Washington. I commend you for that. We will get there, together, if we keep reaching across public and private sectors, across party lines, across the state and around the world.

Thank you.

###